Pumas make roads safer for drivers

Cell Press

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Puma crossing the road in the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.

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Credit: Nicolás Lagos, Panthera

Living amongst large predatory carnivores could actually make you safer. A study publishing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on August 5 found that pumas—wild cats also known as mountain lions, cougars, or panthers—change deer behavior, leading to fewer collisions with cars on roadways. In areas where puma occupancy is high, the authors report a significant reduction in the total expected number of collisions over a 5-year period. 

“We found that large carnivores can make roadways safer through their effects on prey behavior and space use,” says lead author Justin Suraci of Conservation Science Partners in Truckee, California. 

“Deer alter their use of both space and time where pumas are present, overlapping less with roads and reducing activity at night, when some of the most dangerous collisions occur," says Suraci. "Increased road safety thus represents an ecosystem service that large predators like pumas can provide to human communities." 

The researchers were interested in quantifying these ecosystem services. While it has been suggested that predators of deer and other ungulates might cut down on car accidents, those dynamics had not been clearly shown or quantified in places where large carnivore populations are well established. Suraci and his colleagues studied a large camera trap dataset and spatial data on collisions between vehicles and wildlife to explore pumas’ effects on their prey’s behavior and the implications for human drivers across the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, USA. 

“It’s important to remember that large carnivores, like many wildlife species, can only persist if they’re able to share landscapes with people, which in many cases may require us to change our behaviors and attitudes to make coexistence possible,” Suraci says. 

The researchers found that, where pumas are present, deer are more active during the day. They were also 15% less likely to be in areas with lots of roads, choosing instead to spend more time in remote habitat areas. 

As a result of those changes in deer activity, the researchers calculated a 67% reduction in the likelihood of a deer-vehicle collision. They also estimated a 76% reduction in the expected number of collisions between vehicles and deer over 5 years. Tracking collar data showed an increase in car accidents with deer during the day instead of at night, when those accidents tend to have worse outcomes. 

“Deer try to avoid risk from pumas and, in doing so, spend less time near roads and are involved in fewer collisions,” says Suraci. “Carnivores may well be providing a similar road safety service elsewhere around the globe where populations have persisted and this valuable ecosystem service has just gone unnoticed to date.” 

By shedding light on these dynamics, the researchers hope that more people may begin to realize the benefits of living among large carnivores. “This may be especially true for the eastern US and Canada, where pumas are slowly, naturally recolonizing, and there are ongoing discussions about a potential reintroduction program,” says Mark Elbroch of Panthera in New York City. 

“While wildlife have inherent value outside of the benefits they provide to humans, a clear articulation of those benefits, such as increased road safety as a byproduct of natural predator-prey interactions, can, I believe, provide a very valuable tool to help increase tolerance for predatory wildlife and encourage the behavioral changes that coexistence requires.” 

"When we talk about pumas, we often focus on the risks they pose. But we rarely stop to consider the many ways they benefit us as well,” Elbroch says. “Living alongside large carnivores isn't simply about protecting wildlife; it's about protecting the many ways they quietly benefit us every day." 

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This work was supported by the Administration for Native Americans, the USFWS Tribal Wildlife Grant program, Ayers Wild Cat Conservation Trust, and the Fat Cat Feline Fund. 

Current Biology, Suraci et al., “Large carnivores shape road safety through effects on prey space use” https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)00818-3

Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit: http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.   

Puma in the woods [VIDEO] 

Puma in the forest. WEARING TRACKING COLLAR

Credit

Joe Pontecorvo

Journal

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2026.06.072 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Large carnivores shape road safety through effects on prey space use

Article Publication Date

5-Aug-2026

Zoo-housed lions show wild-style behaviors when fed whole carcasses

Adelaide University

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A new Australian study has found that feeding zoo-housed lions whole animal carcasses on a feast-and-fast schedule encourages behaviours more closely aligned with those seen in the wild.

Published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, the research from Adelaide University and Monarto Safari Park in South Australia examined how African lions responded when animal care staff introduced whole animal carcasses every nine days, building on an existing feast-and-fast feeding routine for a group of adult males.

Using around-the-clock video monitoring over three months, researchers found the lions spent significantly longer feeding, rested more after meals, and displayed activity patterns that mirrored the natural cycles of wild lions.

Lead author Lesia Hryhorenko from Adelaide University's School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences said the study offers new insights into how feeding schedules influence the behaviour of carnivores in human care.

