tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/research-26/articlesResearch – The Conversation2024-03-14T12:43:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2196872024-03-14T12:43:43Z2024-03-14T12:43:43ZCity mouse or country mouse? I collect mice from Philly homes to study how they got so good at urban living<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576250/original/file-20240216-24-90lbyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">European colonizers brought mice to the Americas, where they squeaked out a comfortable life.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mouse-peeking-out-of-the-hole-royalty-free-image/525023427">Dejan Kolar/iStock Collection via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dusty barns, gleaming stables and damp basements. These are all places where you might find a house mouse – or a member of my research team. </p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DMxMLmwAAAAJ&hl=en">evolutionary biologist</a>, and my lab at Drexel University studies wild house mice. With help from Philly residents, we are collecting mice from high-rises and row homes to learn more about the impacts of city living on house mice. In short, we want to know whether there is any scientific basis to <a href="https://sites.pitt.edu/%7Edash/type0112.html#aesop">“The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse” fable</a> in which the cousins eat differently based on where they live.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/26/1190071137/its-hot-out-there-a-new-analysis-shows-its-much-worse-if-youre-in-a-city">Cities are hotter</a> and they have a lot of people living in high densities, which means more trash and usually more pollution. This can affect how <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.aam8327">species that live in cities evolve</a>. Cities are also dominated by artificial habitats such as sidewalks, high-rises and subways rather than open fields and forests. </p>
<p>We are interested in many possible changes, but especially in whether the many differences between urban and rural environments translate into genetic differences between city mice and country mice, such as which versions of genes related to metabolism are more common. </p>
<p>To find the answers, we sequence the mice’s genomes. With that data, we can answer a variety of questions, such as: Are city mice more or less genetically diverse than country mice? Are there regions of DNA, the molecule that encodes genetic information, that are consistently different between urban and rural mice? If so, what are the functions of genes in those regions? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579697/original/file-20240304-16-fd7au7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of two mice from a translation of Aesop's Fables published in 1912." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579697/original/file-20240304-16-fd7au7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579697/original/file-20240304-16-fd7au7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579697/original/file-20240304-16-fd7au7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579697/original/file-20240304-16-fd7au7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579697/original/file-20240304-16-fd7au7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579697/original/file-20240304-16-fd7au7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579697/original/file-20240304-16-fd7au7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Just how different are city mice and country mice? Researchers are studying their guts and genes to find out.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rackham_town_mouse_and_country_mouse.jpg">Arthur Rackham, public domain via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why study house mice?</h2>
<p>One reason we study house mice is because they are so widespread. European colonizers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkac332">brought house mice to the Americas</a> around 500 years ago. The rodents have now spread into many different climates and habitats across North and South America in most places that humans live, including Philadelphia. </p>
<p>Though small in size, house mice have made immeasurable <a href="https://shop.elsevier.com/books/the-mouse-in-biomedical-research/fox/978-0-12-369456-0">contributions to genetics and medicine</a>. They are mammals like humans, but house mice reproduce quickly and are relatively easy to breed and maintain. In fact, part of why scientists adopted mice early on as a model system is because people were already breeding “<a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05959">fancy mice</a>” as pets. As a result, methods for keeping and breeding them were known.</p>
<p>Mice have many visible traits for geneticists to study. My team wants to know more about the genes and traits that have contributed to their ability to thrive in a variety of environments. The work we do with wild house mice also feeds back into work with laboratory mice and biomedical research. The house mice found in attics and cabinets are the same species that are studied in labs, but they are <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/ng.847">more genetically diverse</a> than laboratory strains. Our project will generate whole genome sequences from many wild mice, and that data can help scientists who study traits and diseases. </p>
<h2>Tips for catching mice</h2>
<p>I previously worked on a large project studying <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007672">how house mice have adapted to different climates</a> in the Americas. For that project, I went to many, many farms throughout the eastern United States and became very good at catching mice in barns. </p>
<p>Starting this project with a focus on cities was a new challenge. First, our team had to find Philly residents who wanted us to trap their mice. We spent a lot of time spreading the word on social media, talking to friends and posting flyers. </p>
<p>We talked to many Philadelphians who were frustrated with trying to rid their homes of mice. Some had videos of house mice avoiding the traps they had set or stealing the bait and running away. We share this frustration and feel it keenly. In some cases, it took us many days to catch a single mouse in an apartment.</p>
<p>Part of the reason is because many Philadelphia houses are old. This means they are often full of character – and holes that give mice great places to hide. Luring the mice out of their nests and into our traps is difficult. We had the most success with peanut butter bait, which has a strong and very appealing odor for mice. But mice are omnivores, eating a diverse diet that includes insects. We have heard many stories from community members who used bait such as chocolate, cereal, cookies and even bacon bits. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We hope to start sharing results over the next two years. We are working in three cities – Philadelphia, New York City and Richmond, Virginia – and have completed our first collections. Now we need to generate and analyze genetic data, so we are very busy in the lab. </p>
<p>We are extracting DNA, as well as another form of genetic material called RNA, from different tissues. With the DNA we will study how much genetic variation exists within city mouse populations, and whether there are genetic differences between urban and rural mice. The RNA will help us understand how differences in DNA translate into differences in metabolism, physiology and other cellular processes. </p>
<p>We will also look to see whether there are differences in traits. For example, we will measure their skulls and skeletons. We will sequence the DNA of the microbes in their digestive system to learn about their gut microbiomes, the collection of bacteria that live in their digestive system, and use <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/archaeology/0/steps/15267">stable isotope analysis</a> to identify any differences in their diets. Stable isotope analysis of diet uses the ratios of naturally occurring atoms of elements such as carbon and nitrogen to determine what types of food an organism has eaten.</p>
<p>Cities are full of wildlife. Learning about how cities shape the evolution of mice may help us find better ways to manage mouse populations and other urban wildlife while also better understanding evolution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Phifer-Rixey receives funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF CAREER 2332998 Division of Environmental Biology).
</span></em></p>An evolutionary biologist is studying what these resilient urban pests can teach us about adaptation and evolution.Megan Phifer-Rixey, Assistant Professor of Biology, Drexel UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2246662024-02-28T11:23:56Z2024-02-28T11:23:56ZNet zero to the housing crisis: how we’re using expert evidence to help policymakers improve UK society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578593/original/file-20240228-28-4mivz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-above-drab-rooftops-run-2352209899">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Three years ago, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversation-partners-on-2m-research-policy-project-to-mitigate-covid-19-pandemics-social-impacts-150476">The Conversation partnered</a> with a group of leading universities, including UCL, Cardiff and Queen’s Belfast, on the ESRC-funded <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/">International Public Policy Observatory (IPP0)</a>. The project’s goal was initially to assess and report to UK policymakers evidence from around the world on the best ways to mitigate the devastating social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>IPPO has since evolved and expanded – and from January 2023 has been tailoring its work to focus on a wide range of key UK social challenges, from net zero to inequality.</p>
<p>For example, the UK is committed to reaching net zero by 2050. But the country’s uptake of green technologies, such as heat pump installation, currently lags far behind that of many other European nations such as Norway, Finland, France and Italy.</p>
<p>Consequently, UK policymakers must urgently find new ways to get so-called “able to pay” households to spend their money on green technologies such as better insulation and heat pumps.</p>
<p>IPPO’s <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/home-energy-behaviour-change-barriers-green-purchases-evidence-review/">recent review of the published evidence</a> suggests policy interventions that support the behavioural and emotional reasons for making these choices could increase the likelihood of consumers moving towards green purchases.</p>
<p>New policy ideas could include the establishment of <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/the-case-for-home-upgrade-agencies-mobilising-data-for-net-zero/">Home Upgrade Agencies</a> across the UK to coordinate consistent messaging and offer bespoke advice to householders. <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/society-wide-conversations-recommendations/">Storytelling</a> around net zero should also be made more relevant to people’s everyday lives: binning the jargon; being honest but hopeful; appealing to people’s emotions and everyday realities rather than just reporting the broad, technocratic detail, and acknowledging the current impact of falling living standards on many communities. </p>
<h2>Finding our place</h2>
<p>Post-pandemic, remote and hybrid working have become the new normal – leading to substantial social change. Indeed, the UK is facing unprecedented challenges as people decide where to work and live.</p>
<p>While, overall, <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/hybrid-work-and-disabled-people-post-pandemic-policy-problems/">remote and hybrid working</a> can benefit people’s subjective experience of work, we need solid research to truly learn from the dramatic social changes wrought by the pandemic.</p>
<p>We must also ensure that certain groups, such as those with disabilities, have sufficient support to make positive changes to their working lives.</p>
<p>As fewer people head to the office, policymakers must also consider how we use this increasingly vacant space – particularly as the UK is facing a chronic housing shortage. Indeed, the UK government is proposing to widen planning rules to encourage developers and builders to convert empty commercial spaces into housing.</p>
<p>This sounds superficially positive – but can trigger its own, deeper problems. Work by IPPO, for example, <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/why-converting-office-space-into-flats-wont-solve-the-housing-crisis/">shows</a> that converting commercial buildings into housing under these proposed “permitted development rights” tends to result in smaller, lower-quality homes in worse locations than homes given full planning permission. And this directly impacts people’s lives.</p>
<p>Indeed, this change to planning rules is likely to make the existing housing quality crisis even worse, as already cash-strapped local authorities lose oversight of the development process.</p>
<h2>Finding the right evidence</h2>
<p>IPPO is also establishing the most effective ways of gathering evidence and filtering it for the use of policymakers.</p>
<p>In September 2023, the team launched a series of <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/innovations-in-evidence/">public, online events</a> on new methods for mobilising evidence for greatest impact, to guide researchers, policymakers and intermediaries.</p>
<p>Our events have included sessions on digital tools, rapid evidence assessments, systems mapping, the transferability of evidence, using evidence during a crisis, and including lived experience in analyses of how policy can solve socioeconomic problems.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, IPPO also ran its first <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/international-public-policy-observatory-winter-school-northern-ireland/">knowledge exchange winter school</a> to bring together civil servants from Northern Ireland and a selection of expert speakers.</p>
<p>There is much still to do. But by acting as a bridge between research evidence and the policymakers who can use it to better inform their decision making, IPPO aims to benefit the British public and particularly disadvantaged groups.</p>
<p><em>For more information about IPPO, or if any of these topics are relevant to your work, please visit our <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/">website</a> or <a href="mailto:%20s.o'meara@ucl.ac.uk">get in touch</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
As a partner on the International Public Policy Observatory, The Conversation is making an impact.Sarah O'Meara, IPPO/Communications and Engagement ManagerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206352024-02-23T13:50:45Z2024-02-23T13:50:45ZEarly COVID-19 research is riddled with poor methods and low-quality results − a problem for science the pandemic worsened but didn’t create<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577159/original/file-20240221-22-ttfzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2070%2C1449&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The pandemic spurred an increase in COVID-19 research, much of it with methodological holes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/coronavirus-damage-royalty-free-image/1266909460">Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03564-y">flooded journals</a> with studies about the then-novel coronavirus. Many publications streamlined the peer-review process for COVID-19 papers while keeping acceptance rates relatively high. The assumption was that policymakers and the public would be able to identify valid and useful research among a very large volume of rapidly disseminated information.</p>
<p>However, in my review of 74 COVID-19 papers published in 2020 in the top 15 generalist public health journals listed in Google Scholar, I found that many of these studies used <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00257">poor quality methods</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-020-01190-w">Several other</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21220-5">reviews of</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241826">studies published</a> in medical journals have also shown that much early COVID-19 research used poor research methods.</p>
<p>Some of these papers have been cited many times. For example, the most highly cited public health publication listed on Google Scholar <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051729">used data</a> from a sample of 1,120 people, primarily well-educated young women, mostly recruited from social media over three days. Findings based on a small, self-selected convenience sample cannot be generalized to a broader population. And since the researchers ran more than 500 analyses of the data, many of the statistically significant results are likely chance occurrences. However, this study has been cited <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&vq=med_publichealth&view_op=list_hcore&venue=kEa56xlDDN8J.2023">over 11,000 times</a>.</p>
<p>A highly cited paper means a lot of people have mentioned it in their own work. But a high number of citations is not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2016.0223">strongly linked to research quality</a>, since researchers and journals can game and manipulate these metrics. High citation of low-quality research increases the chance that poor evidence is being used to inform policies, further eroding public confidence in science.</p>
<h2>Methodology matters</h2>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=X1o1PaQAAAAJ&hl=en">public health researcher</a> with a long-standing interest in research quality and integrity. This interest lies in a belief that science has helped solve important social and public health problems. Unlike the anti-science movement <a href="https://theconversation.com/misinformation-is-a-common-thread-between-the-covid-19-and-hiv-aids-pandemics-with-deadly-consequences-187968">spreading misinformation</a> about such successful public health measures as vaccines, I believe rational criticism is fundamental to science.</p>
<p>The quality and integrity of research depends to a considerable extent on its methods. Each type of study design needs to have certain features in order for it to provide valid and useful information. </p>
<p>For example, researchers have <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/%7Epalys/Campbell&Stanley-1959-Exptl&QuasiExptlDesignsForResearch.pdf">known for decades</a> that for studies evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/control-group">control group</a> is needed to know whether any observed effects can be attributed to the intervention. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.15719">Systematic reviews</a> pulling together data from existing studies should describe how the researchers identified which studies to include, assessed their quality, extracted the data and preregistered their protocols. These features are necessary to ensure the review will cover all the available evidence and tell a reader which is worth attending to and which is not.</p>
<p>Certain types of studies, such as one-time surveys of convenience samples that aren’t representative of the target population, collect and analyze data in a way that does not allow researchers to determine whether one variable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720005127">caused a particular outcome</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WUErib-fXV0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Systematic reviews involve thoroughly identifying and extracting information from existing research.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All <a href="https://www.equator-network.org/">study designs have standards</a> that researchers can consult. But adhering to standards slows research down. Having a control group doubles the amount of data that needs to be collected, and identifying and thoroughly reviewing every study on a topic takes more time than superficially reviewing some. Representative samples are harder to generate than convenience samples, and collecting data at two points in time is more work than collecting them all at the same time.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21220-5">Studies comparing</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-01920-x">COVID-19 papers</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241826">with non-COVID-19</a> papers published in the same journals found that COVID-19 papers tended to have lower quality methods and were less likely to adhere to reporting standards than non-COVID-19 papers. COVID-19 papers rarely had predetermined hypotheses and plans for how they would report their findings or analyze their data. This meant there were no safeguards against <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111584">dredging the data</a> to find “statistically significant” results that could be selectively reported.</p>
<p>Such methodological problems were likely overlooked in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0911-0">considerably shortened</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00076">peer-review process</a> for COVID-19 papers. One study estimated the average time from submission to acceptance of 686 papers on COVID-19 to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21220-5">13 days, compared with 110 days</a> in 539 pre-pandemic papers from the same journals. In my study, I found that two online journals that published a very high volume of methodologically weak COVID-19 papers had a peer-review process of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00257">about three weeks</a>.</p>
<h2>Publish-or-perish culture</h2>
<p>These quality control issues were present before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic simply pushed them into overdrive.</p>
<p>Journals tend to favor <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010068">positive, “novel” findings</a>: that is, results that show a statistical association between variables and supposedly identify something previously unknown. Since the pandemic was in many ways novel, it provided an opportunity for some researchers to make bold claims about how COVID-19 would spread, what its effects on mental health would be, how it could be prevented and how it might be treated.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577161/original/file-20240221-26-tv7gdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Person with head in hands, elbows planted on stacks of paperwork and books littering a desk, glasses and laptop on the side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577161/original/file-20240221-26-tv7gdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577161/original/file-20240221-26-tv7gdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577161/original/file-20240221-26-tv7gdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577161/original/file-20240221-26-tv7gdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577161/original/file-20240221-26-tv7gdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577161/original/file-20240221-26-tv7gdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577161/original/file-20240221-26-tv7gdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many researchers feel pressure to publish papers in order to advance their careers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/surrounded-by-work-royalty-free-image/637293916">South_agency/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Academics have worked in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2016.0223">publish-or-perish</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612459058">incentive system</a> for decades, where the number of papers they publish is part of the metrics used to evaluate employment, promotion and tenure. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/misinformation-is-a-common-thread-between-the-covid-19-and-hiv-aids-pandemics-with-deadly-consequences-187968">flood of mixed-quality COVID-19 information</a> afforded an opportunity to increase their publication counts and boost citation metrics as journals sought and rapidly reviewed COVID-19 papers, which were more likely to be cited than non-COVID papers.</p>
<p>Online publishing has also contributed to the deterioration in research quality. Traditional academic publishing was limited in the quantity of articles it could generate because journals were packaged in a printed, physical document usually produced only once a month. In contrast, some of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1566">today’s online</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.3212">mega-journals</a> publish thousands of papers a month. Low-quality studies rejected by reputable journals can still find an outlet happy to publish it for a fee.</p>
<h2>Healthy criticism</h2>
<p>Criticizing the quality of published research is fraught with risk. It can be misinterpreted as throwing fuel on the raging fire of anti-science. My response is that a critical and rational approach to the production of knowledge is, in fact, fundamental to the very practice of science and to the functioning of an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602573">open society</a> capable of solving complex problems such as a worldwide pandemic.</p>
<p>Publishing a large volume of misinformation disguised as science during a pandemic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912444117">obscures true and useful knowledge</a>. At worst, this can lead to bad public health practice and policy. </p>
<p>Science done properly produces information that allows researchers and policymakers to better understand the world and test ideas about how to improve it. This involves <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001747">critically examining the quality</a> of a study’s designs, statistical methods, reproducibility and transparency, not the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.05.018">number of times it has been cited</a> or tweeted about.</p>
<p>Science depends on a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-023-01049-6">slow, thoughtful and meticulous approach</a> to data collection, analysis and presentation, especially if it intends to provide information to enact effective public health policies. Likewise, thoughtful and meticulous peer review is unlikely with papers that appear in print only three weeks after they were first submitted for review. Disciplines that reward quantity of research over quality are also less likely to protect scientific integrity during crises.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577167/original/file-20240221-22-hmviem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two scientists pipetting liquids under a fume hood, with another scientist in the background examining a sample" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577167/original/file-20240221-22-hmviem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577167/original/file-20240221-22-hmviem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577167/original/file-20240221-22-hmviem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577167/original/file-20240221-22-hmviem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577167/original/file-20240221-22-hmviem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577167/original/file-20240221-22-hmviem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577167/original/file-20240221-22-hmviem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rigorous science requires careful deliberation and attention, not haste.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-scientist-drops-liquid-into-test-tube-royalty-free-image/127871289">Assembly/Stone via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Public health heavily draws upon disciplines that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/526182a">experiencing</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612462588">replication</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124">crises</a>, such as psychology, biomedical science and biology. It is similar to these disciplines <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-statistics-031219-041104">in terms of its</a> incentive structure, study designs and analytic methods, and its inattention to transparent methods and replication. Much public health research on COVID-19 shows that it suffers from similar poor-quality methods.</p>
<p>Reexamining how the discipline rewards its scholars and assesses their scholarship can help it better prepare for the next public health crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis M. Gorman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pressure to ‘publish or perish’ and get results out as quickly as possible has led to weak study designs and shortened peer-review processes.Dennis M. Gorman, Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2224452024-02-06T13:30:37Z2024-02-06T13:30:37ZPeer review isn’t perfect − I know because I teach others how to do it and I’ve seen firsthand how it comes up short<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573563/original/file-20240205-21-woj56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C58%2C6489%2C4251&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Quality in academic research can be compromised when diversity of experience is lacking among the reviewers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/middle-aged-men-in-a-library-royalty-free-image/1369631769?phrase=professor+at+computer&adppopup=true">Ika84 via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I teach research methods, a major focus is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4975196/">peer review</a>. As a process, peer review evaluates academic papers for their quality, integrity and impact on a field, largely shaping what scientists accept as “knowledge.” By instinct, any academic follows up a new idea with the question, “Was that peer reviewed?”</p>
<p>Although I believe in the importance of peer review – and I help do peer reviews for several academic journals – I know how vulnerable the process can be. Not only have academics questioned <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.1982.10569910">peer review reliability</a> for decades, but the retraction of more than <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03974-8">10,000 research papers in 2023</a> set a new record.</p>
<p>I had my first encounter with the flaws in the peer review process in 2015, during my first year as a Ph.D. student in educational psychology at a large land-grant university in the Pacific Northwest.</p>
<p>My adviser published some of the most widely cited studies in educational research. He served on several editorial boards. Some of the most recognized journals in learning science solicited his review of new studies. One day, I knocked on his office door. He answered without getting up from his chair, a printed manuscript splayed open on his lap, and waved me in.</p>
<p>“Good timing,” he said. “Do you have peer review experience?”</p>
<p>I had served on the editorial staff for literary journals and reviewed poetry and fiction submissions, but I doubted much of that transferred to scientific peer review.</p>
