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But is the book better than the movie?

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:16:44 +0000

But is the book better than the movie? Rachel Sauer Wed, 08/19/2026 - 18:16

A scene of Odysseus and his men from Christopher Nolan's blockbuster film The Odyssey. (Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)

Mitchell Pentzer

As it surpasses $1 billion in box office revenue just weeks after its release, Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey continues to stir longstanding debates—and enhance the study of myth and movies at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder

“It is a truism that historical ﬁlms are always about the time in which they are made and never about the time in which they are set.” So opens Jeffrey Richards’ 2008 book Hollywood’s Ancient Worlds, published after the turn-of-the-century flurry of Gladiator, Troy, Alexander and 300. How much truer is it of movies based not on any real historical moments, but rather on myths and literature of antiquity?

Much of the controversy about The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s $1 billion-and-counting epic, has centered around questions of authenticity, faithfulness to the source or, more directly, how Nolan has imagined it: the racially diverse casting, the level of remorse (and chastity) shown by a Homeric hero, the absence of Achilles or women in the Land of the Dead, even how well any of the actors can draw a bow.

Mitchell Pentzer is a lecturer and Latin program coordinator in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Classics.

When viewing a film explicitly based on such a famous work, certain expectations are understandable, and sorting through those expectations is something students at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder could do in a Department of Classics course, CLAS 3400, titled “Swords and Sandals on the Silver Screen”—more colloquially known as “Classics and Film.” In this course, students unpack expectations, get past questions of authenticity and dig into what films inspired by ancient history and literature are trying to do with the source material. We can see how writers and directors use antiquity’s art and history as vehicles to explore ideas important to us today; that is, if a movie is not (just) about some historical event or ancient text, what is it about?

We learn far less—about our own moment and culture, and about antiquity as well—from picking on what a director and their team get wrong, and far more from investigating the positive decisions made to accomplish their vision. And the vision of Nolan’s Odyssey is less one of ancient heroes and monsters than it is one of a fragile, modern, even global civilization.

As Nolan’s latest blockbuster gets variously knocked around or defended on social media and in longer-form reviews and opinion pieces (Emily Wilson in the London Review of Books, Wilson again in The Atlantic, Theo Nash in Slate, and Daniel Mendelsohn in the New York Review of Books are some landmarks), its predecessor in treating Homeric epic, 2004’s Troy, has appeared as an obvious point of comparison. We open “Classics and Film” with this movie, directed by Wolfgang Petersen of Das Boot and written by David Benioff of HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Is your Ancient Greek curiosity piqued?

If students want to take their experience of The Odyssey further, our Department of Classics has much to offer, including Classical Greek itself, with a cycle starting every fall, or an intensive two-semester program in the summer. Students usually take on portions of Homer in the original language in the fourth semester.

We have Latin too, with the first course in the sequence offered in both fall and spring, and courses on ancient literature in translation at all levels, including upper-division courses dedicated to Epic and Tragedy, the bulk of our sources on mythology. Our ancient history and art and archaeology classes are perennial favorites for students at all levels.

Classics and Film runs this fall but has been so full so often that we plan to make it a regular offering as a larger-enrollment course—stay tuned! And this fall on Oct. 15, we’ll hold an Odyssey Day, with a read-through of Homer’s text that people can participate in. Keep an eye on our departmental website, colorado.edu/classics, for more information.

Mitchell Pentzer

And although Troy has the enduring star power of Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom (Legolas in the Lord of the Rings films), it wasn’t so well-received upon its release. Nevertheless, some of today’s critics of The Odyssey have cited Troy as the exemplary treatment of Homeric epic in film. It isn’t, for many reasons, but among them is the conspicuous figuring of the steely-gray-armored Greeks as secular, cynical, greedy invaders of an Eastern Trojan nation characterized by earth tones and a religiosity deemed outdated even by its defenders. Was this film really meant to present an unadulterated, authentic Iliad, or was it really a product of a world at that moment watching the United States wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan?

A more faithful presentation of ancient text is Michael Cacoyannis’ 1977 film Iphigenia, sometimes delivering lines from Euripides’ tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis as verbatim as can be. Yet Cacoyannis, through choice cinematography and editing, still offers a warning about the dangers of mobs and armies that reflects the experience of Greeks who lived under the 1967-1974 military junta and witnessed the violence at Athens Polytechnic in 1973.

The Coen brothers, on the other hand, sidestep the matter of Homeric faithfulness by following the Odysseus of 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou?, George Clooney’s Ulysses Everett McGill, through 1930s Mississippi instead of the Bronze Age Mediterranean. Still, the film explores ideas central to Homer’s own Odyssey: What makes civil society, justice and a person’s identity?

Nolan’s Odyssey, in contrast to that other treatment of Homer’s Odyssey, looks and feels nominally ancient, if not Bronze Age, through set design, costuming (for the most part), and even some of the musical scoring. The decision to embrace American accents (the British Tom Holland’s Telemachus shows us it’s not careless but deliberate) instead of some vaguely British one—more common for the sword-and-sandal epic—is the first indication that this retelling isn’t just about a mythical and ancient world, or even one in a minor way distanced from our own.

People have picked on Telemachus calling his father “Dad” for being anachronistic—as though ancient Greeks must honor father and mother without diminutives—but Nausicaa, the Phaeacian princess who discovers the shipwrecked Odysseus, calls her father πάππα (“Pappa” or “Daddy”) in Book 6 of Homer’s text. They’re not altogether different from us.

Then there are certain objects that seem deliberately anachronistic and embody a theme of modernity. The Trojan Horse is for Nolan an instrument of destruction that breaks Zeus’ law, a version of xenia, an imperative of hospitality for ancient Greeks, that was broadened by the film for a post-Christian world. It is so conspicuously crafted, nigh-unbelievably smoothed and curved (in far better shape than the decaying palace on Ithaca, despite being constructed on a beach by an army 10 years into its campaign), as to seem Classical or even modern—in contrast to Troy’s almost laughably ramshackle horse.

This fantasy, this work of amazing craftsmanship that leads to the end of a civilization, bears obvious similarities to the atomic bomb in Nolan’s Oppenheimer, as viewers have already observed. Likewise, Agamemnon’s armor is black, spotless, plastic-seeming, like Darth Vader or a brand-new action figure; this Agamemnon, greed-driven as always, is an impersonal, artificial product of industry, and the more ominous for that.

A scene of Odysseus and his men from Christopher Nolan's blockbuster film The Odyssey. (Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)

The film doesn’t limit its conscious modernity to visual elements. Composer Ludwig Göransson’s score stands out as perhaps the most original in the genre, with reconstructed ancient instruments holding pride of place much of the time. Odysseus’ theme on pipes and flutes, when he converses with Penelope before the trial of the bow and axes and recounts his transgressions, is suitably haunting. The ancient aulos, an ancestor of the oboe, backs the Sirens, a panoply of bronze gongs adds texture throughout the film, and the repeated bow-pluck has a lyre behind it in homage to an authentically Homeric simile:

Just as a man who has mastered the lyre and the art of song
Will easily stretch a string all the way round a new peg,
Attaching the twisted sheep-gut firmly at either end —
So, with no effort at all, did Odysseus string the great bow.
With his right hand he held the bow while he made a test of the string,
Which sang out beautifully, like the sound a swallow makes
(Odyssey 21.406-411, trans. Mendelsohn, 2026)

But Göransson also makes frequent use of synthesizers, especially for bass notes or for jarring, percussive screeches in the Land of the Dead. When Menelaus tells the story of Troy’s infiltration to Telemachus, the drums beat out dactyls, the meter of epic, that blend into galloping four-counts.

All of this tells us Nolan’s priority is not authenticity. He is, in fact, calling attention to the artificiality of it all and challenging us to see how the story can map out onto our own world, now one much bigger than Homer’s. With this in mind, other decisions make more sense: for example, the diverse casting.

Apart from the fact that people have been able to travel for a very long time, Nolan is telling a story about the breakdown of social contracts spanning different continents and how the consequences rebound upon the violators. It is appropriate, then, to see how we’re all in this together: though we may look different, be variously heroic or rash or dosed with lotus blossom at times, we are nevertheless small and dependent on each other’s kindness in an unpredictable and dangerous world.

Will Nolan’s Odyssey find a place in the required viewings of “Classics and Film”? Ousting O Brother, Where Art Thou? is not an act I take lightly. It’s also in competition with a spate of other films released in just the last few years: the 2023 John Malkovich vehicle, Seneca; Francis Ford Coppola’s 2024 Megalopolis; that same year’s The Return with Ralph Fiennes; and Gladiator II.

We keep returning to antiquity to make meaning for ourselves and tell vital stories, and I don’t expect us to stop. This is a good problem for us classicists to have.

