Category Archives: Wellness Live

Supreme Court Ruling Is Anything But Clear – And Endangers All Women’s Rights, Trans Group Warns

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A leading trans advocacy group has hit out at the “widespread confusion and fear” caused by the Supreme Court’s ruling that a woman is defined by biology.

The momentous judgement came after years of campaigning from gender-critical groups and has left the trans community in disarray.

Keir Starmer has shifted his stance on trans rights recently too. His spokesperson said on Tuesday that the PM no longer believes a trans woman is a woman – even though he said the opposite in 2022 – and said the government welcomes the judgement.

But, in a new letter to the prime minister, campaigners from TransActual challenged the government’s repeated claim that the top judges’ decision had brought “clarity” and pointed out the 14 issues the ruling has not addressed.

The letter asked: “How is ‘biological sex’ to be defined other than by certification on original birth certificates? Hormonal? Genital? Chromosomal? How will outliers in these be treated?”

The campaigners also looked at how women who are not trans will be impacted by the Court’s decision, particularly women with “gender non-conforming appearances or attributes”.

The group said: “In the course of early legal analysis, a number of huge risks have been identified for all LGBTQ+ people, as well as women with gender non-conforming appearance or attributes, which arise from this deviation from the clear original intentions and definitions in the Equality Act.”

It also asked: “What mechanisms will be available to correct ‘administrative’ mistakes such as the young girl recently reported as having M marked on her original birth certificate last autumn, or the woman who discovered a few years ago that she was legally male when she went to marry her long-term partner and father of their child?”

The campaigners then questioned single-sex issues around policing.

TransActual asked: “How will policies like that of the British Transport Police (BTP) – who announced that trans women would be strip-searched by male officers – not create a huge risk to all women?

“How will the BTP determine who is trans and who is not? What will the remedy be for those women who are not trans who end up being strip-searched by male BTP officers? What is the impact on trans people’s privacy?”

The group also looked at the issues around public places after the minister for equalities and education secretary Bridget Phillipson said people should use toilets according to their biological sex.

“How would access to single-sex spaces be policed?” the campaigners asked. “How would this be funded? What laws would be brought in to enforce this as, for example, the only laws around public toilets are around their provision, not who accesses them?”

It also asked: “If trans women should be barred from female single-sex spaces, and trans men be barred from female and male single-sex spaces, which facilities should trans men use, and how will you ensure trans women’s safety and dignity?”

This morning we wrote to the Prime Minister to express concern in respect of last week’s Supreme Court’s ruling and the confusion that has brought to all equalities law. You’ll find more info on what we said, and the letter itself, at: transactual.org.uk/blog/2025/04… #Trans #Nonbinary

— TransActual (@transactualuk.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T19:00:19.941Z

TransActual head Helen Belcher concluded the letter by writing: “We hope that these urgent questions demonstrate this ruling has brought widespread confusion and fear, not clarity, and that equalities law in the UK must be immediately returned to a sound legal footing.

“There are many other questions which also arise from the judgement which will follow as legal study is done and the practical effects continue.”

When LBC presenter Nick Ferrari asked about the British Transport Police policy that male officers would now be conducting strip-searches on trans women, policing minister Diana Johnson appeared to support it.

She said: “My understanding from the Supreme Court judgement last week is, that it would be done on the basis of biological sex…yes, that’s the law of the land. And I support the law of the land.

“I’m very pleased we’ve got that clarity from last week as to biological sex being the basis of that.”

But Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, later hit back at the government’s response.

She told HuffPost UK: “Sadly for women, both trans and not, many of [our] rights have been eroded in recent years.

“Cuts to healthcare, a rise in misogyny and transphobia, and government neglect of public services have made us all less safe and less supported.

“I’m deeply concerned that this government’s response to the recent Supreme Court ruling will entrench these problems for trans people, while doing nothing to address the real issues facing all women – making it harder for trans people to exist in public spaces, to access support, or to get healthcare.

“I am also worried that rather than standing up against a tide of hatred and fear directed against trans people, this government is giving ground to those who would see trans people pushed out of public life.”

All of us, whether we’re trans or not, deserve dignity and respect, and the freedom to go about our daily lives without fear of abuse or harassment. Govt has urgent Qs to answer about how it will ensure those rights for trans people – sadly I didn’t get those answers yesterday.