<p>“Fantastic.” He smiled in relief. “This will be real-world learning.” He handed me the manuscript from his lap and told me to have my written review back to him in a week.</p>
<p>I was too embarrassed to ask how one actually does peer review, so I offered an impromptu plan based on my prior experience: “I’ll make editing comments in the margins and then write a summary about the overall quality?”</p>
<p>His smile faded, either because of disappointment or distraction. He began responding to an email.</p>
<p>“Make sure the methods are sound. The results make sense. Don’t worry about the editing.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, I fumbled my way through, saving my adviser time on one less review he had to conduct. Afterward, I did receive good feedback and eventually became a confident peer reviewer. But at the time, I certainly was not a “peer.” I was too new in my field to evaluate methods and results, and I had not yet been exposed to enough studies to identify a surprising observation or to recognize the quality I was supposed to control. Manipulated data or subpar methods could easily have gone undetected.</p>
<h2>Effects of bias</h2>
<p>Knowledge is not self-evident. A survey can be designed with a <a href="https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/research/survey-bias/">problematic amount of bias</a>, even if unintentional.</p>
<p>Observing a phenomenon in one context, such as an intervention helping white middle-class children learn to read, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1086296X19877463">may not necessarily yield insights</a> for how to best teach reading to children in other demographics. Debates over “the science of reading” in general have lasted decades, with researchers arguing over <a href="https://www.vox.com/23815311/science-of-reading-movement-literacy-learning-loss">constantly changing “recommendations</a>,” such as whether to teach phonics or the use of context cues.</p>
<p>A correlation – a student who bullies other students and plays violent video games – <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nmeth.3587">may not be causation</a>. We do not know if the student became a bully because of playing violent video games. Only experts within a field would be able to notice such differences, and even then, experts do not always agree on what they notice.</p>
<p>As individuals, we can very often be limited by our own experiences. Let’s say in my life I only see white swans. I might form the knowledge that only white swans exist. Maybe I write a manuscript about my lifetime of observations, concluding that all swans are white. I submit that manuscript to a journal, and a “peer,” someone who also has observed a lot of swans, says, “Wait a minute, I’ve seen black swans.” That peer would communicate back to me their observations so that I can refine my knowledge.</p>
<p>The peer plays a pivotal role evaluating observations, with the overall goal of advancing knowledge. For example, if the above scenario were reversed, and peer reviewers who all believed that all swans were white came across the first study observing a black swan, the study would receive a lot of attention as researchers scrambled to replicate that observation. So why was a first-year graduate student getting to stand in for an expert? Why would my review count the same as a veteran’s review? One answer: The process relies <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/06/13/peer-review-crisis-creates-problems-journals-and-scholars">almost entirely on unpaid labor</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the fact that peers are professionals, peer review is not a profession. </p>
<p>As a result, the same overworked scholars often receive the bulk of the peer review requests. Besides the labor inequity, a small pool of experts can lead to a narrowed process of what is publishable or what counts as knowledge, directly threatening <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1120938/full">diversity of perspectives and scholars</a>.</p>
<p>Without a large enough reviewer pool, the process can easily fall victim to politics, arising from a small community recognizing each other’s work and compromising conflicts of interest. Many of the issues with peer review can be addressed by professionalizing the field, either through official recognition or compensation.</p>
<h2>Value despite challenges</h2>
<p>Despite these challenges, I still tell my students that peer review offers the best method for evaluating studies and advancing knowledge. Consider the statistical phenomenon suggesting that groups of people are more likely to arrive at “right answers” than individuals.</p>
<p>In his book “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/175380/the-wisdom-of-crowds-by-james-surowiecki/">The Wisdom of Crowds</a>,” author James Surowiecki tells the story of a county fair in 1906, where fairgoers guessed the weight of an ox. Sir Francis Galton averaged the 787 guesses and arrived at 1,197 pounds. The ox weighed 1,198 pounds.</p>
<p>When it comes to science and the reproduction of ideas, the wisdom of the many can account for individual outliers. Fortunately, and ironically, this is how science discredited Galton’s take on eugenics, which has <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/big-thinkers/francis-galton.htm">overshadowed his contributions to science</a>. </p>
<p>As a process, peer review theoretically works. The question is whether the peer will get the support needed to effectively conduct the review.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>JT Torres does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Politics and the lack of compensation are among the factors that can undermine the peer review process, which is important to the quality of knowledge in academic journals.JT Torres, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Quinnipiac UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2215482024-01-31T13:34:59Z2024-01-31T13:34:59ZWhat Americans can learn from Danish masculinity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571990/original/file-20240129-17-otfcjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1268%2C594%2C4019%2C2560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Denmark's King Frederik X wipes away a tear as he waves to a crowd of 300,000 people.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/DenmarkRoyalAbdication/3a1b8392aaf449a6ae9a6b4a02aa79df/photo?Query=frederik&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=now-30d&totalCount=73&currentItemNo=41">Martin Meissner/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When a leader cries in public, is it a sign of weakness? </p>
<p>On Jan. 14, 2023, Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik was crowned King Frederik X after his mother, Queen Margrethe II, announced she would be abdicating the throne during her annual New Year’s Eve speech.</p>
<p>After the queen signed a declaration of abdication in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfNDzO2KvM">private meeting</a>, the king stepped out on the balcony of the Danish parliament – Christiansborg Palace. In front of a throng of <a href="https://via.ritzau.dk/pressemeddelelse/13770145/kong-frederik-samlede-hele-danmark-knap-300000-danskere-deltog-i-fejringen?publisherId=13561616&lang=da">300,000 people</a>, the king waved, teared up and waved again, before <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vLsBQAaGDc">wiping away the tears with his white-gloved hand</a>. He later shed more tears as his wife and children joined him on the balcony.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_vLsBQAaGDc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The proclamation of Denmark’s King Frederik X on Jan. 14, 2024.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/14/world/europe/king-frederik-denmark.html">The New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/14/denmark-king-frederik-succession-queen-margrethe/">The Washington Post</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2024/jan/14/frederik-x-denmark-proclaimed-king-video">The Guardian</a> eagerly noted the emotional moment. One <a href="https://www.weekendavisen.dk/opinion/kongens-taarer">Danish newspaper</a> headline simply read, “The King’s Tears,” while a Danish <a href="https://www.billedbladet.dk/kongelige/danmark/gribende-billeder-der-siger-det-hele-kong-frederik-maatte-toerre-taarer-bort">celebrity magazine</a> featured a series of images of the king wiping his eyes.</p>
<p>In much of the world, tears and masculinity don’t mix. Crying can signal vulnerability and weakness, particularly for men in charge. Showing your emotions is viewed as too effeminate. </p>
<p>But in Denmark, the king’s tears didn’t minimize his popularity. In fact, they burnished it: Showing a feminine side is a core part of Danish masculinity.</p>
<p>As a native Dane <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Uaz22I8AAAAJ&hl=en">and a psychologist</a>, I’ve studied Denmark’s unique conception of manhood, which contrasts with masculine ideals in the U.S.</p>
<h2>What makes a man?</h2>
<p>Different cultures have different expectations for how men should act, look and express themselves. </p>
<p>American men <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538114056/Hegemonic-Masculinity-Formulation-Reformulation-and-Amplification">are often expected</a> to be tough, strong and stoic. It’s important that they don’t appear too effeminate.</p>
<p>Research shows that in Denmark it can be acceptable – even desirable – for men to show a feminine side. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000062">In a study</a> on masculinity and manhood in the U.S. and Denmark, my colleagues Sarah DiMuccio and Megan Yost and I found that among young heterosexual men, Danish men were more likely than American men to describe ideal men as being caring, loving, considerate and empathetic, which in the U.S. are usually seen as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/manhood-in-america-9780190612535?cc=us&lang=en&">feminine characteristics</a>.</p>
<p>Many of the young Danish men in our study celebrated these qualities in their male friends, for whom they expressed deep affection. They recounted long phone conversations and hugs. They’d routinely say, “I love you,” or use heart emojis in their text messages.</p>
<p>They didn’t seem too concerned about being seen as too effeminate, because they didn’t see avoiding being girly as part of manhood.</p>
<p>Instead, a number of the Danish participants in our study described manhood in opposition to boyhood. Put simply, you are a man when you are no longer a boy. </p>
<p>This made their manhood seem less precarious: It was seen as purely developmental, rather than something that needed to be constantly reinforced.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Drawing of males at different stages of development." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572003/original/file-20240129-21-xm3liq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572003/original/file-20240129-21-xm3liq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572003/original/file-20240129-21-xm3liq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572003/original/file-20240129-21-xm3liq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572003/original/file-20240129-21-xm3liq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572003/original/file-20240129-21-xm3liq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572003/original/file-20240129-21-xm3liq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Danes tend to see manhood simply as a developmental stage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/mans-aging-process-scribbles-royalty-free-illustration/908532074?phrase=evolution+of+boy+to+man+drawing&adppopup=true">A-Digit/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, the American men viewed manhood in contrast to womanhood: You’re a man when you’re not a woman. For example, we asked one participant how his brothers responded if he did something they deemed unmanly. </p>
<p>“By beating (me up) a little bit and calling me a girl,” he replied.</p>
<p>The positioning of manhood against womanhood makes it more precarious: It must continuously be reinforced. To the American men in our study, suppressing any feminine qualities, including showing emotion, was one way for them to make sure others saw them as “man enough.” </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2015.1046918">In another study</a> examining masculinity among Danish men, the men said that ideal men should have an emotional side; to them, it was a sign of balance and authenticity. </p>
<p>When the men were asked about a public figure or male celebrity who showed the most acceptable masculinity, many of them even mentioned then-Crown Prince Frederik. They saw him as having a good mix of traditionally masculine qualities – he’d served in the military and is athletic – and softer, more feminine qualities: He is considerate of others, talks about his feelings and is engaged with raising his children. He even picks up his children from day care <a href="https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/far-frederik-saetter-graenser">on his cargo bike</a>. </p>
<p>The men in the study added that any good father should be more than a provider. He ought to be present, caring and engaged with his children. </p>
<h2>Gender in the land of equality</h2>
<p>Why are there such profound differences in conceptions of masculinity between these two Western nations?</p>
<p>It could have something to do with the fact that Denmark has some of the highest ratings of gender equality in the world. For example, in 2021, the U.N. ranked the U.S. 44th <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/thematic-composite-indices/gender-inequality-index#/indicies/GII">in gender equality</a> after assessing health outcomes, political representation and workforce participation among men and women. Denmark, on the other hand, was ranked as the most gender equal country in the world.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.globalledelse.dk/eng/img/pdf/Danish%20Leadership%20Style%20in%20a%20Global%20Perspective_210x280_WEB.pdf">In the Danish workplace</a>, employees and employers are on more equal footing. Managers tend to wield a participatory and democratic leadership style that is informal, open and trusting. There’s an emphasis on a good life-work balance. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.109.3.573">This leadership style</a> upends traditional notions of masculinity because it focuses on communal values: empathy, collaboration and relationship-building. It contrasts with traditionally masculine leadership, which in psychology is called “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1999-04018-011">agentic leadership</a>,” and which centers on dominance, power and achievement. </p>
<p>The U.S. <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/cultures-consequences/book9710">tends to champion more masculine values and attitudes</a> in the workplace. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000175">In one experimental study</a>, American men who cried in response to a negative performance evaluation were judged more harshly than women who cried in the same circumstances, because it violated expectations of appropriate masculine behavior. </p>
<p>Royalty in an egalitarian country such as Denmark might seem odd to some people. But King Frederik X, whose role is more cultural and ceremonial, is simply embodying Danish sensibilities. </p>
<p>At his party, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIsnIt1p978">he can cry if he wants to</a> – <a href="https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/ny-maaling-viser-hoej-opbakning-til-kronprinsparret">and he’ll be all the more beloved for it</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Helweg-Larsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>American men see manhood in opposition to womanhood. Danes, on the other hand, see manhood as not acting immaturely, as a boy would.Marie Helweg-Larsen, Professor of Psychology, Dickinson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2216022024-01-23T04:33:03Z2024-01-23T04:33:03ZAustralia risks falling behind allies on research security. Will it take a spy scandal in our universities to catch up?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570797/original/file-20240123-15-9mk3k7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1000%2C0%2C3782%2C3296&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-building-with-trees-in-front-of-it-wkn_GKuDGg4">Jon Callow / Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Late last year, a PhD student named Yuekang Li was <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-federal-court-decision-to-bar-chinese-student-expands-definition-of/">refused a study visa</a> to enter Canada. Why? Canada’s Federal Court was <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2023/2023fc1753/2023fc1753.html">concerned</a> he could be “targeted and coerced into providing information that would be detrimental to Canada”.</p>
<p>Li wasn’t the only one. Earlier this month, Iranian computer engineering student Reza Jahantigh was <a href="https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/01/09/iranian-student-denied-permit-to-study-in-canada-disputes-security-danger-label/">denied a visa</a> to study his PhD in Canada, because of his previous service in the Iranian military. Some observers have <a href="https://higheredstrategy.com/a-deeply-unhelpful-federal-court-ruling/">called the decisions “deeply unhelpful”</a>, and said they <a href="https://uwimprint.ca/article/federal-court-bans-chinese-student-from-studying-at-uw/">risked the prospects of future international students coming to Canada</a>.</p>
<p>Despite such criticisms, Canada is at the forefront of an international charge for stricter “<a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/defence/researchsecurity.html">research security</a>” – the idea of protecting certain university courses and research programs from espionage, foreign interference and technology theft. </p>
<p>While countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are moving swiftly to make their research more secure, Australia lags behind. And our need for research security is only set to grow.</p>
<h2>Rules around the world</h2>
<p>In the US, applicants for federal funding must comply with strict guidelines on <a href="https://new.nsf.gov/research-security">disclosing both local and foreign partners</a>. Canada has <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-morning-update-ottawa-clamps-down-on-university-research-partnerships/">banned research collaborations with foreign entities</a> connected with Chinese, Russian or Iranian military or intelligence agencies. </p>
<p>The UK even <a href="https://www.ukri.org/manage-your-award/good-research-resource-hub/trusted-research-and-innovation/">funds specific university research into how they secure their work</a>. The Netherlands, a <a href="https://english.loketkennisveiligheid.nl/">world leader with its own brand of “knowledge security”</a>, has even proposed a controversial law to <a href="https://delta.tudelft.nl/en/article/knowledge-security-law-then-screen-everyone">security-screen every foreign researcher</a>, irrespective of their home country.</p>
<h2>What is Australia doing?</h2>
<p>In Australia, research security is a contentious topic. We don’t recognise the term, we don’t really talk about it, and it doesn’t appear in parliamentary press releases. But there are real threats to our universities. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Intelligence_and_Security/NationalSecurityRisks/Report">parliamentary inquiry in 2022</a> heard stories of coercion, suppression and foreign interference on almost every Australian campus. Two years on, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Intelligence_and_Security/NationalSecurityRisks/Government_Response">almost none of the inquiry’s recommendations have been completely adopted</a>. </p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-chinese-politics-in-australia-polarised-views-leave-academics-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-157886">Teaching Chinese politics in Australia: polarised views leave academics between a rock and a hard place</a>
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<p>Last year, my colleagues and I found <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:af6347b">Australia has more than 3,000 research agreements with China</a>, some of which might pose significant security risks. Only a few months ago, the Five Eyes – <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/five-eyes-intelligence-chiefs-warn-chinas-theft-intellectual-property-2023-10-18/">composed of the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia</a> – called China an “unprecedented threat” to innovative research around the world. </p>
<p>We should be worried. Under the AUKUS agreement, Australia is about to receive some of the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-19/defence-staff-studying-nuclear-science-aukus-program/100710264">most closely guarded military secrets in the world</a> courtesy of the US – nuclear-powered submarines. </p>
<p>After that, we will be <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/aukus-pillar-two-advancing-capabilities-united-states-united-kingdom-and-australia">sharing breakthroughs in military technologies</a> such as robotics, hypersonic missiles and quantum computers. The government has even <a href="https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/media-releases/2023-11-29/additional-university-places-grow-australias-aukus-workforce">allocated thousands of new university positions to support AUKUS</a>. </p>
<h2>Some action, but not enough</h2>
<p>But what Australia hasn’t done is take a really good look at what needs to be done to keep those secrets safe.</p>
<p>We aren’t completely defenceless. ASIO has published a booklet called <a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/system/files/2023-05/Protect%20Your%20Research%2C%20Collaborate%20with%20Care%20-%20Booklet.pdf">Collaborate with Care</a>, which gives researchers tips on how to ensure their research isn’t compromised. And one of Australia’s biggest funding bodies, the Australian Research Council, recently published its <a href="https://www.arc.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-12/ARC%20Countering%20Foreign%20Interference%20Framework.pdf">Countering Foreign Interference Framework</a>. </p>
<p>But the steps outlined in those publications are all voluntary, and pale in comparison with our international allies. So, what will it take for Australia to reconsider its position on research security?</p>
<h2>Does Australia need a scandal?</h2>
<p>Put simply, Australia seems to need a proper research security scandal in one of its universities.</p>
<p>The US has a long history of research security scandals. One of the worst was the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/education-or-espionage-chinese-student-takes-his-homework-home-china-n893881">alleged theft of “military grade meta-materials”</a> by Chinese entrepreneur and one-time graduate student Ruopeng Liu from Duke University in 2009. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-thousand-talents-plan-is-part-of-chinas-long-quest-to-become-the-global-scientific-leader-145100">The Thousand Talents Plan is part of China's long quest to become the global scientific leader</a>
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<p>In 2018, Hao Zhang – a professor at China’s Tianjin University – was arrested (and later convicted) for <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-citizen-convicted-economic-espionage-theft-trade-secrets-and-conspiracy">stealing semiconductor technology from US businesses</a>. And in 2021, Harvard professor Charles Lieber – once considered a frontrunner for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry – was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-27/harvard-professor-sentenced-for-lying-about-china/102273486">convicted of fraud</a> for lying about payments he received to be a “strategic scientist” for foreign universities.</p>
<p>Canada too has had its scandals. In 2021, doctors Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng were <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-lab-security-experts-1.6059097">fired by Canada’s National Microbiology Lab and lost their security clearances</a> for allegedly sharing virus samples with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And in 2023, Norwegian officials arrested a Russian intelligence agent named Mikhail Mikushin, who had <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/12/14/man-accused-of-being-spy-admits-hes-russian-after-years-posing-as-academic-in-norway-canada/?sh=5ee2cf5c7c96">posed for years as a Canadian university academic</a>.</p>
<h2>Close calls</h2>
<p>In Australia, we’ve come close. Just two years ago, the ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess told the Five Eyes his agency had <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-18/five-eyes-spy-summit-asio-cia-fbi-san-francisco/102984976">expelled a visiting professor</a> who had been given “money and a shopping list of intelligence requirements” by Chinese intelligence. Then, last year, ASIO warned that foreign intelligence agents have been told to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/20/foreign-spies-are-aggressively-seeking-disloyal-insiders-with-access-to-australias-secrets-asio-warns">“aggressively seek” and steal AUKUS secrets</a> from Australia.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-quest-for-techno-military-supremacy-91840">China's quest for techno-military supremacy</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>So perhaps we should act now, before we get a scandal to spur us into action. </p>
<p>We could be having open, honest and frank discussions between universities and our intelligence services. We could be crafting a robust research security policy hand-in-hand between academia and government. We could be looking at what works around the world, analysing it, critiquing it, and seeing if it works here. </p>
<p>Otherwise, Australia stands to lose the very secrets we have just been entrusted to keep.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221602/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Walker-Munro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s allies are serious about the risk of research espionage - and one way or another, we need to catch up.Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206422024-01-22T13:30:00Z2024-01-22T13:30:00ZTransgender regret? Research challenges narratives about gender-affirming surgeries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569390/original/file-20240115-19-obyz75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=135%2C23%2C5179%2C3519&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gender-affirming surgeries give transgender people the opportunity to align their bodies with their gender identity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/transgender-woman-prepares-another-womans-makeup-prior-to-news-photo/1484588805?adppopup=true">Luke Dray/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570225/original/file-20240118-21-ts9rff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570225/original/file-20240118-21-ts9rff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570225/original/file-20240118-21-ts9rff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570225/original/file-20240118-21-ts9rff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570225/original/file-20240118-21-ts9rff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570225/original/file-20240118-21-ts9rff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570225/original/file-20240118-21-ts9rff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>You’ll often hear <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/us/politics/transgender-care-detransitioners.html">lawmakers</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJMMqREtQJc">activists</a> and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-transgender-health-care-issues-2021-05-23/">pundits</a> argue that many transgender people regret their decision to have gender-affirming surgeries – a belief that’s been fueling a <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/healthcare_youth_medical_care_bans">wave of legislation</a> that restricts access to gender-affirming health care.</p>
<p>Gender-affirming care can include surgical procedures such as facial reconstruction, <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/top-surgery">chest or “top” surgery</a>, and <a href="https://transcare.ucsf.edu/guidelines/vaginoplasty">genital or “bottom” surgery</a>.</p>
<p>But in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/article-abstract/2813212">an article</a> we recently published in JAMA Surgery, we challenge the notion that transgender people often regret gender-affirming surgeries. </p>
<p>Evidence suggests that less than 1% of transgender people who undergo gender-affirming surgery report regret. That proportion is even more striking when compared to the fact that 14.4% of the broader population reports regret after similar surgeries. </p>
<p>For example, studies have found that between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2017.06.032">5% and 14%</a> of all women who receive mastectomies to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer say they regretted doing so. However, less than 1% of transgender men who receive the same procedure report regret.</p>
<p>These statistics are based on reviews of <a href="https://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/2021/03000/regret_after_gender_affirmation_surgery__a.22.aspx">existing studies</a> that investigated regret among 7,928 transgender individuals who received gender-affirming surgeries. Although some of this prior research <a href="https://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/2021/11000/letter_to_the_editor__regret_after.29.aspx">has been criticized</a> for overlooking the fact that regret can sometimes take years to develop, it aligns with the growing body of studies that show positive health outcomes among transgender people who receive gender-affirming care. </p>
<h2>Why access to gender-affirming surgery matters</h2>
<p>About <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/">1.6 million people</a> in the U.S. identify as transgender. While only <a href="https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf">about 25%</a> of these individuals have obtained gender-affirming surgeries, <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.30348">these procedures have become more commonplace</a>. From 2016 to 2020, roughly 48,000 trans people in the U.S. received gender-affirming surgeries.</p>
<p>These procedures provide transgender people with the opportunity to align their physical bodies with their gender identity, which could positively impact mental health. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2021.2016537">Research shows</a> that access to gender-affirming surgeries may reduce levels of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation among transgender people. </p>
<p>The mental health benefits may explain the low levels of regret. Transgender people have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2022.2093629">far higher rates</a> of mental health concerns than cisgender people, or people whose gender identity aligns with their sex at birth. This is largely because transgender people have a more difficult time <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-new-science-of-authenticity-says-about-discovering-your-true-self-175314">living authentically</a> without experiencing <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6803a3.htm?s_cid=mm6803a3_w">discrimination, harassment and violence</a>.</p>