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As it surpasses $1 billion in box office revenue just weeks after its release, Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey continues to stir longstanding debates—and enhance the study of myth and movies at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder.

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Top photo: A scene of the Trojan Horse in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey (Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)

National monuments must be preserved in perpetuity

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:47:26 +0000

National monuments must be preserved in perpetuity Rachel Sauer Mon, 08/17/2026 - 18:47

Jeff Mitton

Natural wonders that belong to all Americans should not be carved up or given away

The first humans to set foot in North America walked across the Bering Strait the last time glaciers were full. The glaciers held so much water that the sea level dropped 400 to 425 feet compared to today's levels, turning the Bering Strait to the Bering Land Bridge.

The bridge might have risen from the sea as early as 20,000 years ago, and it might have submerged as late as 11,000 years ago. Stone, bone and wooden implements can be dated to estimate when sites were occupied, such as the Lindenmeier site (14,000 years ago) in Larimer County or the Mahaffy Cache near Gregory Canyon in Boulder (13,000 years ago).

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Professor Emeritus Jeff Mitton in a giant alcove in Utah's Neon Canyon known as the Golden Cathedral. It has a large opening in its ceiling that becomes a waterfall after a rain. (Photo: Jeff Mitton)

The first white man to set foot in North America was Leif Erikson, a Norseman who established a colony in Newfoundland around 1,000 CE. It was abandoned 10 years later. A Spanish colony was established in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565, and an English settlement was founded in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts in 1620.

My reason for this abbreviated history is to remind people of the uncontested history of America. When the Pilgrims stepped ashore 461 years ago, the continent had already been occupied for 14,000 years by numerous (between 2 to 7 million) and diverse people organized into hundreds of Indigenous tribes. Claims that America is and has always been a white, Christian country have no basis in fact.

In the short time since the earliest European settlements, many shameful things have been done to Indigenous peoples—massacres, forced marches, confinement to reservations, children disappearing from government schools, the list is tragically long.

Two wonderful things happened recently. In September 1996, President Bill Clinton set aside 1.7 million acres in Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In December 2016, President Barack Obama set aside 1.35 million acres as the Bears Ears National Monument, also in Utah. Indigenous tribes were jubilant, for they considered these areas to be their sacred ancestral lands.

But in addition, six regional tribal entities were given advisory roles in stewardship and protectional of cultural resources for the Grand Staircase, and five regional tribal entities were given similar roles for Bears Ears. Sacred lands were protected and Indigenous tribal entities would share responsibilities for both management of the national monuments and protection of the sites and remaining artifacts, pictographs and petroglyphs.

In December 2017, President Donald Trump cut the sizes of the monuments by 85%. In October 2021, President Joe Biden re-established the monuments to their original sizes. In July 2026, President Trump hacked the national monuments a second time, by 90%.

President Trump justified his cuts to the national monuments as providing greater opportunities for energy extraction, or more precisely, mining and drilling. He also noted that this would increase the area open to cavorting about and ripping up the landscape with four-wheel drive and all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes.

President Trump rewards the incredibly rich CEOs of mining and drilling companies while neglecting the interests of Indigenous Americans and the people who treasure wildlife and spectacular landscapes. People seeking to minimize President Trump's slashes of the monuments might point out that no one has been forbidden to go to the places, they are just being declared "multi-use."

That sounds good, but it is vacuous. Have you ever tried to share your intended camping sites or hiking trails with a mine or a cluster of drilling rigs? Can you imagine camping beside razor wire, roaring pumps and brilliant lights? Once again, broken promises from Washington dash the hopes of Indigenous tribes.

But it is not just the Indigenous who are crushed. While the elected politicians in Utah favored Trump's gift to the rich, 70% of the people in Utah wanted the monuments to remain as they were established. Americans are proud of their national parks, and they believe that they were set aside for future generations, in perpetuity. They believe the same for national monuments—I know I did.

National parks and monuments are superb places to see plants, animals and stunning landscapes as they were naturally. They belong to all the people, and one billionaire should not have the right to gift them so that they can be used for profit.

A pot abandoned in Bears Ears National Monument around 1280 CE, when people migrated southward to escape a severe and prolonged drought. (Photo: Jeff Mitton)

Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument have scenery that rivals scenery of most national parks. I have camped in Bears Ears seven times and Grand Staircase eight times, and each adventure is a treasured memory. I took a six-hour hike and climb in Bears Ears to see a pot that was abandoned in 1280 CE, when the area was abandoned due to a lingering drought. It is believed that the pot has not been moved since that time.

In the Grand Staircase, I took a hike (twice!) on slick rock into the Escalante Canyon and up into Neon Canyon to see a giant alcove known as the Golden Cathedral. It has a large opening in its ceiling that becomes a waterfall after a rain. During a dry spell, climbers lower themselves by rope through the opening.

I have no faith, so do not consider these monuments sacred, but I have the conviction that these monuments, as they were initially drawn, are so grand and unique that they must be preserved in perpetuity. It would be a national shame, a travesty, just as it would be to let Glacier, or Rocky Mountain, or Yosemite national parks to be carved up into mining claims.

The way out of this tragedy is not apparent to me. But I feel strongly that one man should not have the right to give away what should belong to all, forever. I believe that a national vote on the future of these treasures would set them aside in perpetuity.

Jeff Mitton is a professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the �鶹��Ѱ��. His column, "Natural Selections," is also printed in the Boulder Daily Camera.

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Natural wonders that belong to all Americans should not be carved up or given away.

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Top photo: The Citadel, with cliff dwellings (not visible) that were easily defended when enemies came to the Bears Ears. (Photo: Jeff Mitton)

Yes, breathing wildfire smoke can harm your health

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 22:09:03 +0000

Yes, breathing wildfire smoke can harm your health Rachel Sauer Mon, 07/27/2026 - 16:09

Colleen E. Reid

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself

Wildfire smoke from fires burning in Canada and northern Minnesota has been pouring across the Great Lakes and northeastern U.S. states, turning skies an eerie shade of orange. In the West, smoke has also been spreading into communities in Colorado and neighboring states as more wildfires burn in hot, dry conditions in July 2026.

University of Colorado environmental health researcher Colleen Reid explains what’s in that smoke and why breathing it is a health concern everyone should be aware of.

Colleen Reid is a �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder associate professor of geography and director of the public health program.

What is in wildfire smoke?

Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture that includes nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and particulate matter. When homes or buildings also burn, they can release an even more toxic stew of chemicals from burning electronics, furniture, plastics, paints and much more.

What you see when you see a smoke plume or when the air is hazy with wildfire smoke are the tiny particles that are too small to fall to the ground right away with gravity.

These particles, which scientists call particulate matter, are very small – we measure them in microns. When you breathe them in, they can harm your health. The smaller the particles, the deeper they can get into your lungs and body.

You may have heard the term PM2.5. It means particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter, many times smaller than the width of a human hair. High concentrations of these particles in the air during wildfire smoke episodes are what trigger air quality alerts.

Has wildfire smoke been increasing recently, and why?

Yes, wildfires have become more frequent and more intense just in the past couple of decades, and when wildfires become more frequent and intense, so does the smoke.

Scientists have found that wildfires are becoming more frequent due to a variety of factors that include increases in fire weather – hot, dry, windy conditions that fuel the spread of fires due to climate change – as well as other natural and human factors. The reasons for the increases in wildfires vary in different parts of the world.

Other studies have found that wildfire smoke makes up an increasing portion of the PM2.5 in the air in the U.S., and in many areas it is offsetting the decreases in air pollution that the U.S. has gained through regulations of industrial and vehicle emissions under the Clean Air Act.

How could wildfire smoke affect my health?

Some effects of breathing wildfire smoke include shortness of breath, coughing, itchy or watery eyes, headaches, rashes and itchiness. But smoke can cause more serious harm. Numerous epidemiological studies have shown that hospitalizations and emergency department visits for asthma and other respiratory diseases increase during wildfire smoke events.

After you breathe in the particles, they cause inflammation and oxidative stress, and they can move into the blood and spread throughout the body, affecting other organ systems.

Breathing wildfire smoke has been associated with higher risk of preterm births and other issues during pregnancy, and potentially cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes, although the evidence for these effects are more mixed.

The longer-term health effects of wildfire smoke are less clear, but it is a growing area of research.

New York City skyline shrouded in wildfire smoke from wildfires in 2023. (Photo: Ahmer Kalam/Unsplash)

Where can I learn more about wildfire smoke risks where I live?

The first thing to do to protect yourself from wildfire smoke is to know how bad the smoke is and how long it is going to last.

One great place to get information for where you live on current wildfire smoke is fire.airnow.gov. You can zoom in on the map to where you live and find color-coded circles reflecting data from both U.S. EPA air-quality monitors and PurpleAir sensors that people have put in their homes.

