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The Barbican recently unveiled Purple Hibiscus, a new textile installation by Ghanaian artist, Ibrahim Mahama. Named after Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2003 novel, the colourful installation comprises 2,000 square metres of handwoven cloth covering the Barbican’s Lakeside Terrace.

I visited the installation on a cold, windy morning. The bright pink fabric swaying gently in the wind stood in stark contrast to the grey tones of the brutalist architectural complex. However, the visual contrast between the artwork and the building’s concrete façade hides a strong connection.

The handwoven cloth – the creation of which took seven months and employed over 1,000 people – resonates with the enormous human labour that went into building the Barbican. Signs of this labour are visible on the complex’s hand-drilled textured walls.

Speaking to me for this article, Mahama told me: “You never think about the labour that goes into these kind of buildings. You always think: who is the architect that designed this?”

The creation of Purple Hibiscus.
Courtesy Ibrahim Mahama, Red Clay Tamale, Barbican Centre, London and White Cube Gallery

This isn’t the first time Mahama has used textiles to wrap buildings and unravel histories of trade, labour and politics. His previous installations include TRANSFER(S) in Germany (2023), A Friend in Milan (2019), and Out of Bounds at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). He is mostly known for including cocoa bean jute sacks in his practice as a reference to global trade routes.

However, for the Barbican commission Mahama has departed from the blue and earthy tones of his previous works and instead used pink and purple strips of fabric sewn together with a white running stitch.

Mahama’s signature use of jute sacks and found materials can be compared to the works of Italian artist Alberto Burri and the Arte Povera movement. Arte Povera was an Italian artistic movement that rejected the techniques and materials of the traditional fine arts, in favour of unorthodox and “poor” materials such as soil, iron, rags, plastic and industrial waste.

The creation of Purple Hibiscus.
Courtesy Ibrahim Mahama, Red Clay Tamale, Barbican Centre, London and White Cube

Mahma is also frequently associated with the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, because of their own large-scale temporary installations which envelop public buildings. However, while the artistic duo’s intention was primarily aesthetic, Mahama’s practice extends beyond the form to investigate the historical narratives and production of the material he uses.

Mahama told me that Burri’s “aesthetics and politics of looking at the material” encouraged him to explore the potential for materials to overcome their physical boundaries and stretch into architectural structures.

Transcending boundaries

What I found particularly fascinating about the installation are the 130 batakari (traditional robes from northern Ghana) hand-sewn onto the fabric. They resemble flower-like appliqués.

Ibrahim Mahama: Purple Hibiscus at the Barbican Lakeside, 10 April 2024 – 18 August 2024.
Dion Barrett / Barbican Centre

Batakari are cherished personal possessions, passed down through generations within families. Mahama has been collecting worn batakari from villages in northern Ghana for years, often exchanging them for new smocks.

I reflected on the social lives of the batakari: from being prized possessions in northern Ghana to adorning a brutalist building in central London.

Mahama told me that his interest lies less in the social values attributed to the batakari by people, and more in the evolution of the material itself, with its potential to transcend its physical boundaries. He explained:

The work now will absorb new kinds of values because so many people are going to see it and throw their own interpretations. Once the work goes back to Ghana, it won’t be the same as it was when it left. The batakari from the village has travelled on a ship all the way to England. Many of the people who use this particular garment won’t ever get the chance to come to the UK, yet their objects or their DNA have managed to come to the UK and will eventually return to Ghana again with a very different perspective.

Some of the the batakari incorporated in the installation feature hand-embroidered circular geometric patterns, while others feature typographic characters and stains. Mahama explained that the typographic characters are screen-printed logos on white flour sacks that had been used to make the inner layer of the traditional robes.

In contact with the wearer’s body, the material “absorbs the sweat which becomes evident as stains on the white fabric”. Some of the stains are from urine, deliberately poured on the batakari by their owners as part of a ritual to ward off evil spirits before handing the garment over to the artist.

Purple Hibiscus was created at the Aliu Mahama sports stadium in Tamale, Ghana.
Courtesy Ibrahim Mahama, Red Clay Tamale, Barbican Centre, London and White Cube Gallery

The batakari exemplify the tension in Mahama’s work between the commodity and the personal. Flour sacks become personal when used as inner layers within the batakari, which are treasured items bearing memories of the wearers.

Reflecting on the batakari now adorning the Barbican’s façade, I am reminded of the anthropologist Igor Kopytoff ’s writings on the cultural biography of things. Kopytoff says that culture and people, by classifying and attributing special meanings to objects, work against the process of commodification of the global economy.

Mahama’s artistic practice seems to resist the process of commodification by highlighting the human stories hidden within trade and ordinary objects, such as jute sacks. Through covering buildings, Mahama uncovers the contradictions and inequalities of this exchange system.

Purple Hibiscus is a fascinating and multilayered contribution to the ongoing Barbican exhibition Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art. The pink textile installation highlights once again the deceptive simplicity of textiles and their potential to express peoples’ stories.

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Several recent TikToks have claimed that freezing bread actually makes it healthier. Some of these mention there’s research which backs up the claims. But is this food tip as good as social media influencers suggest?

The science behind it is actually sound, albeit a little confusing. But the actual health effects are not nearly as significant as they’ve been made out to be.

When bread is cooked, it transforms the moist, bubble-filled dough into a soft fluffy loaf. The heat of the oven, combined with the water in the dough, causes the starch in the flour to expand and gelatinise. The same thing happens when flour is added to a sauce and cooked until it thickens.

These gelatinised starches are easier to digest, making the glucose (sugars) that these starches contain easier for our cells to get hold of. This is true of many freshly cooked starchy foods, particularly those low in fibre or made from finely milled flours – such as white bread or potatoes.

