Ruth Morgan, Australian National UniversityLast month, the leaders of the G7 declared their commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. Closer to home, the Albanese government recently introduced legislation to establish a Net Zero Economy Authority, promising it will catalyse investment in clean energy technologies in the push to reach net zero. Pledges to achieve net zero emissions over the coming decades have proliferated since the United Nation’s 2021 Glasgow climate summit, as governments declare their commitments to meeting the Paris Agreement goal of holding global warming under 1.5°C. But what exactly is “net zero”, and where did this concept come from? Stabilising greenhouse gasesIn the early 1990s, scientists and governments were negotiating the key article of the UN’s 1992 climate change framework: “the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic [human-caused] interference with the climate system”. How to achieve that stabilisation – let alone define “dangerous” climate change – has occupied climate scientists and negotiators ever since. From the outset, scientists and governments recognised reducing greenhouse gas emissions was only one side of the equation. Finding ways to compensate or offset emissions would also be necessary. The subsequent negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol backed the role of forests in the global carbon cycle as carbon sinks. It also provided the means for well-forested developing countries to participate in the emerging carbon offset market, and to play their part in reaching the carbon accounting goal of “carbon neutrality”. Under those terms, the industrialised countries subject to the Kyoto Protocol could pay developing countries to offset their own emissions as a form of low-cost mitigation. The Kyoto Protocol was unable to curtail soaring global greenhouse gas emissions, and a successor agreement appeared uncertain. As a result, interest turned in the late 2000s to the possibility of using highly controversial geoengineering techniques to remove greenhouse gas emissions. These proposals included sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky so the atmosphere would trap less heat, or reflecting sunlight away from the planet to reduce heat absorption. The focus on carbon sinks, whether through forests or direct air capture, would appear again in the idea of net zero. Temperature targetsBy this point, policymakers and advocates were shifting away from emissions reductions goals (such as Australia’s unusual first Kyoto target to limit emissions to 108% of 1990 emissions by 2012). Instead, temperature targets became more popular, such as limiting warming to no more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels. The European Union had already adopted the 2°C threshold in 1996 and argued successfully for its relevance as a long-term objective for climate action. What changed was scientists now had better ways of tracking how long carbon dioxide emissions would stay in the atmosphere, allowing better projections of our carbon budget. These findings allowed the IPCC’s 2014 report to clearly state limiting warming to below 2°C would require “near zero emissions of carbon dioxide and other long-lived greenhouse gases by the end of the century”. By this time, London-based environmental lawyer and climate negotiator Farhana Yamin had also set her sights on net zero by 2050. For Yamin, translating the 1.5°C ambition into climate negotiations meant focusing on net zero: “In your lifetime, emissions have to go to zero. That’s a message people understand.” The concept of net zero offered a simple metric to assess mitigation efforts and hold parties legally accountable – an instrument she and colleagues proposed for the negotiation of a new legally binding agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. By late 2014, net zero had gained traction, appearing for the first time at a UN climate conference, the UN’s Emissions Gap Report, and in a speech by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim that stressed “we must achieve zero net emissions of greenhouse gases before 2100”. Zero in ParisThese efforts culminated in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which in addition to its well-known temperature targets of 1.5°C and 2°C, also added a complementary goal:
This is what “net zero” means – a “balance” between carbon emissions and carbon sinks. It was subsequently enshrined in the IPCC’s Special Report on the importance of keeping warming under 1.5°C, in which 195 member states agreed to get to net zero emissions by 2050. Slogan for greenwashing?So, what’s next for net zero? Countries such as India have questioned what it means for fairness and equity between developing and developed nations, Instead, they favour the well-established approach of “common but differentiated responsibility” to mitigation. This justifies India’s aim to reach net zero emissions by 2070, as developed nations should lead the way and provide developing countries with funds and technologies necessary to support their mitigation ambitions. The UN, by contrast, has warned the flexibility of net zero as a concept could make it a mere slogan for greenwashing by corporations and other non-state entities rather than a concrete objective. As the chair of the UN’s High Level Experts group put it:
Given the chasm between pledges and practice documented in the 2023 UN Emissions Gap Report, there is a very real likelihood we will shoot past the temperature limits of the Paris Agreement. Fossil fuel treatyNet zero isn’t the only approach to tackle climate change. Other concepts are growing in popularity. For instance, optimists say the temperature “overshoot” we’re on track for could be tackled with a “drawdown” of carbon emissions if we use “carbon dioxide removal” or “negative emissions technologies” such as carbon capture and storage, soil carbon sequestration, and mass tree planting and reforestation. But beware: the IPCC’s Special Report cautioned that while some of these options might be technologically possible, they have not been tested on a large scale. Can these untested technologies be relied on to halt and reverse the chaos likely to be unleashed by dangerous levels of global heating? What does overshoot mean for the low-lying island nations who rallied around “1.5°C to stay alive”? Momentum has been building for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty since 2022, when Vanuatu called on the UN General Assembly to phase out the use of fossil fuels. Such a treaty, Vanuatu President Nikenike Vurobaravu said, would “enable a global just transition for every worker, community and nation with fossil fuel dependence”. At the Dubai climate conference late last year, held in the wake of the International Energy Agency’s revised Net Zero Roadmap, the negotiations culminated in a first for the UNFCCC – an explicit statement endorsing:
Will net zero become more than hot air? That remains to be seen. While the science behind the concept is broadly sound, the politics of achieving net zero are a work in progress. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the point where they are zeroed out by carbon sinks by 2050 requires just and credible planning. We must prioritise the phase-out of fossil fuels sooner rather than later. Ruth Morgan, Associate Professor of History, Australian National University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. |
Counting on Fingers Really Helps Kids Improve Their Math Skills–By 40% New Study Shows (2026-04-23T15:03:00+05:30)
 By Yan Krukau via Public Domain on Pexels22-08-2025, Some teachers consider finger counting a signal that youngsters are struggling with math, while others associate its use as advanced numerical knowledge. Now, new research is the first to show that children’s performance in arithmetic can show a “huge” improvement through the teaching of a finger-counting method. Swiss and French teams explored whether finger counting can help primary-school-aged children to solve math problems. They said adults rarely use their fingers to calculate a small sum, because such behavior could be attributed to cognitive impairments or “pathological difficulties” in math. But young children under age 8 who use their fingers to solve such problems may be seen as intelligent, probably because they have already reached a level that allows them to understand that a quantity can be represented by different means. The research aimed to determine whether children who don’t count on their fingers can be trained to do so, and whether such training would result in enhanced arithmetic performance. The study, published in the journal Child Development, focused on 328 five- and six-year-old children at kindergarten, mainly living in France, and tested their abilities to solve simple addition problems. The kindergarteners were recruited through their teachers, who voluntarily took part in the experiment, which included a pre-test, training held over two weeks, a post-test closely after the training’s end, and a delayed post-test. The results showed an “important increase” in performance between pre- and post-test for the trained children who did not count on their fingers originally—from 37% to 77% of correct responses—compared to non-finger users in the control group. Whether children who use finger counting are using it as an arithmetic procedure or understand something deeper about numbers will still need to be determined with future research. “Our findings are highly valuable because, for the first time, we provide a concrete answer to the long-standing question of whether teachers should explicitly teach children to use their fingers for solving addition problems,” said study leader Dr. Catherine Thevenot. “Finger calculation training is effective for over 75% of kindergartners,” she added. “The next step is to explore how we can support the remaining 25% of children who didn’t respond as well to the intervention.” Dr. Thevenot, of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, says the study came about as a result of conversations with primary school teachers. “They often asked me whether they should encourage or discourage children from using their fingers to solve calculations. “Surprisingly, the existing research didn’t offer a clear answer, which left teachers understandably frustrated with my frequent response of ‘I don’t know.’ “This recurring question, coupled with the lack of concrete evidence, inspired me to investigate the issue myself. “When I first saw the results, I was amazed by the huge improvement in performance among children who didn’t initially use their fingers to solve the problems. “Before our intervention, these children were only able to solve about one-third of the addition problems during a pre-test. After training, however, they were solving over three-quarters of them. “This improvement truly exceeded my expectations,” said Dr. Thevenot. “The difference was striking, especially compared to the control groups, where gains were insignificant. “An important question now is to determine whether what we taught to children goes beyond a mere procedure to solve the problems. “In other words, we want to know whether our intervention led to a deeper conceptual understanding of numbers, specifically whether children better grasp how to manipulate the quantities represented by their fingers. “In fact, we have already started addressing this question and the initial results are very promising. However, we still need to carry out additional experiments to confirm that these improvements are indeed a direct result of our training program.” Counting on Fingers Really Helps Kids Improve Their Math Skills–By 40% New Study Shows |
It’s tempting to offload your thinking to AI. Cognitive science shows why that’s a bad idea (2026-04-01T11:58:00+05:30)