<p>Gender-affirming surgery often involves <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2022.2100644">going through a number of hoops</a>: waiting periods, hormone therapy and learning about the potential risks and benefits of the procedures. Although most surgeries are reserved for adults, the <a href="https://www.wpath.org/">leading guidelines</a> recommend that patients be at least 15 years old.</p>
<p>This thorough process that trans people go through before receiving surgery may also explain the lower levels of regret. </p>
<p>In addition, many cisgender people get surgeries that, in their ideal world, they wouldn’t receive. But they go through with the surgery in order to prevent a health problem. </p>
<p>For instance, a cisgender woman who receives a mastectomy to avoid breast cancer may ultimately regret the decision if she dislikes her new appearance. Meanwhile, a transgender man who receives the same procedure is more likely to be pleased with a masculine-looking chest.</p>
<h2>Improving research and public policy</h2>
<p>It’s important to note that this research is not conclusive. Views of surgeries <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-3895-9">can change over time</a>, and patients can feel quite differently about their outcomes eight years <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0300-8">after their surgery</a> as opposed to one year after their surgery.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the consensus among experts, including at the <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-reinforces-opposition-restrictions-transgender-medical-care">American Medical Association</a>, is that gender-affirming surgery can improve transgender people’s health and should not be banned. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/healthcare_youth_medical_care_bans">U.S. states</a> such as Oklahoma and North Dakota have ignored this consensus and have restricted access to these procedures. In response, 12 states have designated themselves “<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2812422">sanctuaries</a>” for gender-affirming care.</p>
<p>Although our statistics on surgical regret may change as researchers learn more, they are the best data that health care providers have. And public policies that are based on the best available evidence have the most potential to improve people’s lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harry Barbee has received funding from the National Institute on Aging for their past work. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bashar Hassan and Fan Liang do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The findings push back against the notion that many transgender people end up wishing they hadn’t gone through with gender-affirming surgeries.Harry Barbee, Assistant Professor of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins UniversityBashar Hassan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Johns Hopkins UniversityFan Liang, Assistant Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2186682024-01-17T13:36:47Z2024-01-17T13:36:47ZHelium is an essential material for research and medical equipment, but it’s nonrenewable and difficult to recycle<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567962/original/file-20240104-29-yf3a44.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C3264%2C1812&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A bag full of gas used in a helium recovery system.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bluefors Cryocooler Technology, Inc.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The next time you pick up balloons for your big party, remember the helium gas in those balloons is destined for the stars. Helium is so light that it easily escapes Earth’s gravity, and all helium will eventually make its way into space. Like fossil fuels, helium is a limited resource. </p>
<p>Helium shortages have become an acute problem for many researchers. Since early 2022, a variety of factors have put pressure on the global helium market, including <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.adm7941">the potential sale</a> of the U.S.’s publicly held helium reserves and production infrastructure, <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/sanctions-on-russia-add-to-troubles-facing-global-helium-industry-01646337907">sanctions against Russia</a> and a series of <a href="https://www.gasworld.com/story/kornbluth-latest-amur-fire-tightens-helium-supply-for-2022/">breakdowns at helium plants</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gasworld.com/story/helium-shortage-4-0-continuing-uncertainty-in-the-market/">Four helium shortages</a> have occurred over the past decade, and these disruptions affect several high-tech industries. Beyond inflating balloons, helium plays a part in welding for certain metals and in making semiconductors.</p>
<p>Medical imaging and chemical analysis research also use helium. Liquid helium cooled to minus-450 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-268 degrees Celsius) keeps the superconducting magnets in instruments like magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, and nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, systems cool. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568307/original/file-20240108-14-w0b91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white MRI machine, which has a tube with a cot inside and a white monitor in the background, and a black monitor with blurred images of a human skull, in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568307/original/file-20240108-14-w0b91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568307/original/file-20240108-14-w0b91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568307/original/file-20240108-14-w0b91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568307/original/file-20240108-14-w0b91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568307/original/file-20240108-14-w0b91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568307/original/file-20240108-14-w0b91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568307/original/file-20240108-14-w0b91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">MRI machines need liquid helium to keep the magnetic field functioning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mapi.associatedpress.com/v1/items/a6faf0ae96d649cdb2c8af3625eb34d5/preview/AP16295528547224.jpg?wm=api&tag=app_id=1,user_id=925287,org_id=101781">AP Photo/Keith Srakocic</a></span>
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<p>Helium shortages put pressure on many industries, and when a shortage hits, helium <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adm7941">costs can spike dramatically</a>. Even consumers can be affected – prices for inflated party balloons and helium tank kits <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49715838">have increased substantially</a>.</p>
<h2>Helium in research – a cold conundrum</h2>
<p>Both MRI and NMR instruments require extremely strong magnetic fields to operate. The most efficient way to generate those fields <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-superconductors-work-a-physicist-explains-what-it-means-to-have-resistance-free-electricity-202308">uses superconducting wire</a>. A superconducting electrical current generates a magnetic field, and once started, these currents can continue for decades <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/286/1/012016">without additional electrical input</a>.</p>
<p>But there is a catch. Without liquid helium, the wires quickly warm up. Over time, the helium used to cool the magnets evaporates. The superconductivity goes away, and the magnetic field dissipates. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, LK-99, a potential new <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-have-been-researching-superconductors-for-over-a-century-but-they-have-yet-to-find-one-that-works-at-room-temperature-3-essential-reads-216806">room-temperature superconductor</a> made headlines worldwide. Such a material, if found, could eliminate the need for helium in MRI and NMR systems. </p>
<p>So far, LK-99 has not produced a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02585-7">breakthrough in superconductivity</a>, although scientists are still hunting for <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">new superconducting materials</a>.</p>
<p>Until scientists find a functional room temperature superconductor, MRI and NMR facilities need helium. A small to midsize university or hospital may spend <a href="https://info.blockimaging.com/how-much-will-it-cost-to-refill-helium-in-my-mri-machine">US$20,000 per year on liquid helium</a>, as every few months, their liquid helium supplies need replenishing. </p>
<p>Larger facilities need more, and over the past two to three years, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adm7941">the price of helium</a> has doubled. <a href="https://ivanmr.com/event/helium-crisis-4-0-as-it-pertains-to-the-nmr-community/">Some institutions</a> have been forced to de-energize their instruments as a result. This process shuts down the magnetic field, effectively halting the instrument’s activity until the facility can buy helium again.</p>
<p><iframe id="btsb0" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/btsb0/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>New helium on the horizon</h2>
<p>One approach to address the helium shortage involves seeking additional helium sources. Helium is normally obtained as a <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/helium/about-helium">byproduct of drilling for natural gas</a>, since helium collects underground in pockets containing methane and other hydrocarbons. </p>
<p>Methane is a greenhouse gas, and burning natural gas <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/natural-gas/natural-gas-and-the-environment.php">releases carbon dioxide</a> into the atmosphere. Methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contribute to climate change. </p>
<p>But pockets of helium that aren’t mixed with natural gas could exist in places underground. <a href="https://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/2016/06/huge-helium-discovery-a-life-saving-find/">Researchers searching</a> in Africa have identified what could be a major store of helium in Tanzania’s Rukwa Region. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dhakatribune.com/financial-markets/329840/noble-helium-asx-nhe-down-16%25-an-awkward">At least two companies</a> are actively trying to locate these pockets, which originate from <a href="https://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/2016/06/huge-helium-discovery-a-life-saving-find/">unique volcanic activity in the area</a>. Drilling at these sites could be a more climate-friendly alternative – although any form of drilling has local environmental impacts. </p>
<p>As of early December 2023, the helium levels found from drilling these pockets seem promising. <a href="https://www.investi.com.au/api/announcements/nhe/adc30bea-f91.pdf">The most recent exploration</a> reveals helium levels of at least 2% to 3%, more than 1,000 times normal atmospheric levels. This is <a href="https://doi.org/10.7569/jnge.2016.692506">on par with other drilling sites</a> that produce helium.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567958/original/file-20240104-15-1owtjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A tall steel drilling rig and a large yellow container, with a red flag on top of the container." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567958/original/file-20240104-15-1owtjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567958/original/file-20240104-15-1owtjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567958/original/file-20240104-15-1owtjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567958/original/file-20240104-15-1owtjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567958/original/file-20240104-15-1owtjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567958/original/file-20240104-15-1owtjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567958/original/file-20240104-15-1owtjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A helium drilling system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lorna Blaisse, Helium One Global Ltd.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Two companies are currently searching for helium in Africa, and both plan to continue searching for higher helium levels. However, <a href="https://www.gasworld.com/story/the-2023-worldwide-helium-market/2128890.article/">independent industry assessments</a> estimate that new helium facilities may not come online until 2025 or later. </p>
<p>Even so, these efforts do not solve the bigger problem – the need for a renewable helium source.</p>
<h2>Reusing existing helium</h2>
<p>Until scientists have reliable, room-temperature superconductors or find an unlimited helium supply, conserving available helium is the best route forward. Fortunately, this is becoming easier to do. </p>
<p>Researchers at <a href="https://www.ameslab.gov/insider-april-2022">Iowa State University</a> began recycling their helium in the 1960s. Since then, this technology has become cheaper, and both the <a href="https://mcbblog.nsfbio.com/2022/05/24/nsf-bio-and-che-will-fund-acquisition-of-helium-recovery-systems/">U.S. National Science Foundation</a> and the <a href="https://loop.nigms.nih.gov/2020/02/nigms-administrative-supplements-for-helium-recovery-systems-2/">U.S. National Institutes of Health</a> have funded efforts to install helium recovery equipment in academic research settings. </p>
<p>These systems are becoming more common, even in smaller NMR facilities. And scientists, including researchers in my lab, are helping each other by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@FitzkeeLab/">sharing their experiences</a> installing this equipment.</p>
<p>Helium recovery systems involve three main components. First, there is a system that <a href="https://cbic.yale.edu/about-us/helium-recovery">transports evaporated helium</a> from the superconducting magnets. This component monitors the evaporation rate and ensures a steady flow through the system.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568305/original/file-20240108-25-xdlll4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large metal structure next to a truck and a cylindrical red tank, with the setting sun in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568305/original/file-20240108-25-xdlll4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568305/original/file-20240108-25-xdlll4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568305/original/file-20240108-25-xdlll4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568305/original/file-20240108-25-xdlll4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568305/original/file-20240108-25-xdlll4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568305/original/file-20240108-25-xdlll4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568305/original/file-20240108-25-xdlll4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A helium drilling facility at sunset.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Noble Helium Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, there is a collection system. For large facilities, this consists of <a href="https://nationalmaglab.org/about-the-maglab/around-the-lab/what-is-that/helium-recovery-bag/">a large, flexible bag</a>. The bag expands as it collects the evaporated helium, storing it temporarily. This bag is the size of a small car, and where space is a concern, smaller facilities can use helium tanks for storage. </p>
<p>Third, there is a system that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/101/1/012103">reliquefies the gaseous helium</a>. This is the most expensive component, and it uses electrical energy to cool the helium. Once liquefied, the facility staff transfers the helium back to the magnets.</p>
<p>While the helium shortage has led to significant challenges, many scientists are optimistic about the future. Researchers continue to search for room-temperature superconductors. New helium facilities in Tanzania could increase supply. And more widespread access to helium recovery equipment is allowing scientists to conserve this valuable resource.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218668/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Fitzkee receives funding from The National Science Foundation (DBI 2215258, CHE/MCB 2304919) and the National Institutes of Health (R01GM113152). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p>With the fourth significant shortage of helium in a decade continuing, companies and researchers are looking for alternative sources.Nicholas Fitzkee, Professor of Chemistry, Mississippi State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2210122024-01-15T23:33:57Z2024-01-15T23:33:57ZNetflix’s You Are What You Eat uses a twin study. Here’s why studying twins is so important for science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569230/original/file-20240115-23-hyyxnq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=753%2C126%2C2891%2C1891&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still from You Are What You Eat.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Netflix</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new Netflix documentary, You Are What You Eat, showcases sets of identical twins as they adopt different diets. For eight weeks one twin follows a vegan diet while the other one follows an omnivorous diet. The experiment is compelling because, being genetically identical, the health of each twin is very similar before the trial. </p>
<p>I won’t spoil the ending for those who haven’t seen it, but if you prefer the drab writings of academics over the glitz and glamour of Netflix, you can read the published paper <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2812392">in the journal JAMA Network Open</a>. </p>
<p>The documentary underscores the extraordinary contribution twin studies make to advancing our understanding of the world. But this goes well beyond comparing different diets. </p>
<p>British polymath Sir Francis Galton <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/41/4/905/686858?login=false">first documented</a> the striking similarities of twins in 1875, arguing this proved “nature” was an important contributor to our dispositions and health. Since then, twins have been used extensively in research. What is it then that makes twins so special, and how do researchers harness the power of twins? </p>
<h2>Twins as comparisons for each other</h2>
<p>The Netflix documentary highlights one important feature of twins – they are good for making comparisons. Identical twins share nearly all of their genes, and usually grow up in the same household, meaning they experience the same parenting, schooling and so on.</p>
<p>The documentary is an example of a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6235704/#:%7E:text=Randomized%20controlled%20trials%20(RCT)%20are,between%20an%20intervention%20and%20outcome.">randomised controlled trial</a>, where participants are selected at random for some intervention (like a new drug) and those not selected serve as controls (in drug trials they might get a placebo). Randomised trials are normally seen as the gold standard in evaluating what works.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/randomised-control-trials-what-makes-them-the-gold-standard-in-medical-research-78913">Randomised control trials: what makes them the gold standard in medical research?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We don’t actually need identical twins for such trials. In fact, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128215142000039">relatively few</a> trials use twins. But twins can help to ensure the treatment and control groups are as similar as possible. This is especially important when there are few participants. In the Netflix study, there were only 44. Without twins, their results would have been more uncertain. </p>
<p>For ethical reasons or just sheer practicality, we can’t always run randomised trials. This is where twins can help us out. Say we want to know the effect of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2118189">education on earnings</a>, or the effect of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29054888/">smoking on developing lung cancer</a>.</p>
<p>These questions, and many more, have been tackled by comparing the differences within sets of identical twins (for example, where one twin smokes and the other doesn’t). </p>
<p>By focusing on differences between twins, we eliminate genetic and common family factors, and can be more confident about causality. Using twins doesn’t fully solve the problem of omitted factors, but it helps to reduce it. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569236/original/file-20240115-15-8y5sv3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women with blonde dreadlocks in a commercial kitchen with various food trays in front of them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569236/original/file-20240115-15-8y5sv3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569236/original/file-20240115-15-8y5sv3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569236/original/file-20240115-15-8y5sv3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569236/original/file-20240115-15-8y5sv3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569236/original/file-20240115-15-8y5sv3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569236/original/file-20240115-15-8y5sv3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569236/original/file-20240115-15-8y5sv3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Still image from You Are What You Eat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Netflix</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Twins and heritability</h2>
<p>Galton’s fascination with twins stemmed from wanting to know why we are the way we are. Is it our genes (nature), or is it our upbringing and personal experiences (nurture)? His early observations were informal, but eventually researchers developed sophisticated methods to disentangle genes and environment. </p>
<p>The main approach is essentially to see whether identical twins, who are genetically the same, are more similar than fraternal twins, who on average share only 50% of the gene variants that make us unique. If the identical twins are more similar, that indicates genes matter.</p>
<p>For example, twin studies have shown that around <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-20360-001">40% of individual differences in personality</a> can be explained by genes, along with as much as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3275599">80–90% of differences in height and weight</a> at the end of childhood.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-people-grow-to-certain-sizes-105131">Curious Kids: Why do people grow to certain sizes?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Limitations and misuse of twin research</h2>
<p>One drawback to twin studies is that twins are a select group, and findings may not always generalise to the broader population. Only about <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mothers-babies/australias-mothers-babies/contents/focus-population-groups/mothers-who-have-multiple-births">1.4% of births in Australia are twins</a>. </p>
<p>Twin heritability studies also rely on <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr04/second">strong assumptions</a>, like that the common family environment matters to the same extent for identical and fraternal twins. This can be overcome by focusing on <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.2218526?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed">identical twins reared apart</a>, but these studies are rare.</p>
<p>There has also been some misunderstanding and misuse of findings from twin studies. Galton’s belief in the power of nature led him to promote <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics">eugenics</a>, the idea of selective breeding to achieve “genetic superiority”, which had <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/eugenics">devastating consequences</a> in the 20th century. </p>
<p>But our genes are not our destiny. While a certain combination of genes may raise the likelihood you’re extraverted, who we grow up to be is a complicated interplay between genes, upbringing and personal experiences. Even disorders with a genetic basis, like Alzheimer’s, are rarely certain to occur, and we can take actions to reduce our risk.</p>
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<span class="caption">Identical twins are actually quite rare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/father-carrying-twin-babies-car-seats-1128705452">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>The future of twin research</h2>
<p>Twin studies have been conducted for decades, with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012821514200009X">more than 60 twin registries</a> operating around the world. In Australia, the largest registry is <a href="https://twins.org.au/">Twins Research Australia</a>, who have around 75,000 members. </p>
<p>With more opportunities to link data, genome mapping, and advances in machine learning, what we can learn from twins will only increase in the future. And we can expect twins to continue to play a key role in advancing our understanding of the world for many years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221012/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Kettlewell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new Netflix documentary follows identical twins as they adopt different diets. This is a great example of a twin study – a uniquely useful research tool in science.Nathan Kettlewell, Senior lecturer, Economics Department, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206322024-01-12T13:28:57Z2024-01-12T13:28:57ZGen Z and millennials have an unlikely love affair with their local libraries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568487/original/file-20240109-27-hil6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Libraries can be an oasis from doomscrolling and information overload.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/NYC_Public_Library_Research_Room_Jan_2006-1-_3.jpg">Diliff/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568935/original/file-20240111-27-544ldb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568935/original/file-20240111-27-544ldb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568935/original/file-20240111-27-544ldb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568935/original/file-20240111-27-544ldb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568935/original/file-20240111-27-544ldb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568935/original/file-20240111-27-544ldb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568935/original/file-20240111-27-544ldb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>A phone fixation may seem at odds with an attraction to books. But the latter may offer a much-needed reprieve from the former.</p>
<p><a href="https://shorturl.at/FQS26">In our recent study of American Gen Z and millennials</a>, we discovered that 92% of them check social media daily; 25% of them check multiple times per hour.</p>
<p>Yet in that same nationally representative study, we also found that Gen Z and millennials are still visiting libraries at a healthy clip, with 54% of Gen Zers and millennials trekking to their local library in 2022. </p>
<p>Our findings reinforce 2017 data from the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/06/21/millennials-are-the-most-likely-generation-of-americans-to-use-public-libraries/">Pew Research Center</a>, which showed that 53% of millennials had gone to their local library over the previous 12 months. By comparison, that same study found that 45% of Gen Xers and 43% of baby boomers visited public libraries.</p>
<p>So why might Gen Z and millennials – sometimes characterized as <a href="https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/gen-z-has-1-second-attention-span-work-marketers-advantage">attention-addled</a> <a href="https://qz.com/quartzy/1748191/how-millennials-became-a-generation-of-homebodies">homebodies</a> – still see value in trips to the public library?</p>
<h2>A preference for print</h2>
<p>We found that Gen Zers and millennials prefer books in print over e-books and audiobooks, even though their other favorite reading formats are decidedly digital, such as video game chats and <a href="https://medium.com/fiction-friends/whats-a-web-novel-and-why-should-you-be-excited-about-them-1181ae02be3b">web novels</a>. American Gen Zers and millennials read an average of two print books per month – nearly double the average for e-books or audiobooks, according to our data.</p>
<p>The preference for print also manifests itself in the types of books Gen Z and millennials are borrowing and buying: 59% said they prefer the same story in graphical or manga format than in text only. </p>
<p>And while some graphic novels, comics and manga can be read on a screen, print is where these intricately illustrated books truly shine. </p>
<h2>Beyond reading</h2>
<p>We were most surprised by our finding that 23% of Gen Zers and millennials who don’t identify as readers nonetheless visited a physical library in the past 12 months. </p>
<p>It’s a reminder that libraries <a href="https://ischool.syr.edu/12-things-you-can-get-at-libraries-other-than-books/">don’t just serve as a repository for books</a>. Patrons can record podcasts, make music, craft with friends or play video games. There are also quiet spaces with free Wi-Fi, perfect for students or people who work remotely. </p>
<p>Younger generations tend to be more <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/insights/topics/talent/recruiting-gen-z-and-millennials.html">values driven</a> than older ones, and libraries’ ethos of sharing seems to resonate with Gen Zers and millennials – as does a space that’s free from the insipid creep of commercialism. At the library, there are no ads and no fees – well, provided you return your books on time – and no cookies tracking and selling your behavior.</p>
<p>U.S. census data also shows that <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/new-2020-census-data-shows-an-aging-america-and-wide-racial-gaps-between-generations">younger generations are more racially diverse</a> than older generations. </p>