Some evidence suggests that this kind of rapidly available glucose might increase insulin levels just after eating. Although insulin is important as it helps our cells use glucose for energy (or store it for energy later), too much insulin could cause you to feel hungrier and possibly even gain weight.

But when foods containing these gelatinised starches are cooled, the expanded starches shrink back down, becoming what’s known as a resistant starch. These collapsed starches are harder for the enzymes in our digestive tract to break down – which means its also harder for our cells to get hold of the sugar these starches contain. This means resistant starches are less likely to cause a blood sugar and insulin “spike” after eating them.

The degree to which resistant starch is able to form depends on the baking temperature of the bread and whether it’s then refrigerated or frozen. The rate of contraction is nearly twice in the freezer as it is in the refrigerator, meaning that more resistant starch will be formed.

Plus, freezing bread traps the water in – keeping it fresher and softer than if you stored it in the fridge, where water will be lost causing the bread to go hard.

Should you freeze your bread?

A study on ten healthy people looked at the effect of freezing white bread then toasting it. They compared store-bought loaves with homemade bread.

For samples of homemade bread, freezing and thawing the bread reduced how much it spiked blood sugar by 31% over two hours. Interestingly, toasting fresh bread also lowered the rise in glucose by 25%.

This effect was even greater when the homemade bread was frozen, thawed, then toasted – reducing the blood sugar response by 39%. This effect could potentially help with hunger, as glucose and insulin levels will not rise as high after eating the frozen bread.

Not all bread is equal.
morkovkapiy/ Shutterstock

But when commercial, store-bought white bread was used, freezing before toasting did not improve the body’s blood sugar response. This could reflect the different ways in which commercial bread is made compared to homemade bread. The ingredients used or the way the loaf is cooked then cooled may reduce the effect of freezing on the formation of resistant starch. The evidence is not completely clear.

Other, more recent research, has also shown similar results. So, although some of the studies are small, the effect that freezing bread has seems consistent, and thoroughly investigated in the lab.

But it’s worth noting that these effects only exist for a couple of hours after eating the bread. So while freezing your bread before eating it may help lower blood sugar levels at one meal (and have a small effect on the next meal too), the long-term effects on appetite, weight gain or risk of certain diseases (such as type 2 diabetes) is not known – and is likely to be very small.

Resistant starch can be found in many other cooked and chilled starchy foods such as potatoes, pasta and some (but not all) types of rice. Basmati rice in particular seems to form more resistant starch than fluffier types of rice (such as arborio rice).

As well as being harder to breakdown than freshly cooked starch, resistant starch provides nutrients to the microbes living in our colon. This helps maintain a healthy balance of bacteria in our gut. These bacteria then release chemicals onto the cells lining the colon which help us to maintain a healthy metabolism.

Resistant starch has also been shown to help insulin work better by increasing insulin sensitivity somewhat. This can help our bodies use blood sugar more efficiently, which is linked to better health, as they can be used more effectively as a fuel by our muscles.

The benefits of resistant starch may even extend to other aspects of our metabolism, as it may also help lower cholesterol. This effect is thought to be caused by the short-chain fatty acids the gut bacteria produce when they ferment resistant starches. Lower cholesterol levels may mean lower risk of heart disease.

While these changes may seem quite dramatic they are short term, so their effects on our long-term health is more modest. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still freeze your bread. Putting a loaf of bread in the freezer can reduce food waste with the added bonus of some health benefits – even if small. Läs mer…

Since moving to London almost a decade ago, I’ve always been struck by the drink tins, sandwich packs and free newspapers draped on and wedged in every nook and cranny of this beautiful city.

I’ve coined the phrase “polite littering” to represent rubbish that has been left like this, without people even realising they’re littering. This could be why communications that ask people not to litter when they don’t know they are littering, are simply ineffective, and can discredit the efforts of people cleaning up our public spaces.

The act of littering has always fascinated me and I’ve never thought it was OK to throw rubbish on the ground. Most people in the UK agree – 95% consider a clean environment to be important. This may seem like a very positive outlook, but street cleaners report having to collect a staggering 2 million items of litter a day, costing UK taxpayers over £1 billion a year.

Despite the perception that littering is bad, the UK’s litter rates continue to rise. Littering fines in England recently increased from £150 to £500, while campaign groups such as Keep Britain Tidy regularly launch anti-littering communication drives and have organised clean-up initiatives for 70 years.

This dichotomy inspired my PhD. Since the 1970’s, academic research has tried to quantify the effectiveness of anti-littering techniques. But this approach misses a vital step in the scientific process – to understand exactly how litter is created before intervening.

Polite littering crops up in unlikely places.
Randa Kachef, CC BY-ND

In my research, I have taken a step back from what experts think they know about this behaviour to observe littering in action. I have spent six years watching and documenting the way people dispose of their waste in London, Brighton, Manchester and Birmingham. I have discovered that not all litter is intentionally littered.

Litter is typically defined as being scattered about by people flagrantly throwing rubbish on the ground. But if a bin cannot be found, some people find creative ways to dispose of their rubbish, leaving it neatly on top of salt and grit bins, window ledges, garden bushes or bin bags awaiting collection.

Cups are just one type of litter often found in flower beds in busy urban areas like this.
Randa Kachef, CC BY-ND

Cigarette butts – the most littered item in the world – are often disposed of by flicking away as part of the smoking ritual. Aside from that, almost half of the non-cigarette littering I witnessed seemed “polite” – instead of intentionally throwing items on the ground, people would place their rubbish neatly on or around bins or bin-like structures.

I regularly observed people seeking out a bin to throw away an empty drinks can, while immediately littering their cigarette. So while people may understand the need to avoid littering, there’s a fundamental disconnect – they won’t necessarily consider cigarette butts as litter, despite them containing toxic chemicals and plastic microfibres.