The colors show the level of PM2.5 at that location and suggest the associated health risk.

To find out how wildfire smoke is expected to change over time in North America, you can look at maps from FireSmoke Canada and the U.S. Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program.

What can I do to protect myself and my family from wildfire smoke?

First of all, depending on the level of the air quality index where you are, there are different recommendations. When wildfire smoke reaches unhealthy levels, stay indoors as much as possible, with doors and windows shut to keep the wildfire smoke out.

If you have an air cleaner, use it, but check the filter, as filters can fill up quickly. Similarly, check the filter on your home HVAC system and replace it if needed.

If you have to go outside, consider wearing a well-fitting N95, KN95 or KF94 mask. These masks can protect you from inhaling particles in the air around you. Looser masks, such as surgical masks, mostly protect others from what you breathe out instead. They do not have a tight seal around your mouth, and when you breathe in, the air with all of the particles can find its way around the sides of the mask.

Having a tight fit of the mask to your face is important so that when you breathe, the air is going through the mask and capturing the smoke particles rather than letting them into your body where they cause harm.

If your home is leaky and you can see haze inside, consider going to a public space, such as a library or mall, with a good HVAC system. Some municipalities have designated clean air spaces where anyone can go.

Colleen E. Reid is an associate professor in the �鶹��Ѱ�� Department of Geography.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself.

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Top photo: Fachy Marín/Unsplash

'It is easy to get lost in this jungle of solar panels'

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:25:49 +0000

'It is easy to get lost in this jungle of solar panels' Rachel Sauer Mon, 07/27/2026 - 15:25

Yaks graze beneath solar farm panels on the Tibetan Plateau. (Photo: Sanggay Tashi)

Sanggay Tashi

How the development of solar and wind farms on the Tibetan Plateau is affecting local communities

China is building some of the world’s largest solar farms on the Tibetan Plateau, where nomadic people have grazed herds of animals for millennia.

It’s not the first time Tibetan regions have become a major source of renewable energy in China. Since the mid-1990s, many Tibetan communities have lived alongside hydropower stations.

Now, with vast open landscapes and high elevations that provide ideal conditions for harnessing solar and wind energy, many pastoral lands have become key sites for large-scale renewable energy projects.

Sanggay Tashi is a PhD candidate in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Anthropology.

As part of my ethnographic research, I spoke to number of people in this area, offering a rare look at how large-scale energy development is affecting nomadic communities.

Herding yaks on solar farms

I spent time in a nomadic community located about 100 miles (161 km) southeast of Xining city, the capital of Qinghai province.

Beginning in 2017 and accelerating more recently, regional subsidiaries of energy companies such as PowerChina have built three solar panel power plants – enough to generate about 1 gigawatt of power – and a dozen wind turbines on the area’s open grasslands.

Sandy, desert-type land is well known to be suitable for solar and wind farms. Yet the grasslands and many other pastoral areas turned into solar farms are not sandy deserts. They are productive grazing land where Tibetans have herded yaks and sheep for generations.

Parts of what was once open fine alpine grassland, which Tibetans call pangtang where herders moved freely and gazed across the boundless horizon, are now covered by dense rows of solar panels. It remains unclear how these sites comply with China’s grassland conservation regulations. Other solar projects elsewhere in China have reportedly been investigated for environmental violations.

Walking through the sites feels like moving through a dense forest of iron pillars rising into the air. “It is easy to get lost in this jungle of solar panels,” Tsering, a local observer, told me as we walked between long rows of panels on a windy winter day in 2023.

That day, I also met Dolma, a local Dokpa, or nomad, herding yaks under solar panels. As we talked, she told me the solar farm had changed the experience of herding. She said, “I am used to herding on open grassland. So, herding under these glass panels feels like something is wrapping around my head. It feels very depressing.”

Individual and collective tensions

These energy projects in nomadic communities are presented as part of of national efforts to modernize rural areas, bring capital to local communities and promote renewable energy development as part of China’s clean energy and carbon reduction agenda.

But their implementation brings tensions and contradictions in the communities where they are located.

Tibetans walk through a solar farm in Tibet, while animals graze in the distance. (Photo: Sanggay Tashi)

Based on my conversations with more than 20 people in the community, some view them as good economic opportunities and are envious of those whose grazing lands were selected for lease. Others oppose them, saying they “open the gate” for outsiders to appropriate local land for short-term financial gain by a few.

As more outsiders move in and the landscape changes with these energy projects, the overall concern that I observed from talking to different people is that the land that generations have lived on and protected may not retain the same sense of home in the future.

Tsering, who guided me through the solar farms, is very critical of those who agreed to lease land to solar farms, saying, “I may sound pretentious, but these days people are like grass growing on a wall – easily swayed by the slightest breeze of money.”

Since the 1950s, all land in China has been either government-owned or collectively owned; private land ownership is not allowed. Individuals may hold fixed-term “land-use rights” that can be transferred, sold or leased. In the 2000s, the government allocated land to individual families in nomadic areas of Qinghai and granted them 50-year “grassland use certificates."This enables the locals to raise livestock on the land and lease it to others. Most certificates are set to expire in 2050.

Some holders of grassland use certificates have leased their land to energy farms. In the area I studied, those leases typically are for around 25 years, to align with the remaining term of local grassland use rights. What will happen when these land use rights expire remains unknown.

Yaks graze beneath solar farm panels on the Tibetan Plateau. (Photo: Sanggay Tashi)

Money matters

In practice, leasing is extremely complex. When I asked a dozen families about their official contracts with the energy companies, several people said they signed it without fully understanding what it said.

"The only thing people made sure to know is how much money they are receiving,” one person said to me. The documents included long and complicated legal or technical language in Chinese, some of which was orally translated into Tibetan during the signing, because many nomads who are heads of households and more than 40 years old can’t read either Chinese or Tibetan.

Negotiations and leasing decisions are often carried out between company representatives and a small number of heads of households, brought together with the help of local officials. That leaves many residents uninformed about the terms and conditions of the agreements.

Households that lease grazing land to energy projects receive a one-time payment that depends on the amount of land involved and which company is seeking the lease. From 2017 to 2026, residents have told me they received offers between 3,000 and 4,000 yuan (US$440 to $587) for each mu, a unit of area equivalent to about 0.16 acres. Those rates have resulted in payments between 40,000 and 100,0000 yuan ($7,300 to $147,000) per household.

Human relations with the land

The energy companies’ contracts treat local households and land as individually owned properties in financial transactions. But local Indigenous communities have a different understanding and relationship to the environment.

Socially and historically, and regardless of the government policies on land ownership, Tibetans have perceived pastoral land as communal and experienced it as inhabited by all kinds of beings besides humans, including deities, animals, insects and other visible and invisible beings that are important in the Tibetan cosmological worldview. The energy planners often disregard these local ways of understanding and relating to the land.

During a dinner conversation, four local residents told me about one of these deeper spiritual concerns. During the construction of transmission lines to carry the solar power to users, they said, several transmission poles were placed very close to a labtse of a neighboring community. A labtse is a sacred site where an important mountain deity is believed to reside and where community members make regular offerings.

A solar farm under construction in eastern Tibet. (Photo: Sanggay Tashi)

When locals asked for the poles to be moved, the energy developers suggested they would cover the cost of relocating the labtse instead – which, culturally, cannot be done, and if it were would require direction from high-ranking religious figures.

For the local people, however, this was not a matter of compensation but of protecting the deity from being stabbed by the giant poles. Some residents were even willing to pay the planners to move the poles. After a series of negotiations, the poles were eventually moved a short distance from the labtse.

Living alongside energy farms

Herding on energy farms comes with new challenges.

When the solar panels were installed, excavation for support posts and underground cables disturbed the topsoil and destroyed the native grasses, which consist of a diverse species of grass. According to people involved in the work, the replacement grasses consisted of only one or two dominant species among the several that were common in the local ecosystem. And the seeds used for restoration came from beyond the local area, so residents are unsure whether the replanted grasses are exactly the same as the types that grow locally.

During winter, snow under the shade of solar panels takes a long time to melt, causing baby lambs to freeze in the cold. Dolma also told me, “The solar panels are making a fortune for the wild fox because it is hard to see them when they attack little lambs under the panels.”

Dolma told me that when the wind turbines were being built, their noise frightened her livestock and carried across the valley, disturbing neighbors during windy times.

The locals also told me that wind blowing through the posts and wires of solar farms produces persistent and unsettling noises that disturb both animals and people.

Future uncertainties

While these solar farms are generally considered “renewable” and part of “sustainable development,” their future remains uncertain. Locals told me they do not know whether the land-lease contracts will be renewed or abandoned when they expire in about 25 years. Solar panels also last around 25 years, and local people wonder how the waste will be disposed of.

