“It's having conversations that I like with people I like": Exploring the motivations ofAustralian science podcasters

Science podcasts have become an increasingly popular channel for science communication. Although podcasting has risen in popularity, little is known about why science podcasters choose to pursue this pathway for communication and how they set about achieving theirgoals for their podcast. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with 20 science podcasters in Australia, our results reveal that the podcasters are mainly driven by personal factors such as their interest in, enjoyment of, and curiosity about science and that while they employ various tactics to achieve their goals, they do not consciously consider these tactics to be a form of strategic science communication

Evaluating the effectiveness of a Roblox video game (Super U Story) in improving body image among children and adolescents in the United States: Randomized controlled trial

Body dissatisfaction is a global public health issue negatively impacting young people's mental and physical well-being, underscoring an urgent need to develop early interventions. Emerging evidence suggests that microinterventions are acceptable and effective in delivering mental health interventions. Given the popularity of video games among young people, gaming holds great promise for body image microinterventions. As such, we developed Super U Story, a stand-alone, self-paced, narrative-based adventure video game for the popular gaming platform Roblox grounded in the Tripartite Influence Model of body dissatisfaction and basic tenets of positive body image. This trial evaluated the effectiveness of playing a purpose-built Roblox video game once on US children and adolescents' state and trait body image and related outcomes. Gameplay was capped at 30 minutes. Overall, 1059 US-based girls and boys (n=460, 43.4% girls) aged 9 to 13 years (mean age 10.9, SD 1.36 years) from diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic backgrounds were recruited online via a research agency into a 3-arm, online, parallel randomized controlled trial. Participants were assigned to an intervention group, active control group (a Roblox game called Rainbow Friends 2 Story [Color Story]), or attention control group (web-based word search). Participants completed self-report assessments at baseline (1 week before the intervention and before randomization), immediately before and after intervention testing, and 1 week after the intervention. Outcomes included state measures of body satisfaction (primary outcome), mood, and body functionality and trait measures of body esteem, body appreciation, internalization of appearance ideals, and social media literacy. Data were evaluated using repeated-measure analysis of covariance controlling for baseline. Engagement and acceptability data were collected. Intervention participants showed improved state body satisfaction (F =5.20; P=.02; η =0.01) relative to the active control but not in comparison to the attention control. State mood, state body functionality, internalization of appearance ideals, and social media literacy showed no effects. Relative to the intervention group, the active control showed improved trait body esteem (F =5.40; P=.02; η =0.01) and body appreciation (F =6.08; P=.01; η =0.01). Exploratory analyses found that age and gender did not moderate the effects. We were unable to examine dose-response effects. Acceptability scores were good. Self-report engagement data suggested that participants experienced a highly variable and often low-dose exposure. This large-scale, fully powered trial is the first to assess the effectiveness of a Roblox-based body image intervention, demonstrating the potential for disseminating microinterventions to children and adolescents on large and popular commercial platforms. Overall, playing Super U Story did not cause harm; however, evidence is lacking to suggest that it improved body image. Learnings are discussed, including psychoeducation as an intervention technique, "chocolate-covered broccoli" phenomena (ie, losing players who recognize thinly disguised educational messages), and measuring intervention engagement. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05669053; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05669053. [Abstract copyright: ©Nicole Paraskeva, Sharon Haywood, Jason Anquandah, Paul White, Mahira Budhraja, Phillippa C Diedrichs, Heidi Williamson. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 31.07.2025.

Special section examining risk discussions across clinical specialties using conversation analysis: From information transfer to an interactional perspective.

Risk and uncertainty are pervasive in clinical settings, from diagnosis to treatment decision-making and disease management. Accordingly, risk communication has attracted a sustained interest, and is predominantly characterised by information transfer, with a focus on how messages are framed and received. Conversation analysis (CA) provides a different approach to analysing communication, examining the complexities of how risk is broached, is calibrated to individual contexts, and is sensitively negotiated across clinical encounters. This special section showcases original research that significantly advances our insights into risk communication, offering novel and rigorous insights from a spectrum of actual clinical encounters. Seven original papers present analyses of authentic recordings of clinical encounters in the U.K., USA, and Sweden across a range of clinical specialties (primary care, obstetrics, nephrology, paediatrics, and neurology). The nature of the risks varies from immediate and high-stakes situations (such as during labour and delivery), to more distal severe risks (seizure-related unexpected death or fatal anaphylaxis). Other studies examine the likelihood of illness development. Collectively, these studies illustrate the projectability of risk, the collaborative construction of (and resistance to) risk-oriented lifestyle behaviours, and the ways in which patient/carer concerns or worries are invoked. They highlight practices for gathering risk-related information, and the pivotal ways in which risk discussions can facilitate shared decision-making. Studies also show practical ways clinicians sensitively address severe outcomes or morally charged matters of risk-relevant lifestyle behaviours, carefully progressing from establishing a patient's current understanding to providing recommendations. The final paper explores how these types of studies can be translated into training. A guest commentary provides a broad reflection on how CA investigations advance the field of risk communication. Overall, this special section highlights the promise of interactional studies in clinical risk communication, provides recommendations for future research, and calls for the systematic integration of this knowledge into clinical practice. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Which personal and social resources help adolescents to recover from negative affect in daily life? An experience sampling study