This empty bottle of fizz is just one example of polite littering.
Randa Kachef, CC BY-ND

Improving rubbish campaigns

Politely littered items can get knocked over by a strong gust of wind. Neat piles of waste might collapse when someone else adds another item to it. Often, this rubbish ends up on the ground alongside other litter, by which time, the original offender is well on their way, completely unaware that their actions have contributed to litter in the more conventional sense.

So much of the litter in the streets is generated completely by accident. About a fifth of the littering I observed happened with the individual being completely unaware. Lightweight, low cost and small items such as hair ties, face masks and till receipts are regularly dropped accidentally when people are rummaging through their pockets or handbags.

Once politely littered, rubbish can be further littered by animals too. Bags of rubbbish left next to full bins ready for collection can easily get ripped up and scattered by scavenging foxes at night. Cleaning staff then report having to pick up litter, managers read these reports and assume littering is the issue. But when litter is created this way, intent and outcome are wildly disconnected. In reality, larger bins with greater capacity and more regular cleaning schedules would improve the situation.

Unfortunately, when litter is created unintentionally, it still has the same detrimental effect on the environment, and it also makes it more likely other people will litter as well.

Many councils are increasingly removing bins to encourage people to take their rubbish home and hopefully reduce littering. This is not a reasonable expectation, especially in busy tourist areas where home may not be nearby or for people with leaky, messy rubbish they need to dispose of while out and about. Waste removal services need to be better matched to binning needs, particularly in highly littered areas and during peak times.

Ultimately, the act of littering needs a re-brand. Campaigns would do well to stop assuming that litter equals littering. All forms of improper waste disposal, including well-intentioned polite littering and accidental contributions, must be linked to the litter problem. Läs mer…

There was a moment during the state capture years of South African president Jacob Zuma’s term in office (2009 to 2018) when the veil finally slipped. There had been quiet rumblings against the country’s constitution for many years. But now a senior figure in the ruling African National Congress – its chief whip in the National Assembly, Mathole Motshekga – gave public expression to the notion that when judges overturned decisions of the government they were undermining democracy by thwarting the will of the majority.

As I watched a 2014 parliamentary ad hoc committee debate the Public Protector’s report on spending for Zuma’s private home, I realised that this might be a critical time for the notion of constitutionalism in modern South Africa.

The parliamentary committee’s work was to give effect to the findings and recommendations of the Public Protector.

If the view expressed by Motshekga – known in academic circles as the counter-majoritarian view – were to gain wider currency, South Africa’s constitution would be weakened. Arguments in favour of a return to parliamentary sovereignty (of the apartheid era) might gain momentum. Without the checks and balances of the constitution, the scope for abuse of executive power would increase drastically. The human rights advances of the post-1994 era could be rolled back.

As I watched the proceedings of the ad hoc committee, I heard Motshekga ask why the views of the majority party in parliament should be subordinate to an unelected Public Protector.

His rhetorical question went to the heart of South Africa’s constitutional journey; it reflected how much the project to establish the principle of constitutionalism remained contested.

In the decade since Motshekga posed his question, the checks and balances envisaged under the constitution have been “battle-hardened” from the litigation brought during the Zuma era. And in my view constitutionalism has, so far, not only prevailed but held the line against ruthless attacks on South Africa’s democracy. This view is informed by my more than 30 years of scholarly research and writing, which has focused on issues of separation of powers, and on the constitutionally mandated oversight role of parliament.

Holding the line

The answer to Motshekga’s question, the Constitutional Court later found, is that it’s because the Public Protector is a creature of the constitution, with constitutional authority. To ignore the Public Protector’s findings is to ignore the constitution.

In essence, the recommendations of the Public Protector are binding precisely because of that constitutional authority. The responsibility of parliament is not to contest the recommendations but to help give effect to them.

To do so, however, would have gone against the wishes of the then president, Zuma. We now know he was at the centre of a systematic attack on the democratic state, commonly referred to as “state capture”.

Read more:
Are judges in South Africa under threat or do they complain too much?

He also wanted to avoid being held to account for his looting of state resources, in this case to pay for unlawful “security” upgrades to his private homestead.

In a seminal judgment in 2016, the Constitutional Court began with a statement about constitutionalism:

One of the crucial elements of our constitutional vision is to make a decisive break from the unchecked abuse of State power and resources that was virtually institutionalised during the apartheid era. To achieve this goal, we adopted accountability, the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution as values of our constitutional democracy. For this reason, public office-bearers ignore their constitutional obligations at their peril. This is so because constitutionalism, accountability and the rule of law constitute the sharp and mighty sword that stands ready to chop the ugly head of impunity off its stiffened neck.

At that point, the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) took up the cudgels of the constitution in parliament with a crisp slogan directed at Zuma: “Pay back the money!”.

In a rare moment of unity, the opposition withdrew from the parliamentary committee process and held a media conference in defence of the constitution.

It was a key moment in the fight back against state capture and in support of the constitution, accountability and the very idea of constitutionalism.

Hence, the question of whether the constitution should continue to be supreme – fundamental to the idea of “constitutionalism” – became a public as well as a political issue.

With hindsight it seems helpful that the issue came to the surface and was confronted.

Zuma’s impropriety enabled important parts of the constitution to be tested and the notion of a constitutional democracy to be debated. As Zuma was ousted from power in February 2018, and the Zondo Commission into corruption wrote chapter and verse about the state capture project, the idea of constitutionalism seemed to be intact.

But the issue has not gone away.

The constitution under scrutiny

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi and Dan Mafora, a researcher at the rights organisation Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac), have been willing to confront the arguments against constitutionalism that continue to circulate.

Mafora’s 2023 book Capture in the Court engages

the ascendant anti-constitutionalism of our present moment. Rhetoric that the Constitution has failed or is an obstacle to freedom, economic or otherwise, is flowering everywhere.

