Over the past couple of weeks, Ive been following news of the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa. It was heartbreaking to hear how Arakawa appeared to have died from a rare infection days before her husband, who had advanced Alzheimers disease and may have struggled to understand what had happened.But as I watched the medical examiner reveal details of the couples health, I couldnt help feeling a little uncomfortable. Media reports claim that the couple liked their privacy and had been out of the spotlight for decades. But here I was, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, being told what pills Arakawa had in her medicine cabinet, and that Hackman had undergone multiple surgeries.It made me wonder: Should autopsy reports be kept private? A persons cause of death is public information. But what about other intimate health details that might be revealed in a postmortem examination?The processes and regulations surrounding autopsies vary by country, so well focus on the US, where Hackman and Arakawa died. Here, a medico-legal autopsy may be organized by law enforcement agencies and handled through courts, while a clinical autopsy may be carried out at the request of family members.And there are different levels of autopsysome might involve examining specific organs or tissues, while more thorough examinations would involve looking at every organ and studying tissues in the lab.The goal of an autopsy is to discover the cause of a persons death. Autopsy reports, especially those resulting from detailed investigations, often reveal health conditionsconditions that might have been kept private while the person was alive. There are multiple federal and state laws designed to protect individuals health information. For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects individually identifiable health information up to 50 years after a persons death. But some things change when a person dies.For a start, the cause of death will end up on the death certificate. That is public information. The public nature of causes of death is taken for granted these days, says Lauren Solberg, a bioethicist at the University of Florida College of Medicine. It has become a public health statistic. She and her student Brooke Ortiz, who have been researching this topic, are more concerned about other aspects of autopsy results.The thing is, autopsies can sometimes reveal more than what a person died from. They can also pick up what are known as incidental findings. An examiner might find that a person who died following a covid-19 infection also had another condition. Perhaps that condition was undiagnosed. Maybe it was asymptomatic. That finding wouldnt appear on a death certificate. So who should have access to it?The laws over who should have access to a persons autopsy report vary by state, and even between counties within a state. Clinical autopsy results will always be made available to family members, but local laws dictate which family members have access, says Ortiz.Genetic testing further complicates things. Sometimes the people performing autopsies will run genetic tests to help confirm the cause of death. These tests might reveal what the person died from. But they might also flag genetic factors unrelated to the cause of death that might increase the risk of other diseases.In those cases, the persons family members might stand to benefit from accessing that information. My health information is my health informationuntil it comes to my genetic health information, says Solberg. Genes are shared by relatives. Should they have the opportunity to learn about potential risks to their own health?This is where things get really complicated. Ethically speaking, we should consider the wishes of the deceased. Would that person have wanted to share this information with relatives?Its also worth bearing in mind that a genetic risk factor is often just that; theres often no way to know whether a person will develop a disease, or how severe the symptoms would be. And if the genetic risk is for a disease that has no treatment or cure, will telling the persons relatives just cause them a lot of stress?One 27-year-old experienced this when a 23&Me genetic test told her she had a 28% chance of developing late-onset Alzheimers disease by age 75 and a 60% chance by age 85.Im suddenly overwhelmed by this information, she posted on a dementia forum. I cant help feeling this overwhelming sense of dread and sadness that Ill never be able to un-know this information.In their research, Solberg and Ortiz came across cases in which individuals who had died in motor vehicle accidents underwent autopsies that revealed other, asymptomatic conditions. One man in his 40s who died in such an accident was found to have a genetic kidney disease. A 23-year-old was found to have had kidney cancer.Ideally, both medical teams and family members should know ahead of time what a person would have wantedwhether thats an autopsy, genetic testing, or health privacy. Advance directives allow people to clarify their wishes for end-of-life care. But only around a third of people in the US have completed one. And they tend to focus on care before death, not after.Solberg and Ortiz think they should be expanded. An advance directive could specify how people want to share their health information after theyve died. Talking about death is difficult, says Solberg. For physicians, for patients, for familiesit can be uncomfortable. But it is important.On March 17, a New Mexico judge granted a request from a representative of Hackmans estate to seal police photos and bodycam footage as well as the medical records of Hackman and Arakawa. The medical investigator is temporarily restrained from disclosing the Autopsy Reports and/or Death Investigation Reports for Mr. and Mrs. Hackman, according to Deadline.This article first appeared in The Checkup,MIT Technology Reviewsweekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first,sign up here.