“Wild lions don't eat at the same time every day. They experience natural periods of feasting and fasting depending on hunting success,” Hryhorenko said.

“We wanted to understand how African lions in human care respond when feeding routines more closely resemble those natural patterns.”

The research team – which included visiting Belgium Masters student Florence Demoulin from the University of Liege – monitored three adult male lions at Monarto Safari Park before and after the introduction of whole-carcass feeding.

During the experimental phase, zookeepers fed the three adult male lions with approximately 200 kilograms of carcasses, which remained available for up to three days, followed by a period of rest and digestion.

Eight infrared cameras recorded the lions' behaviour continuously, creating one of the most detailed 24-hour datasets yet collected on African lions in human care under a carcass feeding regime.

The study found that feeding activity increased dramatically on carcass days, with lions spending almost three times longer feeding than they normally would. Feeding bouts were also more frequent and lasted longer as the animals tore, manipulated and consumed the carcasses, exhibiting a wider range of natural feeding behaviours.

After feeding, the lions spent much more time lying down and resting. As the fasting period progressed, movement gradually increased again, creating a behavioural rhythm that closely resembled the feast-and-fast cycles observed in wild lion populations.

“Providing whole carcasses changes much more than the nutritional content of the diet,” Hryhorenko said.

“It gives lions the opportunity to engage in behaviours such as tearing, pulling and manipulating food over extended periods, which are important components of their natural feeding ecology.”

Researchers also examined pacing, a repetitive behaviour often associated with anticipation in carnivores in human care.

While pacing increased slightly over the course of the study, it did not steadily rise during fasting periods. Instead, peaks occurred around routine keeper arrival and habitat-shifting times, suggesting the behaviour was linked more closely to predictable feeding routines than hunger.

The researchers observed no increase in aggression or social instability around carcass feeding events.

Co-author Associate Professor Alexandra Whittaker said the study highlights the value of long-term, continuous monitoring when assessing animal behaviour and management practices.

“Many zoo studies focus only on what happens immediately after food is provided,” Associate Professor Whittaker said.

“Our results show that feeding schedules can influence behaviour for days afterwards, making it essential to look at behavioural patterns across the entire feeding cycle rather than a single feeding event.”

The researchers say future studies combining behavioural observations with physiological measures could help further evaluate how different feeding regimes affect animal welfare and wellbeing.

‘Effects of implementing a whole-carcass feeding routine on the behaviour of zoo-housed African lions’ is published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2026.107041

Notes for media

Footage of African lions at Monarto Zoo can accessed via this link

---

Journal

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

DOI

10.1016/j.applanim.2026.107041 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Effects of implementing a whole-carcass feeding routine on the behaviour of zoo-housed African lions

Article Publication Date

1-Aug-2026

The book that accidentally created monster Alex Jones — and the author's deep regret

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones speaks outside the federal courthouse after a bankruptcy hearing. David J Phillip/AAP

The Conversation

July 18, 2026 

Jon Ronson’s book Them: Adventures with Extremists launched him to worldwide fame – and more dubiously, launched conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Though Jones has been deplatformed, his influence lingers: just this week, it was reported that Australia’s far-right One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts praised Jones in 2024 as “a beacon of hope around the world”.

Researched and written in the years preceding September 11, and published in April 2001, Them – which Ronson described in a preface to its second edition as “a snapshot of life in the Western world on 10 September 2001” – is turning 25.

Ronson’s original plan was to spend time with people who’d been described as “the extremist monsters of the Western world” as they went about their everyday lives. They included neo-Nazis, militias and Omar Bakri, a UK Islamic fundamentalist who called himself “Osama Bin Laden’s man in London”, and whom Ronson shadowed for a year in 1996 for a documentary.

Among other things, Ronson recorded the “clownish” Bakri watching the Lion King with a baby on his knee, and asking him to guard the money he’d been collecting for Hamas in giant Coca Cola bottles, while he retrieved a coat – which he agonised over as a Jewish person, but did (seemingly to avoid awkwardness).

Bakri, who told the Daily Mail the September 11 attacks were “exciting”, was barred from the United Kingdom after leaving in 2005. In 2010, he was arrested in Lebanon and sentenced to life in prison after a terrorism trial. Released pending retrial, he was sentenced again in 2015 to six years hard labour.

