8 Of The Most Passive-Aggressive Phrases You’re (Probably) Using With Your Partner

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In an ideal world, we’d all be able to tell our partners exactly what we’re feeling, as soon as we’re feeling it.

But real life often falls short of that. Maybe it feels too vulnerable to express a need outright; maybe you’re worried about being dismissed, ignored or met with hostility if you do.

That’s where passive aggression can often come into play.

“Passive aggression is an indirect expression of emotions or unmet needs,” explained Tara Rullo, a trauma and couples therapist and owner of Middle Way Psychotherapy.

“Underneath passive-aggressive comments are vulnerable emotions like sadness, loneliness, overwhelm, fear, or longing.”

Underneath passive aggression between partners, there could be unmet needs just under the surface.

PhotoAlto/Frederic Cirou via Getty Images

Underneath passive aggression between partners, there could be unmet needs just under the surface.

As an example, Rullo described a couple where one partner has been retreating into their phone: “Instead of their partner saying, ‘I’m feeling ignored,’ or ‘I want to connect with you,’ the bid may come out sideways through comments like ‘Don’t let me interrupt your phone’ or ‘Must be something really important on there,’” she said.

“Underneath these comments is a natural longing for connection, but because the need is wrapped in irritation and sarcasm, the receiving partner hears criticism, contempt or undefined emotional distress instead,” Rullo continued.

Below, relationship experts describe some of the most common passive-aggressive phrases they hear used with significant others, then break down how to turn those moments into a genuine opportunity for connection instead.

‘It’s fine’ / ‘I’m fine’

This is one of those examples where the words mean one thing, but “your partner can clearly pick up on a tone,” Alexandra Solomon, a clinical psychologist and the author of Love Every Day, told HuffPost. “If the tone doesn’t match, the tone is all your partner’s gonna focus on.”

They’ll sense your distress, but have no way of knowing what’s wrong – only that you’re upset with them.

If you catch yourself saying this, Elizabeth Earnshaw, a licensed marriage and family therapist and author of Til Stress Do Us Part, recommended that you do your best to catch yourself in the moment and try to name the real feeling instead. A quick script might look like: “Actually, I’m not fine. I don’t know why I said that. I am feeling [angry/sad/etc].”

‘Must be nice’

Rullo flagged this kind of comment as one of the most concerning patterns she sees. “Must be nice” – as in, “must be nice to have zero responsibilities” or “must be nice to relax while I do everything” – can veer into contempt, which she said “is considered the single strongest predictor of relationship breakdown”.

What contempt signals, Earnshaw said, is that “you’re not only frustrated but have also lost a fundamental sense of respect for the other person.” The sarcasm in this kind of comment allows you to disguise it as humour, but the underlying message is loud and clear.

‘I guess I just can’t do anything right’

“Your partner gives you feedback or raises a concern, and you say, ‘Well, I guess I can’t do anything right then,’” Solomon said. “It’s passive-aggressive because you’re not addressing your partner’s concern and you’re generalising.”

It’s also a form of what Earnshaw called “chronic victim-playing”.

Instead of engaging with the specific issue – or taking a second to acknowledge that you’re feeling criticised and having a response to that – you turn the moment into a referendum on your worth.

It shuts down the conversation your partner was trying to have and takes it to a much more global and less productive place.

‘I shouldn’t have to ask’

Couples therapist Zach Brittle described “should” as a common tell that there’s some passive aggression at play: “I shouldn’t have to ask” and “you should know” are both common culprits.

Ideally, Brittle said, the speaker would communicate “from a place of desire (rather than demand).” This might look like reframing “you should” statements as “I would really like…”

Earnshaw also gave the example of a partner who’s feeling neglected and snaps at their significant other, saying, “If you cared, you’d know.” Instead, that partner might try saying, “I’m feeling lonely, and I’d love it if we could plan a date night soon.”

‘Wow, look who finally decided to help’

This is another comment that can be defended as a joke if it lands badly – but the person on the receiving end will find it almost impossible not to respond to the cutting tone underneath.

As with the “must be nice” genre of comments, this kind of comment can communicate “superiority, disgust, disrespect, ridicule or disdain,” Rullo said. “Instead of ‘I’m upset with you,’ the message becomes ‘I’m above you’ and ‘there is something fundamentally wrong with you.’”

That kind of atmosphere – where one or both partners “consistently feel looked down on, mocked or dismissed” – can be hard to repair.

Even arguments about household chores can spiral into something much more intense and hurtful with passive aggression leading the way.

DejanMilic via Getty Images

Even arguments about household chores can spiral into something much more intense and hurtful with passive aggression leading the way.

‘Someone else’s partner always does this / never does this’

This kind of comment can take a few forms: “My sister’s husband gives the kids a bath every night” or “Dave’s wife never asks him to help with the laundry.” Instead of directly communicating something you wish your partner would do, you use comparison to express your unhappiness.

The subtext, as Solomon explained, is always the same: “Why can’t you?” Your partner is put in the position of either asking you directly why you’re bringing that up, or – more likely – reacting defensively to the way you’ve just put them down.

‘I’m just the kind of person who likes to focus on what other people need’

Again, the subtext is the issue here. Solomon said that this is an example of “describing yourself in a particular way that’s positive, and the subtext is you’re describing your partner in a negative way.” In other words, “I’m the kind of person who likes to focus on what other people need – unlike you.”

The more honest version, she said, would sound something like, “I’m feeling troubled by the fact that I feel like there’s an imbalance here,” or, “Sometimes I don’t understand the choices that you make, because they’re so different than the choices that I make.”

‘Whatever you want’

This comment, when intended passive-aggressively, is often accompanied with a “heavy tone or eye roll,” per Earnshaw. Like “I’m fine,” it’s a form of stonewalling, what Earnshaw described as “withdrawing emotionally while making it obvious something is wrong.”

If you’re feeling the urge to say something like “whatever you want” about a suggestion you’re clearly not happy about, Earnshaw recommended two things: first, taking whatever time you need to cool down and communicate more clearly; and second, being honest that you aren’t satisfied with the current plan. You might try saying something like, “I’m not excited about that option. Let’s keep looking for a solution that works for both of us.”

Jacob Wackerhausen via Getty Images

The damage passive aggression can do is all too real

Because these kinds of comments don’t directly address an emotion or unmet need, they can provide a cover for the speaker: If the comment is received badly, they can pretend they were just joking or accuse the other person of reading too much into it. But this kind of retreat doesn’t negate the harm that these comments can cause.