Like Mafora, Ngcukaitobi argues that

if we are to take seriously this populist attack and not be dismissive, we need to destabilise these arguments rationally through deep research and analysis.

Ngcukaitobi set out the main grounds for attacks against the constitution:

it has held back socio-economic transformation, especially land reform
it is a “Eurocentric” import imposed on Africans
it is an unjustified constraint on democratic power.

He then dismantled them one by one.

Equally important is the work of historians such as Andre Odendaal. He looks back to the days when the idea of a constitutional democracy was agreed within the ranks of the ANC. In his book Dear Comrade President: Oliver Tambo and the Foundations of South Africa’s Constitution, Odendaal dissects the historical origins of the constitution. He homes in on some of the key decision-making processes, most particularly the work of the constitutional committee of the ANC during the 1980s.

The details presented in the book

underline the homegrown origins and essence of the Constitution.

The ANC leadership, including its then leaders Oliver Tambo and, later, Nelson Mandela, were fully in support of a constitutional democracy. They saw it as a way to protect rights and prevent authoritarian rule.

Mandela accepted the rule of law as president, even when decisions went against him and his government.

Read more:
South Africa’s Constitutional Court at 30: a solid foundation but cracks are showing

Odendaal’s work provides an important historical anchor in a turbulent and divisive discourse. In this, constitutionalism will be vulnerable to attack as long as poverty, inequality and unemployment stalk the land. The cry for more executive power, unconstrained by the constitution – a scapegoat for government failure – will rise repeatedly.

The constitution and the principle of constitutionalism will continue to be politically contested territory.

So far it’s held. Mandela would be pleased. Läs mer…

It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s violence in recent weeks.

A spate of cases involving women dying, allegedly at the hands of men, in the Ballarat region. The shocking case of Molly Ticehurst, allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend in central west New South Wales. The fact so many of the victims of the violence at Bondi Junction were women.

It is clear there is a collective grief across our nation. The headlines express our shared hurt and disbelief that women continue to lose their lives to men’s violence against them. This weekend, a National Rally Against Violence will urge governments to take more assertive action to end gender-based violence in our communities.

So what’s being done – and are we making any progress?

Most of the victims in the Bondi Junction stabbing incident were women.
AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

Read more:
How ’closing the gap’ may close doors for First Nations women in new plan to end violence

What is being done?

At this time, it is appropriate we seek to ease our individual and collective grief.

It is a time for expressing our respect for the women who have lost their lives, and for renewing our commitments that we will not stand by and do nothing while women continue to be harmed.

We have not been standing in silence.

Australians have been – and will continue – taking action to end gender-based violence.

Every Australian government has committed to policy action to address violence against women. The second National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (2022 to 2032), is building on the progress made over the past ten years.

This plan emphasises prevention and early intervention, as well as improving support for victim-survivors and justice responses. There is also a focus on recovery and healing.

For the first time, there is a specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan to address violence against women and children in First Nations communities.

The Commonwealth government has also committed to centring Aboriginal women’s leadership in the development of a standalone National Plan for First Nations women.

Across our communities, workplaces are implementing new policies and programs to prevent sexual harassment and to promote equity and respect at work.

The media, too, are reporting with greater sensitivity and respect for victim-survivors of violence.

Universities are embarking on a program of policy, services and cultural change to address sexual violence and harassment.

More and more schools are delivering on respectful relationships education with children and young people.

From sports clubs to faith communities, to licensed venues and public spaces, there is a heightened awareness of family and sexual violence, and the role we all have to play in responding to and preventing it.

Australians have been – and will continue – taking action.
AAP Image/Con Chronis

Is it working?

Our national data is telling us that these shared efforts are starting to show impact in our communities. Of course, zero preventable deaths should be our goal.

But the data from the Australian Institute of Criminology’s National Homicide Monitoring Program does show a continuing decline in rates of intimate partner homicide, in particular.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Personal Safety Survey, the most accurate measure of self-reported experiences of all forms of personal violence in Australia, also shows some promising trends. It shows the 12-month rate of family violence may have reduced in some states, while remaining the same in others.

Read more:
49 women have been killed in Australia so far in 2023 as a result of violence. Are we actually making any progress?

What more needs to be done?

There is so much policy and program work that Australia has committed to – but much is still in its infancy of implementation.

Police and justice systems in several states have been reviewing policies and practices that have too often failed to protect women’s lives.

Accountability of men who choose to use violence is critical – but there is also a need for more work with men who want to change their behaviour, and for early intervention programs to prevent men’s violence from escalating.

We also urgently need funding for recovery and healing services for victim-survivors.

It is unacceptable that many of those experiencing lasting trauma and other impacts of family and sexual violence face a lack of affordable, accessible, trauma-informed support beyond a situation of dangerous crisis.

It has been less than ten years since we have had a national framework to guide evidence-based strategies to prevent the violence before it occurs. Addressing the underlying drivers of gender-based violence goes hand-in-hand with our response efforts, if we want to see lasting change.

Impact on survivors

The recent headlines on gender-based violence have also undoubtedly affected remaining victim-survivors.

For some, hearing about these recent cases may add to existing trauma. It can prompt an unnerving sense of unsafety; a feeling of endless risk that too often women are left to navigate largely on their own.

Others may feel the time is right to disclose their own experience of violence to a friend or family member, or contact a helpline like 1800 RESPECT.

If you find yourself responding to a disclosure of violence, remember your initial response can have a lasting impact.

Now, more than ever, she will need to be listened to without blame or judgement. She will need to be believed, and she may need some support to connect with specialist support services.

Many men too, will no doubt be reflecting on what needs to be done to end this violence. There is a particularly important role for non-violent men to play in speaking out against gender-based violence and helping break these patterns.

We must not lose heart, but rather accelerate the progress we have begun to make.

