UK Armed Forces servicewomen face unique set of hurdles for abortion access/care

TOUGH FOR WOMEN IN 'THIS MANS ARMY'.

As well as stigma and judgmental attitudes from senior (usually male) colleagues. More information and policy on abortion care needed for service personnel and clinicians

BMJ Group

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UK Armed Forces servicewomen needing an abortion face a unique set of hurdles around access and care, as well as stigma and judgemental attitudes from senior (usually male) colleagues, indicates the first study of its kind, published online in the journal BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health.

 

Although based on a relatively low response rate, the findings prompt the researchers to call for more information and policy on abortion provision, both for service personnel and military healthcare professionals.

In the UK around 1 in 3 women will have an abortion by the age of 45. But despite women making up almost 12% of the UK Armed Forces, anecdotal evidence indicates that their gender specific health needs are not being met while on active service, explain the researchers.

In the absence, worldwide, of published research and policy on abortion care in the Armed Forces, the researchers set out to glean the experiences of UK servicewomen to build on the evidence base and inform optimal practice.

They particularly wanted to understand the impact of being in the military on abortion decision-making and uncover any barriers to accessing care.

They circulated an online survey to UK servicewomen between March and April 2024. Respondents were asked whether they had ever had an abortion, what perceived barriers to accessing abortion care they had encountered, and if their abortion(s) were carried out during military service. Space for additional free text comments was provided. 

Those reporting personal experience of abortion were additionally asked about the effect of service on the decision and chosen method, their aftercare, and the involvement of the primary care provider for the UK Armed Forces (Defence Primary Healthcare). 

In all, 427 women from all ranks and all 3 services completed the survey: Royal Navy (134, 31.5%); Army (176, 41.5%); Royal Air Force (115. 21%). Most (60%, 307) were officers or other senior ranks.

In all, the responses represented just over 2.5% of the 16290 women serving in the UK Armed Forces as of October 2023.

Some 124 (29%) respondents said they had had an abortion, most of whom (102, 83%) had done so during military service. Of these, 12% were deployed overseas at the time while around half said that being in the military had affected their decision to have an abortion.

“In these cases, there was a knowledge that pregnancy-related employment restrictions (known as downgrading) may prevent their continued professional development. In many cases, the perception of pregnancy impacting on promotion prospects was cited as a reason for favouring abortion,” explain the researchers.

For all respondents, over half (224, 52.5%) felt there were barriers to accessing abortion care in the UK Armed Forces.

There were 476 free text responses to the open questions, from which 4 key themes emerged: life in the military; trust in information holders; influencers, barriers and access; and systemic lack of awareness.

Respondents said the constant moving about and overseas deployment made it difficult to access services. Others commented on the lack of privacy in shared living quarters and the incompatibility of motherhood with service and deployment needs without family support nearby. 

“Respondents reported the male-dominated environment made it harder to discuss women’s health issues in general and there was a perception that the predominantly male chain of command (CoC) lacked sufficient knowledge,” note the researchers.

Some respondents felt stigmatised and judged and didn’t trust their military healthcare professionals or chain of command to respect confidentiality.

“Several respondents reported experiences of misogyny, which further compounded a lack of trust,” write the researchers.

A systemic and personal lack of information and guidance was mentioned by several respondents, who felt that they didn’t know how to go about accessing abortion care while in service and that there was no aftercare available to deal with such a distressing experience.

“Beyond general ignorance, there was a specific perception that both the [chain of command] and [healthcare professionals] were poorly informed about abortion. Participants commented that when accessing healthcare they received negative comments and judgement from [healthcare professionals], or an uncertainty about local processes for access,” point out the researchers.

“The general lack of awareness about abortion led to increased stress for respondents and it was felt that this worsened the psychological impact of abortion for some people. It was reported that there is minimal formal policy on abortion and aftercare, compared with pregnancy, and this created uncertainty about access, appropriate employment restrictions (duration and type), and future career implications,” they add.

The researchers acknowledge that the response rate was low, with several addressees not distributing the survey due to concerns about the appropriateness of the topic. And abortion can be an emotive topic, meaning that those with strong views might have been more likely to respond, they add.

Further work is required to build on the findings and deepen understanding, they emphasise, but suggest that similar barriers may exist in other uniformed or male dominated  environments, or those with occupational health considerations, such as the police or the aviation industry. 