As more Indigenous communities around the world become locations for climate mitigation projects, energy production and data centers, the stories of local people are essential to understand how their ways of life, culture and environment are affected by these new interventions.

Sanggay Tashi is a PhD candidate in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Anthropology specializing in cultural anthropology.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How the development of solar and wind farms on the Tibetan Plateau is affecting local communities.

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Top photo: Livestock graze near solar panels in eastern Tibet (Photo: Sanggay Tashi)

Where did language come from?

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:02:23 +0000

Where did language come from? Rachel Sauer Mon, 07/27/2026 - 15:02

Karen Stollznow

Nobody really knows, but the theories are fascinating

Humans are the only species known to use fully symbolic language: a system capable of expressing abstract ideas, imaginary worlds and endless combinations of meaning. But how did we get there?

The origins of language have fascinated philosophers, scientists and storytellers for thousands of years. Despite all our advances in linguistics, archaeology and cognitive science, we still don’t know exactly how language began.

That uncertainty hasn’t stopped people from trying to solve the mystery. In fact, some of the earliest theories of language’s origins are among the strangest and most entertaining ideas in the history of science.

Karen Stollznow is a visiting scholar in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Linguistics.

Bow wow, ding-dong

In the 19th century, scholars proposed a flurry of curious theories to explain how speech first emerged. Many of these theories were given playful nicknames by the German philologist Max Müller, who intended them partly as satire. Yet the theories were genuine attempts to tackle one of humanity’s biggest questions.

The most famous is probably the Bow-Wow Theory. This suggested language began through imitation of natural sounds. Early humans, according to this theory, copied the noises around them: animal cries, splashing water, thunderclaps and birdsong. Words such as “buzz”, “hiss”, “bang” and “splash” seem to support the idea because they sound like what they describe.

But there is a problem. Different languages hear the same sounds differently. English dogs go “woof” or “bow-wow”, but in Turkish they go “hev-hev”, while Indonesian dogs go “guk-guk”. Even animal noises, it turns out, are filtered through culture and language.

And onomatopoeic words (words that imitate sounds) make up only a tiny fraction of our vocabularies. Most words sound nothing like their meanings. For instance, there is nothing inherently tree-like about the word “tree”.

That brings us to the Ding-Dong Theory, which argued that sounds and meanings are naturally connected in some deeper, almost mystical way.

Some words do seem to fit their meanings uncannily well. “Mini”, “teeny” and “itsy-bitsy” feel small and delicate. “Lump”, “rump” and “plump” sound heavier and rounder.

Modern linguists call this sound symbolism. One famous experiment asked participants to match two nonsense words, “bouba” and “kiki”, to two shapes: one rounded and one jagged. Most people matched “bouba” with the soft shape and “kiki” with the sharp one.

The effect is real, but it is limited. Most language still appears to be arbitrary, which means there is no natural reason why a particular sound should mean a particular thing.

German philologist Max Müller gave playful nicknames to competing theories of language’s origins. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Pooh-pooh, la-la, ye-he-ho

Other theories focused less on imitation and more on emotion and social interaction.

The Pooh-Pooh Theory proposed that speech began with instinctive emotional cries such as “ouch”, “oh” or perhaps less publishable exclamations uttered after stubbing a toe. According to this idea, language evolved from spontaneous vocal reactions to pain, surprise, fear or joy.

Again, though, there are complications. Interjections vary widely across languages. English speakers say “ouch”. Greeks say “aou”. Czechs might exclaim “ach”. Emotional sounds are not nearly as universal as they seem.

Then there is the wonderfully named Yo-He-Ho Theory, which suggested language emerged from rhythmic chants used during collective labour, like sailors chanting “yo-heave-ho” while hauling ropes, or workers singing together to coordinate physical effort.

The theory may sound quaint, but modern researchers do think rhythm, cooperation and social bonding played important roles in human evolution. Language is, after all, deeply social.

Another proposal, the La-La Theory, linked language to music. Charles Darwin entertained the possibility that speech evolved from musical calls used in courtship and emotional expression. Before humans spoke, perhaps we sang?

Some modern theories echo this idea. One hypothesis suggests that, as early humans began walking upright, parents increasingly needed to soothe babies from a distance. Sing-song vocalisations, cooing and proto “baby talk” may have helped strengthen emotional bonds and eventually paved the way for speech.

Gestures, symbols and brains

Today, most scientists think no single theory fully explains language origins. Instead, language probably emerged gradually through a combination of gestures, vocalisations, facial expressions, social cooperation and increasing cognitive complexity.

Charles Darwin speculated that speech evolved from musical expression. (Photo: Julia Margaret Cameron/Wikimedia Commons)

Some researchers argue that language began with gestures before shifting to speech. Others believe language evolved as a tool for social bonding, allowing larger groups of humans to cooperate and share information. Still others see language as tied to the evolution of symbolic thought itself: our ability to imagine, plan, remember and communicate abstract ideas.

Biology is also a factor. Humans have developed unusually precise control over the tongue, lips and vocal tract. We have evolved specialised brain regions linked to language processing.

But anatomy alone cannot explain language. Parrots can mimic speech sounds. Many animals communicate. None, however, appear to possess grammar and symbolism on the human scale. And, frustratingly, early language leaves no evidence behind. Spoken words don’t fossilise.

That lack of evidence is one reason the topic became so controversial that, in 1866, the Société de Linguistique de Paris banned discussions about language origins altogether, dismissing the field as hopelessly speculative.

Of course, theories about language origins also appear in religion and mythology. In Greek mythology, the messenger god Hermes was associated with language and communication. In the Hindu tradition, the goddess of knowledge and speech Saraswati bestowed Sanskrit upon humanity. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, language was a gift from God, who enabled Adam to name the animals in the Garden of Eden.

These stories reflect something deeply human: our urge to explain where language came from, because language itself feels almost magical. Every theory of language origins captures a small piece of the puzzle. Imitation, emotion, rhythm, music, gesture, cooperation and symbolic thought probably all played some role.

But none can provide a complete answer. The truth is that language evolved so long ago, and likely so gradually, that we will never pinpoint a single moment when it began, unless someone invents a time machine.

The birth of language will probably remain one of humanity’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Still, the theories themselves tell us something important. Humans are always trying to explain what makes us human. And language may be the most human thing of all.

Karen Stollznow is a visiting scholar in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Linguistics specializing in the political and social history of modern Latin America.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Nobody really knows, but the theories are fascinating.

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Freedom deferred, freedom declared, freedom demanded: a Juneteenth playlist

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 21:30:59 +0000

Freedom deferred, freedom declared, freedom demanded: a Juneteenth playlist Rachel Sauer Wed, 06/17/2026 - 15:30

Reiland Rabaka

On a day of commemoration, African American music is a living record of struggle and survival

Reiland Rabaka is the founder and director of the Center for African and African American Studies and a professor of ethnic studies.

Juneteenth is not only a historical commemoration; it is also a musical archive. Long before freedom was legally recognized, it was imagined, sung, prayed, whispered, shouted and remembered in song.

Across the centuries, African American music has served as a living record of struggle and survival, preserving histories that official narratives often ignored or distorted. Spirituals carried coded messages of hope and liberation. The blues transformed sorrow into testimony. Jazz improvised new possibilities for freedom. Gospel joined personal faith to collective struggle. Soul and funk voiced demands for dignity and self-determination. Reggae internationalized the language of liberation, while rap chronicled the unfinished journey toward justice and democracy.

This playlist traces a long freedom tradition from enslavement and emancipation through Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, and contemporary struggles for racial justice. Together, these songs remind us that music is more than entertainment. It is memory. It is protest. It is prophecy. It is a democratic practice through which ordinary people narrate their lives and imagine more just futures.

These selections illuminate the enduring significance of Juneteenth by revealing how artists across generations transformed suffering into creativity, resistance into rhythm and hope into collective action. They invite us to hear freedom not as a destination already reached, but as an ongoing journey carried forward in song.

“Go Down, Moses” – traditional spiritual

One of the most powerful spirituals to emerge from the era of enslavement, this song links the biblical Exodus story to Black aspirations for liberation. Enslaved Africans transformed sacred narrative into a coded language of resistance, making freedom both a spiritual promise and a political dream.

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” – traditional spiritual

This beloved spiritual expresses both sorrow and hope, reflecting the emotional complexity of life under slavery. Its imagery of movement and deliverance resonates deeply with the long struggle that Juneteenth commemorates.

“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” – traditional spiritual

A haunting meditation on separation, displacement and longing, the song reflects the devastating family disruptions produced by slavery. It reminds listeners that emancipation was also about restoring humanity, kinship and belonging.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” – James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson (1900)

Often called the Black National Anthem, this enduring hymn links emancipation to citizenship, perseverance, faith and democratic aspiration. Its themes of remembrance and hope make it one of the most important musical expressions of African American historical memory.