The Thwaites glacier is a fortress larger than Florida, a wall of ice that reaches nearly 4,000 feet above the bedrock of West Antarctica, guarding the low-lying ice sheet behind it.But a strong, warm ocean current is weakening its foundations and accelerating its slide into the Amundsen Sea. Scientists fear the waters could topple the walls in the coming decades, kick-starting a runaway process that would crack up the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.That would mark the start of a global climate disaster. The glacier itself holds enough ice to raise ocean levels by more than two feet, which could flood coastlines and force tens of millions of people living in low-lying areas to abandon their homes.The loss of the entire ice sheetwhich could still take centuries to unfoldwould push up sea levels by 11 feet and redraw the contours of the continents.This is why Thwaites is known as the doomsday glacierand why scientists are eager to understand just how likely such a collapse is, when it could happen, and if we have the power to stop it.Scientists at MIT and Dartmouth College founded Arte Glacier Initiative last year in the hope of providing clearer answers to these questions. The nonprofit research organization will officially unveil itself, launch its website, and post requests for research proposals today, March 21, timed to coincide with the UNs inaugural World Day for Glaciers, MIT Technology Review can report exclusively.Arte will also announce it is issuing its first grants, each for around $200,000 over two years, to a pair of glacier researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.One of the organizations main goals is to study the possibility of preventing the loss of giant glaciers, Thwaites in particular, by refreezing them to the bedrock. It would represent a radical intervention into the natural world, requiring a massive, expensive engineering project in a remote, treacherous environment.But the hope is that such a mega-adaptation project could minimize the mass relocation of climate refugees, prevent much of the suffering and violence that would almost certainly accompany it, and help nations preserve trillions of dollars invested in high-rises, roads, homes, ports, and airports around the globe.About a million people are displaced per centimeter of sea-level rise, says Brent Minchew, an associate professor of geophysics at MIT, who cofounded Arte Glacier Initiative and will serve as its chief scientist. If were able to bring that down, even by a few centimeters, then we would safeguard the homes of millions.But some scientists believe the idea is an implausible, wildly expensive distraction, drawing money, expertise, time, and resources away from more essential polar research efforts.Sometimes we can get a little over-optimistic about what engineering can do, says Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.Two possible futuresMinchew, who earned his PhD in geophysics at Caltech, says he was drawn to studying glaciers because they are rapidly transforming as the world warms, increasing the dangers of sea-level rise.But over the years, I became less content with simply telling a more dramatic story about how things were going and more open to asking the question of what can we do about it, says Minchew, who will return to Caltech as a professor this summer.Last March, he cofounded Arte Glacier Initiative with Colin Meyer, an assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth, in the hope of funding and directing research to improve scientific understanding of two big questions: How big a risk does sea-level rise pose in the coming decades, and can we minimize that risk?Brent Minchew, an MIT professor of geophysics, co-founded Arte Glacier Initiative and will serve as its chief scientist.COURTESY: BRENT MINCHEWPhilanthropic funding is needed to address both of these challenges, because theres no private-sector funding for this kind of research and government funding is minuscule, says Mike Schroepfer, the former Meta chief technology officer turned climate philanthropist, who provided funding to Arte through his new organization, Outlier Projects.The nonprofit has now raised about $5 million from Outlier and other donors, including the Navigation Fund, the Kissick Family Foundation, the Sky Foundation, the Wedner Family Foundation, and the Grantham Foundation.Minchew says they named the organization Arte, mainly because its the sharp mountain ridge between two valleys, generally left behind when a glacier carves out the cirques on either side. It directs the movement of the glacier and is shaped by it.Its meant to symbolize two possible futures, he says. One where we do something; one where we do nothing.Improving forecastsThe somewhat reassuring news is that, even with rising global temperatures, it may still take thousands of years for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to completely melt.In addition, sea-level rise forecasts for this century generally range from as little as 0.28 meters (11 inches) to 1.10 meters (about three and a half feet), according to the latest UN climate panel report. The latter only occurs under a scenario with very high greenhouse gas emissions (SSP5-8.5), which significantly exceeds the pathway the world is now on.But theres still a low-likelihood that ocean levels could surge nearly two meters (about six and a half feet) by 2100 that cannot be excluded, given deep uncertainty linked to ice-sheet processes, the report adds.Two meters of sea-level rise could force nearly 190 million people to migrate away from the coasts, unless regions build dikes or other shoreline protections, according to some models. Many more people, mainly in the tropics, would face heightened flooding dangers.Much of the uncertainty over what will happen this century comes down to scientists limited understanding of how Antarctic ice sheets will respond to growing climate pressures.The initial goal of Arte Glacier Initiative is to help narrow the forecast ranges by improving our grasp of how Thwaites and other glaciers move, melt, and break apart.Gravity is the driving force nudging glaciers along the bedrock and reshaping them as they flow. But many of the variables that determine how fast they slide lie at the base. That includes the type of sediment the river of ice slides along; the size of the boulders and outcroppings it contorts around; and the warmth and strength of the ocean waters that lap at its face.In addition, heat rising from deep in the earth warms the ice closest to the ground, creating a lubricating layer of water that hastens the glaciers slide. That acceleration, in turn, generates more frictional heat that melts still more of the ice, creating a self-reinforcing feedback effect.Minchew and Meyer are confident that the glaciology field is at a point where it could speed up progress in sea-level rise forecasting, thanks largely to improving observational tools that are producing more and better data.That includes a new generation of satellites orbiting the planet that can track the shifting shape of ice at the poles at far higher resolutions than in the recent past. Computer simulations of ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice are improving as well, thanks to growing computational resources and advancing machine learning techniques.On March 21, Arte will issue a request for proposals from research teams to contribute to an effort to collect, organize, and openly publish existing observational glacier data. Much of that expensively gathered information is currently inaccessible to researchers around the world, Minchew says.Colin Meyer, an assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth, co-founded Arte Glacier Initiative.ELI BURAKBy funding teams working across these areas, Artes founders hope to help produce more refined ice-sheet models and narrower projections of sea-level rise.This improved understanding would help cities plan where to build new bridges, buildings, and homes, and to determine whether theyll need to erect higher seawalls or raise their roads, Meyer says. It could also provide communities with more advance notice of the coming dangers, allowing them to relocate people and infrastructure to safer places through an organized process known as managed retreat.A radical interventionBut the improved forecasts might also tell us that Thwaites is closer to tumbling into the ocean than we think, underscoring the importance of considering more drastic measures.One idea is to build berms or artificial islands to prop up fragile parts of glaciers, and to block the warm waters that rise from the deep ocean and melt them from below. Some researchers have also considered erecting