And they conclude:  “Although military medical services do not provide abortions in the UK, they, and the wider military, should be striving to ensure that they facilitate all aspects of comprehensive abortion care for servicewomen. 

“There is an opportunity for the UK [Armed Forces] to lead the way in breaking the organisational silence around abortion care through creating accessible, robust policies and dissemination of evidence-based information for all stakeholders.” 

Citing previously published research, they insist: “Ultimately, women must not be ‘denied comprehensive reproductive care because they have had the courage to join the military and protect the freedoms afforded others by their service’.”

*Lead researcher Dr Victoria Kincaid comments: ”This study has highlighted a need for greater support and awareness of abortion for all in the UK Armed Forces.”

She adds: "Since our analysis of the survey results, we have worked with a small team of women’s health experts in Defence to create an abortion information leaflet for service personnel and are in the process of creating a similar one for line managers. We have also written best practice guidelines on abortion and have talked to abortion providers to highlight the potential barriers that service personnel may face when accessing abortion care."

 

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Journal

BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health

DOI

10.1136/bmjsrh-2024-202513 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Experiences of abortion in the UK Armed Forces: a cross-sectional survey

Article Publication Date

25-Feb-2025

 

Study: First female runner could soon break the 4-minute-mile barrier

With ideal drafting and pacing, Kenyan Faith Kipyegon could soon reach the track and field milestone

University of Colorado at Boulder

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On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister pushed through the finishing tape at Iffley Road track in Oxford, England, and collapsed into the arms of friends after becoming the first human to run a mile in less than four minutes.

“It was the running equivalent to summiting Mount Everest for the first time,” said University of Colorado Boulder Integrative Physiology Professor Rodger Kram. “Prior to Bannister, it was considered impossible—beyond the limits of human physiology.”

Seven decades later, a female runner has yet to follow in Bannister’s footsteps, and some have questioned whether it’s possible. A new study published this week by Kram and his colleagues suggests that with the right strategically timed and placed pacers, the answer is yes— and Kenyan Olympian Faith Kipyegon is on the brink of doing it.

“We found that if everything went right, under a couple of different drafting scenarios, she could break the 4-minute barrier,” said co-author Shalaya Kipp, an Olympic middle-distance runner who earned her master’s degree in Kram’s lab. “It’s extremely exciting that we are now talking about, and studying, the limits of female human performance, too.”

From ‘Breaking 2’ to ‘Breaking 4’

In 2016, Kram’s lab calculated what was required for a man to break the fabled two-hour marathon barrier.

He and his students determined that, along with intense training, state-of-the-art shoes and an ideal course and weather conditions, drafting—running behind or in front of another runner to reduce air resistance— was key.

Informed in part by their research, Nike hosted the Breaking2 Project in May 2017 to create those conditions for Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge. Kipchoge narrowly missed his goal that day but nailed it in a similarly staged race in Vienna in 2019.

Four years later, Kram watched with interest as Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon crushed records for the women’s 1,500 meter, the 5,000 meter and the mile— all in less than two months, while raising her daughter.

When Kipyegon smashed the mile world record for women with a time of four minutes, 7.64 seconds,  she was just over 3% away from breaking the 4-minute-mile, noted Kram. Coincidentally, when his team first started doing their research, the marathon world record holder was about 3% shy of a two-hour marathon.

Kram and his former students, now spread out at research institutions around the world, reconvened—this time to explore the limits of female human performance.

The power of drafting

Run alone, even on a still day, and air molecules bump into you as you move through them, slowing you down. Run in the shadow of a pacer or, better yet, with runners in front and back, and you use less energy.

“The runner in front is literally pushing the air molecules out of the way,” said Kram.

At a four-minute-mile pace, a runner of Kipyegon’s size must overcome a surprisingly large air resistance force—about 2% of her body weight. The team previously determined that completely eliminating that force would reduce the energy required by about 12%, allowing her to run even faster.

“Anyone from top elite to lower-level runners can benefit from adopting the optimal drafting formation for as much of their race as they can,” said Edson Soares da Silva, first author on the new paper.

For instance, da Silva calculated that a 125-pound, 5-foot-7 female runner who typically runs about a 3:35-minute marathon could improve her time by as much as five minutes. 