“Passive-aggressive comments aren’t like yelling and screaming and name-calling,” Solomon said. “But they chip away at connection, they erode connection, and they erode intimacy. It is a big deal.”

There’s harm in both the passivity – the listener is left confused about what’s actually being communicated – and the aggression, which leaves the listener feeling defensive.

Earnshaw described passive aggression as “corrosive” over time: “the giver feels chronically unheard; the receiver feels constantly criticized but can’t respond cleanly.”

When that becomes a pattern, that’s where communication really starts to break down.

These kinds of comments can also be used as a defensive strategy in equally harmful ways – if one partner feels attacked, they might say something like “I guess I’m just a bad person” or “I guess I can’t do anything right” as a way to deflect criticism or otherwise derail the conversation. The effect is the same: The listener is left confused, defensive and ill-equipped to respond, since the real emotion driving the comment is never named.

At the core of the problem is how passive-aggressive comments can reframe the way couples tackle challenges.

“Whenever there’s conflict with our partner, there’s always an opportunity to put the problem in front, to move into a side-by-side stance and look together with our partner at the problem,” Solomon said. “Passive-aggressive comments reflect and reinforce this idea that it’s me versus you instead of you and me against the problem.”

There is a better way to communicate

All the experts polled here shared similar advice on how to communicate rather than resorting to passive aggression: Take the time to figure out what’s really going on with you, then do your best to communicate that directly, using “I feel” and “I need” statements as much as possible.

For both the person making passive-aggressive comments and the person on the receiving end, suggesting you pause the conversation until you can communicate more clearly and gently calling out the behaviour that you’re seeing can be good ways to set the conversation back on track.

For the person engaging in passive aggression, that might mean saying something like, “I notice that I tend to move into passive-aggressive behaviour when I feel overwhelmed. I’m really trying to change that behaviour.”

For the listener, that might mean saying something like, “When you say ‘whatever,’ I feel shut out. Can we talk about what’s actually going on?” In both scenarios, it acknowledges the aggression that was previously masked, and it tells your partner that you’re committed to communicating more directly.

If you’re recognising these passive-aggressive comments from your own relationship, don’t be too hard on yourself – and don’t take it as a sign that all is lost.

“[Passive aggression] is not like a personality trait,” Solomon clarified. “The vast majority of us grew up not seeing conflict handled well, and so we come into our intimate partnerships with legitimate skill deficits. The good news is that this is all something that can be learned.”

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Sloths Could Help Us Manage Disease And Travel Further In Space

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Sloths, famously, are pretty slow. They move fewer than 38 metres a day, and sleep for up to 20 hours at a time – they’re so sluggish that fungi, moths, and algae grow on their fur, forming an entire ecosystem.

As it turns out, this lethargic lifestyle might be helpful to astronauts hoping to survive long space missions.

In fact, scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge have just published a study about how helpful the animals’ DNA might be to people heading to galaxies far, far away, as well as those with diseases like diabetes down here on Earth.

Why might sloths help people?

Study co-lead author, Dr Camila Mazzoni, said: “Sloths have the slowest metabolism [the sum of chemical processes happening in your body] of any mammal, yet they remain healthy.

“Understanding how they achieve this may reveal new insights into how cells manage energy efficiently.”

Sloths don’t need to eat much, they barely move, and they generally keep their temperature low.

Despite this, they remain healthy and manage to get all the important stuff, like finding a mate, getting food, and swimming for surprisingly long distances, done.

The study authors wanted to find out which part of the animals’ DNA enabled them to do as much as they can with very little energy input. They compared their genomes, which they described as genetic “instruction manuals”, to those of other mammals to work out why sloths were different.

After examining these genomes, that found out that sloths had several copies of ‘transposons’ or ‘jumping genes’, which, the Wellcome Sanger Institute explained, are “DNA sequences that can copy and paste themselves to change their position in the genome”.

Humans have some parts of these transposons, but they’re usually not whole, and are often inactive.

It turns out many of these relate to mitochondria, or the energy-generating parts of cells.

What’s that got to do with space, or disease?

Study co-author Dr Pedro Galante said, “Many human conditions – including diabetes, ageing-related disorders, neurodegeneration, and muscle wasting – involve problems with energy production and mitochondrial function.

“While further research is needed, sloth cell lines may offer a natural model for understanding how organisms cope with low-energy states, and what goes wrong in disease. In the long term, this could inform research into tissue preservation, critical care medicine, ageing, metabolic disease, and even long-duration space travel.”

That’s because saving energy in space, especially if you’re out there for a long time, is important. The further we travel, the more important this may be.

These genome discoveries could help us to manage diseases that involve metabolic changes, like diabetes, too.

Study author Dr Marcela Uliano-Silva added: “Evolution has already run billions of experiments. By studying unusual animals like sloths, we sometimes uncover biological solutions that humans never evolved…

“These sloth-specific genes are linked to mitochondria and metabolic pathways, suggesting they might be related to the evolution of their extremely slow metabolism.”

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Dementia Specialists Share 3 Foods They Always Tell Patients To Eat More Of

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As terrifying as the thought of dementia is, there’s hope in all of the ways we can prevent it.

Certain protein sources can lower your dementia risk, as can finding purpose in life (the latter by 30%, actually).

You can also keep your mind sharp by exercising, challenging your brain, sleeping, eating nutritious foods, getting social, limiting stress and not smoking.

Let’s focus on that nutrition piece: to create a simple, easy habit, what’s the main food dementia specialists want you to add to your plate?

There are a few options, actually. Ahead, various types of those experts – from internists to professors to psychologists to neuroscientists – share their answers and explanations.

Leafy green vegetables

Spinach, kale, arugula, romaine, collards: they’re different foods, but they all fall into the same category of leafy green vegetables that protect brain health. While that probably isn’t surprising, let’s hear the expert-backed insight into why they’re a smart option.

Aim for at least one serving of dark leafy greens daily. “Going beyond that doesn’t seem to add much,” Dr. Jordan Weiss noted.

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Aim for at least one serving of dark leafy greens daily. “Going beyond that doesn’t seem to add much,” Dr. Jordan Weiss noted.