<p>Our survey found that 64% of Black Gen Zers and millennials visited physical libraries in 2022, a rate that’s 10 percentage points higher than the general population. Meanwhile, Asian and Latino Gen Zers and millennials were more likely than the general population to say that browsing library shelves was a preferred way to discover new books.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two young Black women work from a desk at a library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568490/original/file-20240109-27-ra0uc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568490/original/file-20240109-27-ra0uc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568490/original/file-20240109-27-ra0uc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568490/original/file-20240109-27-ra0uc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568490/original/file-20240109-27-ra0uc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568490/original/file-20240109-27-ra0uc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568490/original/file-20240109-27-ra0uc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Libraries are chock-full of resources – including free Wi-Fi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-wearing-turban-using-laptop-while-sitting-royalty-free-image/1439945442?phrase=young+people+at+library&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">Maskot/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A crucial moment for libraries</h2>
<p>Though libraries have been forced to <a href="https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/09/american-library-association-releases-preliminary-data-2023-book-challenges">reckon with book bans</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/tennessees-drag-ban-rehashes-old-culture-war-narratives-201623">politicization of public spaces</a>, Gen Zers and millennials still see libraries as a kind of oasis – a place where doomscrolling and information overload can be quieted, if temporarily. </p>
<p>Perhaps Gen Zers’ and millennials’ library visits, like their <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/29/dumb-phones-are-on-the-rise-in-the-us-as-gen-z-limits-screen-time.html">embrace of flip phones</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-so-many-gen-z-ers-drawn-to-old-digital-cameras-198854">board games</a>, are another life hack for slowing down.</p>
<p>Printed books won’t ping you or ghost you. And when young people eventually log back on to their devices, books <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/BookTok">make excellent props for #BookTok</a>, the community on TikTok where readers review their favorite books.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathi Inman Berens receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Delmas Foundation, the Panorama Project and the American Library Association. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Noorda receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Delmas Foundation, the Panorama Project and the American Library Association.</span></em></p>Though they’re sometimes characterized as attention-addled homebodies, younger people see a real value in libraries − one that goes beyond books.Kathi Inman Berens, Associate Professor of Book Publishing and Digital Humanities, Portland State UniversityRachel Noorda, Associate Professor of Publishing, Portland State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2203182024-01-08T23:41:27Z2024-01-08T23:41:27ZWhen polar bears hunt snow geese, hunger justifies the means<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567181/original/file-20231220-19-d2je5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C1%2C989%2C745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The adaptations that polar bears will have to make to meet the challenges brought about by climate change are numerous and unpredictable.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Polar bears (<em>Ursus maritimus</em>) take advantage of the winter to build up their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/physzool.69.2.30164186">fat reserves</a>. Intensive hunting of seals, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/z75-117">a resource rich in fat</a>, allows bears to store up enough energy to get through the summer.</p>
<p>As the climate warms, hunting opportunities on the ice pack are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12685">diminishing</a>. Experts believe that as a result, there is not sufficient food resources on the land to allow bears to build up <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/140202">the energy reserves they require</a>.</p>
<p>Faced with these changes, some polar bears are taking advantage of colonies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3128">of nesting birds and their eggs</a>, one of the few resources readily available on land, to compensate for their energy deficits. The adaptations that bears will have to make to meet the challenges brought about by climate change are numerous and unpredictable.</p>
<p>As a student researcher in ecology, I was going to take advantage of a short trip north of Baffin Island, in Nunavut, to do some work on the small fauna of Bylot Island. One afternoon, a polar bear decided otherwise. Here we report on his exploits, which led to observations of unprecedented behaviour.</p>
<h2>An unusual sighting – a polar bear in fresh water</h2>
<p>It was Aug. 8, 2021. Some 80 km from the Inuit community of Mittimatalik, the Bylot Island field station was bustling with activity.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2023-0029">Established 30 years ago</a>, the field station is located in the heart of the breeding grounds of the largest known colony of snow geese (<em>Anser caerulescens caerulescens</em>). Today, scientists from a variety of backgrounds scour the Quarliktuvik valley floor, which is generally flat, to study the soil, water, plants and wildlife.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566995/original/file-20231220-25-jybcic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bylot Island main research station TimMoser x" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566995/original/file-20231220-25-jybcic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566995/original/file-20231220-25-jybcic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566995/original/file-20231220-25-jybcic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566995/original/file-20231220-25-jybcic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566995/original/file-20231220-25-jybcic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566995/original/file-20231220-25-jybcic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566995/original/file-20231220-25-jybcic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Bylot Island research camp.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Tim Moser)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Coming out of a ravine, one of the few landforms in the area, I was scanning the valley with my binoculars when two pairs of legs in the distance caught my eye. The image was foggy, but what I initially thought were two colleagues walking side by side, turned out to be the distinctive shape of a polar bear. Everyone in our group had the necessary protective equipment — bear spray, anti-bear cartridges and sometimes even a rifle — but I alerted them by radio and immediately returned to the field station.</p>
<p>Several colleagues had gathered on a small hill to keep an eye on the newcomer. In fact, by the time I’d covered the kilometre distance to the camp, the bear had walked three kilometres and was moving around a pond where geese were gathered. At this time of year, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.00982">the geese are moulting</a> — and therefore unable to fly — so they congregate near ponds to avoid the <a href="https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic604">Arctic fox (<em>Vulpes lagopus</em>)</a>, which is reluctant to jump into the water. With a bear in the vicinity, we ceased our field activities and took advantage of the radiant afternoon to watch the king of the ice pack.</p>
<p>True to form, the geese took refuge in the nearest pond at the first sight of danger. They waded in quickly enough to keep the bear, who was swimming on the surface, at a safe distance.</p>
<p>But the bear was about to use a new hunting technique: he dove under the water, disappeared from the eyes of the geese who had stopped fleeing, and emerged from underneath one of them.</p>
<p>My colleague Mathilde Poirier recorded the behaviour in her notebook:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>1:45 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: the bear swims in the lake […], makes 4 dives to try to catch a goose. Succeeds in its 4th attempt (catches the goose from below, during a dive).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During the afternoon, the bear used this technique two more times, once failing and once with success.</p>
<h2>What are the benefits of this behaviour for bears?</h2>
<p>Two months later, back at Laval University, we were still fascinated by this observation. Nowhere in the scientific literature is there any mention of such behaviour. At best, there are reports of <a href="https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v41.8176">attacks on murres in the ocean</a> near the coasts, an environment very different from the calm, shallow ponds where we observed the bear’s attacks.</p>
<p>Being aware of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/140202">energy challenges</a> bears face during the summer, our research group — led by Matthieu Weiss-Blais — wanted to answer the following question: would this hunting technique allow polar bears to benefit from eating snow geese?</p>
<p>The information recorded in the field, i.e. the time the bear spent swimming and its success in hunting, allowed us to answer this question. By combining our observations with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2209-x">estimates of the energy cost</a> of swimming in bears and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cow045">the energy contained in a snow goose</a>, we were able to model the energy efficiency of the technique.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/AS-2023-0036">These calculations reveal</a> that this hunting technique could allow bears to acquire more energy than they expend, particularly for smaller bears, and if they manage to catch a goose quickly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566994/original/file-20231220-25-lint0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="polar bear" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566994/original/file-20231220-25-lint0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566994/original/file-20231220-25-lint0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566994/original/file-20231220-25-lint0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566994/original/file-20231220-25-lint0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566994/original/file-20231220-25-lint0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566994/original/file-20231220-25-lint0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566994/original/file-20231220-25-lint0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The bear was moving around near a pond occupied by geese.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Yannick Seyer)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An energy boost, but far from sufficient</h2>
<p>However, this energy contribution would be very limited in scope.</p>
<p>First of all, a goose provides relatively little energy — around 200 times less than a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/z75-117">ringed seal weighing 45 kilograms</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, the geese are rarely available as prey: they lose the ability to fly for only three or four weeks each summer and they only have colonies in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.879">a few places</a> in the Arctic.</p>
<p>Hunting geese could therefore be of benefit to certain bears from time to time, but on a population-wide scale, it will not alleviate the energy deficits caused by the melting ice pack.</p>
<p>Although our observation highlights the range of behaviours bears can adopt in order to exploit terrestrial resources, this type of interaction between snow geese and polar bears should have no impact on the populations of either species.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220318/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bolduc received funding from the NSTP and the Canadian Association for Humane Trapping.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthieu Weiss-Blais received funding from NSERC, FRQNT and NSTP.
</span></em></p>Researchers have made a fascinating observation: a polar bear used a diving hunting technique, never before reported, to capture large moulting snow geese.David Bolduc, Étudiant au doctorat en écologie animale, Université LavalMatthieu Weiss-Blais, Étudiant la maîtrise en biologie, Université LavalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169802023-12-21T21:37:49Z2023-12-21T21:37:49ZThe Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank: a goldmine for research on brain diseases<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557356/original/file-20231005-26-rmh9lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C1508&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The experimental methods available today allow us to break the brain down into its elementary components in order to understand its functions and dysfunctions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Human beings have always been fascinated by the brain. </p>
<p>Although scientific knowledge about this 1.3 kg of fragile substance embedded in our cranium has long been incomplete, dazzling technical breakthroughs made in recent years are now ushering in a Golden Age of molecular neuroscience. </p>
<p>These breakthroughs have been made possible partly thanks to brain banks, which preserve human brains in the best possible conditions for scientific research. Here in Montréal, we have one of the world’s largest such banks, the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank (DBCBB), <a href="https://douglasbrainbank.ca">founded in 1980 at the Douglas Hospital</a>. </p>
<p>The DBCBB, which receives several brains each month, has collected over 3,600 specimens to date. Every year, its team processes dozens of tissue requests from scientists in Québec, Canada and abroad, preparing some 2,000 samples for research. </p>
<p>Over the past 40 years, these efforts have led to a considerable number of discoveries about different neurological and psychiatric diseases. </p>
<p>As a full professor in the department of psychiatry at McGill University, researcher at the Douglas Research Centre and director of the DBCBB since 2007, I work in close collaboration with <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/psychiatry/gustavo-turecki">Dr. Gustavo Turecki</a>, co-director of the DBCBB and responsible for the component devoted to psychiatric illnesses and suicide.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C2%2C1535%2C1231&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="cerebral hemisphere" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C2%2C1535%2C1231&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank, which receives several brains each month, has collected over 3,600 specimens to date.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Naguib Mechawar)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A brief history of research on the human brain</h2>
<p>Scientists only began to identify the microscopic elements that make up the human brain in the second half of the 19th century. </p>
<p>That was when brains were preserved for the first time in formalin, a solution that preserves biological tissue so that it can be handled more easily and stored over a longer term.</p>
<p>At the same time, precision instruments and protocols were being developed that made it possible to examine the microscopic characteristics of nervous tissue.</p>
<p>Until the middle of the 20th century, researchers were mainly satisfied with preserving the brains of patients, taken during autopsies, so they could use them to identify possible macroscopic or microscopic changes linked to either neurological or psychiatric symptoms.</p>
<p>This is in fact what the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer did when he analyzed the brain of one of his patients suffering from dementia. In 1906, he described, for the first time, the microscopic lesions which characterize the disease that now bears his name.</p>
<p>Until the end of the 1970s, numerous collections of brain specimens preserved in formalin were built in hospital environments, a bit like the cabinets of curiosities of olden days.</p>
<p>Towards the end of the 20th century, new experimental approaches were developed allowing the high-resolution analysis of cells and molecules within biological tissues.</p>
<p>It then became necessary to collect and preserve human brains, obtained with the consent of the individual or his or her family, in conditions compatible with modern scientific techniques.</p>
<p>Researchers began freezing one of the cerebral hemispheres in order to measure its various molecular components. The other hemisphere was preserved in formalin to be used for macroscopic and microscopic anatomical studies.</p>
<p>This was the context in which the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank was created.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The DBCBB premises" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Montréal is home to one of the world’s largest brain banks, the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank, which was founded in 1980 at the Douglas Hospital.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Naguib Mechawar)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New experimental approaches are yielding results</h2>
<p>Leading researchers from many universities around the world now use DBCBB samples to advance their research. This, of course, includes a number of teams in Québec.</p>
<p>For example, with his team from the Douglas Research Centre, which is affiliated with McGill University, <a href="https://douglas.research.mcgill.ca/judes-poirier/">Judes Poirier</a> discovered that the APOE4 gene is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0140-6736(93)91705-Q">risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease</a>. More recently, the team of <a href="https://crhmr.ciusss-estmtl.gouv.qc.ca/en/researcher/gilbert-bernier">Gilbert Bernier</a>, professor in the department of neuroscience at Université de Montréal, discovered that the lesions characteristic of this disease are associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37444-3">abnormal expression of the BMI1 gene</a>.</p>
<p>With regard to psychiatric illnesses, and more specifically depression, major progress has been made recently by the <a href="https://douglas.research.mcgill.ca/mcgill-group-suicide-studies-mgss/">McGill Group for Suicide Studies</a>. </p>
<p>Using cutting-edge methods to isolate and analyze human brain cells, Turecki’s team has succeeded in precisely identifying the cell types whose function is affected in men <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-0621-y">who have suffered from major depression</a>, and then discovering that the cell types involved in this illness differ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38530-5">between men and women</a>. </p>
<p>These experimental approaches generate huge data sets that can be examined in subsequent studies. This is the case, for example, of work carried out in my laboratory, which identified signs of persistent changes in neuroplasticity within the prefrontal cortex of people with a history of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01372-y">child abuse</a>. In fact, the studies mentioned above enabled us to discover at least one of the cell types involved in this phenomenon. </p>
<p>In short, the experimental methods we have today allow us to break the brain down into its elementary components in order to understand its functions and dysfunctions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cerebral hemispheres preserved in formalin" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leading researchers from many universities around the world benefit from Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank samples to advance their research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Naguib Mechawar)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Identify, prevent, screen and treat</h2>
<p>Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the entire DBCBB team, as well as the unfailing support of all its partners, patrons (often anonymous) and funding bodies — particularly the FRQS research fund and Québec’s suicide research network, the <a href="https://reseausuicide.qc.ca">Réseau québécois sur le suicide, les troubles de l'humeur et les troubles associés</a> — this invaluable resource has not only managed to survive, but to grow and become one of the largest brain banks in the world. </p>
<p>There is every reason to believe that, in the years to come, the DBCBB will play an important role in the increasingly precise identification of the biological causes of brain diseases, and, as a result, will contribute to the identification of new targets for better approaches to prevention, screening and treatment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216980/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naguib Mechawar has received funding from CIHR, NSERC, HBHL (CFREF) and FQRS (NEURON ERA-NET and RQSHA).</span></em></p>Montréal is home to one of the world’s largest brain banks, the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank, where discoveries about different neurological and psychiatric diseases are made.Naguib Mechawar, Neurobiologiste, Institut Douglas; Professeur titulaire, Département de psychiatrie, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168122023-12-13T23:09:55Z2023-12-13T23:09:55ZCanadian scientists are still being muzzled, and that risks undermining climate policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565586/original/file-20231213-31-mk3dtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C76%2C2947%2C1917&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Interference in research has serious consequences for scientists and for the laws and policies their research informs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadian-scientists-are-still-being-muzzled-and-that-risks-undermining-climate-policy" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Environmental scientists in Canada continue to be stifled in their ability to conduct and communicate their research. Interference in science, also referred to as “<a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/canada-and-the-war-on-science/2016985.article">muzzling</a>,” was a well-documented concern during the Conservative government of the early 2010’s, when it gripped the collective consciousness of Canadian federal public sector scientists. Our research sheds light on a broader understanding of the recent interference in environmental sciences in Canada.</p>
<p>Interference is used to describe intentional and unfair constraints on scientists that restrict their ability to conduct and communicate their work. Examples of interference include restrictions on ability to communicate work to the public or colleagues (muzzling), workplace harassment, and undue modifications made to findings that alter the data or its interpretation.</p>
<p>Interference has serious consequences. It causes issues with researchers’ mental health and career satisfaction as well as limits the ability of taxpayer-funded research to be shared with the public.</p>
<p>Even more seriously, interference can lead to downplaying environmental risks or a lack of good information to support decision-making and policies about resource extraction and the environment.</p>
<h2>Study shows interference is ongoing in Canada</h2>
<p>We recently surveyed <a href="https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2023-0005">741 environmental researchers across Canada</a> in two separate <a href="https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2023-0006">studies into interference</a>. We circulated our survey through scientific societies related to environmental fields, as well as directly emailing Canadian authors of peer-reviewed research in environmental disciplines. </p>
<p>Researchers were asked (1) if they believed they had experienced interference in their work, (2) the sources and types of this interference, and (3) the subsequent effects on their career satisfaction and well-being. </p>
<p>We also asked demographic information to understand whether researchers’ perceptions of interference differed by career stage, research area or identity. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565592/original/file-20231213-19-nku1nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black woman in a lab coat looking through a microscope" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565592/original/file-20231213-19-nku1nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565592/original/file-20231213-19-nku1nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565592/original/file-20231213-19-nku1nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565592/original/file-20231213-19-nku1nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565592/original/file-20231213-19-nku1nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565592/original/file-20231213-19-nku1nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565592/original/file-20231213-19-nku1nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interference can lead to downplaying environmental risks or a lack of good information to support decision-making.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although overall ability to communicate is improving, interference is a pervasive issue in Canada, including from government, private industry and academia. We found 92 per cent of the environmental researchers reported having experienced interference with their ability to communicate or conduct their research in some form. </p>
<p>Interference also manifested in different ways and already-marginalized researchers experienced worse outcomes.</p>
<h2>History of interference in Canada</h2>
<p>Under the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, first-hand reports of muzzling by federal government scientists were common. These frustrations eventually boiled over in 2013 when hundreds of scientists took to the streets in lab coats to protest the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/canada-war-on-science/514322/">“war on science.”</a></p>
<p>These claims were later backed in a <a href="https://pipsc.ca/sites/default/files/comms/Defrosting-report-e_v4%202_1.pdf">survey by the Professional Institute of the Public Service (PIPSC)</a>. Their 2013 survey of federal scientists found that 90 per cent of respondents felt restricted in their ability to conduct and communicate research, and 70 per cent reported political interference.</p>
<p>In 2015, the Liberals, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were elected on promises to lift restrictions and implement a <a href="https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/office-chief-science-advisor/model-policy-scientific-integrity">Model Policy on Scientific Integrity</a>. Versions of this policy were adopted in 2019 across all federal scientific departments.</p>
<p>In 2016, PIPSC conducted a follow up survey. They found that although accounts of muzzling had decreased, 50 per cent of respondents still felt restricted in their ability to conduct and communicate work, and 40 per cent experienced ongoing political interference.</p>
<h2>Interference in science today</h2>
<p>Though informative, the PIPSC survey was limited in scope: they only focused on federal government scientists and didn’t investigate all sources of interference, or which subgroups of scientists were most vulnerable. Our research addressed these gaps and investigated the impact of the scientific integrity policies.</p>
<p>In our survey, respondents indicated that, overall, their ability to communicate with the public has improved in the recent years. Of the respondents aware of the government’s scientific integrity policies, roughly half of them attribute positive changes to them. </p>
<p>Others argued that the 2015 change in government had the biggest influence. In the first few months of their tenure, the Liberal government created a new cabinet position, the Minister of Science (this position was absorbed into the role of Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry in 2019), and appointed a <a href="https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/office-chief-science-advisor/model-policy-scientific-integrity">chief science advisor</a> among other changes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565593/original/file-20231213-19-uod420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white woman takes a sample from a body of water. Another person stands next to her carrying a box." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565593/original/file-20231213-19-uod420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565593/original/file-20231213-19-uod420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565593/original/file-20231213-19-uod420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565593/original/file-20231213-19-uod420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565593/original/file-20231213-19-uod420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565593/original/file-20231213-19-uod420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565593/original/file-20231213-19-uod420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many respondents said they limited communication with the public and policymakers to avoid negative backlash or impacts on their careers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though the ability to communicate has generally improved, many of the researchers argued interference still goes on in subtler ways. These included undue restriction on what kind of environmental research they can do, and funding to pursue them. Many respondents attributed those restrictions to the influence of private industry. </p>
<p>Respondents identified the major sources of external interference as management, workplace policies, and external research partners. The chief motivations for interference, as the scientists saw it, included downplaying environmental risks, justifying an organization’s current position on an issue and avoiding contention.</p>
<p>Our most surprising finding was almost half of respondents said they limited their communications with the public and policymakers due to fears of negative backlash and reduced career opportunities.</p>
<p>In addition, interference had not been experienced equally. Early career and marginalized scientists — including those who identify as women, racialized, living with a disability and 2SLGBTQI+ — reported facing significantly more interference than their counterparts.</p>
<p>Scientists studying climate change, pollution, environmental impacted assessments and threatened species were also more likely to experience interference with their work than scientists in other disciplines.</p>
<h2>The consequences for Canadians and our environment</h2>
<p>Environmental policy is only as good as the evidence it is based on. In the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-the-scientific-basis-for-a-rapid-fossil-fuel-phase-out-219382">current climate crisis</a>, effective environmental policy has never been more important. If scientists cannot freely conduct and communicate their work, the gap between evidence and policy widens, and that means Canada gets less effective laws and policies. </p>