giant, flexible curtains anchored to the seabed to achieve the latter effect.Others have looked at scattering highly reflective beads or other materials across ice sheets, or pumping ocean water onto them in the hopes it would freeze during the winter and reinforce the headwalls of the glaciers.But the concept of refreezing glaciers in place, know as a basal intervention, is gaining traction in scientific circles, in part because theres a natural analogue for it.The glacier that stalledAbout 200 years ago, the Kamb Ice Stream, another glacier in West Antarctica that had been sliding about 350 meters (1,150 feet) per year, suddenly stalled.Glaciologists believe an adjacent ice stream intersected with the catchment area under the glacier, providing a path for the water running below it to flow out along the edge instead. That loss of fluid likely slowed down the Kamb Ice Stream, reduced the heat produced through friction, and allowed water at the surface to refreeze.The deceleration of the glacier sparked the idea that humans might be able to bring about that same phenomenon deliberately, perhaps by drilling a series of boreholes down to the bedrock and pumping up water from the bottom.Minchew himself has focused on a variation he believes could avoid much of the power use and heavy operating machinery hassles of that approach: slipping long tubular devices, known as thermosyphons, down nearly to the bottom of the boreholes.These passive heat exchangers, which are powered only by the temperature differential between two areas, are commonly used to keep permafrost cold around homes, buildings and pipelines in Arctic regions. The hope is that we could deploy extremely long ones, stretching up to two kilometers and encased in steel pipe, to draw warm temperatures away from the bottom of the glacier, allowing the water below to freeze.Minchew says hes in the process of producing refined calculations, but estimates that halting Thwaites could require drilling as many as 10,000 boreholes over a 100-square-kilometer area.He readily acknowledges that would be a huge undertaking, but provides two points of comparison to put such a project into context: Melting the necessary ice to create those holes would require roughly the amount of energy all US domestic flights consume from jet fuel in about two and a half hours. Or, it would produce about the same level of greenhouse gas emissions as constructing 10 kilometers of seawalls, a small fraction of the length the world would need to build if it cant slow down the collapse of the ice sheets, he says.Kick the systemOne of Artes initial grantees is Marianne Haseloff, an assistant professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She studies the physical processes that govern the behavior of glaciers and is striving to more faithfully represent them in ice sheet models.Haseloff says she will use those funds to develop mathematical methods that could more accurately determine whats known as basal shear stress, or the resistance of the bed to sliding glaciers, based on satellite observations. That could help refine forecasts of how rapidly glaciers will slide into the ocean, in varying settings and climate conditions.Artes other initial grant will go to Lucas Zoet, an associate professor in the same department as Haseloff and the principal investigator with the Surface Processes group.He intends to use the funds to build the labs second ring shear device, the technical term for a simulated glacier.The existing device, which is the only one operating in the world, stands about eight feet tall and fills the better part of a walk-in freezer on campus. The core of the machine is a transparent drum filled with a ring of ice, sitting under pressure and atop a layer of sediment. It slowly spins for weeks at a time as sensors and cameras capture how the ice and earth move and deform.Lucas Zoet, an associate professor at the University of WisconsinMadison, stands in front of his labs ring shear device, a simulated glacier.ETHAN PARRISHThe research team can select the sediment, topography, water pressure, temperature, and other conditions to match the environment of a real-world glacier of interest, be it Thwaites todayor Thwaites in 2100, under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario.Zoet says these experiments promise to improve our understanding of how glaciers move over different types of beds, and to refine an equation known as the slip law, which represents these glacier dynamics mathematically in computer models.The second machine will enable them to run more experiments and to conduct a specific kind that the current device cant: a scaled-down, controlled version of the basal intervention.Zoet says the team will be able to drill tiny holes through the ice, then pump out water or transfer heat away from the bed. They can then observe whether the simulated glacier freezes to the base at those points and experiment with how many interventions, across how much space, are required to slow down its movement.It offers a way to test out different varieties of the basal intervention that is far easier and cheaper than using water drills to bore to the bottom of an actual glacier in Antarctica, Zoet says. The funding will allow the lab to explore a wide range of experiments, enabling them to kick the system in a way we wouldnt have before, he adds.Virtually impossibleThe concept of glacier interventions is in its infancy. There are still considerable unknowns and uncertainties, including how much it would cost, how arduous the undertaking would be, and which approach would be most likely to work, or if any of them are feasible.This is mostly a theoretical idea at this point, says Katharine Ricke, an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego, who researches the international relations implications of geoengineering, among other topics.Conducting extensive field trials or moving forward with full-scale interventions may also require surmounting complex legal questions, she says. Antarctica isnt owned by any nation, but its the subject of competing territorial claims among a number of countries and governed under a decades-old treaty to which dozens are a party.The basal interventionrefreezing the glacier to its bedfaces numerous technical hurdles that would make it virtually impossible to execute, Moon and dozens of other researchers argued in a recent preprint paper, Safeguarding the polar regions from dangerous geoengineering.Among other critiques, they stress that subglacial water systems are complex, dynamic, and interconnected, making it highly difficult to precisely identify and drill down to all the points that would be necessary to remove enough water or add enough heat to substantially slow down a massive glacier.Further, they argue that the interventions could harm polar ecosystems by adding contaminants, producing greenhouse gases, or altering the structure of the ice in ways that may even increase sea-level rise.Overwhelmingly, glacial and polar geoengineering ideas do not make sense to pursue, in terms of the finances, the governance challenges, the impacts, and the possibility of making matters worse, Moon says.No easy path forwardBut Douglas MacAyeal, professor emeritus of glaciology at the University of Chicago, says the basal intervention would have the lightest environmental impact among the competing ideas. He adds that nature has already provided an example of it working, and that much of the needed drilling and pumping technology is already in use in the oil industry.I would say its the strongest approach at the starting gate, he says, but we dont really know anything about it yet. The research still has to be done. Its very cutting-edge.Minchew readily acknowledges that there are big challenges and significant unknownsand that some of these ideas may not work.But he says its well worth the effort to study the possibilities, in part because much of the research will also improve our understanding of glacier dynamics and the risks of sea-level riseand in part because its only a question of when, not if, Thwaites will collapse.Even if the world somehow halted all greenhouse gas emissions tomorrow, the forces melting that fortress of ice will continue to do so.So one way or another, the world will eventually need to make big, expensive, difficult interventions to protect people and infrastructure. The cost and effort of doing one project in Antarctica, he says, would be small compared to the global effort required to erect thousands of miles of seawalls, ratchet up homes, buildings, and roads, and relocate hundreds of millions of people.One thing is challengingand the other is even more challenging, Minchew says. Theres no easy path forward.