“I thought that perhaps an interesting way to look at our world would be to move into theirs and stand alongside them while they glared back at ours,” Ronson writes. But what started as a series of profiles of extremist leaders “quickly became something stranger”, when he realised the very different people he was following all shared a belief in the New World Order: a conspiracy theory that imagines “a tiny elite rules the world from inside a secret room”.

This tyrannical, shadowy elite, Ronson soon discovered, was said to launch wars and wield almost unimaginable power. It has the ability to, among other things, “select and cast out the heads of state, control Hollywood and the markets and the flow of capital, operate a harem of under-age kidnapped sex slaves”.

If there was any truth to the theory, Ronson reasoned, there must be an actual secret room, and it had to be located somewhere. So he resolved to find it.

At various points, he found himself chased by men in dark glasses and surveilled from behind trees. He also managed to witness robed international chief executives participate in a bizarre effigy-burning ritual in the forests of northern California – an experience he shared with Jones, then a harmless-seeming regional radio crank, based in Texas.

Now, 25 years on, that worldview has arguably become easier to sustain than Ronson could have imagined. Revelations surrounding figures such as Jeffrey Epstein – who did operate a network of underage girls he coerced into sexually servicing powerful men – have shown the wealthy and powerful can and do conceal serious and shocking crimes through networks of influence and privilege.

But rather than confirming the existence of a secret cabal directing world events, such scandals have often been absorbed into far broader conspiracy narratives – from QAnon to claims about bloodthirsty global elites harvesting adrenochrome from children – further blurring sometimes porous lines between fact and fiction.
Genuine curiosity and refusing caricature

The book helped to establish Ronson’s distinctive investigative approach: an interest in the fringe and the unusual, approached with a genuine sense of curiosity and a refusal of easy caricature.

This sensibility has run through his work since, from The Men Who Stared at Goats (looking at bizarre, fringe tactics adopted by the US army) and You’ve Been Publicly Shamed (an early critique of social media shaming) to his culture war conspiracy theories podcast series, Things Fell Apart.

But Them also propelled Jones into the mainstream – which Ronson has publicly regretted. When Ronson got to know him, “Alex was hollering his powerful apocalyptic vision down an ISDN line from a child’s bedroom in his house, with choo-choo train wallpaper and an Empire Strikes Back poster pinned on the wall”.

Since then, Jones has been “successfully sued” and has filed for bankruptcy after being found liable for defamation for his claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was staged and “no one died”.

Sadly, what once seemed extreme and marginal – the circulation of conspiracy theories and the associated peddling of prejudice and hate – now feels depressingly routine.

Just as it inadvertently captured the historical moment about to erupt with the September 11 attacks and their aftermath, Them anticipated the mainstreaming of conspiratorial thinking, which would become a defining feature of our misinformation-ridden historical moment.

Paranoia as the new common sense

“Paranoia was the new common sense,” writes columnist John Ganz in When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s. “The country seemed to be seeking something new, a break with the exhausted possibilities of the past but also a restoration, a way to recover what had been lost.”

At the end of the 1980s, the Berlin Wall had been reduced to rubble and the communist bloc was crumbling. Excitable liberals were wittering on about the end of history. America stood triumphant, seemingly without rival. And yet something felt off.

Ganz argues appearances were deceptive. “America felt itself to be losing out: losing its dominant place in the world, losing the basis of its security and wealth, and losing its sense of itself.”

There had to be an explanation. And there had to be someone to blame.

This bled through in the culture of the early 1990s. “Just because you’re paranoid, don’t mean they’re not after you,” sang Kurt Cobain, capturing the zeitgeist on Nevermind (1991). It was the time of Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991) and The X-Files (1993). The truth, we were told, was out there. Trust no one – especially anyone in a position of authority.
Ruby Ridge: ground zero?

This atmosphere permeates Them’s second chapter, on the bloody Ruby Ridge standoff in regional Idaho in August 1992. Also permeating the chapter – and the book – are Ronson’s stated aims of painting people “as complicated grey areas, rather than magnificent heroes or sickening villains” and sticking “to the nuanced truth, rather than flattening it to make ideological points”.

Randy and Vicki Weaver were among the first Americans to articulate fears about the New World Order. In the 1980s, they moved from Iowa to a plywood cabin without electricity, high in the Idaho ranges. There, they home-schooled their children, living among bears and mountain lions.

Randy felt the need, Ronson tells us, to socialise from time to time. He made friends within the nearby Aryan Nations community and attended their summer camps with his children four times – though he told Ronson he wasn’t personally a white supremacist, but a “separatist”.