“Strange Fruit” – Billie Holiday (1939)

This landmark recording confronts the racial terror that followed Reconstruction. By exposing the brutality of lynching, Holiday reminds us that emancipation did not immediately secure justice, equality or safety for African Americans.

“Come Sunday” – Duke Ellington (1943)

Part of Ellington’s monumental Black, Brown and Beige suite, this composition honors African American spiritual traditions and their role in sustaining dignity, faith and cultural survival through centuries of oppression and resistance.

“Move On Up a Little Higher” – Mahalia Jackson (1947)

A gospel masterpiece rooted in the Black sacred tradition, Jackson’s recording captures the spiritual determination that sustained generations from slavery through the modern freedom struggle. It expresses both earthly perseverance and transcendent hope.

“Oh, Freedom” – Odetta (1956)

Rooted in the experiences of formerly enslaved African Americans after emancipation, this freedom song bridges Juneteenth and the Civil Rights Movement. Odetta’s powerful interpretation preserves the moral courage and democratic aspirations of those who struggled to transform freedom declared into freedom lived.

“A Change Is Gonna Come” – Sam Cooke (1964)

One of the defining freedom songs of modern America, Cooke’s masterpiece captures both suffering and hope. Its emotional depth echoes the aspirations of generations who struggled to transform emancipation into full citizenship and democratic inclusion.

“Mississippi Goddam” – Nina Simone (1964)

Simone’s searing protest song reminds listeners that legal freedom alone does not guarantee justice. Her music links the long history of Black resistance to the continuing demand for democratic transformation and human dignity.

“Freedom Highway” – The Staple Singers (1965)

Written during the Civil Rights Movement, this song connects 19th-century emancipation struggles to 20th-century movements for voting rights and equality. It celebrates collective action, courage and democratic participation.

“Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud” – James Brown (1968)

This anthem of Black self-determination and cultural affirmation reflects the legacy of emancipation in a later era. Brown’s declaration of dignity, self-respect and collective pride helped redefine freedom for a new generation.

“Freedom” – Richie Havens (1969)

Made famous through Havens’s unforgettable Woodstock performance, this song transforms a spiritual refrain into a universal anthem of liberation. It stands at the crossroads of the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, antiwar activism and global freedom struggles.

“What’s Going On?” – Marvin Gaye (1971)

Marvin Gaye expands the meaning of freedom beyond emancipation alone, addressing war, poverty, racial inequality and social fragmentation. The song asks what democratic responsibility requires in a nation still struggling to fulfill its ideals.

“Living for the City” – Stevie Wonder (1973)

One of the most powerful musical narratives of post-Civil Rights Black America, Wonder’s song traces the effects of structural racism, economic inequality and urban hardship. It reminds listeners that emancipation was the beginning—not the end—of the struggle for justice.

“Redemption Song” – Bob Marley and the Wailers (1980)

Marley’s meditation on liberation connects African diasporic struggles across national boundaries. The song underscores the global significance of freedom movements and the continuing work of emancipation throughout the African world.

“Fight the Power” – Public Enemy (1989)

A defining statement of rap political consciousness, this track challenges dominant narratives and demands historical accountability. It extends the democratic critiques voiced by Frederick Douglass into the late 20th century.

“Keep Ya Head Up” – Tupac Shakur (1993)

This song broadens discussions of freedom by emphasizing dignity, resilience, care and community responsibility. It reflects the continuing struggle to realize justice not only in institutions but also in everyday life.

“Glory” – Common and John Legend (2014)

Created for the film Selma, this song bridges historical and contemporary freedom movements. It demonstrates how the memory of emancipation and the Civil Rights Movement continues to inspire new generations of activists and artists.

“Alright” – Kendrick Lamar (2015)

Widely embraced as a contemporary anthem of resilience and hope, the song speaks to the persistence of racial inequality while affirming collective endurance. It echoes Juneteenth’s central lesson that hope survives even amid hardship and struggle.

“Freedom” – Beyoncé featuring Kendrick Lamar (2016)

Drawing upon spiritual, blues, gospel and contemporary Black musical traditions, this powerful anthem embodies the continuing quest for freedom, self-determination and collective empowerment. It links historical memory to present-day movements for justice.

“Letter to the Free” – Common (2016)

Written for the documentary 13th, the song explores the relationship between slavery, incarceration and contemporary systems of inequality. It encourages listeners to think critically about freedom’s unfinished work in the twenty-first century.

“This Is America” – Childish Gambino (2018)

A provocative reflection on race, violence, spectacle and national identity, this song challenges listeners to confront contradictions within American democracy. It underscores why historical memory remains essential to civic life and democratic renewal.

“Not Like Us” – Kendrick Lamar (2024)

More than a rap battle anthem, “Not Like Us” became a cultural event that sparked conversations about authenticity, accountability, community and cultural ownership. Within the broader tradition of African American public critique, the song can be understood as a contemporary expression of self-definition and communal responsibility, themes that have long animated Black democratic thought.

Taken together, these songs tell a story that parallels the history of Juneteenth itself. They begin in the fields, cabins, churches and hidden gathering places of enslaved Africans. They move through emancipation, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow segregation era, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement and contemporary movements for racial justice.

They remind us that freedom has never been merely a legal proclamation. Freedom is a practice of memory. Freedom is a culture of resistance. Freedom is a song passed from generation to generation.

To listen to this playlist is to hear the soundtrack of a people who transformed suffering into art, exclusion into creativity and deferred dreams into democratic possibilities. It is to hear the long, unfinished journey from freedom declared to freedom realized.

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On a day of commemoration, African American music is a living record of struggle and survival.

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What began in ancient Greece is headed for the White House lawn

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:10:10 +0000

What began in ancient Greece is headed for the White House lawn Rachel Sauer Thu, 06/11/2026 - 13:10

Jared Bahir Browsh

UFC Freedom 250, the MMA event planned for the White House lawn June 14, represents a decades-long relationship between President Donald Trump and UFC

The White House has been a construction site since late October, when the East Wing was suddenly demolished to build a controversial ballroom. In the shadows of cranes, another temporary structure is being built on the South Lawn of the White House: a 5,000-seat outdoor stadium that will host UFC Freedom 250, a special mixed martial arts (MMA) event that will occur on June 14, President Trump’s 80th birthday, as part of the lead-up to the 250th birthday of the United States.

The unique competition has faced criticism—seen as desecrating the lawn of the President’s residence and what many people see as the people’s house. A deeper examination of the history of MMA and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) reveals why this event is not merely a sporting event, but representative of an ideological connection between the brutal combat sport and the current state of MAGA conservatism.

Jared Bahir Browsh is the Critical Sports Studies program director in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Ethnic Studies.

What is now considered MMA dates back to the ancient Olympics and an event called pankration, a combat sport that combined boxing and wrestling. Although it did not feature the mix of martial art disciplines we see today, it did function very similarly to modern MMA. Like many ancient Olympic sports, pankration was tied to military service, allowing soldiers who were the most prepared for battle. Although formal competitions banned eye-gouging and biting, training often included these since a similar fight on the battlefield would have no rules. The fight would continue until one competitor gave up, lost consciousness or died. Ancient China also had a similar sport, Lei Tai, which was formally competed on a stage, with challengers fighting until one competitor was declared champion.

Fighting competitions continued in the succeeding centuries throughout the world, including in colonial America, where the sport rough and tumble was often used to settle disputes in the rural backcountry, especially in the South. Also known as gouging, the brutal and disfiguring sport fell out of favor with the growing popularity of the Bowie knife and revolver in the 19th century, which led to more lethal methods of solving disputes on the frontier.

Other forms of fighting and martial arts continued to emerge in the 19th century, including the French sport of savate, similar to kickboxing, and Lancashire, or catch wrestling, a less-restrictive version of the sport that emerged from Britain and was included in several Olympic Games between 1904 and 1936.

The globalization of sport in the 20th century through cultural exchange events like the Olympics led to further competitions in forms of combat including jiu-jitsu from Brazil and judo from Japan. Judo was introduced as an Olympic sport at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the first martial art from Asia in the Games.

In Brazil, Vale Tudo, a no-holds-barred martial art, grew in popularity throughout the 20th century after early matches pitted local forms of martial arts against fighting styles from other continents. The Gracie Challenge, which was an open invitation from the Gracie family—a Brazilian family considered the first family of jiu-jitsu—to prove their version of jiu-jitsu was superior, helped expand the popularity of Vale Tudo. This martial art, along with Japanese shoot wrestling, a hybrid sport that mixed wrestling and combat sports like kickboxing and emerged in the 1970s, provided the framework for what would become modern MMA.