“They are packed with nutrients the brain seems to benefit from, including folate, vitamin E, vitamin K, lutein and anti-inflammatory plant compounds,” said Dr. Dung Trinh, an internist of MemorialCare Medical Group and the chief medical officer of Healthy Brain Clinic in Irvine, California. “We also know that what is good for the heart and blood vessels is often good for the brain, and leafy greens support both.”

Jordan Weiss, an assistant professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and a scientific writer at Assisted Living Magazine, agreed. “My answer is boring, and I‘ll stand by it anyway: leafy greens,” he said. “Greens carry folate, vitamin K1, lutein and nitrate. Each is doing something useful in an aging brain.”

He pointed to data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, in which researchers followed 960 older adults for five years.

“People eating roughly a serving a day of greens looked cognitively 11 years younger than people who rarely touched them,” he reported. “That effect size is wild for a single food, and it survived adjustment for overall diet, exercise and education.”

Your next potential question, especially if leafy greens aren’t your favourite: how many do you need to eat? Trinh and Weiss recommend aiming for at least one serving daily. What that can look like varies from a salad to a half-cup of cooked greens to a generous handful in a smoothie, omelet or soup.

“Going beyond that doesn’t seem to add much,” Weiss noted.

Plus, remember to focus on doing what you can. Something is better than nothing. “The key is consistency, not perfection,” Trinh said. “You do not need an expensive supplement or a complicated cleanse – you need habits you can sustain for years.”

Fatty fish

Yep, “fat” is not inherently unhealthy or a “bad” word, and this proves it.

“If I had to choose a single food to recommend for the prevention of dementia and cognitive protection, it would be fatty fish, specifically salmon, mackerel or sardines,” said Eleni Nicolaou, who has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, specialised training in neurocognitive conditions, clinical practice supporting patients and families dealing with dementia and research on the effects of biological and lifestyle determinants.

“I don’t recommend it because it is a superfood in the marketing sense, but because the evidence behind it is more consistent and specific than anything in the nutrition and brain health literature.”

She explained that the brain is about 60% fat, mostly composed of an omega-3 called DHA. The brain uses DHA to build and repair neurons, which transmit information. With lower DHA levels, communication in the brain slows down, and the brain is more susceptible to the inflammation that causes conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

All of that is to say, some of the highest levels of DHA are in fatty fish.

Nicolaou pointed to studies affirming this. For starters, research published in Neurology found that the higher the levels of omega-3 in the blood, the better the brain structure and cognitive performance. Additionally, a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that long-term omega-3 supplementation was linked to a 64% lower risk of Alzheimer’s in participants followed for six years.

She incorporates this into her practice, of course, too.

“In my clinical work with families dealing with dementia, getting consistent omega-3 intake into a patient’s weekly diet was one of the first dietary conversations I‘d have because the evidence for it is very solid,” Nicolaou said.

She recommended two to three servings a week, with one serving equaling around 100 to 150 grams.

Research shows that blueberries can protect brain cells from damage.

Anne DEL SOCORRO via Getty Images

Research shows that blueberries can protect brain cells from damage.

Blueberries

Fruit lovers, it’s your time to shine.

“I understand that blueberries are the single food most consistently linked with better brain aging because their high levels of anthocyanins and other antioxidants help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, two major drivers of cognitive decline,” said Christopher U. Missling, a neuroscientist who specializes in Alzheimer’s disease and is experienced in mechanisms linking diet, metabolism and brain health.

Research shows that blueberries can protect brain cells from damage, he continued, as well as improve communication between neurons and slow age-related memory loss by counteracting free-radical injury and supporting healthier blood vessels that support the brain.

How much and how often should blueberries be on your plate? According to Missling, most studies suggest around a half-cup to one cup of blueberries a day, but some observational research has shown benefits with just one serving a week.

Dementia prevention isn’t just about food

While nutrition is undeniably helpful, it’s not everything. Health is all-encompassing, including social health, emotional health, environmental health and more. Experts will tell you this, too.

“Food matters, but it works best as a part of a broader brain-health strategy,” Trinh said. “I tell patients to think in terms of ‘protect the brain by protecting the body’ – control blood pressure, stay physically active, prioritise sleep, treat hearing loss, stay socially engaged and eat in a way that lowers inflammation and supports vascular health.”

Missling agreed that nutrition is more complex than adding just one food. While blueberries are his No. 1 suggestion, he encouraged people to incorporate other brain-healthy foods, too.

“No single food – blueberries included – can prevent dementia on its own, but regularly eating them as part of an overall pattern rich in colourful fruits, leafy greens, nuts, whole grains and omega-3-rich fish seems to offer the strongest cognitive protection,” he said.

“Consistency matters more than perfection, and pairing these foods with sleep, movement and social engagement creates a much more powerful long-term effect on brain resilience.”

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Alaska’s glaciers have a startling response to rising temperatures

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Alaska’s glaciers are highly sensitive to rising temperatures. According to new research using satellite radar observations, every 1 degree Celsius increase in average summer temperatures extends glacier melting by roughly three weeks.

A single degree Celsius equals 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

The study also demonstrates that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can automatically and consistently monitor glaciers and their snowlines throughout the year. Traditionally, snowlines are usually measured only near the end of the melt season using optical instruments.

Researchers found that SAR provides more dependable data than conventional surface-based optical methods.

The findings were published in Nature.

The study was led by Albin Wells, a recent Ph.D. graduate from Carnegie Mellon University. Co-authors include Carnegie Mellon assistant professor David Rounce and Mark Fahnestock of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. Rounce previously worked at the Geophysical Institute as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate.

Tracking Glacier Melt From Space

The research team used radar observations to measure glacier “melt days.” A melt day may represent a full 24-hour period when an entire glacier is melting, or it can consist of several days during which melting occurs across different portions of the glacier until the total affected area equals the glacier’s full surface.

An increase in melt days indicates that the melt season is becoming longer, which contributes to greater overall ice loss.

Using data from Europe’s Sentinel-1 radar satellites, the scientists monitored seasonal changes on nearly every Alaska glacier larger than about half a square mile between mid-2016 and 2024.

Synthetic aperture radar operates by transmitting microwave pulses from a moving satellite or aircraft toward Earth’s surface and then combining the returning signals into detailed images. Because it does not rely on sunlight, SAR can collect data through clouds and in darkness.

Sentinel-1 revisits the same location every 12 days and covers more than 3,000 glaciers across Alaska.