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Misia Temler, University of Sydney: With so many artificial intelligence (AI) products on offer now, it’s increasingly tempting to offload difficult thinking tasks to chatbots, agents and other tools. As we chart this new technological terrain, more and more we’re exposed to vast amounts of information and highly sophisticated software that offers to do the thinking for us. In just a few seconds, tools such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini can draft your emails, generate a caring birthday message for a friend, or even summarise the plot of that novel you haven’t gotten around to reading. Such increased offloading has raised the fear that people will become overly reliant on AI. This could have unintended consequences, such as eroding our critical thinking skills and declining our overall cognitive ability. This fear is not unfounded. Research from our lab suggests the online environment exploits our cognitive tendencies – individual differences in how we think, perceive, pay attention and remember. In turn, some people end up taking more mental shortcuts and only engaging with information superficially. Other studies have linked high AI use to increased laziness, anxiety, lower critical engagement and feelings of dependence. Yet it may be how we use AI that’s the problem, rather than the fact we do it at all. Generally, relying on external sources is fine – we do this constantly. But it’s important to remain in control of what we choose to offload, and why. How do we even know things?We all constantly rely on each other’s knowledge to function as a society. Doctors provide medical information, engineers are in charge of construction, financial advisers give investment tips, and so on. All this spread of expertise provides each of us with more knowledge than we can individually hold. In other words, we constantly balance offloading (letting someone else do the thinking) with scaffolding (relying on external knowledge sources to enrich our own thinking). Scaffolding often happens when we learn. For example, a teacher doesn’t write an essay for their student – instead, they provide feedback so the student can connect, integrate, and grow their knowledge base. Crucially, we also don’t offload all thinking tasks to one specific person. Instead, we carefully consider the person’s trust and expertise before accepting their advice, tools or support. We also check how the new information fits in with what we already know. As our knowledge grows in a certain area, we rely less on outside support, just as a student relies on a teacher until they learn enough to stand on their own. It’s not just our brains doing the workCognition (our thinking skills) is the central concept in all of this. Our minds engage in three fundamental tasks:
Cognition relies on how well these three mental tasks work together. When we’re overwhelmed with information, distributing tasks to outside sources lessens that mental effort. Research shows when our attention is strained, our minds focus more on encoding information while sacrificing storage and retrieval, which are more taxing. Intuitively, it’s easy to assume all our cognition just happens in the brain. But our cognitive processes are sometimes extended to things in the environment. These external sources can be people, physical objects and digital tools. A diary is an extension of your mind if you use it to retrieve memories you’ve written down. However, flippantly offloading your knowledge acquisition and storage to external sources – such as asking ChatGPT any question that pops in your mind – can have an impact on your critical thinking skills. This is because acquired knowledge actively interacts with newly encoded information in our minds: we convert information we come across in a way that makes sense to us. And the more knowledge we hold, the greater our capacity to encode and critically interpret new information. For example, knowledge of Hitler and Mussolini in the context of the second world war helps us to better understand the modern dangers of dictatorship. Hard work can be rewardingTo restore balance, we need to perform the more difficult cognitive tasks ourselves, not just offload them whenever it’s convenient. The faster and easier option isn’t always the best – just like choosing to walk to your friend’s place provides better exercise for your body and mind than driving there does. Sometimes hard work can be rewarding. When faced with using AI tools, you can either choose to control them, or let them control you. One way to balance your relationship with AI tools is to use reflective practices. Ask yourself: how do you feel after using AI? Do you feel proud and satisfied, or do you feel more anxious and more overwhelmed? Have you replaced or scaffolded your cognition today? What tasks can you do to expand your mental capabilities tomorrow? For a successful relationship with AI, we need to exercise all our mental skills – otherwise we really do risk losing them. This may not always be easy, but it remains in our control. Misia Temler, Research Affiliate, Psychology, University of Sydney This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. |
Shruti Haasan: I am my home (2026-03-20T12:07:00+05:30)
 (Photo Credit: Shruti Haasan/Instagram) Chennai, (IANS) Actress, singer and musician Shruti Haasan, who has lived and worked across industries and languages, says that she has come to see the idea of home very differently. For her, home is not a pin on the map. It is a deeply personal space she carries within herself. Reflecting on what belonging means to her, Shruti shares, “Home is not geography at all for me, is what I've realized. When I go back to Chennai I feel an ease and I feel a love that is so infinite. In Mumbai, I feel a different kind of love. In Hyderabad, because I work in these industries, I feel a different kind of love.” Having built a career that spans multiple film industries, she says each city has offered her its own warmth. But over time, she has discovered something more profound. “What I've realized is you could probably throw me in the middle of anywhere and if I have to find my comfort, I will. That's my joy in life, it's getting to know people and a place and its culture and finding the thing that I love about it and making it then mine. Home is really where I am," she says. "It's something that's deeply personal and I could be in what is so-called the most comfortable place, including my physical home, and I could be completely discombobulated because I don't feel at home with myself. So that concept of myself, is superior in my brain of that, I am my home and that has given me a great sense of safety and security in navigating anything in life," she adds. Shruti goes on to point out, "To me, home has never been geography. It's never been a person, maybe apart from my dad, who really feels like the physical embodiment of home to me. Nothing's really been more home than me for myself, that might sound a bit self-centered, but it's worked out really well for me.”In a life that constantly takes her across cities, languages and cultures, Shruti Haasan’s idea of home feels deeply personal and quietly powerful, a reminder that true belonging is not about an address on a map, but about feeling at ease within yourself. Shruti Haasan: I am my home | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com |