One such friend was an undercover agent, who asked Randy to sell him two illegal sawn-off shotguns. Once arrested, Randy was offered a choice: spy on Aryan Nations for the government or face time behind bars for illicit gun running. He went with the second option. Warned they could lose their house and convinced the New World Order was monitoring them (which was not untrue now), the Weavers stopped showing up to court.

In August 1992, US marshals hiding in the bushes shot the Weavers’ barking family dog as it came too close. Ronson reports that Weaver’s teenage son Sammy fired random shots in response, and was shot and killed. A marshal was killed too. Hundreds of federal agents descended, martial law was declared, and residents emerged from their homes bearing placards denouncing the New World Order. Vicki was shot and killed while holding her infant daughter.

Media coverage recast the human tragedy as a national psychodrama about extremism, government overreach and the collapse of public trust.

In the following months, militia movements expanded rapidly across the US. The infamous siege in Waco, Texas, where David Koresh’s Branch Davidians clashed with federal agents, ending with 75 members dead, unfolded in Texas less than a year later.

For many in the American far right, the ruined Weaver cabin became a symbol of resistance and martyrdom, assuming a quasi-mythic status. One pilgrim who visited was Timothy McVeigh, later responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people and injured close to 700.

Bilderberg: a secret society running the world?

Ronson soon realised the same name was on the lips of the various militia members and anti-government activists he spoke to: the Bilderberg Group. These are the people who actually run the world, they believed. Bilderberg was described as “the Roman Senate” or “a pyramid”.

Jones explained: “They’re way up there. Below them you’ve the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations, then you’ve got us down here, the cattle, the human resources.” At the time, he was funding efforts to rebuild the Branch Davidian church.

Ronson first encountered Jones while interviewing Randy Weaver, who considered the then regional radio host “a true and tirelesss warrior”. Jones explained the Bilderbergers were orchestrating world decline from the behind the scenes. As with many conspiracy theories, the line between fantasy and reality was not always easy to discern.

The Bilderberg Group is real. It even has its own website. Established in the wake of World War II, it consists of annual private meetings attended by political and industrial leaders, financiers, media executives and royalty. It is, without doubt, a highly secretive organisation – which has intensified the suspicion around it.

Interestingly, UK politician Peter Mandelson, former US ambassador and friend of Epstein even after his conviction, is named in the book as a Bilderberg attendee.

This explains how Ronson eventually found himself sneaking into Bohemian Grove, the annual retreat (since 1878) of a secretive, elite club whose attendees “read much like a Bilderberg roll-call”, alongside Jones.

There, hidden among the redwoods of northern California, wealthy and politically connected men, many of them drunk, gathered for an elaborate ceremony centred on burning an effigy before a giant owl statue. Harmless elite play-acting, or dastardly occult ritual conducted by the secret rulers of the world? Ronson saw the former, Jones the latter.

In his short book on Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, The Elephant in the Room (2026), Ronson describes watching the alt-right move steadily closer to political power, propelled in part by “leading voice” Jones – who reportedly received a swift call from a newly elected Trump, thanking him for his support.

Despite a lingering “personal” fondness for his fellow Bohemian Grove crasher, Ronson calls him “basically the most irresponsible man I have ever met”, who “uses his powers to inflame paranoia” and “boldly makes stuff up to suit his weird agenda”.
Lizard people

I first became aware of David Icke, former semi-professional footballer and respected sports journalist, now a believer in giant lizards, in April 1991. I was at home, watching TV, not yet ten years old.

Icke was being interviewed live on a prime-time UK talk show, wearing an eye-wateringly lurid turquoise tracksuit. He had recently started to refer to himself as the “Son of the Godhead”. On air, he made a series of predictions about imminent and devastating natural catastrophes. The audience, not knowing what to make of it all, laughed.

Ronson describes the moment:
He said this with such ferocity, such conviction, that the audience stopped laughing for a moment […] You could feel it sweep across the television studio, sweep across the land, a stirring of some primordial paranoia. Could David Icke actually be a soothsayer?

But in fact, ridicule and opprobrium followed the segment. In the period after his very public shaming, Ronson records, Icke came to believe his mockery had been orchestrated by shadowy elites. He immersed himself in conspiracy literature, including on the Bilderberg Group.

Icke became convinced the global elite were not merely corrupt politicians or financiers, but something much stranger: shape-shifting reptilian beings manipulating humans across millennia. Ancient civilisations, occult rituals and modern political institutions were all folded into a single explanatory system.