Heat Waves Accelerate Snow Loss

The researchers also discovered that short-term heat waves can dramatically reduce the snow cover that protects glaciers. During unusually warm periods, glaciers lost up to 28% more protective snow than they do in typical years. This percentage applies at the scale of individual mountain ranges and does not necessarily affect every glacier equally within those regions.

“Our ability to quantify these changes is really important,” Wells said. “Melt extents and snowlines are proxies for glacier mass balance.”

Glacier mass balance refers to the difference between how much snow and ice a glacier gains and how much it loses over time.

“These correlations with temperature begin to give a sense for how much melt or snowline retreat we can anticipate under future, warmer climates across the region,” Wells said.

A snowline marks the boundary between a glacier’s accumulation zone, where snow builds up and adds mass, and its ablation zone, where melting removes snow and ice.

Why Radar Outperforms Optical Monitoring

Glaciologists generally rely on optical instruments to evaluate snowlines near the end of the melt season, usually in late summer or early autumn.

“In optical data, the snowline can be really hard to observe,” Fahnestock said. “If you’re a day late taking your picture, it might have snowed on the entire glacier, and you can’t see where the bare glacier ice is down below and where the snow and firn is above.”

Firn is partially compacted granular snow found near the upper portions of glaciers. Over time, it can gradually transform into glacier ice.

According to Fahnestock, optical observations can be affected by changing lighting conditions, shadows, cloud cover, and variations in whether firn appears clean or dirty.

SAR avoids many of those limitations and can provide regular snowline measurements throughout the melt season.

“What Albin has done is operationalize the tracking of surface conditions on the glaciers in a way that can be applied anywhere,” Fahnestock said.

The 2019 Alaska Heat Wave

The researchers closely examined an intense Alaska heat wave that lasted from June 23-July 10, 2019. The event affected every glaciated region of the state except the Brooks Range.

For nearly two weeks, temperatures at many locations ran 20 to 30 degrees above average. Several all-time records were broken, including a reading of 90 degrees Fahrenheit at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Typical summer highs in Anchorage are usually in the mid-60s.

According to the study, the extreme heat pushed glacier snowlines nearly 350 feet higher in elevation. In an average year, snowlines would not reach those elevations until roughly two months later.

As a result, bare ice and firn remained exposed for longer periods, increasing overall ice loss.

The authors write that this highlights “the sensitivity of glaciers to short-term climatic variability.”

Coastal and Inland Glaciers Behave Differently

The study also identified consistent differences between glaciers located on the coastal side of mountain ranges and those farther inland.

Wells said the number of melt days varied between the two groups, suggesting they respond differently to environmental conditions even though many are losing ice at broadly similar rates.

“This is an important finding,” Wells said, “because it corroborates prior knowledge that glaciers in Alaska on the coastal side of mountains have more melt in summer and more accumulation in winter than those on the continental side of the ranges.”

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These tiny holes could change how the world cleans water

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A team of researchers from the CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences has developed a new type of highly precise filtration membrane. The study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, describes a technology that could help industries cut energy use and dramatically increase water reuse.

Many industrial activities depend on separating different substances from one another. These separation processes are essential for tasks such as drug purification, textile dye treatment, and food production. Yet they are also among the most energy-intensive operations in manufacturing, accounting for roughly 40% to 50% of global industrial energy consumption.

Most facilities still rely on traditional approaches such as distillation and evaporation. While effective, these methods require large amounts of energy and contribute significantly to carbon emissions. Membrane-based filtration is generally considered a cleaner alternative, but conventional polymer membranes often contain pores of uneven size. Over time, those pores can change shape or degrade, reducing performance and limiting their usefulness in demanding industrial environments.

Nature-Inspired POMbranes With One-Nanometer Pores

“To address these limitations, we engineered a new class of ultra-selective, crystalline membranes called “POMbranes,” which contain pores that are about one nanometer wide, thousands of times thinner than a human hair,” said Dr. Shilpi Kushwaha, Senior Scientist at CSMCRI.

The new membranes draw inspiration from biological systems such as aquaporins, which regulate the movement of molecules through precisely sized channels. To achieve this level of control, the researchers used polyoxometalate (POM) clusters. Each cluster contains a naturally occurring opening that is exactly 1 nanometer wide and remains permanently stable.

According to Ms Priyanka Dobariya, a CSMCRI research scholar and co-first author of the article, “These POMs are tiny, crown-shaped metal clusters that have a permanent, perfect hole in their centre that does not change or lose shape, which is the biggest hurdle with traditional plastic filters.”

Building an Ultrathin Molecular Sieve

Creating a practical membrane required arranging billions of these tiny ring-like structures into a continuous, defect-free layer. To accomplish this, the researchers attached flexible chemical chains to the POM clusters.

When the modified clusters were placed on water, they naturally spread out and organized themselves into a large-area ultrathin film. By changing the length of the attached chains, the team was able to control how closely the clusters packed together.

“This forced molecules to cross the membrane through the only open path, the one-nanometer holes built into each cluster, allowing the membrane to act like a high-tech sieve,” added Dr. Raghavan Ranganathan, Associate Professor at IITGN’s Department of Materials Engineering.

Dr. Ranganathan and Mr. Vinay Thakur, a PhD scholar at IITGN and the co-first author of the article, also carried out molecular-level simulations that revealed how the membranes perform their filtering function.

Nearly Ten Times Better Separation Performance

Testing showed that the membranes could distinguish between molecules that differ by only 100-200 Daltons, a level of precision that is extremely difficult to achieve with conventional polymer membranes.

According to Dr. Ketan Patel, Principal Scientist at CSMCRI, this capability could create new opportunities for more sustainable manufacturing processes.

“Our membranes show almost ten times better separation performance compared to existing technologies, while remaining flexible, stable, and scalable,” he said.

“Additionally, these membranes are flexible, stable across different acidity levels (pH ranges), and can be manufactured in large sheets. This combination is essential if the membranes are to be adopted widely in industry.”

Potential Benefits for Textiles and Water Recycling

The technology could be particularly valuable for India’s textile and pharmaceutical industries, both of which play major roles in the country’s economy.

India’s textile and apparel sector contributes more than 2.3% of GDP and represents approximately 13% of industrial production. The domestic market is currently valued at $160-225 billion and is expected to expand to $250-350 billion by 2030.

