It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, October 31, 2025
Global science networks unite to accelerate evidence-based action on health and climate
The Frontiers Research Foundation and the One Sustainable Health (OSH) Forum are deepening their collaboration to strengthen the global science-policy interface for health and climate – uniting researchers, institutions, and policymakers ahead of the upcoming OSH For All Forum in Lyon, 2-5 November 2025.
The partnership builds on the OSH Forum’s ten International Working Groups (IWGs), which bring together more than 100 experts from over 35 countries to address interlinked challenges spanning human, animal, and environmental health. Frontiers will play a strategic convening and communications role, helping the network align its research with international policy priorities and amplify its influence on the world stage.
Through this collaboration, Frontiers will:
Strengthen strategic coordination across the OSH network, ensuring coherence between working groups and alignment with global policy agendas such as those of the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Amplify impact and visibility, supporting publication, communications, and outreach strategies that connect OSH’s expert insights with policymakers, funders, and civil society.
Foster collaboration across sectors, linking the OSH Forum’s global expert community with the wider open-science ecosystem.
Embed transparency and trust, helping ensure that the evidence underpinning OSH’s recommendations remains open, traceable, and AI-ready for future research and policy use.
Dr Brian B. Rudkin, current Head of the OSH Forum and Strategic Initiatives, said:
“The OSH Forum is more than a network – it’s a movement bringing science, policy, and society together. Working with Frontiers gives us the strategic capacity and communications reach to ensure that our collective expertise informs decisions at the highest levels.”
Dr Franck Vazquez, Frontiers’ Open Science Director, Europe and Asia Pacific, ahead of speaking at the OSH For All Forum in Lyon, said:
“Frontiers is proud to help strengthen this unique alliance of global experts. Our mission is to make science open and actionable. Through this partnership, we’re helping the OSH Forum translate knowledge into impact – connecting evidence with the policies that shape our shared future.”
The collaboration will be highlighted at the OSH For All Lyon 2025 conference which brings together scientists, policymakers, and civil-society leaders to advance the One Sustainable Health for All vision – a coordinated, equitable approach to planetary wellbeing.
The UOC is coordinating the European GAIA project to promote a sustainable IoT with a low environmental impact
The project has received a total of €3 million funding, for three years, and five other European institutions are participating
The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is leading the GAIA project (Bridging Sustainability and Ubiquity in Next-Gen IoT), funded by the Horizon Europe EIC Pathfinder 2025 programme, which aims to develop a new generation of biodegradable, high-performance internet of things (IoT) devices with minimal ecological impact.
On behalf of the UOC, the project is being coordinated by Xavier Vilajosana, the university's Vice Rector for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship, full professor and researcher in the Wireless Networks (WINE) group, in collaboration with UOC faculty member Joan Melià and the other members of the group. Also, NOVA ID FCT (Portugal), the CTTC Catalonia Telecommunications Technology Centre (Catalonia), the INRIA National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (France), the Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany) and Tampere University (Finland) are participating in the project.
The project has a total budget of more than three million euros, and is scheduled to take place over three years. "The Pathfinder projects are cutting-edge research and innovation initiatives, which have a high level of risk and are extraordinarily competitive, and the success rate this year is 2%," said Vilajosana. "Coordinating a project of this nature places the UOC at the forefront of research at the European level. Within a very short period of time, the UOC has obtained Marie Skłodowska-Curie grants, such as those of the highly competitive Doctoral Networks and the prestigious COFUND programme, important projects within the framework of Erasmus+ KA2 and Horizon Europe, and now this EIC Pathfinder. This shows the university is going in a good direction and at a good pace," he added.
A new model for a sustainable and circular IoT
GAIA proposes a revolutionary approach to electronics: creating fully transient and biodegradable devices that are capable of collecting energy from the environment and transferring data to the internet and are soluble in water after their useful life ends. The objective for the end of the project is to build electronic and telecommunications systems on biodegradable substrates, creating a functional prototype applied to smart logistics and cold chain monitoring.