We must continue to take action if we are to fulfil our shared commitment to an Australia where women – and indeed, all of us – live free from all forms of violence.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732. In immediate danger, call 000. Läs mer…

Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate relationship of different species living together. It’s much more common and older than many of us might realise.

One of the most common symbiotic relationships is between various species of algae and fungi, or between cyanobacteria (commonly known as blue-green algae though it’s not algae) and fungi. These paired species take the form of lichens.

The term symbiosis was first used in the 19th century to describe the lichen relationship, which was thought to be highly unusual. Since then, we’ve discovered symbiosis is the norm, rather than the exception. In fact, it has shaped the evolution of most life on Earth.

Clownfish and anenomes have one of the best-known symbiotic relationships between animals.
melissaf84/Shutterstock

Read more:
More than coral: the unseen casualties of record-breaking heat on the Great Barrier Reef

Symbiosis is almost everywhere we look

Lichens are diverse. They grow on tree trunks, on roof tiles and on ancient rocks.

The symbiosis of two different species allows both to survive in environments they might not be able to colonise otherwise. The fungus provides a suitable environment for its partnering species of algae or cyanbacteria to grow – it might otherwise be too exposed or dry, for example. In return, the fungus gets to share some of the carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis.

This is an example where both partners benefit from their relationship. It’s called mutualistic symbiosis.

Lichens are often very good indicators of air quality and more general ecosystem health. Their absence can indicate poor air quality. Because they absorb air pollutants such as heavy metals they can be used as biomonitors.

Read more:
Mosses and lichens come to the rescue in battle against air pollution

In another very common example of mutualistic symbiosis, most plant species live in a close relationship with fungi in the soil. It’s known as a mycorrhizal association.

The plants harness the energy in sunlight to make sugar from water and carbon dioxide in the process called photosynthesis. The plants share this food with the fungus, which relies on them for survival. In return, the fine threads of the fungus greatly increase the surface area of the plant roots for absorbing water and nutrients.

A microscopic view of a rice plant root showing the threads of a mycorrhizal fungus.
melissaf84/Shutterstock

Read more:
The ancient, intimate relationship between trees and fungi, from fairy toadstools to technicolour mushrooms

Not all partners benefit

Not all symbiotic relationships benefit both partners.

In parasitic symbiosis, one partner benefits at the expense of the other. Examples include the fungi Phytophthora, Fusarium and Armilleria, which often kill their plant hosts.

In cases of commensalism, one organism benefits and the other neither gains nor loses. Small birds, for example, sometimes perch on large herbivores, eating insects disturbed by the larger animals.

As in any relationship, it’s possible things can change over time. For example, a mutualistic symbiosis between a tree and its mycorrhizal fungus might change to parasitism as the tree ages and declines, or if environmental conditions change.

The relationship between mistletoe and its host plant can be complex and change with the conditions.
Ken Griffiths/Shutterstock

Read more:
At a time of giving and receiving, our many Australian mistletoes do it too

Symbiosis has driven evolution

Symbiosis has played a huge role in the evolution of life. The cells that make up the bodies of animals and plants are the result of symbiotic relationships.

Cells are complex. They contain structures called organelles, such as the nucleus (the control centre of the cell) and mitochondrion (involved in cellular respiration, which uses oxygen to break down food molecules to make energy available). Plant cells also contain chloroplasts, the sites of photosynthesis.

These complex cells evolved from much simpler, ancient forms of life that came together symbiotically.

The organelles of complex cells were once single-celled life forms that survived being engulfed by other simple cells. They formed a more complex and efficient cell, which has become the basic cell type for large multicellular life forms.

All large multi-cellular organisms living on Earth – animal and plant – possess this type of cell. It’s proof of how successful this evolutionary symbiotic strategy has been.

Cell respiration in both plant and animal cells involves mitochondria, which indicates they were engulfed early in evolutionary history. Later a cell type already containing mitochondria engulfed the chloroplast. This led to the evolution of complex plants.

Read more:
Explainer: why can’t humans photosynthesise?

When two become one

The incorporation of one cell type into another is called endosymbiosis. It allowed cells and parts of cells to become highly specialised. This specialisation improved their efficiency and capacity to survive under a wider range of conditions.

When I was a postgraduate botany student in the late ’70s, colleagues one day brought samples of common sea lettuce, Ulva latuca, to the laboratory, where I was studying photosynthetic physiology. Sea lettuce is a seaweed found in many shallow waters around the Australian coast.

We noticed a little marine slug grazing on the plant, so we popped it into our system for studying photosynthesis. To our surprise the slug was photosynthesising! We discovered the slug partly digested the sea lettuce cells, but some chloroplasts passed through the lining of the slug’s gut and continued to photosynthesise.

We thought we had made an important discovery, only to learn others had published similar work. After that I never doubted the validity of endosymbiosis, which was still a controversial theory at the time.

Chloroplasts can continue photosynthesising inside the body of sea slugs that absorb them when grazing on algae.
Sarah Frost/Shutterstock

Symbiosis turns out to be the norm

We now know symbiosis is the norm for most organisms, including humans.

Our gut flora represent symbiosis on a massive scale. The diversity and huge numbers of bacteria living happily in our gut can have a huge impact on our general health and wellbeing. In the case of a healthy gut, both the person and the bacteria do well out of the relationship: a nice example of mutualistic symbiosis.

COVID focused public attention on viruses. But not all viruses are harmful; many actually benefit the organisms they infect. Some viruses even protect us from disease-causing viruses. For example, in people who are HIV-positive the disease progresses more slowly in those who are also infected with GB virus C (GBV-C).

Of course, the full range of symbiotic relationships with viruses is possible, from mutual benefit to an infected host suffering great harm. And, as with bacteria, there is accumulating evidence viruses have helped many species evolve, including our own.