What is wabi‑sabi? Will this Japanese philosophy make me happy? (2026-03-16T13:08:00+05:30)
Trevor Mazzucchelli, Curtin UniversityThe ceramic bowl with an uneven glaze. The teacup mended with gold lacquer. The images are calming and attractive. They are said to reflect wabi-sabi – a Japanese aesthetic often summarised in the West as valuing imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness. And wabi-sabi is having a moment on social media. It’s linked to everything from interior design to makeup trends and happiness. So can wabi-sabi improve your wellbeing? Here’s what the psychological evidence says. What is wabi-sabi?At its core, wabi-sabi, as it is commonly understood in the West, rests on three simple ideas: things are flawed, things change, and things are never fully finished. There isn’t much scientific research on wabi-sabi itself. You won’t find clinical trials testing the effects of “becoming wabi-sabi”. But the ideas behind wabi-sabi reflect several well-established principles in psychology – responding kindly to imperfection, accepting change, and loosening rigid perfectionism. Imperfection and self-compassionWabi-sabi begins with imperfection. Instead of disguising cracks, it incorporates them. The flaw becomes part of the object’s character, not proof it is worthless. In psychological terms, this resembles self-compassion – responding to your own mistakes or shortcomings with warmth and care, rather than harsh self-criticism. Self-compassion does not pretend errors do not exist. It changes how we relate to them. Research consistently shows people who are more self-compassionate report lower anxiety and depression and greater wellbeing. When interventions help people develop this skill, their mental health often improves. Like the repaired bowl, the person is not defined by the crack. The crack is acknowledged and becomes part of their story. Impermanence and acceptanceWabi-sabi also reminds us nothing lasts. Everything changes. Some of our distress comes not only from change itself, but from insisting things should not change. We want relationships to stay the same. We want our bodies not to age. We want plans to unfold exactly as expected. When reality shifts and we resist it, the struggle intensifies. In psychology, acceptance means allowing thoughts, emotions and changes to occur without constantly trying to push them away or control them. Modern therapies, such as “acceptance and commitment therapy”, teach this skill because resisting unavoidable experiences often intensifies distress. Mindfulness – paying attention to what is happening right now without immediately judging or trying to fix it – is one way people practise acceptance. Seen this way, wabi-sabi’s focus on impermanence is not passive resignation. It reflects a practical insight. When change is unavoidable, reducing the fight against it can reduce suffering. Incompleteness and perfectionismThe third idea in wabi-sabi is incompleteness. Nothing is ever fully finished. This runs counter to a form of perfectionism psychologists call clinical perfectionism. This is not simply wanting to do well. It occurs when people base their self-worth on meeting extremely high standards and respond to falling short with harsh self-criticism. Research links this form of perfectionism with anxiety and depression. Self-compassion may offer a similar shift in perspective. When people respond to setbacks with understanding rather than harsh self-criticism, the psychological cost of imperfection is reduced. Wabi-sabi does not reject effort or aspiration. It questions the belief that you must be flawless before you are acceptable. Imperfection and meaningI recently wrote that meaning does not emerge from perfectly executed life plans. It grows from repeated, worthwhile action, often messy, unfinished and imperfect. Wabi-sabi echoes this. If we wait for flawless conditions before acting, we may wait indefinitely. The project will never feel polished enough. The timing will never seem quite right. But wellbeing is strongly shaped by what we do repeatedly, especially when those actions align with our values. From this perspective, imperfection is not an obstacle to meaning. It is often the setting in which meaning develops. The repaired bowl is still used. The musician keeps playing after a broken string. The parent apologises and tries again. Imperfection and connectionThere is also a social dimension. Research shows vulnerability can strengthen relationships. In other words, when people acknowledge mistakes or limitations, they are often seen as more relatable and trustworthy. Presenting as flawless can create distance. Allowing cracks to be visible can create connection. Wabi-sabi offers a simple image for this. The crack is not hidden. It becomes part of the story. Wabi-sabi has its limitsIt is important not to overstate what wabi-sabi offers. There is no evidence adopting it as a named philosophy guarantees happiness. It is not a treatment for depression. And acceptance does not mean tolerating injustice or giving up on improvement. But at its heart, wabi-sabi questions whether our expectations have become too polished. It asks whether some of our expectations – of our bodies, our productivity, our relationships – have become so polished they leave no room for being human. How can I use it?Wabi-sabi may not offer something entirely new. But it captures, in a single image, several psychological skills research suggests can help people live well. It invites us to:
Wabi-sabi is not a shortcut to happiness. But as both an image and a practice, it reflects a grounded psychological idea. Wellbeing is less about erasing the cracks, and more about continuing to live, act and connect with them visible. Trevor Mazzucchelli, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology, Curtin University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. |
S. Korea becomes 1st nation to enact comprehensive law on safe AI usage (2026-03-03T12:52:00+05:30)
 IANS Photo Seoul, (IANS): South Korea on Thursday formally enacted a comprehensive law governing the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI) models, becoming the first country globally in doing so, establishing a regulatory framework against misinformation and other hazardous effects involving the emerging field. The Basic Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and the Establishment of a Foundation for Trustworthiness, or the AI Basic Act, officially took effect Thursday, according to the science ministry, reports Yonhap news agency. It marked the first governmental adoption of comprehensive guidelines on the use of AI globally. The act centres on requiring companies and AI developers to take greater responsibility for addressing deepfake content and misinformation that can be generated by AI models, granting the government the authority to impose fines or launch probes into violations. In detail, the act introduces the concept of "high-risk AI," referring to AI models used to generate content that can significantly affect users' daily lives or their safety, including applications in the employment process, loan reviews and medical advice. Entities harnessing such high-risk AI models are required to inform users that their services are based on AI and are responsible for ensuring safety. Content generated by AI models is required to carry watermarks indicating its AI-generated nature. "Applying watermarks to AI-generated content is the minimum safeguard to prevent side effects from the abuse of AI technology, such as deepfake content," a ministry official said. Global companies offering AI services in South Korea meeting any of the following criteria -- global annual revenue of 1 trillion won ($681 million) or more, domestic sales of 10 billion won or higher, or at least 1 million daily users in the country -- are required to designate a local representative. Currently, OpenAI and Google fall under the criteria. Violations of the act may be subject to fines of up to 30 million won, and the government plans to enforce a one-year grace period in imposing penalties to help the private sector adjust to the new rules.The act also includes measures for the government to promote the AI industry, with the science minister required to present a policy blueprint every three years. S. Korea becomes 1st nation to enact comprehensive law on safe AI usage | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com |
Do Inuit languages really have many words for snow? The most interesting finds from our study of 616 languages (2026-02-26T11:37:00+05:30)
Charles Kemp, The University of Melbourne; Ekaterina Vylomova, The University of Melbourne; Temuulen Khishigsuren, The University of Melbourne, and Terry Regier, University of California, BerkeleyLanguages are windows into the worlds of the people who speak them – reflecting what they value and experience daily. So perhaps it’s no surprise different languages highlight different areas of vocabulary. Scholars have noted that Mongolian has many horse-related words, that Maori has many words for ferns, and Japanese has many words related to taste. Some links are unsurprising, such as German having many words related to beer, or Fijian having many words for fish. The linguist Paul Zinsli wrote an entire book on Swiss-German words related to mountains. In our recently-published study we took a broad approach towards understanding the links between different languages and concepts. Using computational methods, we identified areas of vocabulary that are characteristic of specific languages, to provide insight into linguistic and cultural variation. Our work adds to a growing understanding of language, culture, and the way they both relate. We tested 163 links between languages and concepts, drawn from the literature. We compiled a digital dataset of 1574 bilingual dictionaries that translate between English and 616 different languages. Since many of these dictionaries were still under copyright, we only had access to counts of how often a particular word appeared in each dictionary. One example of a concept we looked at was “horse”, for which the top-scoring languages included French, German, Kazakh and Mongolian. This means dictionaries in these languages had a relatively high number of
However, it is also possible the counts were influenced by “horse” appearing in example sentences for unrelated terms. Not a hoax after all?Our findings support most links previously highlighted by researchers, including that Hindi has many words related to love and Japanese has many words related to obligation and duty. We were especially interested in testing the idea that Inuit languages have many words for snow. This notorious claim has long been distorted and exaggerated. It has even been dismissed as the “great Eskimo vocabulary hoax”, with some experts saying it simply isn’t true. But our results suggest the Inuit snow vocabulary is indeed exceptional. Out of 616 languages, the language with the top score for “snow” was Eastern Canadian Inuktitut. The other two Inuit languages in our data set (Western Canadian Inuktitut and North Alaskan Inupiatun) also achieved high scores for “snow”. The Eastern Canadian Inuktitut dictionary in our dataset includes terms such as kikalukpok, which means “noisy walking on hard snow”, and apingaut, which means “first snow fall”. The top 20 languages for “snow” included several other languages of Alaska, such as Ahtena, Dena'ina and Central Alaskan Yupik, as well as Japanese and Scots. Scots includes terms such as doon-lay, meaning “a heavy fall of snow”, feughter meaning “a sudden, slight fall of snow”, and fuddum, meaning “snow drifting at intervals”. You can explore our findings using the tool we developed, which allows you to identify the top languages for any given