The reptilian invaders, he concluded, were the secret rulers of the world.

Critics have long argued his talk of secret reptilian elites functions as a coded form of antisemitism, echoing older conspiratorial myths – including ideas traceable to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Yet Ronson suggests Icke genuinely believes the world is controlled by interdimensional lizard people.

The promise of hidden forces

This creates a puzzle. If someone claims giant lizards secretly control the planet, are we dealing with metaphor, coded prejudice, mental instability, opportunity or sincere belief? Increasingly, it seems the answer may be some unstable combination of them all.

Part of what makes Them feel so relevant now is that Ronson rejects the reassuring assumption that extremist or conspiratorial thinking falls outside the bounds of ordinary life.

Long before social media turned paranoia into a viable business model, he grasped that bizarre ideas do not emerge from nowhere. Rather, they are shaped by spectacle, distrust, insecurity and the seductive promise that hidden forces can explain an increasingly bewildering world – often with disastrous consequences.

Given Ronson’s record of books on topics just hitting (or about to explode into) the mainstream, the topic of his forthcoming one, to be published in August, is unsurprising: the masculinity crisis.

Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney

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

 

Bacteria form 'herds' to survive predators, offering fresh insight into Earth's carbon cycle 

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have discovered that tiny photosynthetic bacteria band together into protective "herds" when attacked by predators – a survival strategy that could also influence how carbon is stored in the world's waters

Queen Mary University of London

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Credits belong to the ISME journal

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Credit: Credits belong to the ISME journal

Bacteria form 'herds' to survive predators, offering fresh insight into Earth's carbon cycle 

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have discovered that tiny photosynthetic bacteria band together into protective "herds" when attacked by predators – a survival strategy that could also influence how carbon is stored in the world's waters. 

Published in The ISME Journal, the study reveals for the first time that cyanobacteria – microscopic organisms responsible for producing a significant proportion of the Earth's oxygen  – rapidly cluster into dense groups when they detect the presence of foreign bacteria. These defensive clumps, known as flocs, shield inner cells from attack, much like a herd of wildebeest protects its most vulnerable members from predators. 

The research helps explain a long-standing biological mystery: why cyanobacteria invest energy in forming flocs despite the apparent cost to their growth. The findings suggest the behaviour is an evolved defense mechanism that could have implications extending from microbial ecology to the global carbon cycle. 

The research team studied interactions between the cyanobacterium Synechocystis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium commonly found in soil and freshwater. They found that the predator uses microscopic molecular "weapons" to puncture and kill individual cyanobacterial cells, consuming the nutrients they release. In response, the cyanobacteria rapidly aggregate into dense flocs surrounded by a protective layer of extracellular slime, making it much harder for predators to reach the cells inside.  

"It was very exciting to see this project leading to a new explanation for why cyanobacteria form flocs. We saw that these tiny cells quickly come together into protective clumps when predators are present, showing that this is a coordinated survival strategy, not just a passive response. This work gives a new way to think about how this can affect the biological carbon pump in nature. In simple terms, it is like how many living organisms stay in groups for protection, cyanobacteria also cluster together to reduce the risk of being attacked." Says Dr Shylaja Mohandass, first author of the study. 

The team found that predators grew more successfully when attacking mutant cyanobacteria that could not form these protective clumps, providing strong evidence that flocculation is an effective defense against bacterial predation. The researchers also discovered that the response is triggered simply by contact with foreign bacteria, suggesting cyanobacteria can distinguish between "self" and "non-self" at the microscopic level.  

Beyond revealing an unseen microbial battle, the findings may also help scientists better understand one of the planet's most important natural climate processes. 

When cyanobacteria form dense flocs, they are more likely to sink, carrying carbon absorbed through photosynthesis into deeper waters where it can remain stored for long periods. This process, known as the “biological carbon pump”, plays a crucial role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide. 

Professor Conrad Mullineaux from Queen Mary University of London, said: 

"It was fascinating to look in the microscope and see a complex predator-prey relationship unfolding on such a tiny scale. It reminds me of lions and wildebeest on the Serengeti - you can see P. aeruginosa catching and lysing those cyanobacteria that were a bit too slow to get into the herd".  

The discovery also raises an intriguing possibility: bacteria previously thought to reduce carbon storage by consuming organic matter may, under some circumstances, actually help increase carbon burial by triggering floc formation in photosynthetic microbes. 