An organism must live within a complex set of relationships to survive and thrive in any environment. Some relationships will be more positive than others, but it should not surprise that mutualistic symbiosis is so often the key to success. Läs mer…

“Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 Australian children and young people live with currently untreatable childhood dementia.

Broadly speaking, childhood dementia is caused by any one of more than 100 rare genetic disorders. Although the causes differ from dementia acquired later in life, the progressive nature of the illness is the same.

Half of infants and children diagnosed with childhood dementia will not reach their tenth birthday, and most will die before turning 18.

Yet this devastating condition has lacked awareness, and importantly, the research attention needed to work towards treatments and a cure.

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More about the causes

Most types of childhood dementia are caused by mutations (or mistakes) in our DNA. These mistakes lead to a range of rare genetic disorders, which in turn cause childhood dementia.

Two-thirds of childhood dementia disorders are caused by “inborn errors of metabolism”. This means the metabolic pathways involved in the breakdown of carbohydrates, lipids, fatty acids and proteins in the body fail.

As a result, nerve pathways fail to function, neurons (nerve cells that send messages around the body) die, and progressive cognitive decline occurs.

Childhood dementia is linked to rare genetic disorders.
maxim ibragimov/Shutterstock

What happens to children with childhood dementia?

Most children initially appear unaffected. But after a period of apparently normal development, children with childhood dementia progressively lose all previously acquired skills and abilities, such as talking, walking, learning, remembering and reasoning.

Childhood dementia also leads to significant changes in behaviour, such as aggression and hyperactivity. Severe sleep disturbance is common and vision and hearing can also be affected. Many children have seizures.

The age when symptoms start can vary, depending partly on the particular genetic disorder causing the dementia, but the average is around two years old. The symptoms are caused by significant, progressive brain damage.

Are there any treatments available?

Childhood dementia treatments currently under evaluation or approved are for a very limited number of disorders, and are only available in some parts of the world. These include gene replacement, gene-modified cell therapy and protein or enzyme replacement therapy. Enzyme replacement therapy is available in Australia for one form of childhood dementia. These therapies attempt to “fix” the problems causing the disease, and have shown promising results.

Other experimental therapies include ones that target faulty protein production or reduce inflammation in the brain.

Read more:
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Research attention is lacking

Death rates for Australian children with cancer nearly halved between 1997 and 2017 thanks to research that has enabled the development of multiple treatments. But over recent decades, nothing has changed for children with dementia.

In 2017–2023, research for childhood cancer received over four times more funding per patient compared to funding for childhood dementia. This is despite childhood dementia causing a similar number of deaths each year as childhood cancer.

The success for childhood cancer sufferers in recent decades demonstrates how adequately funding medical research can lead to improvements in patient outcomes.

Dementia is not just a disease of older people.
Miljan Zivkovic/Shutterstock

Another bottleneck for childhood dementia patients in Australia is the lack of access to clinical trials. An analysis published in March this year showed that in December 2023, only two clinical trials were recruiting patients with childhood dementia in Australia.

Worldwide however, 54 trials were recruiting, meaning Australian patients and their families are left watching patients in other parts of the world receive potentially lifesaving treatments, with no recourse themselves.

That said, we’ve seen a slowing in the establishment of clinical trials for childhood dementia across the world in recent years.

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In addition, we know from consultation with families that current care and support systems are not meeting the needs of children with dementia and their families.

New research

Recently, we were awarded new funding for our research on childhood dementia. This will help us continue and expand studies that seek to develop lifesaving treatments.

More broadly, we need to see increased funding in Australia and around the world for research to develop and translate treatments for the broad spectrum of childhood dementia conditions.

Dr Kristina Elvidge, head of research at the Childhood Dementia Initiative, and Megan Maack, director and CEO, contributed to this article. Läs mer…

The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide:

non-binding advice on boosting economic inclusion and tackling disadvantage, including policy settings, systems and structures, and the adequacy, effectiveness and sustainability of income support payments.

I am one of the members.

This year, the report tackled a burning question: why has the gap between unemployment payments and age pensions widened?

Unemployment and related payments for working-age people were given a welcome increase in the 2023–24 budget. But they remain well below pensions, and far from adequate on all measures.

Way below the pension

After the latest regular indexation increase in March, a single jobseeker gets about A$258 per fortnight less than a pensioner in basic payments, and $345 per fortnight less than a pensioner on payments including supplements.

It’s important to understand what’s led us to this point.

The committee’s first report last year noted that the amounts paid are set through a complex historical process that has involved “long periods of inaction” interspersed with “bursts of activity” to address the previous inaction.

The amounts paid out are regularly increased, typically via “indexation” to either wages growth or inflation (prices growth).

Indexation of pensions and benefits was enshrined in legislation in 1976, but at times of high inflation was suspended.

By 1982, unemployment payments were about 80% of the single pension.

From 1983 onwards, the Hawke government increased unemployment payments relative to pensions so that by the time Paul Keating left office as prime minister in March 1996 the rate for a single adult facing unemployment had climbed to 92% of the basic pension.

What widened the gap?

The gap began to widen increasingly quickly from 1997, when the Howard government “benchmarked” pensions to 25% of “male total average weekly earnings”.

This means that although pensions increased in line with the consumer price index, as did unemployment payments, they had to be lifted further to ensure they couldn’t fall below 25% of male total average earnings, whereas unemployment payments did not.

By the early 2000s, the single unemployment payment was worth around 87% of the support for a pensioner, including supplements.

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As real wages grew strongly during the mining boom of the early 2000s, the gap widened further to $142 per fortnight ($179 including supplements) by 2009.

And then, although wages were growing less strongly as a result of the global financial crisis, the gap widened again.

The Rudd government lifted single pensions substantially following the recommendations of the 2009 Harmer Review.