<p>Environmental scientists are doing essential work. They are informing and equipping us to fight against the climate crisis, <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-we-fight-to-protect-species-on-the-brink-of-extinction-lets-not-forget-the-familiar-ones-199307">prevent extinction of species</a> and solve the multitude of environmental challenges we face. If scientists are unable to effectively communicate with the public, democratic decision-making, that depends on informed voters, could be compromised as well. </p>
<p>All institutions employing scientists must take active steps to protect them from interference. This can be done by implementing and upholding scientific integrity policies, similar to those of the federal government, and creating better supports for early career researchers and those from marginalized backgrounds. </p>
<p>From the public and the news media, we should demand that scientists’ voices and knowledge have a secure place in public discourse, while also protecting them from online harassment and backlash. We are grateful to have been able to undertake and share our research without interference. We hope that changes can be made so that scientists, in all sectors and all institutions, share this privilege.</p>
<p><em>Nada Salem from Evidence for Democracy also co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216812/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alana Westwood received funding to support this work from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Manjulika E. Robertson received funding from the Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha M. Chu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If scientists cannot freely conduct and communicate their work, the gap between evidence and policy widens, and that means Canada gets less effective laws and policies.Alana Westwood, Assistant Professor, School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie UniversityManjulika E. Robertson, Research Associate, Westwood Lab, Dalhousie UniversitySamantha M. Chu, Master of Environmental Studies Student, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2133012023-12-07T21:24:34Z2023-12-07T21:24:34ZHow ChatGPT can help you do archival research — but never replace archivists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563693/original/file-20231205-29-c6ylsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C179%2C5029%2C3008&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Archivists are needed to help users of archives make good use of AI-powered technologies for effective research. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-chatgpt-can-help-you-do-archival-research-but-never-replace-archivists" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Archivists assist users like historians, genealogists, students or citizens in locating, accessing and interpreting archives. <a href="https://www.archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12742">Archival reference services</a> have long been seen as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-012-9180-7">services that mediate understanding and dialogue</a> between archivists, users and archives to make documentary objects more accessible and usable.</p>
<p>Recent years have seen the introduction of <a href="https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1799&context=nlj">artificial intelligence</a> (AI) <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01689-y">in heritage institutions like libraries, archives, museums and galleries</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers are examining how AI is affecting and will affect archival services, from <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/full/10.1145/3479010">the automation of recordkeeping, to organizing archives and new forms of digital archives</a>. There has been much discussion about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01689-y">the benefits of AI</a> in terms of <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/194106/">supporting users</a>. </p>
<p>Among AI-powered technologies, <a href="https://openai.com/chatgpt">ChatGPT</a>
can support some aspects of archival reference services. However, using it requires human supervision. </p>
<p>Through a few examples of a real conversation with this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49186-4_31">chatbot</a>, it’s possible to explore the relevance of this AI-powered technology as an archival assistant — and also, its limitations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man seen at a filing cabinet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563694/original/file-20231205-23-s99yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563694/original/file-20231205-23-s99yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563694/original/file-20231205-23-s99yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563694/original/file-20231205-23-s99yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563694/original/file-20231205-23-s99yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563694/original/file-20231205-23-s99yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563694/original/file-20231205-23-s99yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even with technologies to assist research, archivists will long have a role helping users interpret and access documentary objects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A glossary of key concepts</h2>
<p>Supposing a student in social sciences needs to consult and examine historical written sources. However, the student is insufficiently familiar with the basic principles of <a href="https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/archival-science.html">archival science</a> — how to <a href="https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/archival-science.html">identify, acquire, authenticate, preserve and access</a> records of continuing value. </p>
<p>Having formulated a request online for the national archives of his country, for example, <a href="https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng">Library and Archives Canada</a>, the student was invited to consult, in person, the archives of interest, as they aren’t accessible online. </p>
<p>If the student wants to ensure a basic orientation for a visit, he could use ChatGPT to help, asking the question: “What are archives?”</p>
<p>When I posed this question, the answer generated suggests how this chatbot can be used as a glossary. The answer focuses on the nature of archives and their importance for providing authentic evidence of activities: “Archives refer to a collection of historical records that are preserved for long term use. These records can be in various formats, including paper documents, photographs, audiovisual materials, digital files and more.” </p>
<p>Chat GPT defined what the word “archives” means, as well as the most distinctive properties of these authentic documentary objects. What was helpful in the definition was that, more precisely, ChatGPT qualified archives as documentary proofs preserved for evidence, whether for administrative, historical or scientific purposes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/historians-archival-research-looks-quite-different-in-the-digital-age-121096">Historians' archival research looks quite different in the digital age</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A practical guide or a manual</h2>
<p>Supposing a student realized that in an e-mail received from the national archives of his country, the archivist used the word “<a href="https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/finding-aid.html">finding aid</a>” as a search tool. The student wishes to understand how a finding aid works. </p>
<p>I posed this question to ChatGPT and the generated answer reflects a set of instructions usually provided by archivists for users. It indicates a finding aid helps users get more familiar with archives’ scope, arrangement as well as how they are organized and any restrictions on them.</p>
<h2>A search engine or an online catalogue</h2>
<p>Or, if a student decides to visit an archives consultation room, he might notice that some archives include a reference to archival material held by National Library and Archives of Québec <a href="https://www.banq.qc.ca/">(Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)</a>. </p>
<p>The student doesn’t live in Québec but is willing to travel there to consult these archives. It is possible to query ChatGPT — as I did — to see if it can provide him with some relevant information so he is more prepared for his visit, asking: “Give me an example of collections held by Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.” </p>
<p>For each of the examples generated, a short description of the archives included in each category is provided (photographs, maps, texts, audiovisual material, and so on). However, this query does not yield precise names of archives. Nevertheless, even this limited query of ChatGPT suggests it can also enhance the visibility of heritage institutions’ archival collections and support a better dissemination of cultural heritage.</p>
<h2>‘Archival intelligence’</h2>
<p>Getting the most of one’s archival user experience requires a set of skills translating what archival researchers Elizabeth Yakel and Deborah A. Torres refer to as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40294217"><em>archival intelligence</em></a>. As my examples note, the use of a generative AI tool like ChatGPT makes it possible for users to develop a part of this archival intelligence autonomously. </p>
<p>However, limitations must be noted. In my examples, most of ChatGPT-generated answers include concepts like “document” and “record” that are used interchangeably. A trained eye familiar with the sources and variances in terminology across time and systems is needed to consider how this affects the search. </p>
<h2>Expert familiarity with terminology</h2>
<p>When I tried to problem-solve this by posing another query: “What is the difference between a record and a document?”, ChatGPT was not able to distinguish, properly, the key difference between the two. </p>
<p>The given answer was: “Documents are a subset of records. Not all records are documents, as records can include non-documentary forms of information like data entries, logs, or other records or activities.” This answer isn’t correct, because in archival science, <a href="http://www.interpares.org/ip2/display_file.cfm?doc=ip2_book_appendix_02.pdf">records are documents, since they are products of an inscription on a relatively stable medium</a>. </p>
<h2>Archivists still needed</h2>
<p>Many scholars in archival science have studied the forms of records in digital environments. Chief of these are research groups of <a href="http://interpares.org/background.htm#">The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES)</a>, led by Luciana Duranti, professor emerita in archival studies at the University of British Columbia. </p>
<p>InterPARES offers insights on how records, which should exist in a documentary medium and have persistent content, can manifest differently in digital environments. So, records are documents. This makes us realize ChatGPT may give false or erroneous information. Another issue is that users may misinterpret ChatGPT answers. </p>
<p>Thus, archivists are still invited to play a <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/19961084.pdf">documentary mediation</a> role with users. This will ensure that the latter make good use of AI-powered technologies to improve their archival intelligence for a better understanding of archives and their terminology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siham Alaoui does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>ChatGPT can explain key concepts and information that can help people make the most of their time locating, accessing and interpreting archives. But ChatGPT can also give false information.Siham Alaoui, PhD candidate in archival and communication studies, Sessional lecturer and research assistant, Université LavalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2176282023-12-07T13:28:49Z2023-12-07T13:28:49ZHow I identified a probable pen name of Louisa May Alcott<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563019/original/file-20231201-23-1y1dby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C46%2C3406%2C2692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Louisa May Alcott took part in a 19th-century literary culture of anonymity and guessing games.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/louisa-may-alcott-american-novelist-portrait-1870s-news-photo/929104084?adppopup=true">Universal Images Group/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before Louisa May Alcott published the bestselling “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/514/514-h/514-h.htm">Little Women</a>” in two volumes – the first in 1868, the second in 1869 – she wrote melodramatic thrillers, selling these short stories to magazines to bring in cash for her impoverished family.</p>
<p>On a cold November day in 2021, I was rereading Madeleine B. Stern’s introduction to her 780-page edition of “<a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/louisa-may-alcott-unmasked-collected-thrillers/oclc/31971792">Louisa May Alcott’s Collected Thrillers</a>.” </p>
<p>In the 1940s, Stern, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=fueoOloYKugC&dq">with her research partner Leona Rostenberg</a>, helped reveal that Alcott had written many of these sensational tales <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/pbsa.37.2.24293383">under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard</a>.</p>
<p>But Stern wondered if any other stories written by Alcott were still out there.</p>
<p>For example, in “Little Women,” Jo March – the character who most closely resembles Alcott – also writes short stories to support her struggling family. </p>
<p>“‘A Phantom Hand’ put down a new carpet,” Alcott writes, “and the ‘Curse of the Coventrys’ proved the blessing … in the way of groceries and gowns.”</p>
<p>Stern points out that there’s a related reference in Alcott’s journals – “not to ‘A Phantom Hand’ but to ‘A Phantom Face,’ for which she earned $10 in 1859.”</p>
<p>“But,” Stern adds, “neither the ‘Phantom Hand’ nor the ‘Phantom Face’ has been tracked down.” </p>
<p>At the time, I was a graduate student working on my dissertation. I was on the hunt for pseudoscientific short stories, so the mention of Alcott’s missing tales piqued my interest.</p>
<p>Where was this phantom “Phantom” story? Could I find it?</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563478/original/file-20231204-25-104oz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Scan of old story titled 'The Phantom' in a periodical." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563478/original/file-20231204-25-104oz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563478/original/file-20231204-25-104oz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563478/original/file-20231204-25-104oz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563478/original/file-20231204-25-104oz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563478/original/file-20231204-25-104oz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1181&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563478/original/file-20231204-25-104oz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1181&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563478/original/file-20231204-25-104oz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1181&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Phantom’ appeared in an 1860 issue of the Olive Branch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Max Chapnick</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>After searching digital databases, I came across one such story, called simply “The Phantom,” with the subtitle, “Or, The Miser’s Dream, &c.” It had been published in the Olive Branch in early 1860, months after Alcott listed having written “The Phantom” in her journals. But the byline under the story read E. or I. – I couldn’t quite make out the first initial – Gould, which wasn’t a known pseudonym of Alcott’s.</p>
<p>So I went to sleep. Sometime later I awoke with the thought that Gould might be Alcott. What if, along with her several known pseudonyms – A. M. Barnard, Tribulation Periwinkle and Flora Fairfield, among others – Alcott had yet another that simply hadn’t been identified yet? </p>
<p>I cannot say for certain that Gould is Alcott. But I’ve encountered enough circumstantial evidence to consider it likely Alcott wrote seven stories, five poems and one piece of nonfiction under that name.</p>
<h2>More clues emerge</h2>
<p>The publication dates of Gould’s stories – and the outlets where they appeared – certainly suggest Alcott’s authorship.</p>
<p>From the mid-1850s onward, Alcott regularly churned out stories, and yet the record leaves a noticeable gap between spring 1857 and late 1858. In one of Alcott’s letters from the period, she wrote to a friend asking if the magazine Olive Branch would be interested in more of her work. Years earlier, in 1852, Alcott had published “The Rival Painters” in that magazine. Until now, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Louisa_May_Alcott_Encyclopedia/FTtaAAAAMAAJ">all scholars assumed</a> it was her only story published in the Olive Branch.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jnc.2023.a909300">In the course of my sleuthing</a>, I found several other pieces that were written by Alcott or had likely been written by her, including a 1856 Saturday Evening Gazette piece called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jnc.2023.a909300">The Painter’s Dream</a>” and an anonymous Olive Branch story from 1857, “The Rival Painters: A Tale of Florence.” </p>
<p>The latter “Painters” was published in the exact period – and in the same magazine – as many of the Gould pieces. Several other outlets that published Gould also have connections to Alcott. For example, one of the Gould stories appears in the magazine Flag of Our Union, where Alcott later published under the Barnard pseudonym. </p>
<p>But to me, the clearest evidence connecting Gould to Alcott comes from the stories themselves. The name Alcott serves as the last name of the protagonists in two of Gould’s stories. Additionally, “The Wayside” – the name of one of Alcott’s homes – is the title of a nostalgic piece of nonfiction authored by Gould.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Large, old yellow house with big windows and a thick, tall chimney, flanked by trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563469/original/file-20231204-17-pdcyhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563469/original/file-20231204-17-pdcyhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563469/original/file-20231204-17-pdcyhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563469/original/file-20231204-17-pdcyhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563469/original/file-20231204-17-pdcyhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563469/original/file-20231204-17-pdcyhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563469/original/file-20231204-17-pdcyhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Wayside, where Alcott lived with her family in Concord, Mass., was also the title of a piece of nonfiction by E.H. Gould.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-wayside-is-a-national-historic-landmark-lived-in-by-news-photo/545147518?adppopup=true">Joanne Rathe/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The stories also resemble Alcott’s early fiction in important ways. As I argue in one of my dissertation chapters, Alcott pioneered the “sensation” genre. These stories combined elements of sentimental tales with melodramatic thrillers. Instead of taking place in European castles and British landed estates, they were set in the types of places that would have been familiar to the emerging American middle class, such as doctors’ offices and insane asylums. Alcott’s stories show how tensions of gender and class can make those mundane spaces fraught with danger and possibility.</p>
<p>At the same time, there are signs that Gould might not be Alcott. Gould was a common name, especially around Boston. Alcott also kept lists of her stories, and only one of the Gould pieces – “The Phantom” – shows up on those long lists.</p>
<p>However, evidence suggests that the lists aren’t exhaustive – some stories appear on one list but not another – and Alcott refers to stories in her diaries that don’t appear on any lists.</p>
<h2>Pseudonyms and guessing games</h2>
<p>Why would an author like Alcott use pseudonyms anyway? </p>
<p>For one, <a href="https://public.wsu.edu/%7Ecampbelld/engl368/transoats.pdf">Alcott was poor</a>. So early in her career she wrote and published for money, and she might not have been particularly proud of everything she wrote. By disguising her name, Alcott could publish in less prestigious venues for a quick buck without worrying about tarnishing her literary reputation.</p>
<p>Even though she was poor, Alcott’s family had wealthy and cultured connections. Among them was Henry David Thoreau who, in “Walden,” <a href="http://thepersonalnavigator.blogspot.com/2012/02/thoreau-and-olive-branch.html">disparaged the Olive Branch</a> as one of the papers spreading “the gossip of Boston.” And while Alcott’s own mother often praised her writing, she did so only when the Alcott name was printed in more highly regarded venues, like The Atlantic.</p>
<p>Pseudonyms also allowed Alcott to write about topics she might not have felt comfortable attaching her name to. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Alternative_Alcott/PfOjRvcWHrQC">Many stories written under the Barnard pseudonym</a> depict drug use, reverse gender roles and discuss class conflict in ways that were radical for the late 1850s.</p>
<h2>A culture awash in authorial ambiguity</h2>
<p>Are there any other Alcott stories that remain unidentified? I would say there almost certainly are. As to whether Alcott used any pseudonyms in addition to the ones that have been identified, that’s less likely but possible.</p>
<p>However, I also hope that the identification of Gould restarts a conversation about authorship, especially for literary figures of the past.</p>
<p>Alcott found herself awash in authorial ambiguity. Her first Olive Branch story, “The Rival Painters,” appeared next to a short essay by the wildly famous and pseudonymous <a href="https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=englishfacpubs">Fanny Fern</a>, who was a master at manipulating public perceptions.</p>
<p>After the blockbuster success of “Little Women,” Alcott published a novel, “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Modern_Mephistopheles/_9oBAAAAQAAJ">A Modern Mephistopheles</a>,” as part of the “No Name Series.” Released by the publishing house Roberts Brothers, the collection featured books written anonymously by famous writers. Readers would try to guess the real authors, but Alcott didn’t reveal she wrote the novel until a few months before her death. </p>
<p>Alcott was deeply embedded in a culture of unknown, and yet guessable, authorship. Anonymity liberated Alcott, Fern and other writers – particularly women – by allowing them to tackle risky topics. But anonymity and pseudonyms didn’t stop people from sleuthing, now or then. Readers delighted in trying to figure out an author’s possible masks, just like I’m doing now with Gould. And it wasn’t just readers: Editors and writers withheld information while at the same time leaving clues. Everyone got in on the fun of hidden identities.</p>
<p>I’ll keep gathering evidence that may either prove or disprove Alcott’s authorship of Gould’s stories. But if I never know, that’s fine with me. </p>
<p>Alcott herself loved acting, and she loved wearing masks, both literally on the stage and figuratively in print. In the spirit of the masquerade, the Gould pseudonym adds to the allure of mystery – and the joy of discovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Max Chapnick first presented this research at the American Literature Association Conference in 2022, where he recieved funding from the Louisa May Alcott Society of which he is also a member. </span></em></p>By disguising her name, Alcott could publish in less prestigious venues without worrying about tarnishing her literary reputation.Max Chapnick, Postdoctoral Teaching Associate in English, Northeastern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2159422023-12-07T13:26:48Z2023-12-07T13:26:48ZWhen research study materials don’t speak their participants’ language, data can get lost in translation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563460/original/file-20231204-23-ka52z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2032%2C1462&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some approaches to translation are more true to the aims of the text than others.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/international-communication-translation-royalty-free-illustration/1150757275">arthobbit/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine your mother has cancer. You just heard about a promising new experimental treatment and want to enroll her in the study. However, your mother immigrated to the U.S. as an adult and speaks limited English. When you reach out to the research team, they tell you she is ineligible because they are recruiting only English speakers. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is an all too likely outcome of a scenario like this, because non-English speakers are frequently <a href="https://doi.org/10.5455/aim.2017.25.112-115">excluded from clinical trials</a> and research studies in the U.S.</p>
<p>Despite efforts to increase research participation, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e318208289a">racial and ethnic minorities remain underrepresented</a> in results. A review of 5,008 papers in three pediatric journals from 2012 to 2021 revealed that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.3828">only 9% of these studies included non-English speaking</a> volunteers. </p>
<p>Language is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301706">key barrier to participation</a>, as even those with some English proficiency are less likely to participate in studies when recruitment materials <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301706">aren’t in their native language</a>. Language barriers also hinder a person’s ability to provide <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/eahr.500028">informed consent</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.4103/0253-7176.70517">to participate</a>.</p>
<p>This problem is not likely to fade away. The number of people with limited English proficiency in the U.S. grew by 80% between 1990 and 2013, going from nearly <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/limited-english-proficient-population-united-states-2013">14 million to 25.1 million people</a>. As of 2022, this number rose to <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/us-immigration-trends#lep">26.5 million people</a>. Excluding people with limited English proficiency is not only unethical, as these groups deserve the same access to experimental and evolving therapies as the English-speaking population, but also limits <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301706">how applicable research findings are</a> to the general population.</p>
<p>One way to eliminate language barriers is by translating research documents. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NG1Yem8AAAAJ&hl=en">As a translation scholar</a>, I strive to discover ways to improve translation quality to benefit the research community and broader society. Translation in research, however, is not straightforward. Not only must the translated materials be accurate, they also have to serve their intended purpose.</p>
<p>The most commonly used method to evaluate translation quality in health research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0163278716648191">is backtranslation</a> – translating the translated text into the original language and assessing how well it matches the original text. And yet, this method <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/135910457000100301">relies on outdated scholarship</a> from the 1970s, perpetuating serious misconceptions about how translation works.</p>
<h2>Understanding translation</h2>
<p>Translation involves much more than just transferring written words from one language to another. For many health researchers, the goal of translation is to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/411434">transfer meaning</a> so it remains intact in a new language. Along these lines, the translator is meant to be a conduit of perfect linguistic equivalence. Yet, current work in the field of translation studies indicates this perfect match or meaning transfer is <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Translation-Studies/Bassnett/p/book/9780415506731">only an illusion</a>.</p>
<p>A translator is not a conduit of meaning, but both a reader of the original text and a writer of the translation. As such, translators <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315678627-90/positioning-theo-hermans">have their own positioning</a> in the world that comes with a set of conscious or unconscious values and knowledge that bias how they read and write. Translation is a <a href="https://translation.utdallas.edu/what-is-translation-studies/translation-and-reading/">process of interpretation</a> regardless of how objective a translator aims to be.</p>
<p>Furthermore, languages do not match structurally or culturally. For instance, the English sentence “I arrived late” structurally corresponds to the Spanish “Yo llegué tarde” because the grammar lines up. But because Spanish expresses subject information through verb endings (“lleg-ué”), the “Yo” is normally interpreted as contrastive, meaning that “I” was the one who arrived late as opposed to someone else.</p>
<p>A perfect match in backtranslation often reflects a translation that is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0163278716648191">too similar to the original</a>, such that it often contradicts the norms of the translated language. For instance, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0163278705275342">health status questionnaire</a> translated “My thinking is clear” into Portuguese as “O meu pensamento é claro.” Despite good backtranslation results, patients in Brazil stated it was unclear. Changing it to “Consigo pensar claramente” (“I am able to think clearly”) communicated more effectively and naturally with the target population.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563462/original/file-20231204-17-l9egxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Health care professional holding clipboard while talking to a patient" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563462/original/file-20231204-17-l9egxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563462/original/file-20231204-17-l9egxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563462/original/file-20231204-17-l9egxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563462/original/file-20231204-17-l9egxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563462/original/file-20231204-17-l9egxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563462/original/file-20231204-17-l9egxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563462/original/file-20231204-17-l9egxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patients with limited English proficiency are less likely to participate in research studies if the materials aren’t in their primary language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-mental-health-professional-talks-with-royalty-free-image/917744736">SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Translation scholars suggest that a more realistic, descriptive and explanatory approach to translation is one governed by <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315760506">what the commissioner wants to achieve</a> with the translation. Under this view, the translator makes decisions according to the type of text being translated and to the purpose of the translation.</p>