Textile dyeing and finishing operations generate large amounts of contaminated wastewater, making dye removal and water reuse ongoing challenges. The new membranes could selectively remove dye molecules while allowing water to be recycled, reducing both freshwater demand and chemical waste. This advantage is especially important as India’s wastewater treatment market continues to grow.

Applications in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

The membranes could also benefit pharmaceutical production, where highly accurate separations are critical for product quality and manufacturing efficiency.

“Processes like drug purification and solvent recovery are both energy-intensive and quality-sensitive,” noted Mr. Vinay Thakur. “Highly selective membranes such as these can lower energy use while maintaining the stringent standards required in pharmaceutical production.”

A Platform Technology for Sustainable Manufacturing

Researchers describe the new POMbranes as a versatile platform technology. Their adjustable structure, high selectivity, and ability to withstand harsh chemical environments make them suitable for a broad range of industrial separation tasks, from wastewater treatment to advanced chemical manufacturing.

As industries increasingly look for technologies that combine efficiency, durability, and sustainability, molecularly engineered membranes may become an important part of next-generation manufacturing systems. By applying a principle commonly found in biology, precise control at the molecular scale, and adapting it into a scalable materials technology, the researchers have demonstrated how nature-inspired design can help solve major industrial challenges.

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Scientists discover a surprising cancer link to Alzheimer’s disease

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As people grow older, their cells steadily pick up new genetic mutations. A study from Boston Children’s Hospital, published in Cell, has uncovered an unexpected twist in that process. Researchers found that microglia, the immune cells that reside in the brain, accumulate mutations in specific cancer-driving genes. Rather than causing cancer, however, these mutations may contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

The research was led by Christopher Walsh, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children’s Hospital and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Collaborators included Alice Eunjung Lee, PhD, and August Yue Huang, PhD, also of the Division of Genetics and Genomics. All three are Professors at Harvard Medical School and Associate Members of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

The team says the findings could point to new ways to diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease.

“We find that to some extent, Alzheimer’s disease is a little like cancer — driven by the same mutations that drive blood cancers like lymphoma and leukemia,” said Walsh. “This is helpful because we have a lot of drugs to fight cancer and some of them might be useful therapeutically for Alzheimer’s disease.”

Cancer Driver Mutations Found in Alzheimer’s Brains

To investigate, researchers analyzed 149 cancer-driving genes in brain tissue samples from 190 people with Alzheimer’s disease and compared them with samples from 121 healthy brains.

The Alzheimer’s samples contained more single-letter DNA changes than the healthy tissue. Many of these alterations repeatedly appeared in the same five cancer driver genes, suggesting that microglia were accumulating mutations in a specific set of genes.

Microglia serve as the brain’s cleanup crew. These cells remove debris and help eliminate infected, damaged, or dying cells. Scientists had long believed that microglia remain confined to the brain and do not cross the blood brain barrier, unlike many other immune cells that circulate through the bloodstream.

Unexpected Link Between Blood Cells and the Brain

The mutations identified in microglia are commonly associated with blood cancers. That observation prompted the researchers to look for the same mutations in blood samples from people with Alzheimer’s disease.

They did not expect to find them.

Instead, the blood cells from the same Alzheimer’s patients carried the identical cancer-associated mutations.

“It was actually a really unexpected finding that suggests a totally new mechanism for Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis,” said Huang. “The findings mean that the blood’s immune cells with cancer mutations are likely getting into the brain and contributing to disease.”

How Mutant Immune Cells May Fuel Alzheimer’s

The researchers propose that aging or injury can weaken the blood-brain barrier, allowing immune cells from the bloodstream to enter the brain. Once there, these cells may transform into microglia-like cells.

At the same time, protein clumps that build up in the brain trigger microglia to multiply and respond. Cells that possess a biological advantage are more likely to expand, including the microglia-like cells carrying cancer-related mutations.

According to the researchers, these mutated cells may create a more inflammatory and damaging environment than healthy microglia. As a result, nearby neurons can be harmed and die, contributing to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Potential for New Alzheimer’s Tests and Treatments

The discovery could eventually lead to new approaches for detecting Alzheimer’s risk.

“Because it’s hard to access brain tissue in a living patient, genetic screens using blood samples could be developed to test whether a person carries these mutations, and has an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,” said Lee.

In a follow-up study posted as a preprint on bioRxiv, Huang and Lee found additional evidence supporting the connection. Their analysis showed that cancer driver mutations detected in blood samples increased Alzheimer’s disease risk independently of APOE4, a well-established genetic risk factor for the disease.

The research was conducted in collaboration with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Funding was provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institute on Aging, the NIH Common Fund through the Somatic Mosaicism Across Human Tissues (SMaHT) consortium, and the Suh Kyungbae Foundation (SUHF).

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I Grew Up Hunting. At 70, I Had A Life-Changing Realization About Killing.

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As I enter the eighth decade of my life, I find that I no longer want to kill anything.

Anything at all.

This dawned on me one recent night as I was brushing my teeth. A fly was buzzing around, in the chaotic path that makes sense only to flies, and I absent-mindedly swatted at it with my free hand. It was an arguably lucky swat, sending the fly in a spiral down to the drain hole of the sink. As it lay there, weakly flailing alongside the stopper, a perfect victim waiting to be washed away, I reached for the faucet handle … and stopped myself, feeling a twinge of misgiving.

About a fly.

How did I come to this? Growing up in a family where hunting season meant putting food on the table, I often hunted with my father, and I killed numerous creatures, including deer and antelope. I would join in the field-dressing of the carcasses (these were not fancy hunts facilitated by a guide; it was just my dad and me, bumping along snowy gravel roads in a battered Chevy pickup), so I was immersed in the visceral aftermath. Whatever misgivings or remorse I had were overwhelmed by the work at hand.

The author (lower right) with his siblings. "Even at age 4 or so, I had a gun in my hand," he writes.
The author (lower right) with his siblings. “Even at age 4 or so, I had a gun in my hand,” he writes.

Courtesy of Larry F. Slonaker

My father had no remorse. He grew up in northern Montana over a hundred years ago, one of eight children who lived on a homestead in a shack without electricity or running water. Hunting was an intrinsic part of life for him and his brothers — a never-ending exercise to bring home protein to feed a large family. Beyond that, though, they took joy in the act itself — the rush brought on by pursuing, shooting and killing. I know it’s unbelievable (unfathomable, really) to many, but for some it’s undeniably true.