Interest in martial arts grew through popular culture, including the movies of Bruce Lee, in the 1970s. Though boxing was still the dominant combat sport, curiosity grew regarding the effectiveness of each form of combat. Muhammad Ali issued a million-dollar open challenge to the president of Japanese Amateur Wrestling for a fighter to take him on. Antonio Inoki accepted the challenge and on June 26, 1976, Ali and Inoki fought in Tokyo; although it ended in a draw, many see the match as a precursor to the popularity of MMA.

Renzo Gracie (white trunks) kicks Eugenio Tadeu (black trunks) during the "Pentagon Combat" Vale Tudo event in 1997. (Photo: Marcelo Alonso/Wikimedia Commons)

UFC 1

The seeds of the MMA were further planted when businessman Art Davie, filmmaker John Milius and Rorion Gracie of the Gracie Challenge collaborated to organize an eight-competitor tournament originally named War of the Worlds. Later renamed the Ultimate Fighting Championship, what is now known as UFC 1 took place in Denver on November 12, 1993. Gracie won the first tournament, and the organizers soon planned a second Denver event—what is now known as UFC 2—four months after the first. In 1994, two more UFC events followed in North Carolina and Oklahoma, as the no-holds-barred style of fighting grew in popularity.

UFC 5 in 1995 featured the first singles match. Billed as a Superfight, it was meant to declare a champion, but the match ended in a draw after 36 minutes. The fight represented a move away from the tournament format and into a card of single matches similar to a boxing event. The UFC also earned a reputation for its extreme violence and the absurdity of some of the matches, one of which—between a mixed martial artist and a sumo wrestler—featured nine-inch height and a 400-pound weight difference.

Living up to its early tagline “there are no rules,” UFC promotion gained a reputation for being especially violent and was still known as “no-holds-barred fighting” in many states through the late 1990s. In 1996, Arizona Senator John McCain called the sport “human cockfighting” and sent letters to every state urging them to ban it. Thirty-six states did so, largely relegating the UFC’s events to the southeast United States and other countries. The president of the National Cable Television Association also warned cable companies that airing UFC fights could lead to scrutiny from the federal government, and a number of top cable providers blacked out the promotion on TV.

For several years in the late 1990s, the UFC languished as a regional niche sport until it was thrown a lifeline by Donald Trump. In September 2000, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB) established a probationary period allowing MMA events to take place in the state so the board could create a unified set of rules to regulate the sport. In November, Trump Plaza hosted UFC 28 in Atlantic City, the first UFC event in New Jersey.

Atlantic City had become a hub for boxing after casino gambling was legalized in New Jersey in 1977 and regularly hosted boxing matches; however, most big prize fights still occurred in larger cities like New York or in Las Vegas. Looking to grow the profile of his casinos—and in turn Atlantic City—Trump began bringing major events to the beachside resort. In 1988, Trump outbid several Las Vegas casinos to bring Mike Tyson’s heavyweight title bouts to Atlantic City. Tyson took on Larry Holmes in January that year and Michael Spinks in June. Trump looked to sports to expand his profile even after pushing the United States Football League out of business in 1985 by convincing other owners to move to a fall schedule while he was suing the NFL.

In between the two Tyson title fights, Trump Plaza hosted Wrestlemania IV, forging a relationship between Trump and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which is now a sister company to the UFC under TKO Holdings after a 2023 merger. Trump grew his partnership with WWE, hosting Wrestlemania V in 1989 and was later included in storylines for the professional wrestling promotion; he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. Linda McMahon, the current U.S. secretary of education, previously served as president and CEO of WWE.

Fighters Clay Guida and Marcus Aurelio compete in UFC 74: Respect in Las Vegas in 2007. (Photo: Lee Brimelow/Wikimedia Commons)

After UFC 29 took place in Japan in December 2000, U.S. businessman Dana White worked with casino executives Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta to create Zuffa, LLC and buy the UFC for $2 million. At the time, White had been working as a promoter for fighters in Las Vegas and saw an opportunity to grow the combat sport. A month after the sale was finalized in January 2001, UFC 30 returned to Atlantic City with Trump Plaza hosting the first event under Zufa ownership, followed by UFC 31 five months later, forging a relationship between White and Trump.

At the same time, boxing was undergoing significant changes following passage of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act in 2000, which increased regulations that protected fighters from being exploited. However, MMA is not covered in the Act, and White and his partners saw an opportunity to control the entire sport—and its fighters. Unlike in boxing, the UFC signs fighters to exclusive contracts and they are considered independent contractors, excusing the company from providing fighters with employee benefits, while also barring them from negotiating or fighting for other promotions. Over time, UFC pushed out or bought competitors, allowing UFC to essentially monopolize MMA in the US.

A true turning point was the premiere of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter, which debuted after WWE Raw in January 2005, exactly a year after another reality show, The Apprentice, boosted the business of Donald Trump. As The Apprentice did for Trump, The Ultimate Fighter significantly boosted visibility for White and the UFC.

Misogyny and politics

As the UFC grew, it faced a number of controversies that both invited criticism while fortifying its mostly male, conservative fanbase. Women have largely been ignored, if not unwelcome, in combat sports, with women’s judo not debuting as an official Olympic sport until 1992; women’s boxing followed 20 years later. Dana White famously said in 2011 that women would never fight in the UFC, but two months later UFC parent company Zuffa bought competing MMA promotion Strikeforce, which did have a women’s division. Two years later, when Strikeforce was fully merged with UFC, the first women’s fight occurred, pitting Ronda Rousey against Liz Carmouche.

Even with the introduction of women’s divisions, the locker room culture in the UFC and many training gyms continues to be toxic and misogynistic, with male fighters regularly making sexist comments, including some directed at fellow fighters. There is also significantly less coverage of and support for women fighters, with only three fighting divisions for women compared to eight for men.

UFC’s controversies extend beyond sexism. Like Trump, Dana White has had a contentious relationship with much of the media. He pulled credentials from several MMA reporters after they broke the story that fighter Brock Lesnar was returning to the UFC before the official announcement. White also recently called media members and journalists “nobodies,” bristling at what he considers critical coverage of the UFC regarding its response to sexism in the sport and treatment of fighters.

President Donald Trump (seated) with UFC fighters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (Photo: Molly Riley/White House)

White strengthened his relationship with Trump by endorsing him for president in 2016. At that time, more political content was included in UFC broadcasts, deepening the connection between UFC promotion and conservative media and leveraging that connection to increase Trump’s appeal with young men through the UFC and podcast environment known as the “manosphere.” Top podcaster Joe Rogan has been a commentator for the UFC since 1997, and its fighters often appear on podcasts and conservative media, with several also endorsing Trump.

White and Trump maintained their relationship through his first presidency and the legal issues that followed his loss to Joe Biden in 2020. The UFC was integral in helping Trump revitalize his public image after the January 6 riots and the legal controversies that followed him in between his presidential terms. Trump’s attendance at UFC events were among his first public appearances after the tumultuous end to his first term and were often celebrated on UFC broadcasts. This relationship continued through his 2024 campaign, during which Dana White introduced Trump as the 2024 Republican nominee for president at the Republican National Convention.

Fewer than two weeks after the 2024 election, Trump attended UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, where he allegedly broached the topic of a White House UFC event to Dana White. Trump announced the event on July 3, 2025, and White officially confirmed it would take place.

Combat sports have historically been leveraged for political gain, so the relationship between UFC and Trump is not unusual, even if the upcoming White House event is a dramatic break from convention. Matches between rival ethnic or racial groups continue to be a huge draw in combat sports, a trend that dates back centuries and includes fights between Joe Louis and Nazi-backed Max Schmeling and later the Rumble in the Jungle and Thrilla in Manila, which dictators in Zaire and the Phillipines, respectively, leveraged to sportwash their authoritarian regimes.

White has leveraged his relationship with Trump both economically and politically as he looks to expand his empire. In 2025, with the backing of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund’s subsidiary Sola, White launched Zuffa Boxing to bring the UFC exclusivity model to boxing. White is currently lobbying congress to pass the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, which does guarantee minimum pay and health insurance for boxers, but would eliminate other protections against organizations acting as promoters, organizers and ranking entities—a move that could ultimately lead to similar exploitation and monopolistic practices that have been claimed by UFC fighters.

The Saudis’ involvement in sports, which includes WWE events, LIV Golf, and the 2034 World Cup, is seen as an effort by the Saudi monarchy to sportwash the country’s image. The Public Investment Fund is providing financing for Paramount’s bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, as Paramount aggressively pursues WBD under David Ellison’s ownership.