Support for unemployed singles fell from 79% of the single pension to just 68% – the biggest gap so far. For couples, the gap fell from 83% to 81%.

The pandemic sparked a brief reprieve

The gap continued to widen until early 2020, when the temporary $550 a fortnight Coronavirus Supplement almost doubled the effective JobSeeker payment, lifting it above the age pension for a short period.

In April 2021, after the gap returned, the Morrison government helped narrow it by lifting JobSeeker by $50 per fortnight, and in 2023 Treasurer Jim Chalmers lifted it a further $40 per fortnight.

But over the past 30 years, the gap has still widened significantly, mainly as an effect of deliberate policy choices to lift support for pensioners.

But from here on, things are set to get worse

Under current indexation and benchmarking arrangements, it is inevitable this gap will continue to widen.

This can be seen in all of the projections of the Intergenerational Reports prepared for the government since 2002.

The latest 2023 report assumes average earnings will increase by 3.7% per year and prices by 2.5% per year over the next 40 years. If this happens, the single rate of JobSeeker will fall to less than half of the pension by 2063.

The improvements achieved through payment increases in 2022 and 2023 would be undone by 2035.

This would lead to much higher rates of relative poverty among working-age benefit recipients in the future. Child poverty would also increase substantially.

What needs to change

The committee has recommended the government commit to a substantial increase in the base rates of JobSeeker and related working-age payments as a first priority, and spell out the time frame in which it will happen.

To ensure this doesn’t need to keep happening, we have also recommended the government improve the indexation arrangements to make sure payments for the unemployed don’t fall behind.

It would still need to regularly review and monitor the relationship between working-age payments and widely accepted measures of community living standards, including wages, but not nearly as often. Läs mer…

The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample of 1,092 people, gave the Liberal National Party a 56–44% lead over Labor, a four-point gain for the LNP since the early October 2023 YouGov poll.

Primary votes were 44% LNP (up three points), 27% Labor (down six), 15% Greens (up two), 10% One Nation (up two) and 4% for all others (down one).

Labor Premier Steven Miles had a -22 net approval rating, compared with former Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s -20 rating in the October poll, with 47% of those polled dissatisfied with his performance and 25% satisfied.

This is the worst net approval for a Queensland premier in YouGov polls for The Courier Mail.

LNP leader David Crisafulli’s net approval was +14, up three points from October. Crisafulli led Miles as better premier by 40–27% (he was 37–35% against Palaszczuk in the October poll).

Asked who they would prefer as premier between Miles and Palaszczuk, voters backed Miles by 53–47%. Labor voters supported Palaszczuk by 51–49%, while LNP voters favoured Miles by 57–43%.

In March, a Newspoll gave the LNP a 54–46% lead over Labor, and there were massive swings to the LNP at two Queensland state byelections.

Labor has governed in Queensland since an upset victory at the January 2015 election. But the party is now facing a heavy defeat at the October election after almost ten years in power.

Labor extends lead in federal YouGov poll

A national YouGov poll, conducted April 19–23 from a sample of 1,514 people, gave Labor a 52–48% lead over the Coalition, a one-point gain since March. Primary votes were 36% Coalition (down two points), 33% Labor (up one), 13% Greens (steady), 8% One Nation (up one) and 10% for all others (steady).

Respondents were given two statements regarding Australian military commitments:

Australians have died for Australia, and we should also be prepared to fight for our country’s values if called upon.

We should be sceptical of politicians who want to commit troops to wars not necessary to the direct defence of Australia.

Overall, voters favoured the prepared to fight statement by 46–42%. However, younger age groups were far more inclined to be sceptical than older people. Those aged 25–34 favoured the sceptical statement by 50–34%, while those 65 and older favoured the prepared to fight statement by 60–34%.

On Monday, I covered drops for Labor in the Resolve, Freshwater and Morgan polls. Polls released since then have been better for Labor – the party improved in YouGov and regained the lead in Morgan.

In economic data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the March quarter inflation report on Wednesday. While the 12-month inflation rate slowed from 4.1% in December to 3.6% in March, the quarterly inflation was 1.0% in March, up from 0.6% in December. Persistent inflation probably explains Labor’s mediocre poll ratings.

Essential poll: Coalition regains lead as One Nation surges

A national Essential poll, conducted April 17–21 from a sample of 1,145 people, gave the Coalition a 49–47% lead over Labor (including undecided voters) – a reversal of Labor’s 48–46% lead in early April.

Primary votes were 35% Coalition (up one point), 31% Labor (up two), 11% Greens (down three), 9% One Nation (up three), 1% UAP (down one), 9% for all others (up one) and 4% undecided (down two). Analyst Kevin Bonham said this is the highest One Nation
primary vote from any pollster this term.

Albanese’s net approval was steady since February at -5, with 48% disapproving of his performance and 43% approving. Dutton’s net approval jumped seven points to +3, with Bonham saying this is Dutton’s first positive net approval from any pollster this term. However, Newspoll gave Dutton a net approval of -15.

On Israel’s military action in Gaza, 32% said Israel should permanently withdraw (down five points since March), 19% favoured a temporary ceasefire (down one), and 19% said Israel’s action was justified (up one). By 29–24%, voters supported recognising Palestine as an independent state.

By a 49–26% margin, voters thought the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy would have a positive impact on Australia as a whole, but were less positive about the personal impact (36–23% positive). And by a 52–31% margin, voters supported Australia developing nuclear energy (compared to 50–33% in October).

Asked which type of energy was most expensive, 40% said renewables (up two points since October), 36% nuclear (up two) and 24% fossil fuels (down four).

By 50–38%, voters thought it unlikely Australia would reach net-zero emissions by 2050 (compared to 57–31% in October).