A magic number

For the new study, the team pored over video of Kipyegon’s record 1-mile finish in Monaco. 

The conditions were ideal, but her pacers ran too fast at first, said Kram, letting the gap between them and her widen. By the last lap, her pacers had dropped out and she was on her own.

Ideally, he said, one female pacer would be perfectly spaced in front, another in back, for the first half mile; then another fresh-legged pair would step in to take their place at the half-mile point. Collectively, previous research suggests, they could cut air resistance by 76%. Using that value, the team calculated her projected finish time: Remarkably, 3:59.37 — the same time Bannister hit in 1954.

Inspiring scientists and runners

Kipp, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Mayo Clinic, stresses that their study, like many in the field, was based on previous studies that excluded women.

The authors hope that their paper will help spark more interest in studying the physiology of female athletes and inspire interest in female track and field.

They recently sent a copy of the paper to Kipyegon, her coaches and her sponsors at Nike, floating the idea of another staged race, similar to Breaking2.

“Hopefully,” the last line of the paper reads, “Ms. Kipyegon can test our prediction on the track.”

 

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Journal

Royal Society Open Science

DOI

10.1098/rsos.241564 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Could a female athlete run a 4-minute mile with improved aerodynamic drafting?

Article Publication Date

26-Feb-2025

 

Helium in the Earth's core

The discovery that inert helium can bond with iron could rewrite Earth’s history

University of Tokyo

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image: 

The diamond anvil crushed iron and helium together under conditions mimicking those inside the Earth, to create a new compound. These compounds remained stable when pressures were reduced. Further analysis confirmed helium’s incorporation into iron’s crystal lattice.

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Credit: ©2025 Hirose et al. CC-BY-ND

Researchers from Japan and Taiwan reveal for the first time that helium, usually considered chemically inert, can bond with iron under high pressures. They used a laser-heated diamond anvil cell to find this, and the discovery suggests there could be huge amounts of helium in the Earth’s core. This could challenge long-standing ideas about the planet’s internal structure and history, and may even reveal details of the nebula our solar system coalesced from.

If you’ve ever seen a volcanic eruption and wondered what might be coming out of it, you’d be right if you thought it’s mostly rocks and minerals. Would you be surprised to know there are often traces of what is known as primordial helium as well? That is, helium which differs from normal helium, or 4He, so called because it contains two protons and two neutrons and is continuously produced by radioactive decay. Primordial helium, or 3He, on the other hand is not formed on Earth and contains two protons and one neutron.

Given the occasionally high 3He/4He ratios found in volcanic rocks, especially in Hawaii, researchers have long believed there are primordial materials containing 3He deep within the mantle. However, graduate student Haruki Takezawa and members of Professor Kei Hirose’s group from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Earth and Planetary Science have now challenged this view with a new take on a familiar experiment — crushing things.

“I have spent many years studying the geological and chemical processes that take place deep inside the Earth. Given the intense temperatures and pressures at play, experiments to explore some aspect of this environment must replicate those extreme conditions. So, we often turn to a laser-heated diamond anvil cell to impart such pressures on samples to see the result,” said Hirose. “In this case, we crushed iron and helium together under about 5-55 gigapascals of pressure and at temperatures of 1,000 kelvins to nearly 3,000 kelvins. Those pressures correspond to roughly 50,000-550,000 times atmospheric pressure and the higher temperatures used could melt iridium, the material often used in car engine spark plugs due to its high thermal resistance.”

Previous studies have shown only small traces of combined iron and helium, in the region of seven parts per million helium within iron. But in this case, they were surprised to find the crushed iron compounds contained as much as 3.3% helium, about 5,000 times higher than previously seen. Hirose suspects this is at least in part due to something novel about this particular set of experiments.

“Helium tends to escape at ambient conditions very easily; everyone has seen an inflatable balloon wither and sink. So, we needed a way to avoid this when taking our measurements,” he said. “Though we carried out the material syntheses under high temperatures, the chemical-sensing measurements were done at extremely cold, or cryogenic, temperatures. This way prevented helium from escaping and allowed us to detect helium in iron.”

This finding has implications for understanding Earth’s origins. The presence of helium in the core suggests the young Earth likely captured some gas from the solar nebula of hydrogen and helium that surrounded the early solar system. This could also mean that some of Earth’s water may have come from hydrogen in this ancient gas, offering a new perspective on the planet’s early development.