About a month before Paramount began its pursuit of WBD, and a few days after the Ellisons’ purchase of Paramount was finalized, UFC signed a lucrative media rights deal with Paramount for 7 years, $7.7 billion with UFC Freedom 250, preceded by the Friday night weigh-in at the Lincoln Memorial, streaming on Paramount+.

For the casual observer, a UFC fight on the White House lawn might seem random, if not ridiculous, but for those familiar with Trump’s relationships and his love of spectacles, it is clear why the event was organized. Rather than an isolated event, it is the culmination of relationships Trump has formed with supporters, including White, whom he has known for more than a quarter century.

Jared Bahir Browsh is an assistant teaching professor of critical sports studies in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Ethnic Studies.

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UFC Freedom 250, the MMA event planned for the White House lawn June 14, represents a decades-long relationship between President Donald Trump and UFC.

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Top image: Fighting cage being built on the White House lawn for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14. (Photo: G. Edward Johnson/Wikimedia Commons)

Think all that plastic is being recycled? Think again

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 21:19:22 +0000

Think all that plastic is being recycled? Think again Rachel Sauer Thu, 06/04/2026 - 15:19

A man walking amid plastic waste on the Maldivian island of Thilafushi. (Photo: Dying Regime/Wikimedia Commons)

Ellen Considine

A lot of ‘recycled’ plastic is being burned overseas—and causing widespread pollution linked to health problems

Picture a pile of trash the size of Manhattan and taller than one and a half Empire State Buildings. That’s how much plastic waste the world is predicted to be generating every year by 2050 if nothing is done to change course.

It’s easy to think of recycling as the solution, but the vast majority of plastic waste now ends up in landfills, or worse.

A large amount of plastic waste gets shipped overseas. In a new study, my colleague and I analyzed what happens when plastic waste is shipped to lower- and middle-income countries, where open burning is a common way of dealing with excess waste. The result, we found, is pronounced increases in toxic air pollution.

Ellen Considine is a �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder assistant professor of geography and fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES).

Plastic waste burning and health impacts

Between 40% and 65% of total municipal solid waste is openly burned in low- and middle-income countries, largely as a result of 2 billion people around the world having no municipal solid waste collection.

Open burning occurs both intentionally and unintentionally, the latter when open dump sites containing organic waste spontaneously combust due to heat generated as the waste degrades.

When plastic burns, it releases particularly toxic air pollutants. Fine particles can penetrate deep into people’s bodies, along with gases that include carbon monoxide, styrene gas and hydrogen cyanide. It also releases persistent organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins. These particles and gases have been linked to health risks ranging from respiratory and cardiovascular disease to cancer and reproductive and neurological disorders.

The ash from open burning can also contaminate soil and groundwater with persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and other toxicants, creating more chances for people to be exposed to them through food and water.

The global plastic waste trade

Large amounts of plastic waste are shipped around the world – some to be recycled and much to simply be disposed of in landfills or incinerated. In 2024, 9.34 million metric tons of plastic waste imports were reported, according to the United Nations.

Where this exported plastic waste ends up has been shifting.

In 2018, China stopped importing plastic waste, causing the total amount of plastic waste moving among countries – at least through official channels – to drop dramatically. Between 1992 and 2016, China’s plastic waste imports made up 45% of global imports.

In 2018, the flow moved to other countries, largely in Southeast Asia but also other locations, including Turkey. In 2018, Indonesia became a net importer of plastic waste. The majority of this waste came from Western Europe, Australia and North America.

What happened to Indonesia’s air quality

We harnessed data from multiple monitoring systems, including satellite observations and cargo ship tracking signals, to understand where these plastic waste imports went and how much air pollution was released by openly burning this waste.

As of 2020, the World Economic Forum and Indonesia’s government estimated that 48% of Indonesia’s plastic waste is openly burned.

We found that particulate matter air pollution – of great concern for health – increased an average of 3.3% at the locations of large open waste dump sites in Indonesia after China’s ban in 2018-19 relative to expected business as usual, based on data from 2012-17. We found increases up to 1.68 micrograms per cubic meter.

Based on risk estimates from a global study of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter, this corresponds to an approximate 1.5%, 1.9% and 3.5% increase in mortality risk from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and lower respiratory infections, respectively.

New constraints on the plastic waste trade

In 2021, Indonesia restricted the import of nonhazardous waste to 15 specific ports and in 2025 banned the import of plastic waste altogether.

A man walking amid plastic waste on the Maldivian island of Thilafushi. (Photo: Dying Regime/Wikimedia Commons)

In mid-2025, Malaysia followed suit, allowing plastic waste only from countries that have ratified the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal – a treaty that the U.S. has never ratified.

For these bans to be effective, these countries must also find ways to contend with illegal plastic waste shipments and paper imports contaminated by plastic waste.

Meanwhile, negotiations for an international, legally binding treaty on plastic waste, started in 2022, have stalled. In mid-2024 the European Union did pass a new regulation on waste shipments, prohibiting exporting plastic waste to countries outside the group of wealthy countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development from November 2026 to at least May 2029.

The effectiveness of these and future policies at reducing air pollution – and other kinds of environmental degradation – can be evaluated using methods like ours.

Ways to reduce plastic waste

As of 2021, only 5% to 6% of U.S. domestic plastic waste was recycled, according to estimates from the advocacy group Beyond Plastics and Bennington College. It is now even harder to export plastic waste to other countries that could “recycle” it.

Part of the problem is lack of capacity: The Association of Plastic Recyclers estimates that current plastic reclamation facilities in the U.S. and Canada could at most increase their plastic recycling by 35% to 44%, depending on the type of plastic, leading to a total recycling rate of 7% to 9%.

Ultimately, both decreasing plastic use and increasing recycling will likely be needed to solve the problem. Beyond consumer choices, packaging reuse – creating packaging and return systems that put the same materials back to work – can reduce the need for new plastics.

Recycling experts call for harmonized design standards to help streamline processing and deliver higher-quality recycled plastics, as well as extended producer responsibility fees or taxes to raise the cost of producing products that aren’t recyclable. The fees can provide needed funding to scale up recycling and other programs to reduce generation of plastic waste.

Since 2021, seven states have enacted extended producer responsibility laws focused on packaging: Maine, Oregon, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Washington and Maryland. However, it will take time to see the effects. Colorado’s final implementation plan, authorized in 2022, was approved only in late 2025. The first payment of extended producer responsibility fees to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment are scheduled to begin in mid-2026.

Ultimately, reducing and better managing our nation’s plastic waste can help prevent global health harms.

Ellen Considine is an assistant professor in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Geography whose research lies at the intersection of environmental change, health and wellbeing and data science.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A lot of ‘recycled’ plastic is being burned overseas—and causing widespread pollution linked to health problems.

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Fly agaric has a long association with fairies and humans

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 20 May 2026 19:01:01 +0000

Fly agaric has a long association with fairies and humans Rachel Sauer Wed, 05/20/2026 - 13:01

A red cap dotted with the dried crumbles of the egg sac make fly agaric easy to find and identify. (Photo: Jeff Mitton)

Jeff Mitton

Since the Renaissance, fly agaric has appeared in art and literature, frequently associated with fairies, trolls, wizards, witches and other mystical creatures

The most iconic and easily identified mushroom in the world is Amanita muscaria, or fly agaric. It grows around the world at northern latitudes in association with spruces, pines, birches and aspens, with its roots forming mutually beneficial mycorrhizal associations to exchange water and nutrients. It is easy to recognize, for it has a bright red cap, and all else white: stipe (stem), gills (underside of cap) and crumbles of the egg sac on the cap. These bright, contrasting colors make it easy to find and identify in a forest.

Fly agaric's bright, contrasting colors evolved to advertise their molecular defenses, muscimol and ibotenic acid. Unless an herbivore has evolved a way to combat activities of these compounds, these defenses are toxic and hallucinogenic, triggering severe and prolonged vomiting and loss of coordination and balance.

These colorful mushrooms and their psychoactive compounds have been associated with mankind for about 10,000 years. The association started with shamans in northern Europe and Siberia, who used the mushrooms during religious ceremonies to imagine communication with gods, ancestors and spirits. Similarly, they could be an ecstatic inebriant to enliven celebrations of winter solstice and the return of sunlight.

From the 13th through the 19th centuries, fly agaric was commonly used to kill flies in European homes and buildings. Flies were abundant before the invention of screens on windows and doors, and they were dreaded, thanks to a rumor that they get into the head and cause insanity. The practice came about after it was discovered that dried crumbs of fly agaric dropped into milk attracted flies, and when the flies sipped the milk, the ibotenic acid paralyzed and ultimately killed them. The common name fly agaric stems from this practice—agaric is the name for the familiar toadstool-shaped mushroom. Its formal name is Amanita muscaria: Amanita is the genus of mushrooms, and muscaria is a reference to the common housefly, Musca domestica.