Background: Reducing anxiety and depression of adolescents is a global health priority. Personal and social resources (e.g., hobbies, socializing) may reduce distress. Yet, there is insufficient understanding of how adolescents use such resources to reduce distress.Objective: To identify resources that reduced distress in the everyday lives of adolescents, and whether resource use differed according to symptoms of anxiety and depression. Methods: The experience sampling method was used, a longitudinal method requiring participants to report on context and mood at randomly selected moments across a week. 5558 reports were contributed by 151 adolescents, including 90 with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. The study was conducted in the poorest neighbourhoods of Bogotá, Buenos Aires and Lima. Results: Multi-level modelling indicated that using resources was significantly associated with less nervousness and sadness. Adolescents with symptoms were less likely to use some resources (e.g., sport). Cross-level interactions showed the efficacy of resources differed according to severity of symptomatology. For adolescents with symptoms, some resources (e.g., peer support) improved mood, while others (e.g., music listening) did not. Discussion: Personal and social resources are important for reducing distress in the everyday life of adolescents, giving insight for potential interventions to help mitigate symptoms of anxiety and depression before escalation. Further research could assess the quality of experiences (e.g., appraisal) to deepen understanding of how engagement promotes resilience. Conclusions: Care must be taken when recommending resource use, since some forms (e.g., music listening) may be unhelpful to adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression

Clinical agility – an essential foundation for high quality healthcare. An experience report of the lessons learnt from designing a new cancer centre

Agility is essential for healthcare given its dynamic and constantly changing nature. Healthcare organisations that lack agility face deteriorating care quality, impacting negatively on patient outcomes and staff. Simultaneously improving and delivering clinical care is challenging given the intense and growing operational pressures, finite resources and workforce limitations. Clinical staff are central to healthcare innovation and the rate of adaptation. High levels of staff overload, exhaustion and burnout create additional barriers but rarely feature in management models of change. This experience report describes the development of a new cancer centre, designed to enhance organisational agility – recognising the need for, and the benefits of, agility that is clinically driven. Such ‘clinical agility’ has an essential logic to optimise patient care, improve organisational performance and enhance staff wellbeing. We describe underlying principles and theory, creating a socio-technical perspective that creates the right conditions for clinical agility. We present a conceptual framework recognising four themes (physical working environment, processes and working practices, partnerships and people) and potential, under-recognised interactions between agility and clinical staff burnout and wellbeing. This study provides recommendations which enhance clinical agility, improve care delivery without compromising the most innovative resource of any organisation – its people

Postmistresses and the state, 1660–1715

Women’s place in the post-Restoration Post Office has been overlooked in the existing literature on the mail, 1660-1715. Historians and historical geographers have explored the bureaucratic and administrative history of the Post; the expansion of postal routes; and the importance of change in the postal network to the delivery of letters. There has, however, been no social history of the post. This article reveals the positions occupied by women within the early modern post but focuses principally on postmistresses in the period 1660-1715. It explains why women, particularly widows, were considered suitable for the office. The article defines the role of postmaster and explains the behaviour required of officeholders, combining hospitality, logistics, administration, and the provision of intelligence. The functions and legitimation of postmasters developed considerably from the mid-seventeenth century alongside similar offices within the early modern state. As important cogs in an increasingly complex machine of communication and administration, postmistresses were part of the process of state formation, and their work legitimised the state in the provinces. This article argues for the first time that postmistresses were a significant, and yet unnoticed, presence in the early modern British state at a key stage of its development

Uncovering the impact of digital technologies on strategising: Evidence from a systematic literature review