That’s the boldface dividing line between those who hunt and those who find it repulsive. As a kid, I had none of the privations my dad had experienced, but I was introduced early to that thrill of the hunt and the kill. In my childhood home, autumn was enlivened by football, Halloween and deer season.

Then the day came for me to leave that home. I went off to college in a big city, and then started a career in journalism, where co-workers were almost all anti-gun and anti-hunting and not timid about saying so. Within an otherwise like-minded bubble, I was an outlier who thought it was OK for a person (that is, a demonstrably sane person who has had safety training) to own a gun, and to shoot an animal for food. While I didn’t hide my feelings about it, I didn’t go out of my way to advertise them, either.

A photo of the author that ran with a magazine article he wrote about hunting.
A photo of the author that ran with a magazine article he wrote about hunting.

Courtesy of Tom Van Dyke

This changed one September, when an in-law who was a veteran hunter persuaded me to go deer-hunting with him. I thought it would be interesting to revisit that experience, and at the same time, reexamine this whole notion about the joy of hunting. I pitched a story to the editor of my newspaper’s Sunday magazine, the late Jeffrey Klein (once of Mother Jones), who signed off with enthusiasm.

The story ended up being a lot about the nature of hunting, and not very much about the hunt itself, except for a description of two or three confused minutes in which I ended up shooting a buck. When it was published — complete with a woodsy photo of me carrying a rifle and wearing a Natty Bumppo-like scowl — it elicited an onslaught of reader response, including the most hateful mail I’d ever received. (When you write a weekly column, as I did, you sometimes are a convenient target for the angry, the disgruntled, the anal grammarian, etc.). Workplace reactions were more muted, but I did detect a subtle shift among my colleagues.

The larger shift occurred internally. I spent a lot of time reviewing the hunt and brooded over one part in particular. As is often the case, no matter how skilled the hunter, there was a lapse of several seconds or longer between when the animal was struck and when it drew its last breath. As somebody with easy access to countless sources of humanely processed protein, I asked myself: How could I justify that lapse, just for a taste of some vague atavistic thrill?

I couldn’t. And that’s the realization that started my transformation.

At first the change was gradual. Because my wife and I live in a semi-rural area, we have numerous critters hanging around. When we moved in, our horseshoer — a lanky old cowpoke who loved to hunt and shoot — warned us about diurnal skunks, which he claimed are inevitably rabid.

“If you see a skunk in the daylight, you better shoot it,” he told me.

He said this with such conviction that I was ready to shoot any skunk under the sun.

But one afternoon as I was entering an outbuilding with one foot on a step and the other on the ground, I froze. A decidedly non-rabid skunk had suddenly materialized from behind me, and proceeded to casually waddle directly between my legs, and thence into a small gap under the building. (It did not emit that acrid, sense-shocking odor usually associated with a skunk… just a whiff, maybe akin to that of a slightly flatulent and embarrassed elder relative shuffling to a corner of the room.) I was no more inclined to shoot that skunk than my own dog.

The image of this creature going about its business — and, it seemed to inquire, why didn’t I mind my own? — awakened in me a sensibility of whenever-possible-live-and-let-live. As time passed there were more skunks, then possums in the garage (mama and four or five babies, all aghast at the site of me), bold and kind of scary raccoons, raucous crows, and so on. We cohabitated without incident, though the lawn and the dogs’ water bowls did suffer some.

"Here I am with my all-time favorite horse, an Appaloosa named Bobo," the author writes.
“Here I am with my all-time favorite horse, an Appaloosa named Bobo,” the author writes.

Courtesy of Larry F. Slonaker

This became the rhythm of life for months and years, until a sudden change. Maybe intensification would be a better word. A time came when I swung drastically to where live-and-let-live became more like live-and-let-everything live. Not only that — help them live.

There was the mouse that had been fetched indoors by the cat, who relinquished it only after considerable coaxing. I gently swept the dazed creature into a dustpan and transported it to a reasonably safe spot outside. Soon after, there was another mouse (wait, was this the same mouse?), whose best-laid plan to get a drink from the edge of the swimming pool had gone agley. As it desperately swam, I scooped it out and deposited it to another safe spot, adding a gratuitous admonishment to be more careful.

There was the wolf spider that I collected with the same dustpan; the lizard, also packed in by the cat, also relocated via the dustpan; and the hummingbird, which trapped itself in the garage and chose the cobwebby window as the only way out, despite the garage door whose gaping openness, in hummingbird dimensions, must have been akin to the Grand Canyon. (The process of shepherding it out the door required a full 15 minutes of slow-mo walk-and-talk-and-wave action.) There was even the nest of pesky yellowjackets gingerly hauled from the barbecue area to the back pasture, which mitigated their peskiness not at all.

And then at last there was the fly, dazed at the sinkhole, my hand poised at the faucet handle, bringing me back to the question: How did I come to this?

Answer: I got old.

The author in his office.
The author in his office.

Courtesy of Larry F. Slonaker

After age 30, the ensuing birthdays were inconsequential. Just another day. But surprise! The 70th, the ol’ seven-oh, wasn’t another day, but that day. At 70, a heretofore gossamer notion was revealed to be fact. Everybody must die — shockingly, even me.

Facing this reality, I realized I had no interest in hastening others to their own fate. I kept thinking of Robert Burns’ mouse, and those self-referential lines:

…thy poor, earth-born companion, / An’ fellow-mortal!

Yes, on this earth, we far-flung and disparate fellow-mortals are all crowded together onto one ineluctable path to the same end. So don’t let me rush you.

Some will want to remind me that as we proceed on the path, there always will be blood. Old fools cannot change the immemorial dynamic of dog-eat-dog and cat-eat-mouse and kill-or-be-killed. Albert Schweitzer’s “Reverence for Life” is delusional, laughable. I’m unmanly, sentimental, weak.

Yeah, I’m good with all that.

As for the fly: I wrapped it up in a bit of tissue, took it outside, and lay it on the porch. The next morning — where, how, who knows, didn’t matter — it was gone.

Larry F. Slonaker is an essayist and the author of the novel “Nothing Got Broke.” He was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana, and worked as a writer and editor at the once-renowned San Jose Mercury News, and the still-renowned Stanford University. There were a few stops at never-renowned places as well. He and his wife now live in California on five acres, which is just large enough to contain three horses and several semi-feral (all neutered!) cats.

Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@huffpost.com.

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Eight Books To Read From 2026’s Best TV And Movie Adaptations

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Whether it’s the new Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility adaptations (this time from Netflix and Focus Features, respectively) or yet another instalment in the Dune franchise, 2026′s film and TV schedule ought to make readers pretty happy.

There’s something for sci-fi, romance, and classic lit lovers alike – bonus points if you’re a fan of Twilight star Robert Pattinson, who’s set to appear in both Christopher Nolan flick The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three this year.

Zendaya will also feature in both movies alongside her The Drama co-star.

If you want to read ahead of this year’s releases or are keen to find out more about the origins of the movies and shows already out this year, we’ve got your back (or should that be your spine?).

Here are eight books to read from 2026′s most exciting book-to-screen options:

1) Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

Ryan Gosling at the Project Hail Mary premiere
Ryan Gosling at the Project Hail Mary premiere

via Associated Press

The 2021 sci-fi novel focuses on teacher Ryland Grace, who wakes up on a spaceship one day with no memory of how he got there. Then, he learns he’s accidentally become humanity’s last hope (space enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that some of its scientific details are NASA-backed).

The movie stars Ryan Gosling, Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, and, if you listen close enough, Meryl Streep. Even better news: it’s set to be released on streamer MGM+ on Thursday, June 18, in the UK, and can be rented through YouTube or Amazon Prime already.

Movie release date: It came out on March 9, 2026

2) Sunrise On The Reaping, by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games author’s prequel explores the experience Katniss and Peeta’s tutor, Haymitch, had as a young tribute in Panem’s earlier Games.

Portrayed by Owen Wilson in the original movies, Sunrise On The Reaping’s Haymitch will be played by Joseph Zada (previously part of Prime Video’s YA adaptation, We Were Liars) instead. The cast will also include Ralph Fiennes, Regretting You’s McKenna Grace, and Hocus Pocus 2′s Whitney Peak.

Movie release date: 20 November, 2026

3) Rivals, by Jilly Cooper

David Tennant at a Rivals season 2 screening
David Tennant at a Rivals season 2 screening

via Associated Press

The 1988 novel is the second of Dame Jilly Cooper’s 11 Rutshire Chronicles books (the last, Tackle!, was published much later than the others, in 2023).

Not only is the Rivals book filled with all the sex, scandal, and ’80s glamour you’d expect, rumour has it that the production company that made the Disney+ version has the rights to nine of the original 10 books – meaning readers who keep leafing through the series could be richly rewarded later on.

While 2026′s second Rivals season deviates from the book at times, it’s proven a hit among viewers and critics alike.

TV show release date: the first season is available to stream on Disney+, as are the first six episodes of season two. However, the series has taken a break and is expected to return to the streamer in November 2026.

4) Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

It’s no secret I’m a bit of an Austen fan, but even those who don’t usually go in for Regency novels ought to give the classic book a go. The funny, quietly subversive story focuses on the almost-certainly-financially-screwed Bennet sisters, the ridiculous and cynical Georgian marriage market, and some very eligible real estate.

If nothing else, reading it will add an extra layer of enjoyment to on-screen hits like The Other Bennet Sister and Bridget Jones.

Plus, when the 2026 Netflix series (starring Emma Corrin and Olivia Colman) comes out, you can decide for yourself whether screenwriter Dolly Alderton kept faithful ot the text – or, like Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, carved her own controversial path.

TV show release date: autumn, 2026

5) The Odyssey, by Homer

The way this Ancient Greek poem is talked about, you’d swear it wasn’t basically a sex and violence-packed soap opera. But in many ways, soldier Odysseus’ long journey home is exactly that – he meets with fantastical creatures, evil witches, and sneaky sirens during what must surely go down in history as the world’s most eventful commute.

It seems Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which stars Matt Damon in the lead role, Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope and Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, alongside Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Travis Scott, Charlize Theron and Robert Pattinson, will be similarly impressive.

Not only is the movie shot entirely with IMAX cameras – a first for director – but the star-studded cast has described it as “unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before” and “exactly what you want [from] a summer movie”.

Movie release date: July 17, 2026

6) The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood

A sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, this story is set 15 years after the cliffhanger ending of the first book. Aunt Lydia shows her mettle as she fights against the oppressive regime set in the original novel.

The Disney+ series sees Ann Dowd, who also played Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale series, reprise her role. She stars alongside One Battle After Another actor Chase Infiniti and Bafta winner Lucy Halliday in a show critics have dubbed “ravishing” and “a triumph”.

TV show release: The first season is already out on Disney+.

7) Dune and Dune Messiah, by Frank Herbert

me reading the first Dune trilogy, despite my aversion to sci-fi
me reading the first Dune trilogy, despite my aversion to sci-fi

Amy Glover / HuffPost UK

To be honest, the first novel will see you through most of the first two movies, and is more than enough to call yourself a sandworm bookworm. But Dune: Part Three leans heavily on Dune: Messiah, the second in Herbert’s canonical six-part series.

It’s less action-packed than the first entry, but it contains arguably weirder characters – like a gas-guzzling fish-human hybrid – that make you wonder where the movie, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Florence Pugh, could possibly go.

Movie release date: December 18, 2026 (just about enough time to finish the first trilogy)

8) Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen

It might not be as essential an Austen read as Pride and Prejudice. But Elinor and Marianne Dashwood’s plight is no less engaging than the Bennet sisters’: after some significant downsizing, the family has to make their way in a very new society. Yearning and love troubles inevitably ensue.

This year’s movie marks the first screen adaptation of the book since the BBC’s excellent 2008 TV series. Only time will tell if stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Hanna star Esmé Creed-Miles will prove just as dazzling on the big screen.

Movie release date: September 25, 2026.

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‘Your Party Isn’t Serious’: Reform’s Richard Clashes With GB News Reporter Over Defence

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Reform’s deputy leader was left squirming by a GB News journalist over the party’s record on defence.

Richard Tice clashed with Christopher Hope, the broadcaster’s political editor, after John Healey’s resignation as defence secretary.

Hope said the fact that Reform does not even have a designated defence spokesman showed the party “isn’t serious” about the issue.

At one point in the live interview, Tice even claimed that Nigel Farage, the party’s leader, was also its defence spokesman.

Hope told him: “You don’t take it seriously … you don’t have a defence spokesman. That says everything about your seriousness as a party.