What its like to be trapped in an ICE detention center for two weeksMagic technology, Meta layoffs, and smart quitting (Issue #293)Published inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min readJust now--Here at Medium, theres a type of story we sometimes refer to as the Medium version. Usually, its a personal perspective on news. Not a take; a story from a primary source someone whos lived through something most of us have only heard about second- or thirdhand.On Wednesday, Jasmine Mooney published one of those stories, about her 12-day detention by ICE. Mooney is Canadian; earlier this year, she was working for a U.S. beverage company on a TN work visa (a special nonimmigrant visa that allows Canadians to work in the U.S.). She was stopped in San Diego on March 3rd because of an earlier paperwork issue shed experienced when reapplying for her visa and, without warning, she was abruptly jailed for two weeks.You didnt do anything wrong, you are not in trouble, you are not a criminal, an immigration enforcement agent told her before taking off her shoes, pulling out her shoelaces, and leading her to a tiny, freezing cement cell where five other women lay on mats.While in detention, Mooney met people whod been there up to 10 months, none of whom had a criminal record. Their frustration wasnt about being held accountable for (in some cases) overstaying their visas, she writes, it was about the endless, bureaucratic limbo they were trapped in. None of them knew when theyd get out. Heres one example:There was a girl from India who had overstayed her student visa for three days before heading back home. She then came back to the US on a new, valid visa to finish her masters degree and was handed over to ICE due to the three days she had overstayed on her previous visa.(My question: If shed previously overstayed and this was an issue, why was she given a new, valid visa?)Mooney was eventually released because a friend leaked her story to a reporter. Many of the women Mooney was detained with dont have her connections and privileges. This is why I choose to tell their stories, Mooney writes, Because when we choose to see each other when we refuse to look away we begin to build the world we all deserve.To me, what stands out is the fragmented, confusing system in which these people find themselves and the fact that Mooney was never told whats going on or why she was held. Its a powerful complement to coverage of immigration detention Ive seen elsewhere. Its raw, unfiltered, and hyperdetailed (the plastic spoon that each detainee has to reuse for every meal will stay with me for a while). Its also a Medium version, an example of the kind of story that can only exist on a platform where people are empowered to share their own perspectives and deepen each others understanding daily. Harris Sockel Also todayJohn Battelle, who helped launch WIRED in the 90s, mourns the loss of tech that feels genuinely magical (remember how your first personal computer felt?). He believes weve lost that signature feeling of ~wonder~ because weve sacrificed agency for convenience. Computers and early desktop publishing software challenged us; they didnt simply make tasks easier.Technical recruiter Dori Kasa reacts to Februarys layoffs at Meta (approximately 3,600 people were let go for low performance): Instead of hiding behind that low performance label, companies should just be honest. The truth isnt always glamorous it could be financial issues, scaling back, or even fixing poor past decisions. But employees deserve that honesty.Designer Vicki Tan (Spotify, Headspace, Lyft, and Google) shares a few ideas for redesigning nonfiction books (e.g. cookbooks that adapt to your skill level or make use of ingredients that are actually in your fridge). A dose of practical wisdomPeople tend to be much more deliberate about what they start than what they stop. Scott H. Young shares four questions (and pointers) to keep in mind before quitting anything, including: set your quitting point in advance to prevent yourself from making a decision based on momentary temptation or exasperation.

Owners of the Segway Ninebot Max G30P and Max G30LP electric scooters can contact the company for a free maintenance kit. | Image: SegwaySegway has issued a recall for all of its Ninebot Max G30P and Max G30LP electric scooters due to a faulty mechanism that can cause the scooters handlebars and stem to fold while its in use, creating a fall hazard, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The company has received 68 reports of the failures occurring, resulting in 20 injuries ranging from bruises and abrasions to lacerations and even broken bones.Around 220,000 of the recalled scooters have been sold since January 2020 at stores including Best Buy, Costco, Walmart, Target, Sams Club, and Amazon. The Ninebot Max G30P can be recognized by its gray and yellow color scheme, while the Max G30LP model is black with yellow accents.Segway urges consumers to immediately stop using the recalled scooters, but its not replacing them. Instead, the company says owners can contact Segway to receive information to determine whether the folding mechanism needs adjustment and to receive a free maintenance kit. The kit includes instructions and tools for tightening the folding mechanism on either model, and keeping it maintained to ensure the folding mechanism remains locked while the scooters are being ridden.