"This project aims to overcome several technological barriers, including constructing electronic circuits with biodegradable materials, capturing energy from the telephone network using its waves to provide them with energy, and direct communication with mobile network systems to ensure their ubiquity. These are major challenges, because they run counter to some of the design principles of our current electronic systems," said Vilajosana, whose group is affiliated to the UOC-TECH centre.
The project has adopted an integrated strategy, covering the design of the materials to the telecommunications infrastructure, to move towards digital objects with almost zero cost and minimal environmental impact, aligned with the European objectives of sustainability and technological sovereignty.
The UOC's leadership and a European impact
In addition to scientific and technical coordination, the UOC is leading the knowledge transfer and exploitation of results strategy, with support from Hubbik, the university's entrepreneurship and innovation platform. GAIA will also train seven doctoral students and six post-doctoral researchers in an interdisciplinary environment, giving them new skills in responsible research and innovation.
With this initiative, the UOC reaffirms its commitment to open, collaborative research aimed at the major challenges in the digital and ecological transition, and positions itself as a European leader in sustainable technology.
GAIA is funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) within the framework of the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 101256099).
At the UOC, we see research as a strategic tool to advance towards a future society that is more critical, responsible and nonconformist. With this vision, we conduct applied research that's interdisciplinary and linked to the most important social, technological and educational challenges.
The UOC’s over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups are working in five research units focusing on five missions: lifelong learning; ethical and human-centred technology; digital transition and sustainability; culture for a critical society, and digital health and planetary well-being.
The university's Hubbik platform fosters knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship in the UOC community.
The red arrow indicates enhanced convective activity, and the blue arrow indicates enhanced download motion. Blue anti-clockwise arrows signify cyclonic circulation anomalies, and red and yellow clockwise arrows represent anticyclonic anomalies.
A research team led by Qiuxiao Zhu and Dr. Huixin Li from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, in collaboration with Dr. Shengping He from the University of Bergen and other collaborators, has uncovered the mechanism by which the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) modulates interdecadal changes in compound hot drought events (CHDEs) over Northern East Asia.
By analyzing reanalysis datasets during 1940–2022 and conducting Atlantic pacemaker experiments from the CESM1.1 model, the researchers identified two pronounced interdecadal transitions in July CHDEs: a weakening in the mid-1950s and a strengthening in the mid-1990s. These shifts closely align with changes in AMO phases.
When the AMO enters its positive phase, anomalous warming in the North Atlantic triggers Rossby wave trains that propagate across Eurasia. This atmospheric teleconnection causes the northward displacement and intensification of the subtropical westerly jet, strengthens regional high-pressure anomalies, and enhances descending motion over Northern East Asia. These processes suppress rainfall and raise surface temperatures, significantly increasing the intensity and frequency of CHDEs.
The findings provide a new physical perspective for understanding variability in Northern East Asia’s hot droughts and offer a scientific foundation for improving decadal climate prediction and disaster risk management.
See the article:
Zhu Q, Li H, Sun B, He S, Yuan Y, Zeng J, Tan A. 2025. How the AMO influences interdecadal variations of compound hot drought events in Northern East Asia. Science China Earth Sciences, 68(9), 2924–2937, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-025-1642-3
Since most people tip out of conformity, servers expect to receive a tip regardless of effort, reducing the incentive to go the extra mile. Still, even though tipping may not necessarily lead to better service, conformity may drive tipping rates even higher.
What is the rationale behind tipping? A new study focuses on two primary motives: genuine appreciation for the service rendered, and conformity with prevailing norms. However, those who truly appreciate the service tend to tip above the standard rate, while conformists usually align with them. As a result, in societies where tipping practices prevail, average tipping rates tend to rise over time.
In a new paper published in the journal Management Science, Dr. Ran Snitkovsky of the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University and Prof. Laurens Debo of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Collegeshed light on the complexity of tipping through a theoretic model.
“Tipping is a phenomenon that is difficult to explain using classical economic tools,” explains Dr. Snitkovsky. “The 'homo economicus', who is only interested in their own material wealth, has no reason to tip once the service has been provided. In the past, researchers suggested that tipping ensures better service in the future, but this doesn’t explain why we tip even when we are quite certain that we will never encounter that specific service provider again. For example, we tip a taxi driver in New York, when there is practically no chance of encountering them again—and even if we did, they would probably not remember us. Another common argument is that tipping provides an incentive for servers to give better service. Whether this is true or not, a self-interested customer would prefer others to tip and maintain the good service quality while avoiding the expense himself. The conclusion is that to understand this phenomenon in depth, we must examine psychological and behavioral considerations."