<p>How translators approach texts and what strategies they use to translate them varies with each document. Some texts require closer adherence to the words of the original than others. For instance, legal or regulatory considerations require translating the chemical ingredients list of a medication more closely to the structure of the source than a recruitment flyer that aims to convince readers to participate in a study. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0163278716648191">Translators of research documents</a> need to determine the needs of the specific text in collaboration with both the researchers and representatives of the population they’re studying.</p>
<h2>Translation affects research results</h2>
<p>Recent studies show that translation can affect data validity and reliability. An inadequate approach may result in translated materials that don’t work as intended. For instance, a survey may produce <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/eahr.500115">incomplete or incorrect data</a> if participants misunderstand or are unclear about the questions.</p>
<p>My team and I investigated how different translation approaches affected how readers responded to translated materials. We had bilingual participants review two versions of a survey measuring perceptions of stress. Each version was translated into Spanish in a different way. </p>
<p>One of the two translations was produced with a literal approach that aimed to be as equivalent as possible to the original, while the other followed a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0163278716648191">functionalist approach</a> that focused on achieving the purpose specified for the translation. In this case, the goal was to obtain data on how a Spanish-speaking population perceives daily stress.</p>
<p>We asked participants to review the two translated versions of the survey, then indicate any unclear sections and which version they preferred. We found that participants <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/eahr.500115">preferred the functionalist translation</a> and identified a higher number of problems in the translation focused on equivalence. Participants commented that the “equivalent” translation was more difficult to understand, too direct and seemed obviously translated.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563463/original/file-20231204-25-uls439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of the first page of the 'A' section of an English-Spanish dictionary" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563463/original/file-20231204-25-uls439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563463/original/file-20231204-25-uls439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563463/original/file-20231204-25-uls439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563463/original/file-20231204-25-uls439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563463/original/file-20231204-25-uls439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563463/original/file-20231204-25-uls439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563463/original/file-20231204-25-uls439.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A literal translation may not best serve the aims of its commissioner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/english-spanish-dictionary-royalty-free-image/483136313">parema/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other studies have shown that <a href="https://aclanthology.org/R15-1014">translated materials</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.6035/MonTI.2018.10.2">are less accessible overall</a> compared with the original documents. Researchers have also found that some translation approaches increase reading complexity. One study found that a survey used to measure the health progress of patients translated with a functionalist approach <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/2017_AJA-17-0018">had better readability</a> than published counterparts that used a more literal approach.</p>
<p>The translation process is complicated. Lack of awareness of its complexities can affect not only equitable participation in research but also the validity and reliability of its methodology and findings. But with the right approach, translation can increase a study’s reach, diversify its data and lead to new findings and ideas. Reaching out to a translation scholar before starting a project can help scholars prevent their data and research from getting lost in translation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215942/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sonia Colina works for the National Center for Interpretation at the University of Arizona. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health</span></em></p>Translation involves more than just transferring words from one language to another. Better translations of study materials can improve both the diversity of study participants and research results.Sonia Colina, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2159802023-11-29T20:06:32Z2023-11-29T20:06:32ZMiniature organs on chips could revolutionize health-care research<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/miniature-organs-on-chips-could-revolutionize-health-care-research" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>To understand how bodies work, medical researchers and scientists have created mini models of organs, called organoids. This field of scientific research has had profound impacts on biological discovery and pharmaceutical development.</p>
<p>An organoid is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00174-y">miniaturized version of an organ</a>. As the name suggests with the Greek suffix <em>oid</em>, meaning “like,” an organoid is designed to mimic the organ it represents. These three-dimensional structures are generated from stem cells and, although only about one millimetre in size, they effectively emulate the morphology or function of the actual organs. </p>
<p>Yet this is only half the narrative. “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00118-6">Organs-on-chips</a>” are a technology that uses intricately carved tunnels (microchannels) on a piece of plastic or polymer that can house cells. These channels facilitate the flow of cell culture media, replicating blood flow in the human body. </p>
<p>Organs-on-chips act like a miniature version of the body’s organs in the lab, making it easier to see if new drugs will work. They act as a dynamic in vitro (artificial) system to better replicate the in vivo (actual living) environment of cells.</p>
<p>These technologies emerged as a solution to the challenges of drug development, which is both time-consuming and exorbitantly expensive.</p>
<h2>Safe drug development</h2>
<p>Developing new drugs has become an arduous and costly process, requiring an average of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.1166">14 years and over US$1 billion</a> to bring a drug to market. In addition, developing new drugs includes a high likelihood of failure. </p>
<p>One of the main reasons for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd4539">slow development of new drugs</a> is the inadequate tools for accurately predicting how a drug will work in the human body. To address this, there is a growing recognition of the need for new models, such as organoids and organs-on-chips, which could revolutionize our ability to evaluate drug efficacy more effectively and efficiently.</p>
<h2>Game-changing research</h2>
<p>While both organoids and organs-on-chips hold individual promise, the combination of the two — “organoids-on-chips” — is a game changer. Organoids, despite their excellent biological complexity, lack certain biophysical cues, crucial for a comprehensive representation of human tissues. </p>
<p>On the other hand, organs-on-chips, while incorporating dynamic micro-environments, often incorporate less-than-optimal biological models. Labs often use commercially produced cell lines with genetically altered features.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CwTDM3LRrJJ","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>By combining these technologies, we can leverage the biological accuracy of organoids with the dynamic capabilities of organs-on-chips. This synergy offers a platform that mirrors in vivo physiology, enabling a more accurate study of disease traits and responses to drugs.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://medgen.med.ubc.ca/josef-penninger/">our lab</a>, our primary focus is on incorporating a functional vascular system to organoids. A major breakthrough came in 2019 when we generated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0858-8">blood vessel organoids from human stem cells</a>, providing an unprecedented model for vascular structures. </p>
<p>By integrating these blood vessel models into microfluidic chips and supplying them with blood, immune cells or drugs, we are paving the way for advanced organoids-on-chips that embody the necessary complexity. This enhanced vascular model enables us to vascularize a variety of biological tissues, improving their lifespan, function, growth and maturation.</p>
<h2>Merging physics and biology</h2>
<p>The interdisciplinary foundation of organoids-on-chips combines biology and physics to reflect the intricate interplay of physiological and physical processes in the human body. By integrating principles from both fields, we can develop more sophisticated and accurate physiological models that encompass this inherent complexity.</p>
<p>The pioneering work of researchers at the <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/">Wyss Institute at Harvard University</a> is a striking example of the potential of this interdisciplinary approach. In 2010, they developed a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1188302">lung-on-chip</a>” model that not only mimics the biological structure of lung cells, but also replicates the mechanical function of human breathing. </p>
<p>In a remarkable display of innovation, they also created a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VewOqUnwXG0">smoking robot to simulate the effects of cigarette smoke on this lung-on-chip device</a>, and <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/human-organ-chips-enable-rapid-drug-repurposing-for-covid-19/">tested COVID-19 drugs</a> during the pandemic.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VewOqUnwXG0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers at Harvard University look at the impact of smoking on lung cells.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From its initial conception, the field of organs-on-chips has grown exponentially. Highlighting this trend, the geneticist and microbiologist Hans Clevers now leads <a href="https://www.roche.com/about/leadership/hans-clevers">the pharmaceutical giant Roche’s research division</a>. “In 20 years,” Clevers said, “I think organoids will have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00109-020-02025-3">replaced animal experimentation in toxicology testing</a>.”</p>
<p>In a parallel move, Roche set up <a href="https://institutehumanbiology.com/">the Institute of Human Biology</a>, under the direction of bioengineer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.08.012">Matthias Lutolf</a>. The institute merges the study of organoids with microfluidic technology. </p>
<h2>Future of organoids</h2>
<p>A pivotal development in 2023 was the U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg6264">Food and Drug Administration’s decision to no longer mandate animal testing for new drugs</a> before advancing to human trials. This change underscores the potential of alternatives like organoids and organs-on-chips in early drug testing, and marks a significant milestone for the field.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw7894">potential of organoids-on-chips</a> extends beyond drug screening and toxicity tests. The technology holds promise for a range of exciting applications, including unravelling the fundamental biological principles underlying development and disease. Their applications extend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-018-0051-9">regenerative medicine</a>, where organs grown from a patient’s own stem cells could be used to replace damaged ones.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clément Quintard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Organoids — clusters of specialized cells designed to mimic organs — enable researchers to study biological processes and the effects of drugs.Clément Quintard, Postdoctoral fellow, Penninger Lab, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2175412023-11-14T19:07:26Z2023-11-14T19:07:26Z‘You only assess what you care about’: a new report looks at how we assess research in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559197/original/file-20231113-17-hzq74f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C35%2C7880%2C5214&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-female-engineer-looking-through-wires-3862623/">ThisIsEngineering/Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Research plays a pivotal role in society. Through research, we gain new understandings, test theories and make discoveries. </p>
<p>It also has a huge economic value. In 2021, the <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/services/consultancy-strategic-advice-services/CSIRO-futures/Innovation-Business-Growth/Quantifying-Australias-returns-to-innovation">CSIRO found</a> every A$1 of research and development investment in Australia creates an average of $3.50 in economy-wide benefits. </p>
<p>But how do we know if individual research projects being conducted in Australia are good quality? How is research recognised? The key way this happens is through “research assessment”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tumult-and-transformation-the-story-of-australian-universities-over-the-past-30-years-215536">Tumult and transformation: the story of Australian universities over the past 30 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is research assessment?</h2>
<p>Research assessment is not a centralised or necessarily formal process. It can involve various processes and measures to evaluate the performance of individual researchers and research institutions. This includes assessing the quality, excellence and impact of various outputs. </p>
<p>Research assessment can be qualitative or quantitative. It can include publications in journals and the number of people who cite the research, gaining grants to do further research, commercialisation, media engagement and impact on decision-making or public policy, prizes and invitations to speak at conferences. </p>
<p>If research assessment is working fairly and effectively, it should achieve several things. This includes: helping to develop researchers’ careers, making sure innovative research does not get avoided in favour of short-term gains and helping funders and the community have confidence research is providing value for money and adding to the public good. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-solve-problems-in-30-days-through-research-sprints-other-academics-can-do-this-too-204373">We solve problems in 30 days through 'research sprints': other academics can do this too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our project</h2>
<p>Our new project aimed to provide a better understanding of how research assessment affects research in Australia. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://acola.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ACOLA_ResearchAssessment_FINAL.pdf">report released today</a>, we surveyed more than 1,000 Australian researchers and more than 50 research organisations. </p>
<p>This included universities, research institutes, industry bodies, government and not-for-profit organisations. The majority of researchers (74%) were in academic roles. Across those research sectors, we also conducted 11 roundtables involving around 120 people and 25 intensive interviews to understand the issues.</p>
<p>This work was commissioned by Chief Scientist Cathy Foley and conducted by the Australian Council of Learned Academies (involving the academies of science, medical science, engineering and technological sciences, social sciences and humanities). </p>
<p>It also comes as the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord">Universities Accord review</a> examines how research is funded and approached within higher education. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young man searches the shelves of a library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559200/original/file-20231114-21-9oaq62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559200/original/file-20231114-21-9oaq62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559200/original/file-20231114-21-9oaq62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559200/original/file-20231114-21-9oaq62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559200/original/file-20231114-21-9oaq62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559200/original/file-20231114-21-9oaq62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559200/original/file-20231114-21-9oaq62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research assessment should help to develop researchers’ careers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/male-student-searching-at-book-shelves-6549376/">Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>We found some difficulties with the current approach to research assessment. </p>
<p>We heard there is a tendency by some researchers to “play it safe” in terms of doing research they believe will score well. We also heard how the assessment process can unintentionally exclude or devalue particular forms of knowledge, particularly in the humanities and the social sciences, where outputs can be less easily quantified or less immediately seen.</p>
<p>As one interviewee said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What is assessed and how it is assessed are an indication of what the
organisation values. You only assess what you care about. Values and
culture drive assessment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our roundtables told us senior staff and supervisors are often seen to reinforce the culture of “publish or perish”, with the number of articles being valued more highly than the quality. </p>
<p>We heard early and mid-career researchers and people from underrepresented backgrounds can have difficulties trying to “play the game” to advance their careers. For example, early-career researchers are often expected to produce work that benefits their larger team, at a cost to their own capacity for promotion. </p>
<p>As one interviewee noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Metrics are essential for defining value and comparative difference, but
Australia requires a modern and fair framework for assessing our current
and next generation of researchers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1650983340751613952"}"></div></p>
<h2>Survey results</h2>
<p>Our survey found a high level of dissatisfaction with the state of research assessment. This included: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>73% of respondents agreed assessment processes are not consistently or
equitably applied across disciplines, in particular between the humanities and the sciences </p></li>
<li><p>67% said there are not enough opportunities to provide input into research assessment practices</p></li>
<li><p>70% said assessments took up unreasonable time and effort. </p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fieldwork-can-be-challenging-for-female-scientists-here-are-5-ways-to-make-it-better-214215">Fieldwork can be challenging for female scientists. Here are 5 ways to make it better</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>In our survey, we asked “What is one specific change you would
recommend to improve current research assessment processes?”.</p>
<p>Respondents wanted to see a shift towards quality over quantity. This means not just a focus on publishing as many papers as possible, but supporting research that may take longer for its value and benefits to emerge. </p>
<p>They wanted interdisciplinary research to be promoted and rewarded, because many of the complex problems of our world – from climate change to domestic violence to housing affordability – require multiple disciplines to be involved in finding solutions. In the same vein, they also wanted collaboration and team work to be rewarded more clearly and transparently. </p>
<p>They wanted less bias towards STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) research and more promotion of diversity and of early-career researchers. This included better understanding of their personal and cultural situation, more focused career development and better managed teamwork.</p>
<p>To achieve all of this, and more, we will also need to understand that no single measure can assess all research or researchers. So, several tools will be needed, including quantitative indicators as well as qualitative measures and peer review.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Ana Deletic, Louisa Jorm, Duncan Ivison, Robyn Owens, Jill Blackmore, Adrian Barnett, Kate Thomann, Caroline Hughes, Andrew Peele, Guy Boggs and Raffaella Demichelis were all part of the expert working group supporting this work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin McConkey has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. He is the current chair of the Policy Committee of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He is the chair of the Expert Working Group of the the Australian Council of Learned Academies, which prepared the report referred to in this article.</span></em></p>The project, spanning researchers across science and the humanities, looks at how ‘research assessment’ affects research in Australia.Kevin McConkey, Emeritus Professor , UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2108742023-11-06T21:04:35Z2023-11-06T21:04:35ZTrolling and doxxing: Graduate students sharing their research online speak out about hate<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/trolling-and-doxxing-graduate-students-sharing-their-research-online-speak-out-about-hate" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>An <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/01/13/the-state-of-online-harassment/">increasingly volatile online environment</a> is affecting our society, including members of the academic community and research they pursue.</p>
<p>Graduate students are especially vulnerable to online hate, because cultivating a visible social media presence is <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/guest-post-grad-students-need-social-media/">considered essential</a> for mobilizing their research, gaining credibility and finding opportunities as they prepare to compete in an <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/the-mismatch-continues-between-phd-holders-and-their-career-prospects/">over-saturated job market</a>. </p>
<p>Our research <a href="https://bearingwitness.site">has examined the experiences of graduate students</a> who have encountered online hate while conducting their research or disseminating it online, and a wider landscape of university protocol and policies.</p>
<p>This research suggests faculty supervisors and university staff responsible for students’ development and well-being are often ill-prepared to support students through online harassment experiences. This means graduate students are left frightened, discouraged and with nowhere to turn for help.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/876457075" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Documentary ‘Bearing Witness: Hate, Harassment and Online Public Scholarship.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New policies needed to support researchers</h2>
<p>Research by communications scholars George Veletsianos and Jaigris Hodson, who are part of the <a href="https://harassment.thedlrgroup.com/team/">Public Scholarship and Online Abuse</a> research group, finds that scholars online may be targeted for a range of reasons, but “<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/05/29/dealing-social-media-harassment-opinion">women in particular are harassed partly because they happen to be women who dare to be public online</a>.”</p>
<p>Online hatred <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/cyberviolence/cyberviolence-against-women">disproportionately affects</a> women, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2021/03/report-online-hate-increasing-against-minorities-says-expert">Black, Indigenous, racialized</a>, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/lgbtq-community-facing-increased-social-media-bias-author/story?id=85463533">queer, trans and</a> other marginalized scholars.</p>
<p>New frameworks and policies are required that protect and care <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-speech-on-campus-means-universities-must-protect-the-dignity-of-all-students-124526">for increasingly diverse academic communities</a> to foster equity and diversity.</p>
<h2>Impacts and inadequate support</h2>
<p>Nearly any discipline or research topic can become a target for harassment: from <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-growing-problem-of-online-harassment-in-academe/">English literature to game studies</a> to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct369y">virology</a> and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5ybw3/climate-scientists-online-abuse">climate science</a>. </p>
<p>Online harassment restricts which research projects are able to proceed and who is able to pursue them. It affects <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2021.1878218">not only researchers’ well-being</a> and career prospects, but by extention, their fields of study and members of the public served by it.</p>
<p>Institutions have yet to develop adequate supports for both faculty and students, even as the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2023/06/13/its-as-if-it-didnt-exist-is-cyberbullying-of-university-professors-taken-seriously/">pervasiveness of online harassment in academic life</a> has begun to receive greater attention. </p>
<p>Research by Hodson and Veletsianos with Chandell Gosse finds university policies designed to protect community members <a href="https://theconversation.com/post-secondary-workplace-harassment-policies-need-to-adapt-to-digital-life-161325">have not evolved to address the complex forms of harassment that unfold via social media</a>. </p>
<h2>Lack of clear and accessible structures, procedures</h2>
<p>Research from 2020 by Alex Ketchum of McGill University’s Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies on <a href="https://publicscholarshipandmediawork.blogspot.com/p/report.html">resources provided by media relations offices at Canadian universities</a> indicates that universities’ publicly accessible information about doxxing, trolling and scholarship is scarce. Ketchum addresses challenges related to public scholarship in her book <em><a href="https://www.concordia.ca/press/engage.html#order">Engage in Public Scholarship!: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication</a></em>.</p>
<p>Without clear structures and procedures for reporting harassment and supporting community members at an institutional level, harassment is treated by universities as isolated incidents without grasping the scale of the issue.</p>
<h2>‘Bearing Witness’</h2>
<p>We have facilitated a number of <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/laps/events/laps-research-to-impact-workshop-confronting-online-hate-and-harassment-of-academic-researchers">workshops</a> and <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/research/robarts/events/emerging-scholar-online/?fbclid=IwAR0rlJdnD-2um6XWzQzWpC5vvnJMvHHMW-DFZwbJwEx0v5LxoOJqMWbk0Y4">events</a> that foreground experiences of online harassment among graduate students. This work has been done with support from the <a href="https://irdl.info.yorku.ca/">Institute for Research on Digital Literacies</a>, under the direction of Natalie Coulter. </p>
<p>As part of a multi-stage project titled <a href="https://bearingwitness.site/">Bearing Witness</a>, we conducted one-on-one interviews with seven York University students who have encountered hatred in response to sharing or conducting their research online. </p>
<p>To protect participants from further harassment, we invited student artist-researchers to interpret the anonymized interview transcripts and create original artworks that reflected upon and echoed the stories of their peers. </p>
<p>These stories formed the basis of an exhibition and panel discussion at <a href="https://www.federationhss.ca/en/congress/bearing-witness-hate-harassment-and-public-scholarship">Congress 2023</a>, a national conference of academic researchers held at the end of May and beginning of June 2023, and will inform <a href="https://bearingwitness.site/symposium/">a symposium</a> on Nov. 7 and a <a href="https://irdl.info.yorku.ca/events/">a pop-up exhibition</a> in the Media Creation Lab in the Scott Library at York University.</p>
<h2>Researcher experiences of harassment</h2>
<p>In our study, participants described receiving threats of physical and sexual violence, directed not only towards them, but to their families and research participants. These encounters severely impacted students’ mental health and led them to fear for their physical well-being on campus and at conferences. </p>
<p>Each student we spoke with described feeling under-supported by the university, in particular <a href="https://education.macleans.ca/feature/inside-the-mental-health-crisis-at-canadian-universities/">struggling to access mental-health services</a>. Participants also said research methods seminars, research ethics board certification courses and conversations with supervisory committees had not addressed the possibility of encountering online harassment.</p>
<p>The online harassment students encountered also derailed or significantly curtailed their research projects. Students reported that the effects of the harassment forced them to drastically alter, if not entirely halt, their course of study and degree progress.</p>
<h2>Resources to help protect from harassment</h2>
<p>There are many online resources graduate students can consult to protect themselves from online harassment. Resources <a href="https://onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org">from PEN America</a> and <a href="https://gameshotline.org/online-free-safety-guide">gaming communities</a> provide cybersecurity tips to prevent doxxing, assess threats and report harassment to platforms and law enforcement. </p>