The series 15 trailer briefly introduced us to new Doctor Who companion Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu, and confirmed the return of familiar faces Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday, Jemma Redgrave as UNITs Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Ruth Madeley as Shirley Anne Bingham, Bonnie Langford as Mel Bush, and Anita Dobson as the mysterious Mrs Flood. But who else will be joining the Doctor as guest stars for the new eight-episode series?Below, weve collected the names confirmed so far, including not one but three members of the cast of Apple TV+ spy thriller Slow Horses, plus stars from House of the Dragon, EastEnders, Foundation, The Traitors USA, His Dark Materials, and many more. Well update this guide as new guest stars are announced ahead of the new series April 12 start date.Kadiff KirwanThe latest guest star to be announced is Chewing Gum, Black Mirror, This Is Going to Hurt and Slow Horses actor Kadiff Kirwan, who will appear as an as-yet unnamed character in the space-Eurovision episode written by Juno Dawson and teased in the series 15 trailer. Kirwan describes the episode as an intergalactic gargantuan extravaganza thats packed with gravity-defying mastery beyond imagination and promises that its gonna rock your world! We like an overexcited guest star.Freddie FoxStar of The Gentlemen, The Crown, The Great, Year of the Rabbit, and Slow Horses, Freddie Fox will play a baddie set to cause trouble for the Doctor and Belinda in series 15. Described in the official press materials as a fearsome villain from another planet, Foxs character sports a beautiful set of demonic horns to go with his fury, venom and cunning according to showrunner Russell T Davies, whose crazy, bonkers, beautiful vision Fox said he was delighted to join.Christopher ChungAustralian actor Christopher Chung (Waterloo Road, Blitz) is the third Slow Horses alumni to join the new series of Doctor Who (were sure its a coincidence). He plays a character named Cassio and will appear in an episode that Russell T Davies is calling one of the darkest, toughest episodes weve ever made. As for whether Cassio is an ally or an enemy of the Doctor, youll have to wait and see, but I can promise, its one hell of a meeting!Rylan ClarkWho else would host the Intergalactic Song Contest but Mr Showbiz aka Rylan Clark? The TV presenter best known for Big Brother, This Morning and Gogglebox (as well as a couple of less than well-conceived TV quiz shows) will appear in the Juno Dawson-written episode, in which the Doctor attends what looks like the starry final of a Eurovision pastiche. Evelyn MillerFoundation, and Flowers in the Attics Evelyn Miller, who can also be seen in the new series of Gangs of London, joins the Doctor and Belinda in what looks like episode one of the new series. Appearing alongside some shiny red robots with space guns, Miller is seen sporting a pair of the grubby space PJs that the Doctor and Belinda also wear in the episode, as seen in the first-look images.Rose Ayling-EllisOnce rumoured to have been cast as the 15th Doctors companion before Millie Gibson was announced, EastEnders, Ludwig, Reunion and Code of Silence actor Rose Ayling-Ellis joins the cast for episode five, which Russell T Davies calls one of the most frightening episodes weve ever made. Its an incredible performance, says RTD, marked by terror, anger and bravery. Sofa cushions at the ready!Jonah Hauer-KingPictured above in the second series of BBC period drama World on Fire, Jonah Hauer-King was also spotted in the Doctor Who series 15 trailer and is heavily rumoured to be playing Ruby Sundays boyfriend. Hauer-King is known for having played Prince Eric in Disneys live-action The Little Mermaid movie, and for the roles of Harry in World on Fire and Lali in The Tattoist of Auschwitz.Alan Cumming (Voice)Returning to Doctor Who after playing King James I in 13th Doctor-era episode The Witch Finders will be Scottish actor Alan Cumming, seen recently as the host of the US version of reality lie-detector show The Traitors. Cumming will be voicing the role of 1950s cartoon character Mr Ring-a-Ding, a creation who steps out of the screen and causes chaos for the Doctor and Belinda.ALSO APPEARINGStage and screen actor Ariyon Bakare, who recently appeared in BBC drama Mr Loverman, and is known for roles with the RSC, in His Dark Materials, and in Carnival Row.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Irish stage and screen actor Caoilfhionn Dunne, known for Britannia, and wholl soon be seen in Lisa McGees Derry Girls follow-up How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, as well as recently having starred in Disney+ drama A Thousand Blows.French actor Julie Dray (Avenue 5, Ludwig, The Curse) will appear alongside Rylan Clark as an exotic alien presenter of the Intergalactic Song Contest episode. The Good Wifes Kalinda, and Snowpiercer, Blindspot, Under the Bridge and Hijacks Archie Panjabi will appear in an as-yet-undisclosed villain role.Doctor Who season two/series 15 starts on Saturday April 12 on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK, and on Disney+ around the world.