concept, and the top concepts for a particular language. Language and environmentAlthough the languages with top scores for “snow” are all spoken in snowy regions, the top-ranked languages for “rain” were not always from the rainiest parts of the world. For instance, South Africa has a medium level of rainfall, but languages from this region, such as Nyanja, East Taa and Shona, have many rain-related words. This is probably because, unlike snow, rain is important for human survival – which means people still talk about it in its absence. For speakers of East Taa, rain is both relatively rare and desirable. This is reflected in terms such as lábe ||núu-bâ, an “honorific form of address to thunder to bring rain” and |qába, which refers to the “ritual sprinkling of water or urine to bring rain”. Our tool can also be used to explore various concepts related to perception (“smell”), emotion (“love”) and cultural beliefs (“ghost”). The top-scoring languages for “smell” include a cluster of Oceanic languages such as Marshallese, which has terms such as jatbo meaning “smell of damp clothing”, meļļā meaning “smell of blood”, and aelel meaning “smell of fish, lingering on hands, body, or utensils”. Prior to our research, the smell terms of the Pacific Islands had received little attention. Some caveatsAlthough our analysis reveals many interesting links between languages and concepts, the results aren’t always reliable – and should be checked against original dictionaries where possible. For example, the top concepts for Plautdietsch (Mennonite Low German) include von (“of”), den (“the”) and und (“and”) – all of which are unrevealing. We excluded similar words from other languages using Wiktionary, but our method did not filter out these common words for Plautdietsch. Also, the word counts reflect both dictionary definitions and other elements, such as example sentences. While our analysis excluded words that are especially likely to appear in example sentences (such as “woman” and “father”), such words could have still influenced our results to some extent. Most importantly, our results run the risk of perpetuating potentially harmful stereotypes if taken at face value. So we urge caution and respect while using the tool. The concepts it lists for any given language provide, at best, a crude reflection of the cultures associated with that language. Charles Kemp, Professor, School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne; Ekaterina Vylomova, Lecturer, Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne; Temuulen Khishigsuren, PhD Candidate, The University of Melbourne, and Terry Regier, Professor, Language and Cognition Lab, University of California, Berkeley This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. |
Back to school: what are the money lessons to teach your kids at every age? (2026-02-20T12:16:00+05:30)
Angel Zhong, RMIT UniversityAs parents prepare for another school year, there’s one subject that often gets overlooked: money. Financial literacy isn’t just about numbers. It’s about building skills that will shape your child’s future decisions, from buying their first car to planning for retirement. The good news? You don’t need to be a finance expert to teach these lessons. Start with age-appropriate concepts and build from there. Here’s what to focus on at each stage. Primary school (ages 6–12): Making money realYoung children understand money better when they can see it and touch it. This is the perfect time to introduce pocket money – a regular allowance that teaches them money doesn’t appear magically. And once it’s gone, it’s gone. Start small. Five dollars a week gives a seven-year-old enough to make choices without overwhelming them. Should they buy that chocolate bar now, or save for three weeks to get the Lego set they really want? Use clear jars or piggy banks so kids can literally watch their money grow. It makes saving visible and satisfying. Some families use a three-jar system: spending, saving, and sharing (for charity or gifts). This introduces the idea that money serves multiple purposes. Let them make small mistakes too. If your eight-year-old blows their entire allowance on stickers and regrets it by Wednesday, that’s a five-dollar lesson that could save them thousands later. Secondary school (ages 12–18): Real-world money managementTeenagers are ready for more complex financial concepts. This is when you shift from teaching about money to teaching with money. Open a bank account together. Walk them through how banks work. Tell them that banks are not just storing money, they’re businesses that pay you interest to keep your money there and charge interest when you borrow. Explain that the interest you earn on savings is usually tiny, while the interest you pay on debts is much higher. Introduce the concept of debit cards, but explain how they differ from credit. A debit card only spends money you already have. This is a good time to show them how to check their account balance and track spending through banking apps. Talk about wants versus needs. Your teenager needs school shoes. They want the $200 branded pair. This isn’t about saying no. It’s about showing them trade-offs. “If you want those shoes, you’ll need to contribute $100 from your savings. Are they worth it?” If your teenager gets a part-time job, teach them to check they’re being paid correctly. The Fair Work Ombudsman website has easy tools to calculate award rates, the minimum pay rates set for different industries and age groups. A 16-year-old working in retail should know what they’re entitled to earn. This is also the time to introduce the concept of paying yourself first. When money comes in, savings come out first. Even putting aside 10% teaches the habit of treating savings as non-negotiable – it’s not whatever is left over. Young adults entering work face a new financial landscape. They’re earning more, but expenses grow too, such as transport, social life, and maybe rent. Start with superannuation. This is money an employer must put aside for an employee’s retirement. It may seem irrelevant when your child is 18, but a young person who understands super early has a massive advantage. Here’s why: compound growth. Money invested