— Carla Denyer (@carladenyer.bsky.social) 2025-04-23T09:46:20.689Z

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Why are Patagonian glaciers rapidly losing mass?

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Over the past two decades, satellite-based planetary observations have recorded rapid mass loss of Patagonian glaciers, contributing approximately 0.07 mm per year to global sea-level rise. A study published in Nature Communications links this mass loss to a poleward shift of subtropical high-pressure systems. This large-scale atmospheric circulation change brings more warm air to Patagonia, thereby accelerating glacier melt.

Located in the southern Andes between Chile and Argentina, Patagonia hosts the largest and wettest glaciated region in the Southern Hemisphere outside Antarctica. “The Southern Andes act as a natural barrier, blocking moisture-laden westerly winds from the Pacific Ocean,” explains Brice Noël, climatologist at the University of Liège. “As a result, glaciers locally receive over fifteen metres of snowfall annually, particularly on the western flank of the Andes.”

While snow accumulation at higher elevations contributes to glacier growth, rapid melting occurs at lower altitudes. “Glaciers can extend down to sea level, where warmer air triggers substantial summer melt. This meltwater eventually runs off into the ocean, leading to sea-level rise.” Scientists estimate that since the 1940s, Patagonian glaciers have lost over a quarter of their total ice volume, raising global sea level by 3.7 mm.

High-resolution climate model

The research team from Liège, Leuven, and Delft estimated the surface mass balance of Patagonian glaciers since 1940 — that is, the difference between winter snowfall and meltwater runoff in summer. “We used MAR, our regional climate model developed at the University of Liège,” adds Xavier Fettweis, climatologist at ULiège. MAR is a polar climate model that simulates snow and ice processes on a five-kilometre spatial grid, which is too coarse to represent the small-scale Patagonian glaciers. “High spatial resolution is essential to study the glacier surface mass balance in Patagonia, so we spatially refined our model to a 500-metre grid,” notes Brice Noël. Lower-resolution models fail to accurately capture narrow glacier tongues* that melt rapidly or estimate realistic precipitation over the rugged Andes. “Our high-resolution model closely aligns with in situ and satellite mass loss observations,” confirms Bert Wouters from Delft University of Technology.

What drives glacier mass loss?

Sustained mass loss since 1940 is attributed to a long-term increase in meltwater runoff to the ocean, a consequence of atmospheric warming in Patagonia. “We identify increased surface runoff as the primary driver of glacier mass loss, as snowfall has remained steady since the 1940s,” explains Brice Noël. Surface runoff intensifies when firn — the porous, perennial snow layer covering the upper glacier zones — melts away, exposing the underlying bare ice. “Bare ice is darker than the surrounding firn, thus absorbing more solar energy in turn enhancing melt and runoff,” explains Stef Lhermitte of KU Leuven.

Poleward shift of subtropical highs

Besides the effect of global warming, researchers attribute the fast increase in Patagonian temperatures to a large-scale atmospheric shift, whereby subtropical high-pressure systems migrate poleward. This shift, observed over the past forty years, channels more warm air into Patagonia, thereby amplifying mass loss. Ocean-atmosphere interactions underpinning this circulation change are driven by global warming and are likely to persist in the future. “Complete melting of Patagonian glaciers could raise global sea-level by an extra centimetre,” warns Brice Noël. “Their disappearance would endanger South American communities reliant on summer meltwater supply.” At the current rate of mass loss, scientists project that Patagonian glaciers could vanish within the next 250 years.

* A glacier tongue refers to the downstream extension of a glacier, resembling an icy “arm” descending into a valley or flatter terrain.

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New porous crystal catalyst offers durable, efficient solution for clean hydrogen production

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A new catalyst structure offers a potential pathway toward more cost-effective hydrogen production via water electrolysis. The material centers on mesoporous single-crystalline Co3O4 doped with atomically dispersed iridium (Ir), designed for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

Iridium is known for its OER performance but is both scarce and expensive. Efficient use of Ir while maintaining stability is a major challenge for scaling up electrolyzer technologies. This study proposes a solution through a material that maximizes atomic-level efficiency.