“If you think you are a serious party on defence, who is your spokesman?”

A clearly-flustered Tice insisted that “what matters” is Reform’s pledge to boost defence spending.

“We’ve shown how you do it, that’s what matters,” he said. “That’s why we’re leading in the polls.”

But Hope asked him again: “Can you name your defence spokesman? It’s not an MP, is it? It’s someone else. Who is your defence spokesman?”

Tice said: “Listen, Nigel and I cover foreign and defence, and we know how you get the money. You scrap net zero, you provide at least an extra £10-£20 billion as required in order to keep British citizens safe.”

Hope hit back: “But your party isn’t serious without having a defence spokesman. You can’t come on GB News – it insults our viewers for you to say it’s important.”

Watch the full clash below.

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

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Critics Hail Steven Spielberg’s ‘Gripping’ Disclosure Day As His Best Film In Years

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Critics have been weighing in on Disclosure Day, which sees Steven Spielberg returning to his beloved science fiction genre.

In his latest big-screen offering, the legendary filmmaker is once again exploring the idea of extraterrestrial beings coming to earth – only this time he’s taking a close look at the philosophical and religious implications of an alien invasion.

Disclosure Day boasts a star-studded cast that includes Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth, and tells the story of a small group of individuals who become involved in a government conspiracy to keep the existence of intelligent alien life a secret.

Early reviews hailed the film as a “gripping” and “thrilling’ masterpiece from the legendary director, earning an 82% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, not all reviewers were in love with the new sci-fi blockbuster, with some critics – including several from prominent British outlets – claiming it is “drab” and a “rehash” of Spielberg’s past works.

Here’s a selection of what critics are saying about Disclosure Day…

“Disclosure Day feels not like a repetition but like a thunderclap culmination, the kind of movie you make when, at age 79, you’re not only at the peak of your skills, but you realise time is running out. What, exactly, do you want to say, and how do you find the pictures, the words?

“The pictures and words are all right there in Disclosure Day, an eleventh-hour plea to reconnect with all that makes us human, even if we need to invoke the help of imaginary aliens to do it.”

Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor as seen in one of Disclosure Day's most dramatic sequences
Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor as seen in one of Disclosure Day’s most dramatic sequences

“Disclosure Day has many layers, but it is also a crackerjack rip-roaring ride for much of its running time, a movie that essentially centres on two main characters in search of answers to what is happening to them, keeping the audience in the dark as much as they are.”

“What Spielberg has conjured here is some of his vintage boldness in transforming the cinema screen into a magical theatre of childlike wonder.”

“While Spielberg has never lost his sense of fun, Disclosure Day is uniquely fortified by the sense that he’s still searching for new ways to enrapture a jaded audience with his spectacle, and the movie’s ethos becomes that much harder to deny every time its director manages to suspend our disbelief all over again.

“There might not be anything here quite as inventive as the spider robot sequence from Minority Report, but a certain setpiece – the one that starts with a car getting shoved into an oncoming freight train – is as gripping as Hollywood action gets.”

“Disclosure Day is never anything other than entertaining and grade-A fun; rare enough in the movies or anywhere else, rocketing along with barnstorming set-pieces, exhilarating chases, funny lines and a career-topper of a performance from Blunt who may yet be morphing into a female version of Tom Hanks.”

Colin Firth joins fellow Brits Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor in Disclosure Day
Colin Firth joins fellow Brits Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor in Disclosure Day

“The movie duly pulls out all the stops, and then a couple more. As if to say, ‘still got it!’, there are big-ticket action sequences and the screwball comic interludes Spielberg always had a knack for. The ride is rarely dull.”

“There are allegories that can be read about fear of the unknown breeding cruelty and exploitation, but Disclosure Day is first and foremost a propulsive yarn with thematic roots in hope, truth, empathy and perhaps even spirituality.”

IGN (7/10)

“The film is, in a lot of ways, vintage Spielberg: He hasn’t lost a step with a camera that sprints from start to finish, there are some fantastic technical sequences, and the performances from the two leads in particular are great.

“And while Disclosure Day stumbles a bit for me at the finish line in a way that makes some of the film’s other nits a little more worth picking, it’s still an original, big-budget science fiction conversation-starter from one of cinema’s all-time greats.”

“While Disclosure Day doesn’t live up to the high standards he’s [Spielberg] set, it’s still a thrill ride, thumbing its nose at authority and begging its audience for more empathy, not less.

“Even if not all the pieces snap flawlessly into place, Disclosure Day is a reminder of how much magic is still left up Spielberg’s sleeve.”

Two-time Oscar nominee Colman Domingo in Disclosure Day
Two-time Oscar nominee Colman Domingo in Disclosure Day

“[Disclosure Day’s] script exaggerates the best and the worst of how humans might respond to such a revelation, and Spielberg struggles to split the difference between paranoid-thriller cynicism and his usual mode of emotional uplift.

“That waffling ultimately strands Disclosure Day on a heartfelt yet fuzzy middle ground, with a generalised plea for cross-species understanding that, even bolstered by the reliable stirrings of a John Williams score, left me dispiritingly dry-eyed.”

“Spielberg, as part of the film’s publicity, has suggested that he believes in alien visitations, and that he’s an advocate for disclosure. But where Close Encounters tapped into the mystery of all this with an innocence that was both starry-eyed and spectacular, Disclosure Day feels like a thriller docudrama that’s too cut-and-dried about what it believes.

“The actors are quite good (especially Blunt, who makes you feel she’s seeing the uncanny), but for all the film’s slow build it doesn’t take us anywhere overly surprising. It just confirms the ‘truth’ that’s been out there for so long it’s starting to feel like a fairy tale for the dispossessed.”

“Essentially, it’s a drab X-Files episode, or a more conventional One Battle After Another, in which some people we don’t care about are hunted by some other people we don’t care about.”

“Sadly, there’s nothing original here, or at least nothing to match, say, Jordan Peele’s vastly superior UFO drama Nope. Instead it’s just Spielberg badly rehashed, poorly reheated, lukewarm and with extra treacle.”

“It is shot and staged with Spielberg’s signature elegance: a central foot-to-car-to-train chase moves with such breathless lucidity it is as if the director is beaming excitement directly into your brain. But the plotting surrounding the action is often woolly and lopsided, while the tone is an awkward mix of solemnity and silliness.”

Disclosure Day is out in cinemas now.

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