Adopting digital technologies in different organizations has become a trend over the last decade, yet our understanding regarding impact of digital technologies on strategising needs to be more cohersive. This paper reviews existing research on how digital transformation intersects with strategic management to adress this gap. Specifically, the aim is to explore how the digital context changes strategising. Based on a systematic review of empirical evidence from 163 journal papers, we showcased the manifestation of strategising in the digital age in terms of strategic practitioners, practices and praxis. By consolidating these findings, a typology of strategic actions in the digital age is developed and discussed, highlighting the interplay among changes in strategy‐as‐practice parameters. This framework clarifies in strategic scenarios of digital transformation and identifies various strategic directions and actions. Overall, we argue that although digital transformation has created additional strategic options, it has yet to change the underlying assumptions of strategising in firms

Experiences and perceptions of academic motivation in adolescents with a refugee background: A reflexive thematic analysis

Little previous research exists on academic motivation in refugee adolescents, and none has been conducted in the UK that might help educators to promote motivation and mitigate demotivation in the young people they support. The aim of this study is to help address this gap by exploring experiences and perceptions of academic motivation in refugee adolescents settled in the UK. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted in person or online with three refugee adolescents and six key informants who support the education of refugee adolescents. Data was interpreted by reflexive thematic analysis, which generated three themes: refugee adolescents are striving for stability and security; academic motivation is affected by social and academic relationships; and refugee adolescents are unique individuals with varied educational needs. Of particular note, positive social and academic relationships were found to be motivating, whereas instability in refugee adolescents' lives and negative interactions with teachers were demotivating. The findings also highlight the importance of recognising refugee adolescents' individuality and their unique characteristics, which inform their educational needs and academic motivation

Research paper predicting the effects of agricultural soil tillage operations on fuel use

Wastage and economic loss in agricultural productivity during tillage operations could be predicted and reduced at the design stages. This study used a factorial experimental design to optimize tractor hourly fuel consumption during ploughing and ridging operations. The research aimed to investigate tillage effect on fuel utilization efficiency for reduction of operational costs and increase agricultural productivity. A 4,480 m2 research plot split into three blocks of nine treatments with three replicates was adopted for the research. The plot varied from loamy sand to sandy loam, which are good for agricultural productivity. The disc plough and disc ridger were the prominent tillage implements used in the research while the DFM Fuel Flow Meter was used for fuel consumption measurement. Field test parameters (ploughing depth (or ridging height), and tractor onward speed) and fuel use were measured. Using MINITAB 19 software, statistical analyses of the general full factorial design (GFFD) were carried out. These analyses included model fit adequacy, analysis of variance (ANOVA), main and interaction effects, multiple linear regression model, and response optimizer. Normal probability plots showed that the hourly fuel use during ploughing and ridging were approximately normally distributed, satisfying model fitness examination, and was confirmed by the model competence plot of frequency versus residual. The hourly fuel use during ploughing and ridging was shown to be randomly distributed with no discernible structure in the residual versus fitted value plots, supporting the residuals' constant variance requirement. Statistical analysis, and ANOVA in GFFD indicated that a significant difference exists with 95% and 99 % levels of significance on the influence of ploughing depth (or ridge height), tractor onward speed and their effects on tractor hourly fuel consumption during ploughing and ridging operations. Optimized tractor hourly fuel consumption during ploughing and ridging was attained at plough depth and ridge height of 0.10 m respectively, and tractor onward speed of 5 km h-1. This study determined that the minimum fuel consumption per hour for tractor under optimised working circumstances were 2.93 Lh-1and 3.30 Lh-1for ploughing and ridging operations respectively

Guided self-help for bulimia nervosa: A comparison of individual and group provision

This service evaluation explores the implementation of Guided Self-Help (GSH), the first line recommended treatment for Bulimia Nervosa, in both individual and group formats, in an NHS community eating disorder service. The study aimed to examine the effectiveness of GSH, compare this across treatment modalities, and explore the therapy experience of participants. N=23 participants engaged in individual and n=38 engaged in group treatment. Three outcome measures (EDE-Q, CIA and PHQ-9) were administered pre- and post-treatment. For both treatment modalities, post-intervention scores significantly improved on all outcome measures. In comparison, the individual treatment modality was found to be more effective for those with more extensive depressive symptoms. The study suggested that both individual and group GSH interventions are effective, supporting group implementation within community eating disorder services. It may be that those with more extensive depression symptoms would benefit to a greater extent from the individual intervention