<p>However, universities must take steps to lessen the burden for individual victims.</p>
<p>Media relations and knowledge-mobilization offices must develop clear protocols for protecting community members and supporting them in the wake of encountering hatred online. It is equally essential that these policies are readily available and easy to locate for scholars in distress.</p>
<h2>Important work begins with witness</h2>
<p>Faculty must be made aware of the realities of online harassment and available university resources — including campus security, legal clinics and mental health services. </p>
<p><a href="https://datasociety.net/pubs/res/Best_Practices_for_Conducting_Risky_Research-Oct-2016.pdf">Supervisors should be prepared</a> to have frank discussions with graduate students about the potential risks associated with their research and develop a pre-emptive action plan that can be implemented quickly.</p>
<p>This important work must begin with institutions bearing witness to graduate students’ experiences. University staff and faculty must listen to individual voices so that the issue of online harassment can be understood in its full scale and complexity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210874/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Borkowski receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Coulter receives funding from SSHRC, as well as from internal grants at York University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marion Tempest Grant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To inform university responses to online harassment affecting graduate students, artist-researchers created original artworks in response to interviews with their peers who experienced online hate.Alex Borkowski, PhD Candidate, Communication & Culture, York University, CanadaMarion Tempest Grant, PhD Candidate, Communication & Culture, York University, CanadaNatalie Coulter, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, and Director of the Institute for Research on Digital Literacies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2159202023-11-01T14:37:13Z2023-11-01T14:37:13ZGiraffes could go extinct – the 5 biggest threats they face<p>Giraffes are the world’s tallest mammals and an African icon, but they are also vulnerable to extinction. </p>
<p>Giraffe populations have <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/9194/136266699">declined</a> by 40% in the last 30 years, and there are now fewer than 70,000 mature individuals left in the wild. What are the causes of this alarming decline, and what can be done to protect these gentle giants? </p>
<p>The five biggest threats to giraffes are habitat loss, insufficient law enforcement, ecological changes, climate change, and lack of awareness. Below, I will tell you about these threats and what is being done to save them. </p>
<p>I will also explain a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16970">study</a> I was a part of that ranked these threats in terms of each one’s danger of causing giraffe extinction, and whether human actions can alleviate that danger. The study used data from more than 3,100 giraffes identified over eight years in an unfenced 4,500km² area of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarangire_Ecosystem">Tarangire ecosystem</a> in Tanzania. We used the data to simulate how environmental and land use changes could affect the giraffe population over 50 years. </p>
<p>The findings can guide conservation actions.</p>
<h2>Habitat degradation, fragmentation and loss</h2>
<p>Giraffes need large areas of savanna with abundant native bushes and trees to feed on. The biggest threat to giraffes is the degradation, fragmentation and loss of their habitats through human activities such as farming and human settlement expansion.</p>
<p>Habitat loss outside protected areas is the main reason for the recent decline in giraffe numbers. National parks provide most of the remaining habitat. Some good habitat remains unprotected but is cared for by pastoralists. </p>
<p>Traditional pastoralists like the Maasai in northern Tanzania <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520273559/savannas-of-our-birth">maintain</a> large spaces of natural savanna where wildlife and people thrive together. </p>
<p>However, most people now living in areas that were giraffe habitat are sedentary. As populations of farmers and townspeople expand, giraffes are forced into smaller and more isolated patches of land. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.01.017">reduces</a> their access to food and water, and increases their vulnerability. </p>
<p>Conservationists are working to safeguard existing unprotected giraffe habitat and maintain or restore the connections among protected areas. Community-based <a href="https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.21549">natural resource management</a> is central to this activity. It gives local communities the legal power to protect their land and resources. </p>
<h2>Insufficient law enforcement</h2>
<p>Another major threat to giraffes is illegal hunting (<a href="https://esj-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1007/s10144-015-0499-9">poaching</a>) for bushmeat markets. This is usually controlled by <a href="https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2020/Wildlife-crime-closing-ranks-on-serious-crime-in-the-illegal-animal-trade">international criminal syndicates</a>. </p>
<p>Strong wildlife law enforcement is the best tool to combat this threat. Conservationists are working to strengthen local and international law enforcement around wildlife crimes, and to reduce the demand for giraffe products. At the grassroots level, this requires supporting anti-poaching patrols by rangers and village game scouts. It’s also essential that communities should have legal alternative ways to make a living. </p>
<h2>Ecological changes</h2>
<p>A third major threat to giraffes is human-caused ecological change that affects their food availability and mobility. These changes include deforestation of savannas for fuelwood and charcoal production, mining activity, and road and pipeline building. Water diversion and groundwater pumping also affect their habitat and access to water.</p>
<p>Mining, roads and pipelines can disrupt the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93604-4_12">natural movement patterns</a> of wildlife, leading to smaller, more isolated populations that are more susceptible to local extinction. </p>
<p>Conservationists are promoting sustainable forestry, new cooking techniques such as gas stoves, water conservation and planning for groundwater resources, and building wildlife crossings into roads and pipelines.</p>
<h2>Climate change</h2>
<p>Climate change from human-caused <a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc226754/m1/1/">carbon dioxide pollution</a> is forecast to increase temperatures and rainfall in many African savanna areas. Giraffes are unaffected by the higher temperatures observed so far, but increased seasonal rainfall is associated with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-023-02645-4">lower giraffe survival</a> due to disease and lower food quality. </p>
<p>Over the longer term, more rainfall will create conditions favourable to increased woody plant cover in savannas. This could help giraffes by increasing their food supply, but only if enough natural savanna is preserved from human exploitation.</p>
<h2>Lack of knowledge and awareness</h2>
<p>The fifth major threat to giraffes is the lack of knowledge and awareness about their conservation needs. Giraffes are often overlooked and underrepresented in wildlife research, funding and policy. Many people are unaware that giraffes are endangered and face multiple threats across Africa. </p>
<p>Conservationists are working to increase knowledge and awareness about giraffes locally and worldwide. Scientists are studying giraffe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22044">demography</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyac007">diet</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13582">behaviour</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.10160">genetics</a>, and there is a large <a href="https://www.africasgiants.org/natures-giants-news">environmental education programme</a> in Tanzania, the US and Europe. </p>
<h2>Creating a safe future for giraffes</h2>
<p>Giraffes are facing a silent extinction crisis in Africa. But there is still hope that they can be saved if people understand and address the threats. </p>
<p>The new <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16970">study</a> I coauthored ranked threats and looked at potentially mitigating actions. Our simulation showed that the greatest risk factor for local giraffe extinction was a reduction in wildlife law enforcement leading to more poaching. In the model, an increase in law enforcement would mitigate the negative effects of climate change and the expansion of towns along the edges of protected areas. The study highlights the great utility of law enforcement as a nature conservation tool. </p>
<p>Given their vast historical Africa-wide range and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347219300260">individual home ranges</a> of thousands of hectares, giraffes will not likely survive only within the boundaries of small, fragmented protected areas. I propose as part of our evidence-based recommendations that rangelands used by wildlife and pastoralists as movement pathways be permanently protected from farming, mining and infrastructure. This will give people as well as wide-ranging animals like giraffes freedom to roam. </p>
<p>It will also require the expansion of wildlife law enforcement in village lands outside formal protected areas. </p>
<p>These measures would help make it possible for people and giraffes to thrive together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek E. Lee receives funding from Penn State University, Berlin World Wild, Sacramento Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Tulsa Zoo, Zoo Miami, Cincinnati Zoo, Como Park Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Anne Innis Dagg Foundation, and Save the Giraffes. He is affiliated with Wild Nature Institute.</span></em></p>Giraffes are vulnerable to extinction, mainly due to habitat loss and killing for bushmeat markets. The good news is human actions can alleviate that danger.Derek E. Lee, Associate Research Professor of Biology, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2161772023-10-30T03:31:01Z2023-10-30T03:31:01ZTwo questions, hundreds of scientists, no easy answers: how small differences in data analysis make huge differences in results<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556512/original/file-20231030-25-sz3v30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C3872%2C2567&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How do siblings affect the size of baby blue tits? It depends whom you ask.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blue-tit-cyanisties-caeruleus-being-gaping-1700866117">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 20 years or so, there has been growing concern that <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-is-in-a-reproducibility-crisis-how-do-we-resolve-it-16998">many results published in scientific journals can’t be reproduced</a>. </p>
<p>Depending on the field of research, studies have found efforts to redo published studies lead to different results in between <a href="https://news.virginia.edu/content/after-10-years-many-labs-comes-end-its-success-replicable">23%</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/483531a">89%</a> of cases.</p>
<p>To understand how different researchers might arrive at different results, we asked hundreds of ecologists and evolutionary biologists to answer two questions by analysing given sets of data. They arrived at a huge range of answers.</p>
<p>Our study has been accepted by BMC Biology as a stage 1 <a href="https://www.cos.io/initiatives/registered-reports">registered report</a> and is <a href="https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/6000/">currently available as a preprint</a> ahead of peer review for stage 2.</p>
<h2>Why is reproducibility a problem?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/putting-psychological-research-to-the-test-with-the-reproducibility-project-7052">causes of problems with reproducibility</a> are common across science. They include an over-reliance on simplistic measures of
“statistical significance” rather than nuanced evaluations, the fact journals prefer to publish “exciting” findings, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-survey-found-questionable-research-practices-by-ecologists-and-biologists-heres-what-that-means-94421">questionable research practices</a> that make articles more exciting at the expense of transparency and increase the rate of false results in the literature.</p>
<p>Much of the research on reproducibility and ways it can be improved (such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-reproducibility-crisis-and-what-can-be-done-about-it-74198">“open science” initiatives</a>) has been slow to spread between different fields of science. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-survey-found-questionable-research-practices-by-ecologists-and-biologists-heres-what-that-means-94421">Our survey found 'questionable research practices' by ecologists and biologists – here's what that means</a>
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<p>Interest in these ideas has been <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/psychology-s-replication-crisis-inspires-ecologists-push-more-reliable-research">growing among ecologists</a>, but so far there has been little research evaluating replicability in ecology. One reason for this is the difficulty of disentangling environmental differences from the influence of researchers’ choices.</p>
<p>One way to get at the replicability of ecological research, separate from environmental effects, is to focus on what happens after the data is collected.</p>
<h2>Birds and siblings, grass and seedlings</h2>
<p>We were inspired by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/526189a">work led by Raphael Silberzahn</a> which asked social scientists to analyse a dataset to determine whether soccer players’ skin tone predicted the number of red cards they received. The study found a wide range of results.</p>
<p>We emulated this approach in ecology and evolutionary biology with an open call to help us answer two research questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>“To what extent is the growth of nestling blue tits (<em>Cyanistes caeruleus</em>) influenced by competition with siblings?” </p></li>
<li><p>“How does grass cover influence <em>Eucalyptus</em> spp. seedling recruitment?” (“<em>Eucalyptus</em> spp. seedling recruitment” means how many seedlings of trees from the genus <em>Eucalyptus</em> there are.)</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of eucalyptus seedlings outdoors" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556514/original/file-20231030-17-mh6uxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556514/original/file-20231030-17-mh6uxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556514/original/file-20231030-17-mh6uxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556514/original/file-20231030-17-mh6uxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556514/original/file-20231030-17-mh6uxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556514/original/file-20231030-17-mh6uxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556514/original/file-20231030-17-mh6uxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers disagreed over whether grass cover encourages or discourages Eucalyptus seedlings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-growing-eucalyptus-seedling-650020558">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Two hundred and forty-six ecologists and evolutionary biologists answered our call. Some worked alone and some in teams, producing 137 written descriptions of their overall answer to the research questions (alongside numeric results). These answers varied substantially for both datasets.</p>
<p>Looking at the effect of grass cover on the number of <em>Eucalyptus</em> seedlings, we had 63 responses. Eighteen described a negative effect (more grass means fewer seedlings), 31 described no effect, six teams described a positive effect (more grass means more seedlings), and eight described a mixed effect (some analyses found positive effects and some found negative effects). </p>
<p>For the effect of sibling competition on blue tit growth, we had 74 responses. Sixty-four teams described a negative effect (more competition means slower growth, though only 37 of these teams thought this negative effect was conclusive), five described no effect, and five described a mixed effect.</p>
<h2>What the results mean</h2>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, we and our coauthors had a range of views on how these results should be interpreted.</p>
<p>We have asked three of our coauthors to comment on what struck them most.</p>
<p>Peter Vesk, who was the source of the <em>Eucalyptus</em> data, said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Looking at the mean of all the analyses, it makes sense. Grass has essentially a negligible effect on [the number of] eucalypt tree seedlings, compared to the distance from the nearest mother tree. But the range of estimated effects is gobsmacking. It fits with my own experience that lots of small differences in the analysis workflow can add to large variation [in results].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Simon Griffith collected the blue tit data more than 20 years ago, and it was not previously analysed due to the complexity of decisions about the right analytical pathway. He said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This study demonstrates that there isn’t one answer from any set of data. There are a wide range of different outcomes and understanding the underlying biology needs to account for that diversity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meta-researcher Fiona Fidler, who studies research itself, said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The point of these studies isn’t to scare people or to create a crisis. It is to help build our understanding of heterogeneity and what it means for the practice of science. Through metaresearch projects like this we can develop better intuitions about uncertainty and make better calibrated conclusions from our research.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What should we do about it?</h2>
<p>In our view, the results suggest three courses of action for researchers, publishers, funders and the broader science community.</p>
<p>First, we should avoid treating published research as fact. A single scientific article is just one piece of evidence, existing in a broader context of limitations and biases. </p>
<p>The push for “novel” science means studying something that has already been investigated is discouraged, and consequently we inflate the value of individual studies. We need to take a step back and consider each article in context, rather than treating them as the final word on the matter.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-reproducibility-crisis-and-what-can-be-done-about-it-74198">The science 'reproducibility crisis' – and what can be done about it</a>
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<p>Second, we should conduct more analyses per article and report all of them. If research depends on what analytic choices are made, it makes sense to present multiple analyses to build a fuller picture of the result.</p>
<p>And third, each study should include a description of how the results depend on data analysis decision. Research publications tend to focus on discussing the ecological implications of their findings, but they should also talk about how different analysis choices influenced the results, and what that means for interpreting the findings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elliot Gould receives funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Fraser and Timothy H. Parker do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>246 scientists looked at the same data sets and drew very different conclusions.Hannah Fraser, Postdoctoral Researcher , The University of MelbourneElliot Gould, PhD student, School of Biosciences, The University of MelbourneTimothy H. Parker, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, Whitman CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150012023-10-18T20:34:31Z2023-10-18T20:34:31ZTalking about science and technology has positive impacts on research and society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553752/original/file-20231013-29-zlzivk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C45%2C5120%2C2789&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It is important to educate the public about scientific research, discoveries and applications.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/talking-about-science-and-technology-has-positive-impacts-on-research-and-society" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Discussions around science and technology can become controversial, such as public conversations around <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2016/10/04/the-politics-of-climate/">climate science</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/crispr-gene-editing-controversy-shows-old-ideas-about-east-and-west-still-prevail-66918">gene-editing tools</a>. </p>
<p>That might leave the impression that such conversations are best avoided. But it is important to have constructive conversations about scientific and technical subjects because of how they impact our lives.</p>
<p>Not having these conversations can lead to further division and strained relationships. Avoidance of such conversations could also have serious implications for scientific research support such as the continued development of life-saving vaccines or in deciding how we might regulate emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/generative-ai-like-chatgpt-reveal-deep-seated-systemic-issues-beyond-the-tech-industry-198579">Generative AI like ChatGPT reveal deep-seated systemic issues beyond the tech industry</a>
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<p>The ancient Greeks had a term for opportune moments, or those qualitative measures of time where things just seem to be right for some action. They called these <em>kairotic</em>. The term <em><a href="http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Encompassing%20Terms/kairos.htm">kairos</a></em> is a qualitative measure of time, as opposed to <em>chronos</em>, or linear quantitative time. </p>
<p>It is a <em>kairotic</em> moment to talk about trust — which we might think of as a very old idea but is highly important today — as we see new science emerging and technologies developing apace.</p>
<h2>Polarizing information</h2>
<p>The consequences of allowing issues in science and technology to be so polarized that we don’t talk about them include <a href="https://data.oecd.org/chart/6YJS">economic impacts</a>, Canada falling behind in applied and <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/time-to-step-up-to-the-plate/">basic scientific research</a> and <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/engineering/news/dean-wells-calls-greater-trust-science-and-technology">responsible</a> <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-canada-science-and-tech-investing/">technology development</a>. </p>
<p>We need to have direct conversations about scientific research, progress, <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/news/arts/why-people-trust-or-distrust-experts-when-it-comes-critical">experts and expertise</a>, and new technologies that may become critically important to <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/news/societal-relevance/societal-futures">society in the future</a>.</p>
<p>Together, we have built a <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/news/nobel-laureate-launches-trust-research-undertaken-science">research network</a> called <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/trust-research-undertaken-science-technology-scholarly-network/">TRuST</a> at the University of Waterloo. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/trust-research-undertaken-science-technology-scholarly-network/videos">inaugural lecture series event</a> began this conversation about trust in science, technology and health in Canada, and we hope to continue these conversations through an ongoing speaker series and collaborations with other researchers and organizations.</p>
<p>Our work asks the tough <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/engineering/news/dean-wells-calls-greater-trust-science-and-technology">questions about why people do — or don’t — trust science and technology</a>, <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/news/global-futures/building-trust-experts">who is found trustworthy</a>, how trust is earned and lost and how we can have conversations about science and technology in the service of us all. </p>
<p>By doing so, we hope to launch conversations about these topics, not to provide definitive answers or to tell anyone what to think.</p>
<h2>A crisis of trust?</h2>
<p>While there appears to be a public crisis in trust, there is a good deal of complexity when we talk about concepts of trust and who is trustworthy. Trust in scientists and interest in science has remained high for a number of years, but there are some trends that raise questions about whether that is changing. </p>
<p>Overall, trust in <a href="https://getproof.com/trust/cantrust/?utm_source=web&utm_medium=release&utm_campaign=ct2023">medical doctors and scientists</a>, for example, seems to have declined somewhat since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when trust was somewhat higher than normal. </p>
<p>Surveys and polls give us high-level insights, but we also know that there are issues that become controversial. We also know that how questions are asked in a survey or poll can influence the nature of responses. For instance, if we ask “do you trust scientists,” do you think about scientists generally or are you thinking of a specific scientist?</p>
<p>Sometimes <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41940538">controversy is manufactured</a>, as in the case of <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/21/frank-luntz-wrong-climate-change-1470653">climate change</a> where the prevailing consensus among scientists was strategically downplayed. Sometimes the way we <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-illusion-and-implications-of-just-following-the-science-covid-19-messaging-210786">frame an issue</a> can lead to confusion and mistrust. </p>
<p>Once an issue is controversial it can be polarizing and <a href="https://theconversation.com/7-ways-to-spot-polarizing-language-how-to-choose-responsibly-what-to-amplify-online-or-in-person-177276">polarizing language</a> can influence how we think and talk about issues. </p>
<p>And of course, social media influences how scientific knowledge is shared, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-social-media-can-distort-and-misinform-when-communicating-science-59044">distorted</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2022.2143550">“ironically reversed”</a>, <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/2/e019414">exploited</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651920958505">corrected</a> — or not.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553753/original/file-20231013-15-c662s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a row of people on a bench looking at their phones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553753/original/file-20231013-15-c662s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553753/original/file-20231013-15-c662s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553753/original/file-20231013-15-c662s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553753/original/file-20231013-15-c662s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553753/original/file-20231013-15-c662s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553753/original/file-20231013-15-c662s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553753/original/file-20231013-15-c662s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Social media is a primary source for news.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Communicating through disagreement</h2>
<p>How do we talk to each other when we might not agree? </p>
<p>First, you need to have capacity, both emotionally and in terms of conversational skill, and some knowledge and interest in a topic to undertake this work. </p>
<p>Listening is a good place to begin, and by that we mean genuinely trying to hear and understand someone’s perspective. You might not agree, but you cannot engage their ideas if, for instance, you’re talking about <em>if</em> something actually happened and someone else is speculating <em>about</em> what happened.</p>
<p>This might seem like a subtle distinction, but these are the important distinctions. In the <a href="https://theconversation.com/defending-science-how-the-art-of-rhetoric-can-help-68210">field of rhetoric</a>, we might talk about this as a problem of <a href="http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Canons/Invention/Stasis.htm"><em>stasis</em></a>: you’re asking a question about if something is a fact and someone else is talking about the definition of what they have already taken to be a fact. </p>
<p>Listening means working hard to determine what someone else is talking about and while you can still disagree, calling out misinformation or otherwise challenging points, you should do so empathetically and respectfully. We can work towards building bridges that will productively move a conversation forward. </p>
<p>Built into this is a certain amount of respect for the person you’re talking to — even if <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/con.2004.0022">you’re an expert</a>, you need <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/con.2004.0023"><em>ethos</em></a> which means character built upon goodwill (<em><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/eunoia">eunoia</a></em>), good morals (<em>arete</em>) and good sense or reason (<em><a href="https://www-jstor-org.proxy.lib.uwaterloo.ca/stable/4545462">phronesis</a></em>) — and also goodwill to understand their perspective. </p>
<p>Goodwill, however, goes both ways. If someone you are listening to does not seem to be coming to a conversation in good faith or with goodwill, it might be time to excuse yourself.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-capitol-violence-could-happen-in-canada-here-are-3-ways-to-prevent-it-152960">The U.S. Capitol violence could happen in Canada — here are 3 ways to prevent it</a>
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<h2>Better science, better technology</h2>
<p>Improving science, our ethical processes for technology development and deployment and how we engage in conversations about how these efforts should shape our communities and everyday lives also requires work on the part of scientists, engineers and other experts. </p>