Over the past couple of weeks, Ive been following news of the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa. It was heartbreaking to hear how Arakawa appeared to have died from a rare infection days before her husband, who had advanced Alzheimers disease and may have struggled to understand what had happened. But as I watched the medical examiner reveal details of the couples health, I couldnt help feeling a little uncomfortable. Media reports claim that the couple liked their privacy and had been out of the spotlight for decades. But here I was, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, being told what pills Arakawa had in her medicine cabinet, and that Hackman had undergone multiple surgeries. It made me wonder: Should autopsy reports be kept private? A persons cause of death is public information. But what about other intimate health details that might be revealed in a postmortem examination? The processes and regulations surrounding autopsies vary by country, so well focus on the US, where Hackman and Arakawa died. Here, a medico-legal autopsy may be organized by law enforcement agencies and handled through courts, while a clinical autopsy may be carried out at the request of family members. And there are different levels of autopsysome might involve examining specific organs or tissues, while more thorough examinations would involve looking at every organ and studying tissues in the lab. The goal of an autopsy is to discover the cause of a persons death. Autopsy reports, especially those resulting from detailed investigations, often reveal health conditionsconditions that might have been kept private while the person was alive. There are multiple federal and state laws designed to protect individuals health information. For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects individually identifiable health information up to 50 years after a persons death. But some things change when a person dies. For a start, the cause of death will end up on the death certificate. That is public information. The public nature of causes of death is taken for granted these days, says Lauren Solberg, a bioethicist at the University of Florida College of Medicine. It has become a public health statistic. She and her student Brooke Ortiz, who have been researching this topic, are more concerned about other aspects of autopsy results. The thing is, autopsies can sometimes reveal more than what a person died from. They can also pick up what are known as incidental findings. An examiner might find that a person who died following a covid-19 infection also had another condition. Perhaps that condition was undiagnosed. Maybe it was asymptomatic. That finding wouldnt appear on a death certificate. So who should have access to it? The laws over who should have access to a persons autopsy report vary by state, and even between counties within a state. Clinical autopsy results will always be made available to family members, but local laws dictate which family members have access, says Ortiz. Genetic testing further complicates things. Sometimes the people performing autopsies will run genetic tests to help confirm the cause of death. These tests might reveal what the person died from. But they might also flag genetic factors unrelated to the cause of death that might increase the risk of other diseases. In those cases, the persons family members might stand to benefit from accessing that information. My health information is my health informationuntil it comes to my genetic health information, says Solberg. Genes are shared by relatives. Should they have the opportunity to learn about potential risks to their own health? This is where things get really complicated. Ethically speaking, we should consider the wishes of the deceased. Would that person have wanted to share this information with relatives? Its also worth bearing in mind that a genetic risk factor is often just that; theres often no way to know whether a person will develop a disease, or how severe the symptoms would be. And if the genetic risk is for a disease that has no treatment or cure, will telling the persons relatives just cause them a lot of stress? One 27-year-old experienced this when a 23&Me genetic test told her she had a 28% chance of developing late-onset Alzheimers disease by age 75 and a 60% chance by age 85. Im suddenly overwhelmed by this information, she posted on a dementia forum. I cant help feeling this overwhelming sense of dread and sadness that Ill never be able to un-know this information. In their research, Solberg and Ortiz came across cases in which individuals who had died in motor vehicle accidents underwent autopsies that revealed other, asymptomatic conditions. One man in his 40s who died in such an accident was found to have a genetic kidney disease. A 23-year-old was found to have had kidney cancer. Ideally, both medical teams and family members should know ahead of time what a person would have wantedwhether thats an autopsy, genetic testing, or health privacy. Advance directives allow people to clarify their wishes for end-of-life care. But only around a third of people in the US have completed one. And they tend to focus on care before death, not after. Solberg and Ortiz think they should be expanded. An advance directive could specify how people want to share their health information after theyve died. Talking about death is difficult, says Solberg. For physicians, for patients, for familiesit can be uncomfortable. But it is important. On March 17, a New Mexico judge granted a request from a representative of Hackmans estate to seal police photos and bodycam footage as well as the medical records of Hackman and Arakawa. The medical investigator is temporarily restrained from disclosing the Autopsy Reports and/or Death Investigation Reports for Mr. and Mrs. Hackman, according to Deadline. This article first appeared in The Checkup,MIT Technology Reviewsweekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first,sign up here.

The Thwaites glacier is a fortress larger than Florida, a wall of ice that reaches nearly 4,000 feet above the bedrock of West Antarctica, guarding the low-lying ice sheet behind it. But a strong, warm ocean current is weakening its foundations and accelerating its slide into the Amundsen Sea. Scientists fear the waters could topple the walls in the coming decades, kick-starting a runaway process that would crack up the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. That would mark the start of a global climate disaster. The glacier itself holds enough ice to raise ocean levels by more than two feet, which could flood coastlines and force tens of millions of people living in low-lying areas to abandon their homes. The loss of the entire ice sheetwhich could still take centuries to unfoldwould push up sea levels by 11 feet and redraw the contours of the continents. This is why Thwaites is known as the doomsday glacierand why scientists are eager to understand just how likely such a collapse is, when it could happen, and if we have the power to stop it. Scientists at MIT and Dartmouth College founded Arte Glacier Initiative last year in the hope of providing clearer answers to these questions. The nonprofit research organization will officially unveil itself, launch its website, and post requests for research proposals today, March 21, timed to coincide with the UNs inaugural World Day for Glaciers, MIT Technology Review can report exclusively. Arte will also announce it is issuing its first grants, each for around $200,000 over two years, to a pair of glacier researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. One of the organizations main goals is to study the possibility of preventing the loss of giant glaciers, Thwaites in