  

This artificially colored image made using a technique called secondary ion mass spectrometry shows the iron sample following intense heat and pressure. It’s approximately 50 micrometers wide and 100 micrometers long, roughly the width of a human hair.

Credit

©2025 Hirose et al. CC-BY-ND

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Journal article:

Haruki Takezawa, Han Hsu, Kei Hirose, Fumiya Sakai, Suyu Fu, Hitoshi Gomi, Shiro Miwa, and Naoya Sakamoto, “Formation of Iron-Helium Compounds under High Pressure”, Physical Review Letters, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.084101

Funding: This work was supported by JSPS grant 21H04506 to K.H.; H.H. is supported by National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan under grants NSTC 113-2116-M-008-010, 112-2112-M-008-038, and 111-2112-M-008-032.

Useful links:
Department of Earth and Planetary Science - https://www.eps.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/
Graduate School of Science - https://www.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/index.html

About The University of Tokyo:

The University of Tokyo is Japan's leading university and one of the world's top research universities. The vast research output of some 6,000 researchers is published in the world's top journals across the arts and sciences. Our vibrant student body of around 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students includes over 4,000 international students. Find out more at www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @UTokyo_News_en.

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Journal

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.084101 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Formation of Iron-Helium Compounds under High Pressure

Article Publication Date

25-Feb-2025

 

New computer model can predict the length of a household's displacement in any U.S. community after a disaster

Scientists hope their model will enable risk assessments to more holistically capture the human impact of disasters

Society for Risk Analysis

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HERNDON, Va., February 25, 2025 -- One of the human impacts of natural hazards is household displacement.  Destructive floods, wildfires, earthquakes and hurricanes often force people to leave their homes -- some briefly, others for months or indefinitely.

Most disaster risk assessments, used by insurance companies, government agencies, development banks, and academic researchers to predict the potential future impacts of natural hazards, fail to account for hardships incurred by household displacement. Instead, they focus on direct economic losses, a metric that “often highlights the wealthiest as the most at-risk,” says Nicole Paul, Ph.D. candidate at University College London. “But observations from past disaster events often show that poor and marginalized people have the greatest recovery needs.”

In a new study published by Risk Analysis, Paul and her colleagues used recent, disaster-related data from the Household Pulse Survey (HPS) to train a computer model to predict the length of household displacement and return outcomes after a disaster. The study is the first to use state-by-state data from the U.S. Census Bureau to quantify the contribution of different factors (including household size, tenure status, educational attainment, and income per household member) on household displacement and return.

According to the HPS data, 1.1% of American households were displaced due to disasters between December 2022 and July 2024. Hurricanes were the most common disaster type cited by displaced households, while other households reportedl floods, fires, tornados, and “other” hazard types. 

Survey responses from 11,715 households that experienced disaster displacement were used by the researchers to fit predictive computer models for household displacement in three classes: emergency phase displacement (returned in less than one month), recovery phase displacement (returned after one month), and not returned (potentially permanent relocation). 

Although most households returned relatively quickly, 20 percent were displaced for longer than a month and 14 percent had not returned by July 2024. The geographical locations of households revealed significant differences among states:
•    Households in Louisiana and Florida were about 6.8 and 4.4 times more likely to be displaced, respectively, compared to the national average. Yet they returned home faster than households in many states. 
•    Displaced households in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Connecticut were likelier to take more than one month to return.
•    Displaced households in Alaska, Hawaii, and Kansas were considerably less likely to return to their homes (by July 2024).
 
“The duration of displacement is key to understanding the human impact of a disaster,” says Paul. “Short-term evacuations can save lives and be minimally disruptive, while protracted displacement is associated with significant hardships for families.” Those challenges can include disruption of education, income and/or job loss, and various psychological effects.

To understand the impacts of future disasters, Paul adds, the computer model can combine estimates of physical damage with socioeconomic characteristics to predict the duration of household displacement within a community and therefore help inform risk mitigation strategies that reduce displacement risks for members of that community in future disasters.

About SRA  
The Society for Risk Analysis is a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, scholarly, international society that provides an open forum for all those interested in risk analysis. SRA was established in 1980. Since 1982, it has continuously published Risk Analysis: An International Journal, the leading scholarly journal in the field. For more information, visit www.sra.org.  