"It's so interesting to see that bacterial predation may actually be a crucial factor in the control of environmental carbon levels, and is an exciting new avenue for the field to explore." added Dr Alice Collins, from Imperial College London, who contributed her Pseudomonas expertise to the study. 

Cyanobacteria transformed the biosphere about 2.5 billion years ago, and today they remain hugely abundant in lakes and oceans, producing over 20% of the world’s oxygen. This study is indispensable as it reveals that microscopic bacteria work together to defend themselves from predators—and that this behaviour could have unexpected consequences for how our planet stores carbon. 

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Journal

Microbial Ecology

DOI

10.1093/ismejo/wrag169/8719643 

'The Trump Curse': Is Donald Trump a bad omen for sports teams?

Copyright AP Photo - Canva

By David Mouriquand

Published on 08/07/2026 - EURONEWS

Following the elimination of the US at the World Cup, social media went into a frenzy with claims of a “Trump curse”. There seems to be prior form, as fans are citing other losses linked to Trump’s team endorsements or even his presence at games.

A jinx. A hex. A malediction. The kiss of death.

Call it what you will, but following the US’ humiliating defeat against Belgium at this year’s World Cup – a match overshadowed by the tournament’s biggest scandal yet – the term “Trump curse” began trending online.

Sports fans have blamed Trump for getting involved, saying that he had cursed the US team after boasting about calling FIFA president Gianni Infantino to get American striker Folarin Balogun’s red card overturned.

Critics accused Trump and FIFA of corruption, with the European Commission demanding “fairness and transparency” after the controversial red card SNAFU. A letter even started circulating in the European Parliament calling for an investigation into whether pressure from Trump influenced FIFA’s decision to ditch the suspension.

Regardless, Trump's interference didn't help. In fact, it made things worse, turning football fans the world over against the US team – who hadn’t asked for this - and getting them to cheer when Belgium knocked the host nation out of the World Cup.

Related

• ‘Overturn this’: Belgium mocks Donald Trump and FIFA with dance and post after victory against US
• 'The Trump Card': Reactions and viral memes to FIFA’s controversial US red card reversal

"At this point, a Trump endorsement is starting to look less like support and more like a curse,” said one social media user, while another wrote: "Trump stuck his nose in where it didn't belong. It made the world hate us even more than they already do, and emboldened Belgium. I wish the US had won and I have to wonder if we would have, if Trump had not interfered. ETTD: Everything Trump touches dies."

Another wrote: "4 to 1 Belgium, and Trump cheating on Team USA's behalf ends up meaningless because his curse always takes over."

Overreaction? Not when you look at the evidence.

The snag for Trump, who clearly needs to get an exorcism booked, is that there’s a precedent for his reverse Midas Touch, as he has seemingly cursed sports teams before.

"He cursed the Knicks in Game 3 and now this. The Trump Curse is real," wrote one X user.

Indeed, Trump most recently attended the New York Knick’s Game 3 in the NBA finals, which was their only defeat of the series.

Knicks fans accused Trump of placing a "curse" on the team, leading some to “cleanse” Madison Square Garden with sage – a practice known as “smudging”, by which sacred herbs are burned to drive out negative energy and promote healing.

It seemed to work, as the Knicks went on to win the series in five games.

Adding credence to the Trump curse theory is last year’s NFL game, which saw the Washington Commanders face off against the Detroit Lions. The Lions ended up winning, to the sounds of boos aimed at Trump, who was in attendance.

Then Trump attended the first day of the 2025 Ryder Cup on Long Island, New York. The US golfers were down 3-1 to Europe. Trump told reporters: “We're going to get it done. One way or another, we'll get it done."

The US finsished the day down 5 ½ to 2 ½, and Europe ended up winning the competition 15-13.

Still not convinced?

In February 2025, Trump openly supported a team during Super Bowl LIX by predicting the Chiefs would beat the Eagles. Can you guess what happened next? The Eagles won 40-22.

So, is Trump a bad omen for sports teams?

Football fans seem to think so, believing that if Trump hadn’t got involved and wasn’t so keen to make everything about himself in a bid to share the glory, then the US team might have beaten Belgium. And while you can’t win all the time, the evidence mounts up.

Our advice? Since Trump isn't staying out of sports, see the silver lining and embrace the following cheat code: Whichever team Trump backs, bet the other way. It seems to be working so far.