Since the Renaissance, fly agaric has appeared in art and literature, frequently associated with fairies, trolls, wizards, witches and other mystical creatures in fairy tales and books for children. Recent examples will be most familiar. Dancing red-and-white mushrooms appear in Fantasia. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice converses with a hookah-smoking caterpillar sitting on a gigantic red-and-white mushroom. Fly agaric also appears in Snow White and the Seven Dwarf. Smurfs are small, blue, humanoid creatures living in red-and-white, hollowed-out mushrooms.

Laplanders, who use reindeer as work animals, saw their reindeer eat fly agaric and subsequently romp and stagger. Laplander herdsmen believed that reindeer sought fly agaric for its psychoactive reward. The Laplanders also used fly agaric to achieve an ecstatic and imaginative state, and it is possible that they were at the root of the Christmas story of flying reindeer led by a jolly man dressed in the colors of the mushroom who enters a dwelling via its chimney. Perhaps this entry recalled shamans who would enter a dwelling through the smoke hole in the roof, delivering sacks of colorful mushrooms to fuel a celebration. The Christmas Story appeared in 1823 in a poem referred to as "A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore.

A red cap dotted with the dried crumbles of the egg sac make fly agaric easy to find and identify. (Photo: Jeff Mitton)

More than 600 described species in the genus Amanita occupy the full range from deadly (death cap, A. phalloides; destroying angel, A. bisporigera) to delicious (blusher, A. rubescens; Caesar's mushroom, A. caesarea). With so many species and such dire consequences for a mistaken identification, you should be trained before collecting fly agarics from the forest for personal use.

While hiking at the University of Colorado's Mountain Research Station, I came across a cluster of fly agaric mushrooms. I was surprised to find several divots in the cap—something small, the size of a bird or chipmunk, had taken bites. Who was eating fly agaric?

Reindeer have four chambered stomachs with microbial fermentation, which allows them to digest the cellulose in plant cell walls. All ruminants—including cattle, sheep, goats and bison, eat fly agaric without discomfort.

Another group of animals that can enjoy fly agaric with impunity is squirrels (family Sciuridae), and every squirrel species that I checked (pine, grey, fox, golden mantled ground squirrel, rocks squirrels, chipmunks) eat fly agaric and use a unique method to safely pass the toxin. Squirrels have a novel glycoprotein lining in their intestines that immediately binds the toxins, inactivating them, and escorting them the rest of the way through the digestive tract.

Photographers have amply documented foxes gulping down hunks of fly agaric, but they suffer the agony of severe, prolonged vomiting and staggering that omnivores generally experience. Foxes may be sly, but not when it comes to choosing ingredients for a salad.

Meanwhile, turkeys, grouse, crows, ravens and jays eat fly agaric without distress, but many birds suffer both gastrointestinal distress and severe neurological symptoms.

It is thought provoking to discover an area here in Colorado where the bright mushrooms are popping up, for the association of humans and fly agaric has multiple facets and reaches far back into time. Aposematic coloration reliably warns of the defensive substances (muscimol and ibotenic acid), foreshadowing gastrointestinal misery and eruption for some species. Like all other molecular defenses, one or more species have evolved a way around the defenses and evolved to use them either as food or as an intoxicant.

Ten thousand years ago shamans used the same molecules to produce altered states in their followers for ceremonies and celebrations. Artists and writers brought back inspiration from altered states, and today we have enchanting fairy tales and numerous imaginary creatures to entertain and stimulate imaginations. Each year, families drape festive lights and children listen for the sound of hooves on the roof and a cheerful voice encouraging his reindeer.

For scientists, the chemistries of muscimol and ibotenic acid provide insight into chemical ecology of natural populations and enhance the pleasures of a walk in the woods.

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Since the Renaissance, fly agaric has appeared in art and literature, frequently associated with fairies, trolls, wizards, witches and other mystical creatures.

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Top photo: A cluster of fly agaric mushrooms show variation of size, shape and color (Photo: Jeff Mitton)

Sramcbled wrods: the real reason you can still read jumbled text

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 22:19:38 +0000

Sramcbled wrods: the real reason you can still read jumbled text Rachel Sauer Thu, 04/30/2026 - 16:19

When we read, we typically don’t painstakingly process each letter in sequence. Instead, skilled readers recognize words rapidly by drawing on multiple cues at once. Psycholinguistic research shows that we process words as patterns rather than as sequences of individual sounds.

Karen Stollznow

"Typoglycemia" is often shared online as a quirky insight into how our brains work, but this viral claim is only part of the story

You’ve probably seen it on social media before: a paragraph of scrambled text that looks like nonsense at first glance, yet somehow you can read it with surprising ease.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

This effect, often playfully referred to as "typoglycemia," is frequently shared online as a quirky insight into how our brains work.

Karen Stollznow is a visiting scholar in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Linguistics.

But this viral claim is only part of the story. To understand why it works, we need to look at how the brain actually processes written language.

There is no magical ‘rule’

The claim that usually accompanies this snippet is that as long as the first and last letters of a word are in the right place, the order of the middle letters doesn’t matter.

At first glance, the claim seems plausible.

But while there is a kernel of truth here, the explanation is misleading.

Reading scrambled words has much less to do with a magical “rule” about first and last letters, and much more to do with how our brains use context, pattern recognition and prediction.

We don’t read letter by letter

These include familiar letter patterns, the overall shape of the word and, crucially, the context of the sentence. Our brains are constantly predicting what is likely to come next, then checking those predictions against the visual input.

This is why we often miss typos in our own writing. We don’t see what’s actually on the page, we see what we expect to be there.

The same principle helps us make sense of jumbled words. Even when letters are out of order, enough of the structure remains for the brain to make an educated guess.

Word shape and structure matter

The viral meme suggests that only the first and last letters matter.

But this oversimplifies what’s really going on. We are sensitive to how letters relate to each other within a word. Common spelling patterns and familiar combinations make words easier to recognize, even when slightly distorted.

This is also why certain visual disruptions make reading harder. Text in alternating caps, such as “AlTeRnAtInG CaPs”, is difficult to process because it disrupts the usual visual contour of words. The same goes for “ransom note” lettering made from mismatched fonts, which interferes with pattern recognition.

In other words, readability depends on preserving enough of a word’s internal structure, not just its outer letters.

Not all scrambled text is readable

If the meme were true, any sentence with intact first and last letters should be easy to read. But that’s not what we find.

Take this example:

Salhal I cmorape tehe to a srmmeus day

It follows the supposed “rules”, yet it is much harder to decipher. In fact, this is the opening of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

So why is the viral paragraph so much easier to read? Because it has been carefully (if unconsciously) engineered to be readable.

The hidden tricks behind the meme

Several factors make the famous example easier to process than it appears.

First, many of the words are short, which limits how many possible combinations the letters could form. Words like “you” and “can” are often left unchanged.

Second, function words such as “the”, “and” and “is” are usually intact. These small, common words provide the grammatical scaffolding of the sentence, making it easier to predict what comes next.

Third, when longer words are scrambled, the changes are often minimal. Adjacent letters are swapped (“wrod” for “word”), which is much easier to process than more extreme rearrangements.

Finally, the passage itself is highly predictable. Once you recognize the topic and rhythm, your brain fills in the gaps automatically, much as it does when listening to speech in a noisy environment.

The key to understanding this phenomenon is context. Words are not processed in isolation. Each word is interpreted in relation to the others around it, and within a broader framework of meaning.

This allows us to compensate for missing or distorted information.

But there are limits. As scrambling becomes more extreme, or as words become less predictable, comprehension quickly breaks down. Reading speed also slows noticeably, even when we can still make sense of the text.

Humans and machines

Interestingly, computers can now unscramble jumbled words with remarkable accuracy. By analyzing probabilities and patterns across large datasets, algorithms can determine the most likely original form of a word or sentence.

In this sense, machines and humans rely on similar principles. Not rigid rules about letter position, but flexible systems that weigh patterns and probabilities. This highlights why the “typoglycemia” claim is an oversimplification, rather than a scientific rule.

The idea persists because it captures a genuine insight in a catchy way. It reveals that reading is not a simple, letter-by-letter process, but a dynamic interaction between perception and expectation.

At the same time, it’s a reminder of how easily scientific ideas can be distorted as they spread online.

So yes, we can often read scrambled words. But not because the order of letters doesn’t matter. It’s because our brains are remarkably good at making sense of imperfect information. So good, in fact, that they can turn a mess into meaning.

Karen Stollznow is a visiting scholar in the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Department of Linguistics specializing in the political and social history of modern Latin America.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

"Typoglycemia" is often shared online as a quirky insight into how our brains work, but this viral claim is only part of the story.

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