The catalyst features a mesoporous spinel structure that allows for high Ir loading (13.8 wt%) without forming large Ir clusters. This configuration enables the formation of Co-Ir bridge sites, which show high intrinsic activity under acidic OER conditions.

Computational analysis indicates that under reaction conditions, oxygen intermediates (O*) fully cover Co3O4 surfaces, which usually passivates Co sites. However, Ir doping reactivates these sites, while simultaneously enhancing the structural integrity of the catalyst.

Leaching of both Ir and Co during reaction was significantly reduced. Compared to conventional Ir/Co3O4 catalysts, Ir and Co loss was lowered to approximately one-fourth and one-fifth, respectively. The catalyst also maintained performance for over 100 hours with an overpotential (η₁₀) of just 248 mV.

“The mesoporous architecture plays a crucial role,” explains Professor Hao Li, who led the study. “It provides space for single-atom Ir loading and helps create a stable environment for catalytic activity.”

The research combines experimental data with computational modeling, and key findings are available through the Digital Catalysis Platform (www.digcat.org), a resource developed by the Hao Li Lab to support catalyst discovery.

This work was supported by the Tohoku University Support Program. Future research will focus on tuning the doping level, scaling up the synthesis process, and exploring integration into commercial electrolyzer systems.

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‘One-of-a-kind’ girl born with heart outside chest has pioneering surgery

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Vanellope, now seven, undergoes more surgery to reconstruct a “cage” around her heart, using her ribs.

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‘I’ve had 100 operations and will never stop’ – inside China’s cosmetic surgery boom

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Face-scanning apps, social media influencers and toxic beauty standards are fuelling China’s cosmetic surgery boom.

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Bridget Phillipson Brutally Slaps Down Lee Anderson In Angry Commons Clash

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Bridget Phillipson brutally slapped down Lee Anderson as the pair clashed angrily in the House of Commons.

The Reform UK MP infuriated the education secretary during a debate on last week’s Supreme Court ruling that sex is defined by biology.

Anderson asked Phillipson: “I don’t need a Supreme Court judgment or ruling to tell me that a bloke shouldn’t be in a women’s changing rooms.

“I want to ask the secretary of state a very simple question for more clarity: can a woman have a penis?”

The minister replied: “I’ll tell you what, blokes shouldn’t beat up women. Maybe he should have a word with his colleague.”

That was a reference to another Reform UK MP, James McMurdock, who was jailed 19 years ago for repeatedly kicking his girlfriend, according to court documents.

He spent 21 days in a young offenders’ institution after admitting the attack.

The MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, who was elected last July, told Sky News last year: “Nearly 20 years ago, at 19 years of age, at the end of a night out together, we argued and I pushed her. She fell over and she was hurt. Despite being 38 now and having lived a whole life again I still feel deeply ashamed and apologetic.

“Despite us both being very drunk, I handed myself into the police immediately and admitted my fault. I was charged for what I did, not for what has been claimed, and I faced the consequences then and paid for my action in full.”

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Lee Anderson(Reform MP): Can a woman have a penis?

Bridget Phillipson: \"I’ll tell you what, blokes shouldn’t beat up women, maybe he should have a word with his colleague.\" pic.twitter.com/Xs2W6rWRE8

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) April 22, 2025

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Lee Anderson(Reform MP): Can a woman have a penis?

Bridget Phillipson: “I’ll tell you what, blokes shouldn’t beat up women, maybe he should have a word with his colleague.” pic.twitter.com/Xs2W6rWRE8

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) April 22, 2025

Phillipson had also raised the incident during an earlier exchange with Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice.

He said: “Now we have got confirmation from the Supreme Court what the definition of a woman is, could the secretary of state confirm that all public sector and private sector bodies will apply that definition with immediate effect?”

Phillipson replied: “The Equality and Human Rights Commission will set out a statutory code of practice that will provide further clarity.

“But I would just say to [Mr Tice] that I will take no lectures from his party about the importance of defending women’s rights, given that one of his own number, that sits on those benches, was convicted and went to prison for assaulting his former partner.”

Nigel Farage last year described Mr McMurdock as “good example to young tearaways” who “picked himself up from a terrible situation and made a big success”.

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