particular, by refreezing them to the bedrock. It would represent a radical intervention into the natural world, requiring a massive, expensive engineering project in a remote, treacherous environment. But the hope is that such a mega-adaptation project could minimize the mass relocation of climate refugees, prevent much of the suffering and violence that would almost certainly accompany it, and help nations preserve trillions of dollars invested in high-rises, roads, homes, ports, and airports around the globe. About a million people are displaced per centimeter of sea-level rise, says Brent Minchew, an associate professor of geophysics at MIT, who cofounded Arte Glacier Initiative and will serve as its chief scientist. If were able to bring that down, even by a few centimeters, then we would safeguard the homes of millions. But some scientists believe the idea is an implausible, wildly expensive distraction, drawing money, expertise, time, and resources away from more essential polar research efforts. Sometimes we can get a little over-optimistic about what engineering can do, says Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Two possible futures Minchew, who earned his PhD in geophysics at Caltech, says he was drawn to studying glaciers because they are rapidly transforming as the world warms, increasing the dangers of sea-level rise. But over the years, I became less content with simply telling a more dramatic story about how things were going and more open to asking the question of what can we do about it, says Minchew, who will return to Caltech as a professor this summer. Last March, he cofounded Arte Glacier Initiative with Colin Meyer, an assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth, in the hope of funding and directing research to improve scientific understanding of two big questions: How big a risk does sea-level rise pose in the coming decades, and can we minimize that risk? Brent Minchew, an MIT professor of geophysics, co-founded Arte Glacier Initiative and will serve as its chief scientist.COURTESY: BRENT MINCHEW Philanthropic funding is needed to address both of these challenges, because theres no private-sector funding for this kind of research and government funding is minuscule, says Mike Schroepfer, the former Meta chief technology officer turned climate philanthropist, who provided funding to Arte through his new organization, Outlier Projects. The nonprofit has now raised about $5 million from Outlier and other donors, including the Navigation Fund, the Kissick Family Foundation, the Sky Foundation, the Wedner Family Foundation, and the Grantham Foundation. Minchew says they named the organization Arte, mainly because its the sharp mountain ridge between two valleys, generally left behind when a glacier carves out the cirques on either side. It directs the movement of the glacier and is shaped by it. Its meant to symbolize two possible futures, he says. One where we do something; one where we do nothing. Improving forecasts The somewhat reassuring news is that, even with rising global temperatures, it may still take thousands of years for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to completely melt. In addition, sea-level rise forecasts for this century generally range from as little as 0.28 meters (11 inches) to 1.10 meters (about three and a half feet), according to the latest UN climate panel report. The latter only occurs under a scenario with very high greenhouse gas emissions (SSP5-8.5), which significantly exceeds the pathway the world is now on. But theres still a low-likelihood that ocean levels could surge nearly two meters (about six and a half feet) by 2100 that cannot be excluded, given deep uncertainty linked to ice-sheet processes, the report adds. Two meters of sea-level rise could force nearly 190 million people to migrate away from the coasts, unless regions build dikes or other shoreline protections, according to some models. Many more people, mainly in the tropics, would face heightened flooding dangers. Much of the uncertainty over what will happen this century comes down to scientists' limited understanding of how Antarctic ice sheets will respond to growing climate pressures. The initial goal of Arte Glacier Initiative is to help narrow the forecast ranges by improving our grasp of how Thwaites and other glaciers move, melt, and break apart. Gravity is the driving force nudging glaciers along the bedrock and reshaping them as they flow. But many of the variables that determine how fast they slide lie at the base. That includes the type of sediment the river of ice slides along; the size of the boulders and outcroppings it contorts around; and the warmth and strength of the ocean waters that lap at its face. In addition, heat rising from deep in the earth warms the ice closest to the ground, creating a lubricating layer of water that hastens the glaciers slide. That acceleration, in turn, generates more frictional heat that melts still more of the ice, creating a self-reinforcing feedback effect. Minchew and Meyer are confident that the glaciology field is at a point where it could speed up progress in sea-level rise forecasting, thanks largely to improving observational tools that are producing more and better data. That includes a new generation of satellites orbiting the planet that can track the shifting shape of ice at the poles at far higher resolutions than in the recent past. Computer simulations of ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice are improving as well, thanks to growing computational resources and advancing machine learning techniques. On March 21, Arte will issue a request for proposals from research teams to contribute to an effort to collect, organize, and openly publish existing observational glacier data. Much of that expensively gathered information is currently inaccessible to researchers around the world, Minchew says. Colin Meyer, an assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth, co-founded Arte Glacier Initiative.ELI BURAK By funding teams working across these areas, Artes founders hope to help produce more refined ice-sheet models and narrower projections of sea-level rise. This improved understanding would help cities plan where to build new bridges, buildings, and homes, and to determine whether theyll need to erect higher seawalls or raise their roads, Meyer says. It could also provide communities with more advance notice of the coming dangers, allowing them to relocate people and infrastructure to safer places through an organized process known as managed retreat. A radical intervention But the improved forecasts might also tell us that Thwaites is closer to tumbling into the ocean than we think, underscoring the importance of considering more drastic measures. One idea is to build berms or artificial islands to prop up fragile parts of glaciers, and to block the warm waters that rise from the deep ocean and melt them from below. Some researchers have also considered erecting giant, flexible curtains anchored to the seabed to achieve the latter effect. Others have looked at scattering highly reflective beads or other materials across ice sheets, or pumping ocean water onto them in the hopes it would freeze during the winter and reinforce the headwalls of the glaciers. But the concept of refreezing glaciers in place, know as a basal intervention, is gaining traction in scientific circles, in part because theres a natural analogue for it. The glacier that stalled About 200 years ago, the Kamb Ice Stream, another glacier in West Antarctica that had been sliding about 350 meters (1,150 feet) per year, suddenly stalled. Glaciologists believe an adjacent ice stream intersected with the catchment area under the glacier, providing a path for the