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Journal

Risk Analysis

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

People

Article Publication Date

26-Feb-2025

 

Robots learn how to move by watching themselves

By observing their own motions, robots can learn how to overcome damage to their bodies, which could make them more adaptable for a wide variety of applications.

Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science

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image: 

A robot observes its reflection in a mirror, learning its own morphology and kinematics for autonomous self-simulation. The process highlights the intersection of vision-based learning and robotics, where the robot refines its movements and predicts its spatial motion through self-observation.

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Credit: Jane Nisselson/Columbia Engineering

New York, NY—Feb. 25, 2025— By watching their own motions with a camera, robots can teach themselves about the structure of their own bodies and how they move, a new study from researchers at Columbia Engineering now reveals. Equipped with this knowledge, the robots could not only plan their own actions, but also overcome damage to their bodies.

"Like humans learning to dance by watching their mirror reflection, robots now use raw video to build kinematic self-awareness," says study lead author Yuhang Hu, a doctoral student at the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, directed by Hod Lipson, James and Sally Scapa Professor of Innovation and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. "Our goal is a robot that understands its own body, adapts to damage, and learns new skills without constant human programming."

Most robots first learn to move in simulations. Once a robot can move in these virtual environments, it is released into the physical world where it can continue to learn. “The better and more realistic the simulator, the easier it is for the robot to make the leap from simulation into reality,” explains Lipson. 

However, creating a good simulator is an arduous process, typically requiring skilled engineers. The researchers taught a robot how to create a simulator of itself simply by watching its own motion through a camera. “This ability not only saves engineering effort, but also allows the simulation to continue and evolve with the robot as it undergoes wear, damage, and adaptation,” Lipson says.

In the new study, the researchers instead developed a way for robots to autonomously model their own 3D shapes using a single regular 2D camera. This breakthrough was driven by three brain-mimicking AI systems known as deep neural networks. These inferred 3D motion from 2D video, enabling the robot to understand and adapt to its own movements. The new system could also identify alterations to the bodies of the robots, such as a bend in an arm, and help them adjust their motions to recover from this simulated damage.

Such adaptability might prove useful in a variety of real-world applications. For example, "imagine a robot vacuum or a personal assistant bot that notices its arm is bent after bumping into furniture," Hu says. "Instead of breaking down or needing repair, it watches itself, adjusts how it moves, and keeps working. This could make home robots more reliable—no constant reprogramming required."

Another scenario might involve a robot arm getting knocked out of alignment at a car factory. "Instead of halting production, it could watch itself, tweak its movements, and get back to welding—cutting downtime and costs," Hu says. "This adaptability could make manufacturing  more resilient."

As we hand over more critical functions to robots, from manufacturing to medical care, we need these robots to be more resilient. “We humans cannot afford to constantly baby these robots, repair broken parts and adjust performance. Robots need to learn to take care of themselves, if they are going to become truly useful,” says Lipson. “That’s why self-modeling is so important.”  

The ability demonstrated in this study is the latest in a series of projects that the Columbia team has released over the past two decades, where robots are learning to become better at self-modeling using cameras and other sensors. 

In 2006, the research team’s robots were able to use observations to only create simple stick-figure-like simulations of themselves. About a decade ago, robots began creating higher fidelity models using multiple cameras. In this study, the robot was able to create a comprehensive kinematic model of itself using just a short video clip from a single regular camera, akin to looking in the mirror. The researchers call this newfound ability “Kinematic Self-Awareness.” 

“We humans are intuitively aware of our body; we can imagine ourselves in the future and visualize the consequences of our actions well before we perform those actions in reality,” explains Lipson. “Ultimately, we would like to imbue robots with a similar ability to imagine themselves, because once you can imagine yourself in the future, there is no limit to what you can do.”

The researchers detailed their findings February 25 in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

Robots Learn How to Move By Wa [VIDEO] | 

A robot observes its reflection in a mirror, learning its own morphology and kinematics for autonomous self-simulation. The process highlights the intersection of vision-based learning and robotics, where the robot refines its movements and predicts its spatial motion through self-observation.

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Journal

Nature Machine Intelligence

DOI

10.1038/s42256-025-01006-w 

Method of Research

News article

Article Title

Teaching robots to build simulations of themselves

Article Publication Date

25-Feb-2025