Morgan poll: Labor regains lead

A national Morgan poll, conducted April 15–21 from a sample of 1,617 people, gave Labor a 52–48% lead over the Coalition, a reversal of a 51–49% Coalition lead from the previous week.

Primary votes were 35.5% Coalition (down three points), 30.5% Labor (up 0.5), 16% Greens (up 2.5), 5.5% One Nation (steady), 7.5% independents (steady) and 5% others (steady).

Additional questions from Newspoll and Resolve

I previously covered the last Newspoll and Resolve poll for Nine newspapers. Recently, Albanese announced a plan to have taxpayer money used for loans and subsidies for projects to help Australia transition to clean energy. Voters backed this plan in Newspoll by 56–38%.

When asked about the Israel-Gaza conflict in the Resolve poll, 46% of voters agreed it had made Australia less safe, compared to 40% in March. By a 61–12% margin, voters thought there had been a rise in racism and religious intolerance in Australia as a result of the conflict (compared to 57–15% in March).

On who Australia should support, 57% (up 12 points since November) said we should take no action, 17% support Israel (down 14) and 9% support Gaza (up two). Läs mer…

There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Israel-Palestinian conflict and China. But there’s one more country closely watching the race: Iran.

Another Trump presidency could pose immense risks for the Iranian leadership, especially given the recent tit-for-tat strikes with Israel, the looming threat of a wider Middle East war, and other significant internal challenges.

Under such conditions, there are three ways a new Trump administration might pose a threat to the clerical establishment: a potential economic shock, bolder military action against the regime and increased protest movements.

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Renewed economic pressure

In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, and imposed crippling sanctions on the country as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign on the Iranian government.

Iran’s then-vice president, Eshagh Jahangiri, described the subsequent year as the “toughest” since the Islamic Republic’s inception. Trump’s campaign reduced Iran’s oil exports to a historic low of under 400,000 barrels per day, significantly slashing the country’s petrodollars, which represent about 70% of government revenues. Moreover, between 2018 and 2020, Iran’s national currency depreciated by more than 600%.

After Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, Iran has managed to increase its oil exports. It was recently reported that Iran’s oil exports have reached a six-year high of around 1.56 million barrels per day in the first three month of 2024. Republicans in the US blame the Biden administration for not enforcing sanctions against Iran, while the White House insists they are.

With Iran’s economy still weakened, Trump’s potential return could bring a new wave of pressure. Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture has noted, for instance, that a Trump return will cause Iran’s oil exports to “suffer again”.

The head of Iran’s Parliament Research Centre has also highlighted the country’s current budget deficit of US$3.7 billion, warning a Trump return would necessitate being ready for “increased sanctions pressure and an economic shock”.

Another economics expert, Morteza Afghe, struck a more dire note when he warned of a potential “collapse of Iran’s economy”. Due to Iran’s more strident anti-Western policies under President Ebrahim Raisi and the dominance of radical factions in parliament, Afghe believes Trump would be even more determined to escalate his “maximum pressure” campaign on the country.

There are concrete signs of this nervousness already – Trump’s sweep of the Republican nominating contests earlier this year coincided with a 20% fall in the value of the Iranian rial.

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Security implications

On the security front, Trump’s possible return is reminding the Iranian leadership of a significant loss under his presidency: the 2020 killing of General Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, in a US airstrike.

When he was killed, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, described Soleimani as the architect behind the Iran-backed militia networks in the Middle East, known as the “axis of resistance”. Khamenei also said he “bows to Soleimani” for his achievements with the Quds Force. This illustrates the profound impact the US strike had on Iran’s security interests.

A recent Israeli airstrike on the Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria’s capital this month also killed seven members of the Quds force, including two generals. This led to Iran’s unprecedented retaliatory attack against Israel, which Trump responded to by reposting a threatening tweet from 2018.

He also said at a rally:

[Israel is] under attack right now. That’s because we show great weakness. […] It would not have happened if we were in office.

Given this rhetoric and the heightened tensions with Israel, a potential Trump return could make the Iranian leadership feel even more vulnerable. It could, for instance, lead to increased US or Israeli military action against Iranian proxy militias in Iraq and Syria, or potentially bolder strikes against Iran itself.

Even before the recent Israel-Iran tensions, Mehdi Mohammadi, an advisor to Iran’s parliament speaker on strategic affairs, said Iran’s national security could face “very difficult” years under another Trump presidency, reintroducing the prospect of “maximum threats” against Tehran.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, flanked by Iranian IRGC and Army generals, at the annual Army Day in Tehran this month.
Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

Increasing unrest at home

Elections were held earlier this year for Iran’s parliament and the Assembly of Experts, the body that appoints the supreme leader. The official voter turnout was reported at just 41%. In the capital of Tehran, turnout was only 24%, the lowest in the history of the Islamic Republic.

This marks the third time in four years — including two parliamentary elections and one presidential election — in which voter turnout was below 50%. Prior to 2020, voter turnout typically exceeded 60% or even 70%.

Given these declining rates of voter participation and three major, nationwide protest movements since 2017, Iran’s leadership is in the midst of the most serious legitimacy crisis in the Islamic Republic’s history.

This has coincided with the 2021 election of the hardliner Raisi as president and this year’s election, in which radical factions strengthened their position by winning many seats in the new parliament. These lawmakers want Iran to more forcefully challenge the US and its allies and implement even harsher restrictions on domestic life, including stronger internet censorship and enforcement of Sharia law.

Within the country, media outlets have suggested the rise of unpopular, ultraconservative political figures could further deepen public dissatisfaction with the regime. In such conditions, possible economic repercussions from a second Trump presidency could fuel a new wave of nationwide protests in the country.

And if Trump is elected, Iran’s supreme leader would be about 86 years old when he took office. A transfer of power in Iran during a Trump presidency could bring even more uncertainty at a very critical time in Iranian politics. Läs mer…