A recent study reported by USA Today revealed that the average American spends nearly $500 annually on tips in restaurants and bars, and the tipping system in the U.S. generates over $50 billion every year, providing a primary source of income for millions of servers.
“We used a mathematical model and tools from game theory and behavioral economics to understand the motivations behind tipping,” says Dr. Snitkovsky. “Into this model we fed the two main reasons people report for tipping: the first is to express gratitude to the service provider, and the second is conformity —doing what everybody else does. The first reason relates to my personal valuation of the service I received or the server-customer interaction, and can stem from wanting to reward the server for doing their job or showing empathy towards them. The second reason is tied to how I perceive myself in society, i.e., my interaction with other customers. In other words, we can distinguish between ‘appreciators’ and ‘conformists.’”
The researchers found that in societies with stronger social pressure, where people feel a greater need to comply with the norm, the average tip tends to increase over time.
“The process is inherently driven by appreciators pulling the conformists upward, but not the other way around,” says Dr. Snitkovsky. “This might explain why tipping rates in the U.S. few decades ago were around 10% and are now closer to 20%. Those who appreciate the service are willing to tip well above the average, while those who wish to comply with the customary practice ‘chase’ the average. Additionally, rising tipping rates may also reflect growing economic inequality — a hypothesis proposed by another researcher from Tel Aviv University, Prof. Yoram Margalioth of the Buchmann Faculty of Law, and supported by our model.”
The researchers also explored whether tipping provides an effective incentive for servers to improve their performance. The model shows that while tips somewhat encourage servers to exert effort, it is a rather weak incentive, since many customers are conformists who will tip the standard amount in any case.
“If a server knows most customers are conformists, there’s little reason to put in extra effort since they will tip the customary amount anyway. This is indeed the situation in countries like the U.S. In an imaginary world where all customers are appreciators, unaffected by each other's tipping rates, tipping would serve as a much stronger incentive. On the other hand, in such a world where tips only reflect appreciation, businesses might conclude that customers are willing to pay more for the service experience and charge higher prices upfront. This may trigger customers to adjust their expectations and reduce the tip percentage accordingly.”
The researchers also examined the 'tip credit' regulation applied in most U.S. states. This law allows employers to pay less than the minimum wage for tipped professions, covering the difference with tips. For instance, if the minimum wage is $8 per hour and the state has set the sub-minimum wage at $3, employers may pay servers only $3 and use tips to cover the $5 difference. Only if tips fall short of the minimum wage are employers required to make up the gap. If a server makes more than $8 after tips, they can keep the difference.
“We see that a higher tip credit allows businesses to reduce prices — because they rely more on tips to finance labor," says Dr. Snitkovsky. "Consequently, they can increase supply and serve more customers. This suggests an element of economic efficiency, but the efficiency in this case comes at the expense of the individual server's earnings. So essentially, tip credit is a mechanism allowing employers to cut into tips that ostensibly belong to servers, using them to pay wages,”
As for his personal view, Dr. Snitkovsky admits he dislikes tipping. “I came to this study with a bias. Personally, I don’t like this practice, and I wanted to understand what drives it. First of all, tipping puts customers in an uncomfortable position. Studies have shown that tipping can encourage sexist behavior toward female servers - who may refrain from setting boundaries to avoid losing tips. Other studies demonstrate that people tend to tip more generously when a server is of their own ethnicity, introducing an element of racism. It’s easy to find good reasons to do away tipping, but the custom also has some positive effects, making it a complex phenomenon. Ultimately, tipping allows those willing to pay more for the service to do so, thereby subsidizing the service for others. That’s a positive aspect. Additionally, tips do seem to encourage servers to provide better service, even though this effect is very limited. In my opinion, in the 21st century business owners have better tools to assess server performance, such as online reviews and even in-house cameras.”