at 18 has 40+ years to grow. Even small amounts become significant. If you put an extra $20 a week into super from age 18, you could have at least an extra $300,000 by retirement, thanks to compound returns. That’s the snowball effect, when the investment gains on your contributions start earning returns as well. Introduce investing apps, but with caution. Digital investing apps such as CommSec Pocket and Stake make investing accessible with small amounts. They let young people buy into diversified funds, which are collections of many different investments, rather than trying to pick individual shares. Explain the fundamental trade-off: higher potential returns come with higher risk. Shares can grow more than savings accounts, but they can also fall in value quickly. Teach them about the share market without jargon. When you buy shares, you own a tiny piece of a company. If the company does well, your share becomes more valuable. If it doesn’t, your share can lose value. Diversification – spreading money across many companies – reduces the risk of losing everything if one company fails. The lessons that matter mostFinancial education isn’t really just about money. It’s about decision-making, delayed gratification, and understanding that every choice has trade-offs. It’s a life skill you build over time, one conversation and one decision at a time. The most valuable lesson you can teach at any age? Money is a tool, not a goal. It gives you choices and security. Teaching your children to use that tool wisely is one of the greatest gifts you can give them. Start these conversations early. Make them normal. And remember, you’re teaching as much by how you handle money as by what you say about it. Children notice when you compare prices, when you talk about saving for holidays, when you decide something isn’t worth the price. Angel Zhong, Professor of Finance, RMIT University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. |
‘The Social Garden’ in Mokokchung promises refined fine dining experience (2026-02-16T13:26:00+05:30)
 The Social Garden, a new fine dining restaurant, officially opens its doors at Aongza Ward, Mokokchung on February 11. (Morung Photo) A new fine dining destination, The Social Garden, was officially inaugurated on at Aongza Ward, housed in the Delhivery building adjacent to the Imkongmeren Sports Complex, Mokokchung on February 11. The restaurant was founded by two 27-year-old entrepreneurs, Ongjena and Chiben Jamir, who have been friends since their school days. While Ongjena is an interior designer by profession, Chiben is a civil engineer currently preparing for competitive examinations. The Social Garden serves Asian and continental cuisines and features both indoor and outdoor seating arrangements, accommodating approximately 50–55 guests. It also houses a private lounge for more intimate gatherings. The space, conceptualized and designed by Ongjena herself, reflects a Scandinavian-inspired interior, while the outdoor area has been curated in a garden-style setting. Sharing the concept and vision behind the venture, Ongjena revealed that the initial plan was to open a simple café. However, after conducting thorough research and studying the local market, they identified “an urgent need for a proper fine dining restaurant in Mokokchung.” “So we conducted our research, developed a concept, and worked tirelessly to bring the vision to life. And this project is not just for us, but for the people of Mokokchung, for our community. This is like a way of giving back to the community, by providing refined experience through exceptional food and thoughtful interior design,” she stated. She expressed gratitude to Almighty God for His guidance and thanked their friends and family for their unwavering support and sacrifices throughout the journey. ‘Only creativity can survive’ The ribbon-cutting ceremony was performed by Wapang Kichu, Councillor of Mokokchung Municipal Council (MMC), who congratulated the young entrepreneurs and described the restaurant as “one of a kind in Mokokchung.” He noted that Mokokchung is a small town with a limited population and emphasised that “only with creativity we can survive to run a business.” Drawing from his own experience, he cautioned that business ventures are not always smooth. “In business, it is not always up; it goes down as well. You have to prepare for the worst and also not to take success for granted,” he advised. He further stressed the importance of maintaining quality and consistency, particularly in food service, and commended the founders for establishing “a beautiful restaurant in a great location.” The dedicatory prayer was led by Imnakumzuk Jamir, Associate Pastor (Youth), Kumlong Baptist Church, seeking blessings for the new establishment and its journey ahead.   |
Conceptual design completed for Japan's FAST fusion demo project (2026-02-11T11:54:00+05:30)
 (Image: Kyoto Fusioneering)The Conceptual Design Report has been put together in the year since the project's launch in November 2024, and involved the two companies and researchers and experts from a number of Japanese universities and public institutions, as well as support from a number of other Japanese companies. The Fusion by Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (FAST) device, to be sited in Japan, aims to generate and sustain a plasma of deuterium-tritium (D-T) reactions, demonstrating an integrated fusion energy system that combines energy conversion including electricity generation and fuel technologies. The project will employ a tokamak configuration, chosen for its well-established data and scalability. Targeting a power generation demonstration by the end of the 2030s, FAST will address remaining technical challenges en route to commercial fusion power plants. The FAST Project Office notes that power generation refers to producing energy from fusion reactions, but does not imply net positive power production where electricity output exceeds electricity consumption. The project team said the conceptual design work involved "designing the fusion energy plant for power generation demonstration, assessing technical and engineering feasibility, clarifying the project direction, conducting safety