<p>Developing strategies to talk about our research methods and how science works and, critically, to listen to people’s concerns is a first step in <a href="https://scientistscitizens.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/three-little-words-so-hard-to-say/">responsibly and ethically communicating science</a>. It is a step experts can take with family, friends and in their communities. Working to support knowledge sharing from a wide variety of experts that better reflect the range of people and experiences in our communities is also very important.</p>
<p>Because trust requires certain kinds of vulnerability, the trustworthiness of experts is important in science and technology. </p>
<p>Relationships between experts and non-experts are asymmetrical. Experts often have knowledge that others need, and others must trust that experts will provide that knowledge and do so with goodwill, good sense and good judgment in line with shared values. When this is perceived as not happening, trust can be reduced or lost. </p>
<p>Trust is critical to the advancement of science itself and science in the advancement of society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215001/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher works for the University of Waterloo and is the co-director of the TRuST network. She receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program and has received funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Early Researcher Program, and others.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donna Strickland and Mary Wells do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conversations about scientific research and technological innovations allow the public to build trust with experts, and understand the impacts on everyday lives.Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Science, Health, and Technology Communication, University of WaterlooDonna Strickland, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of WaterlooMary Wells, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2147702023-10-03T00:31:22Z2023-10-03T00:31:22ZTenacious curiosity in the lab can lead to a Nobel Prize – mRNA research exemplifies the unpredictable value of basic scientific research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551551/original/file-20231002-25-ii4mxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2100%2C1427&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Basic research often involves lab work that won't be appreciated until decades down the line.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/pcr-diagnostics-kit-royalty-free-image/1285418766">Sebastian Condrea/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/press-release/">2023 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine</a> will go to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discovery that modifying <a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/messenger-rna">mRNA</a> – a form of genetic material your body uses to produce proteins – could reduce unwanted inflammatory responses and allow it to be delivered into cells. While the impact of their findings may not have been apparent at the time of their breakthrough over a decade ago, their work paved the way for the development of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mrna-and-dna-vaccines-could-soon-treat-cancers-hiv-autoimmune-disorders-and-genetic-diseases-170772">Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines</a>, as well as many other therapeutic applications currently in development. The <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2023/summary/">2023 Nobel Prize in physics</a> likewise will go to a team of scientists who used lasers to clarify the behavior of electrons, and many prior Nobels have honored basic research.</em></p>
<p><em>We asked André O. Hudson, a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zLwzHqcAAAAJ&hl=en">biochemist and microbiologist</a> at the Rochester Institute of Technology, to explain how basic research like that of this year’s Nobel Prize winners provides the foundations for science – even when its far-reaching effects won’t be felt until years later.</em></p>
<h2>What is basic science?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/basic-research-definition">Basic research</a>, sometimes called fundamental research, is a type of investigation with the overarching goal of understanding natural phenomena like how cells work or how birds can fly. Scientists are asking the fundamental questions of how, why, when, where and if in order to bridge a gap in curiosity and understanding about the natural world.</p>
<p>Researchers sometimes conduct basic research with the hope of eventually developing a technology or drug based on that work. But what many scientists typically do in academia is ask fundamental questions with answers that may or may not ever lead to practical applications.</p>
<p>Humans, and the animal kingdom as a whole, are <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(13)00265-0.pdf">wired to be curious</a>. Basic research scratches that itch.</p>
<h2>What are some basic science discoveries that went on to have a big influence on medicine?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/press-release/">2023 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine</a> acknowledges basic science work done in the early 2000s. Karikó and Weissman’s discovery about modifying mRNA to reduce the body’s inflammatory response to it allowed other researchers to leverage it to make improved vaccines.</p>
<p>Another example is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/guns-not-roses-heres-the-true-story-of-penicillins-first-patient-178463">discovery of antibiotics</a>, which was based on an unexpected observation. In the late 1920s, the microbiologist Alexander Fleming was growing a species of bacteria in his lab and found that his Petri dish was accidentally contaminated with the fungus <em>Penicillium notatum</em>. He noticed that wherever the fungus was growing, it impeded or inhibited the growth of the bacteria. He wondered why that was happening and subsequently went on to isolate penicillin, which was approved for medical use in the early 1940s.</p>
<p>This work fed into more questions that ushered in the age of antibiotics. The 1952 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Selman Waksman for his <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1952/summary/">discovery of streptomycin</a>, the first antibiotic to treat tuberculosis.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CNbnLgetqHs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Penicillin was discovered by accident.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Basic research often involves seeing something surprising, wanting to understand why and deciding to investigate further. Early discoveries start from a basic observation, asking the simple question of “How?” Only later are they parlayed into a medical technology that helps humanity.</p>
<h2>Why does it take so long to get from curiosity-driven basic science to a new product or technology?</h2>
<p>The mRNA modification discovery could be considered to be on a relatively fast track from basic science to application. Less than 15 years passed between Karikó and Weissman’s findings and the COVID-19 vaccines. The importance of their discovery came to the forefront with the pandemic and the <a href="https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/two-years-covid-vaccines-prevented-millions-deaths-hospitalizations">millions of lives</a> they saved.</p>
<p>Most basic research won’t reach the market until <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aaa0599">several decades</a> after its initial publication in a science journal. One reason is because it depends on need. For example, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-consumers-and-patients-drugs/orphan-products-hope-people-rare-diseases">orphan diseases</a> that affect only a small number of people will get less attention and funding than conditions that are ubiquitous in a population, like cancer or diabetes. Companies don’t want to spend billions of dollars developing a drug that will only have a small return on their investment. Likewise, because the return on investment for basic research often isn’t clear, it can be a hard sell to support financially.</p>
<p>Another reason is cultural. Scientists are trained to chase after funding and support for their work wherever they can find it. But sometimes that’s not as easy as it seems.</p>
<p>A good example of this was when the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-human-genome-project-pieced-together-only-92-of-the-dna-now-scientists-have-finally-filled-in-the-remaining-8-176138">human genome was first sequenced</a> in the early 2000s. A lot of people thought that having access to the full sequence would lead to treatments and cures for many different diseases. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-sequencing-the-human-genome-failed-to-produce-big-breakthroughs-in-disease-130568">But that has not been the case</a>, because there are many nuances to translating basic research to the clinic. What works in a cell or an animal might not translate into people. There are many steps and layers in the process to get there.</p>
<h2>Why is basic science important?</h2>
<p>For me, the most critical reason is that basic research is how we <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1210%2Fme.2014-1343">train and mentor future scientists</a>. </p>
<p>In an academic setting, telling students “Let’s go develop an mRNA vaccine” versus “How does mRNA work in the body” influences how they approach science. How do they design experiments? Do they start the study going forward or backward? Are they argumentative or cautious in how they present their findings?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551554/original/file-20231002-28-a388bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of scientist wearing nitrile gloves looking into microscope hovering over Petri dish" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551554/original/file-20231002-28-a388bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551554/original/file-20231002-28-a388bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551554/original/file-20231002-28-a388bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551554/original/file-20231002-28-a388bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551554/original/file-20231002-28-a388bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551554/original/file-20231002-28-a388bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551554/original/file-20231002-28-a388bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">There are many steps between translating findings in a lab to the clinic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/scrutinising-a-new-sample-royalty-free-image/1206157642">Marco VDM/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Almost every scientist is trained under a basic research umbrella of how to ask questions and go through the scientific method. You need to understand how, when and where mRNAs are modified before you can even begin to develop an mRNA vaccine. I believe the best way to inspire future scientists is to encourage them to expand on their curiosity in order to make a difference. </p>
<p>When I was writing my dissertation, I was relying on studies that were published in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many of these studies are still cited in scientific articles today. When researchers share their work, though it may not be today or tomorrow, or 10 to 20 years from now, it will be of use to someone else in the future. You’ll make a future scientist’s job a little bit easier, and I believe that’s a great legacy to have.</p>
<h2>What is a common misconception about basic science?</h2>
<p>Because any immediate use for basic science can be very hard to see, it’s easy to think this kind of research <a href="https://theconversation.com/funding-basic-research-plays-the-long-game-for-future-payoffs-100435">is a waste of money or time</a>. Why are scientists breeding mosquitoes in these labs? Or why are researchers studying migratory birds? The same argument has been made with astronomy. Why are we spending billions of dollars putting things into space? Why are we looking to the edge of the universe and studying stars when they are millions and billions of light years away? How does it affect us?</p>
<p>There is a need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912436117">more scientific literacy</a> because not having it can make it difficult to understand why basic research is necessary to future breakthroughs that will have a major effect on society.</p>
<p>In the short term, the worth of basic research can be hard to see. But in the long term, history has shown that a lot of what we take for granted now, such as common medical equipment like <a href="https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200111/history.cfm">X-rays</a>, <a href="https://nationalmaglab.org/magnet-academy/history-of-electricity-magnetism/pioneers/theodore-maiman/">lasers</a> and <a href="https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200607/history.cfm">MRIs</a>, came from basic things people discovered in the lab. </p>
<p>And it still goes down to the fundamental questions – we’re a species that seeks answers to things we don’t know. As long as curiosity is a part of humanity, we’re always going to be seeking answers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>André O. Hudson receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p>The winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine made a discovery that helped create the COVID-19 vaccines. They couldn’t have anticipated the tremendous impact of their findings.André O. Hudson, Dean of the College of Science, Professor of Biochemistry, Rochester Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013412023-09-21T21:56:09Z2023-09-21T21:56:09ZCanada’s participation in the world’s largest radio telescope means new opportunities in research and innovation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548371/original/file-20230914-8809-zchqj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2000%2C1000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An artist's impression of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, the largest of its kind in the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://skao.canto.global/v/SKAOLibrary/album/G20QH?viewIndex=1&column=image&id=m02qd2lp390bd092m1d4a9734g">(SKAO)</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadas-participation-in-the-worlds-largest-radio-telescope-means-new-opportunities-in-research-and-innovation" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canada is about to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/national-research-council/news/2023/01/canada-announces-intention-to-become-full-member-of-international-skao-radio-astronomy-project.html">become a member</a> of the <a href="https://www.skao.int/en">Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO)</a> — the world’s next giant radio telescope. This is a win for all Canadians, not just astronomers. </p>
<p>SKAO is a radio telescope made up of thousands of individual elements over vast areas. Its two remote sites are located, in partnership with <a href="https://www.skao.int/en/partners/429/local-and-indigenous-communities">local and Indigenous communities</a>, in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Karoo">Karoo desert region of South Africa</a> and the traditional lands of the <a href="https://research.csiro.au/ska/location/">Wajarri Yamaji in outback Western Australia</a>. </p>
<p>An international partnership that will operate the observatory includes 16 countries located on five continents.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl895XftKK6","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Radio observations</h2>
<p>Observing the sky with radio telescopes is not just (or even mostly) about looking for aliens. Electromagnetic radiation at radio wavelengths is produced by some of the most interesting and mysterious objects in the universe. These range from the supermassive black holes at the hearts of distant galaxies to pulsars that spin at dizzying rates like the fastest lighthouses, to the baffling explosions that produce <a href="https://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/observational-research/time-domain-science/fast-radio-bursts/">fast radio bursts</a>. </p>
<p>To detect these faint signals when they reach Earth, we need many sophisticated antennas spread over large geographical areas, and located in places far from human-generated interference. </p>
<h2>Canadian involvement</h2>
<p>Canadian scientists are involved in many international projects, including the <a href="https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider">Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland</a> and <a href="https://www.snolab.ca/">SNOLAB underground laboratory in Lively, Ont.</a>. </p>
<p>The Canadian Astronomical Society makes recommendations on telescope participation through a <a href="https://casca.ca/?page_id=11499">decade long range plan</a> in which the professional astronomy community considers its priorities. Full participation in the SKA was the highest priority among large projects of the most recent plan <a href="https://casca.ca/?page_id=11499">that covers 2020 to 2030</a>. </p>
<p>Canada has already been a key partner in <a href="https://www.skao.int/en/partners/prospective-members/388/canada#__otpm0">the SKA project for over 20 years</a>, making contributions to both the technical and scientific designs. There is no other existing or planned telescope like the SKAO, and not participating would have meant that Canadian astronomers would miss out. </p>
<h2>Canadian leadership</h2>
<p>Canadian astronomy, despite its small size, is a world leader. We already conduct research with radio astronomy facilities such as the <a href="https://chime-experiment.ca/en">CHIME</a> experiment near Penticton, B.C., <a href="https://almaobservatory.org/en/home/">Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array</a> in Chile and the <a href="https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/vla">Jansky Very Large Array</a> in New Mexico. Participation in the SKAO will allow us to keep making new discoveries, thanks to one of the largest Canadian investments in astronomy to date.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a blue-lit circular device" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548372/original/file-20230914-19-joy01g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548372/original/file-20230914-19-joy01g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548372/original/file-20230914-19-joy01g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548372/original/file-20230914-19-joy01g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548372/original/file-20230914-19-joy01g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548372/original/file-20230914-19-joy01g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548372/original/file-20230914-19-joy01g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research where the Higgs boson was detected in 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canada’s membership in the SKAO will allow Canadian companies to bid on shares of the work to be done for this billion-dollar mega science project. <a href="https://www.skao.int/en/partners/prospective-members/388/canada#__otpm5">Technologies developed for the project</a> will include computer hardware for digital signal processing and antenna dishes that can be mass produced of composite materials. These technologies may have applications in other industries. There is also the opportunity to strengthen Canada’s innovation culture and international reputation as a technology leader. </p>
<p>Once at full operation, the SKAO will produce a data firehose: <a href="https://www.skao.int/en/explore/big-data">300 petabytes</a>, or about half a million typical laptop hard drives, per year. Developing the computer hardware and software for processing the SKA data will be another technological win for Canada: the algorithms and know-how needed can be adapted for big data applications elsewhere, from climate modelling to epidemiological research.</p>
<h2>Future generations</h2>
<p>SKAO is not just another radio telescope. Construction will be <a href="https://www.space.com/square-kilometer-array-observatory-construction-begins">completed in 2029</a>, with significant Canadian contributions. Membership in SKAO will also attract and train the next generation of Canadian scientists and engineers. </p>
<p>The excitement of space attracts many youth to STEM careers, and those who choose to study astronomy will have the opportunity to work with cutting-edge hardware and vast amounts of data. Some of those graduates will go on to work in astronomy research, while others will apply their skills to careers in finance, health care or environmental monitoring and protection. This will help build Canada’s capacity for innovation in a technologically driven future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201341/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pauline Barmby receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canadian Space Agency and was co-chair of the Canadian Astronomical Society’s 2020 Long Range Plan panel.</span></em></p>Canada’s partnership in the world’s largest radio telescope, located in South Africa and Australia, creates new opportunities for research, but the benefits go beyond astronomy.Pauline Barmby, Professor, Physics & Astronomy, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134752023-09-20T15:34:27Z2023-09-20T15:34:27ZThe UK re-joining the Horizon research funding scheme benefits Europe too – the data backs it up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549329/original/file-20230920-29-d80p8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C6934%2C4637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-scientist-analyzes-studies-research-organic-2237778033">Amorn Suriyan / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK has <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/britain-rejoins-eus-horizon-science-scheme/">just rejoined</a> the EU’s flagship research funding programmes, Horizon Europe and Copernicus. This is great news for science, the EU and the UK. </p>
<p>The reasons are simple: science progresses through the individual efforts of scholars and through <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733398000547">international cooperative research</a>. The latter process involves different scientific institutions and organisations working towards common goals on a variety of different projects. </p>
<p>Science has never really been confined to what we define today as national borders. The life path of the astronomer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolaus-Copernicus">Nicolaus Copernicus</a>, provides a good example of this.</p>
<p>Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland, in 1473. After studying in Krakow, in his home country, he moved south, studying in the Italian cities of Rome and Padua. He ended up with a doctorate in canon law <a href="https://www.unife.it/en/unife-world/history">from the University of Ferrara</a>, also in Italy. </p>
<p>Afterwards, Copernicus moved back to Poland to further his studies. Here, he developed a model of the universe with the Sun at the centre, replacing the traditional model where the Earth was central. His <a href="https://www.pas.rochester.edu/%7Eblackman/ast104/copernican9.html">“Copernican model”</a> helped kick off the scientific revolution.</p>
<p>When the ability of researchers to work across borders is limited, <a href="https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/frozen-out-of-horizon-europe-swiss-science-feels-the-pinch/4015987.article">science suffers</a>. For this reason, Brexit has damaged the UK in terms of retaining European scholars. Some of the evidence comes from research using data on citations – the number of times a given scientific work has been mentioned in the literature by other researchers. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.demogr.mpg.de/papers/working/wp-2022-019.pdf">A study</a> led by Ebru Sanliturk at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany, which I participated in, showed that, in the three years following Brexit, scholars who originated in the EU almost doubled their likelihood of leaving the UK. On the other hand, researchers originally from the UK have become more likely to stay in their home country or move back from the EU to the UK.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="European Commission in Brussels." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549357/original/file-20230920-27-j8xen6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549357/original/file-20230920-27-j8xen6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549357/original/file-20230920-27-j8xen6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549357/original/file-20230920-27-j8xen6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549357/original/file-20230920-27-j8xen6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549357/original/file-20230920-27-j8xen6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549357/original/file-20230920-27-j8xen6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Horizon Europe deal gives UK scientists access to the world’s largest research collaboration programme.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/eu-flags-front-european-commission-brussels-162128453">Symbiot / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why is this the case? One of the key EU funding agencies is the <a href="https://erc.europa.eu/homepage">European Research Council (ERC)</a>. It does something unusual: it funds research projects led by a scientist who is then free to change institution after the grant has been awarded. </p>
<p><a href="https://dashboard.tech.ec.europa.eu/qs_digit_dashboard_mt/public/sense/app/afe00964-3272-45c4-b60c-b64ed20d98d1/sheet/61a0bd1d-cd6d-4ac8-8b55-80d8661e44c0/state/analysis">ERC data shows that</a>, since 2007, 98 UK institutions have been awarded 2,397 projects and a total of more than four million euros. Put another way, the UK took 16% of all projects and total ERC funding. </p>
<p>The ERC has large individual grants: <a href="https://erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/starting-grant">between 1.5</a> and <a href="https://erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/advanced-grant">2.5 million euros</a> per project. It has contributed to raising the stakes in European science, and being awarded an ERC grant <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/apr/25/brexit-row-threatens-250m-in-uk-research-funding-from-eu">has become a badge of honour</a> for principal investigators – the scientists who lead research projects. </p>
<p>Moreover, <a href="https://erc.europa.eu/about-erc/erc-glance">12 ERC awardees</a> have received a Nobel Prize. The UK has benefited too, by attracting principal investigators from <a href="https://dashboard.tech.ec.europa.eu/qs_digit_dashboard_mt/public/sense/app/afe00964-3272-45c4-b60c-b64ed20d98d1/sheet/61a0bd1d-cd6d-4ac8-8b55-80d8661e44c0/state/analysis">59 different nationalities</a>.</p>
<h2>International networks</h2>
<p>In many scientific areas, Europe has a comparative advantage when it pools resources and minds. Networks of scholars and institutions make discoveries, push forward our knowledge and transform scientific findings into applications.</p>
<p>So EU institutions and scholars can significantly gain from interacting with UK-based scholars and institutions. The UK undoubtedly houses the top institutions in Europe in many fields. If we take the <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2024?&page=1">general top 20 ranking of universities</a> from the company QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), four UK institutions are included, one from Switzerland and none from the EU.</p>
<p>Research infrastructure – the facilities, equipment and tools used for science – are <a href="https://www.esfri.eu/esfri-events/esfri-20years-conference">fundamental to enabling discoveries</a>. Some of them are viable only by investing a large amount of money and resources. </p>
<p>In some cases, no single country in Europe can afford the infrastructure needed – one example is the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/07/05/how-much-does-it-cost-to-find-a-higgs-boson/">Large Hadron Collider at Cern</a>. The more members there are, the easier it is to spread the costs of such projects.</p>
<p>Another example is Copernicus, an <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Europe_s_Copernicus_programme">EU-funded Earth observation programme</a> using satellites to monitor the health of our planet. It provides open data, with everybody able to access it in real time – which is particularly useful in cases of environmental emergencies. As part of its deal to join Horizon Europe as an associate member, the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_23_4373">UK will become part of Copernicus</a>.</p>
<p>However, the UK has not negotiated an <a href="https://www.esfri.eu/people/delegates">associate membership of ESFRI</a>, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. ESFRI projects, such as the <a href="https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/">European Social Survey</a> and the <a href="https://share-eric.eu/">Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe</a>, provide important scientific insights. These translate into social and economic policy assessments by comparing results across countries – effectively using Europe as a natural laboratory. </p>
<p>So, there are potential wins and losses to everyone involved from the particular way the new deal has been negotiated between the EU and UK.</p>
<h2>Prospects for the future</h2>
<p>Some 17 countries are associate members of Horizon Europe, including science powerhouse Israel (which is a per capita <a href="https://dashboard.tech.ec.europa.eu/qs_digit_dashboard_mt/public/sense/app/afe00964-3272-45c4-b60c-b64ed20d98d1/sheet/61a0bd1d-cd6d-4ac8-8b55-80d8661e44c0/state/analysis">leader in receiving ERC research grants</a>), and major players such as Norway, as well as countries with large populations like Turkey and Ukraine. Switzerland, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.sbfi.admin.ch/sbfi/en/home/research-and-innovation/international-cooperation-r-and-i/eu-framework-programmes-for-research/horizon-europe.html">does not have associate member status</a> with Horizon Europe, but does collaborate with other research teams in Europe using other sources of funding.</p>
<p>Whether the UK’s relationship with the EU on science will evolve towards a strong and stable partnership model similar to the one of Israel or Norway, or towards a more ad hoc one like Switzerland’s, is hard to foresee. </p>
<p>If science and impact are key, a complementary, strong and stable partnership is in the interests of both the UK, the EU and other countries with associate membership of Horizon Europe. This can make us cautiously optimistic about the future for all parties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francesco Billari received funding from the European Research Council, Horizon Europe, and the Economic and Social Research Council (UK). </span></em></p>Science works better when barriers to collaboration are removed, say experts.Francesco Billari, Professor of Demography, Bocconi UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.