and economic evaluations, and defining the plant's fundamental design specifications". "With the completion of the conceptual design phase, the project will now shift to engineering design, accelerated engineering R&D, and will proceed with site selection, site preparation, regulatory approvals, and the procurement of long-lead items, with the aim of construction after 2028," it said. Kiyoshi Seko, CEO of Starlight Engine Ltd and President and COO of Kyoto Fusioneering Ltd, said: "Completing the conceptual design in just one year is a result of Japan's decades of research achievement. FAST is now moving into the engineering design phase. We will harness the strength of Japan's manufacturing industry and accelerate the project with a sense of urgency." Satoshi Konishi, co-founder and CEO of Kyoto Fusioneering, said: "First and foremost, it's a great achievement to complete the conceptual design activities within the planned one-year timeframe. We succeeded in creating an innovative design that incorporates new technologies essential for commercial plants, such as high-temperature superconducting magnets, liquid breeding blanket systems, and highly efficient tritium fuel cycle systems, by mobilising domestic experts. Preparations for safety design, regulatory approvals, and site selection are steadily progressing. In the next engineering design phase we expect to fully leverage our strengths in plant engineering and our broad network across diverse industries, including finance and construction." Kenzo Ibano, Assistant Professor, Osaka University, said: "Thanks to the power of industry-academia collaboration, we have successfully produced Japan’s first CDR for a power generation demonstration project. Working alongside researchers with decades of experience and private-sector partners in driving this project forward is both stimulating and rewarding, giving a strong sense of mission." The Conceptual Design Report is due to be presented at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research being held from 1 December.Other academics and businesses participating in and supporting the FAST project include Professor Akira Ejiri, University of Tokyo and Professor Takaaki Fujita, Nagoya University, as well as Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Electric Power Development (J-Power), JGC JAPAN Corporation, Hitachi, Fujikura, Furukawa Electric, Marubeni Corporation, Kajima Corporation, Kyocera, Mitsui & Co., Mitsui Fudosan, and Mitsubishi Corporation. Conceptual design completed for Japan's FAST fusion demo project |
Korean designed nuclear-powered LNG carrier certified (2026-01-07T12:11:00+05:30)
_86891.jpg) Samsung announced the certification at Gastech 2025 in Milan (Image: Samsung Heavy Industries)Samsung Heavy Industries has obtained Approval in Principle from the American Bureau of Shipping and the Liberian Registry for a 174,000-cubic-metre liquefied natural gas carrier powered by a small modular molten salt reactor. The molten salt reactor (MSR) for the LNG carrier is being conceptually designed jointly by Samsung Heavy Industries and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The MSR is designed to have a capacity of 100 MWt and to eliminate the need for fuel replacement during the life of the vessel even if only one unit is installed. "The MSR method has the characteristics of increased stability and excellent energy efficiency by using molten salt (liquid nuclear fuel) that integrates nuclear fuel and coolant," said Samsung Heavy Industries, which has been researching nuclear technology for many years, including various concepts for floating nuclear power plants. As part of the Novel Concept Class Approval process, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) grants an Approval in Principle (AIP) at an early conceptual design phase to assist the client in demonstrating project feasibility to its project partners and regulatory bodies. AIP confirms that the proposed novel concept that includes the new technology complies with the intent of the most applicable ABS Rules and Guides as well as required appropriate industry codes and standards, subject to a list of conditions.  The MSR-powered LNG carrier concept (Image: KAERI) KAERI said obtaining AIP for the conceptual design "is the first step toward moving forward with actual ship development". In October last year, ABS released a study of a small modular reactor on a standard LNG carrier. ABS said the study was designed to help industry "better understand the feasibility and safety implications of nuclear propulsion and to support future development projects". The study considered the impact of a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor on the design, operation and emissions of a 145,000-cubic-metre LNG carrier design . The report noted that LNG carrier vessels are increasing in demand as the international LNG trade remains important for global energy security. LNG is stored on board in large cryogenic tanks that maintain natural gas (primarily methane) in a liquid state around -165°C. The typical energy demand for LNG carriers is between 30 to 75 MW. "Nuclear power would be an ideal means of drastically abating shipping emissions, but significant hurdles remain in public perception and international regulations before this can be achieved," the report said. In August 2022, ABS announced it had been awarded a contract by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to research barriers to the adoption of advanced nuclear propulsion on commercial vessels. Working with support from DOE's National Reactor Innovation Center, based at Idaho National Laboratory, ABS is developing models of different advanced reactor technologies for maritime applications and developing an industry advisory on the commercial use of modern nuclear power.The shipping industry consumes some 350 million tonnes of fossil fuel annually and accounts for about 3% of total worldwide carbon emissions. In July 2023, the shipping industry, via the International Maritime Organization, approved new targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, aiming to reach net-zero emissions by, or around, 2050. Korean designed nuclear-powered LNG carrier certified |