water running below it to flow out along the edge instead. That loss of fluid likely slowed down the Kamb Ice Stream, reduced the heat produced through friction, and allowed water at the surface to refreeze. The deceleration of the glacier sparked the idea that humans might be able to bring about that same phenomenon deliberately, perhaps by drilling a series of boreholes down to the bedrock and pumping up water from the bottom. Minchew himself has focused on a variation he believes could avoid much of the power use and heavy operating machinery hassles of that approach: slipping long tubular devices, known as thermosyphons, down nearly to the bottom of the boreholes. These passive heat exchangers, which are powered only by the temperature differential between two areas, are commonly used to keep permafrost cold around homes, buildings and pipelines in Arctic regions. The hope is that we could deploy extremely long ones, stretching up to two kilometers and encased in steel pipe, to draw warm temperatures away from the bottom of the glacier, allowing the water below to freeze. Minchew says hes in the process of producing refined calculations, but estimates that halting Thwaites could require drilling as many as 10,000 boreholes over a 100-square-kilometer area. He readily acknowledges that would be a huge undertaking, but provides two points of comparison to put such a project into context: Melting the necessary ice to create those holes would require roughly the amount of energy all US domestic flights consume from jet fuel in about two and a half hours. Or, it would produce about the same level of greenhouse gas emissions as constructing 10 kilometers of seawalls, a small fraction of the length the world would need to build if it cant slow down the collapse of the ice sheets, he says. "Kick the system" One of Artes initial grantees is Marianne Haseloff, an assistant professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She studies the physical processes that govern the behavior of glaciers and is striving to more faithfully represent them in ice sheet models. Haseloff says she will use those funds to develop mathematical methods that could more accurately determine whats known as basal shear stress, or the resistance of the bed to sliding glaciers, based on satellite observations. That could help refine forecasts of how rapidly glaciers will slide into the ocean, in varying settings and climate conditions. Artes other initial grant will go to Lucas Zoet, an associate professor in the same department as Haseloff and the principal investigator with the Surface Processes group. He intends to use the funds to build the labs second ring shear device, the technical term for a simulated glacier. The existing device, which is the only one operating in the world, stands about eight feet tall and fills the better part of a walk-in freezer on campus. The core of the machine is a transparent drum filled with a ring of ice, sitting under pressure and atop a layer of sediment. It slowly spins for weeks at a time as sensors and cameras capture how the ice and earth move and deform. Lucas Zoet, an associate professor at the University of WisconsinMadison, stands in front of his lab's ring shear device, a simulated glacier.ETHAN PARRISH The research team can select the sediment, topography, water pressure, temperature, and other conditions to match the environment of a real-world glacier of interest, be it Thwaites todayor Thwaites in 2100, under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario. Zoet says these experiments promise to improve our understanding of how glaciers move over different types of beds, and to refine an equation known as the slip law, which represents these glacier dynamics mathematically in computer models. The second machine will enable them to run more experiments and to conduct a specific kind that the current device cant: a scaled-down, controlled version of the basal intervention. Zoet says the team will be able to drill tiny holes through the ice, then pump out water or transfer heat away from the bed. They can then observe whether the simulated glacier freezes to the base at those points and experiment with how many interventions, across how much space, are required to slow down its movement. It offers a way to test out different varieties of the basal intervention that is far easier and cheaper than using water drills to bore to the bottom of an actual glacier in Antarctica, Zoet says. The funding will allow the lab to explore a wide range of experiments, enabling them to kick the system in a way we wouldnt have before, he adds. Virtually impossible The concept of glacier interventions is in its infancy. There are still considerable unknowns and uncertainties, including how much it would cost, how arduous the undertaking would be, and which approach would be most likely to work, or if any of them are feasible. This is mostly a theoretical idea at this point, says Katharine Ricke, an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego, who researches the international relations implications of geoengineering, among other topics. Conducting extensive field trials or moving forward with full-scale interventions may also require surmounting complex legal questions, she says. Antarctica isnt owned by any nation, but its the subject of competing territorial claims among a number of countries and governed under a decades-old treaty to which dozens are a party. The basal interventionrefreezing the glacier to its bedfaces numerous technical hurdles that would make it virtually impossible to execute, Moon and dozens of other researchers argued in a recent preprint paper, Safeguarding the polar regions from dangerous geoengineering. Among other critiques, they stress that subglacial water systems are complex, dynamic, and interconnected, making it highly difficult to precisely identify and drill down to all the points that would be necessary to remove enough water or add enough heat to substantially slow down a massive glacier. Further, they argue that the interventions could harm polar ecosystems by adding contaminants, producing greenhouse gases, or altering the structure of the ice in ways that may even increase sea-level rise. Overwhelmingly, glacial and polar geoengineering ideas do not make sense to pursue, in terms of the finances, the governance challenges, the impacts, and the possibility of making matters worse, Moon says. No easy path forward But Douglas MacAyeal, professor emeritus of glaciology at the University of Chicago, says the basal intervention would have the lightest environmental impact among the competing ideas. He adds that nature has already provided an example of it working, and that much of the needed drilling and pumping technology is already in use in the oil industry. I would say its the strongest approach at the starting gate, he says, but we dont really know anything about it yet. The research still has to be done. Its very cutting-edge. Minchew readily acknowledges that there are big challenges and significant unknownsand that some of these ideas may not work. But he says its well worth the effort to study the possibilities, in part because much of the research will also improve our understanding of glacier dynamics and the risks of sea-level riseand in part because its only a question of when, not if, Thwaites will collapse. Even if the world somehow halted all greenhouse gas emissions tomorrow, the forces melting that fortress of ice will continue to do so. So one way or another, the world will eventually need to make big, expensive, difficult interventions to protect people and infrastructure. The cost and effort of doing one project in Antarctica, he says, would be small compared to the global effort required to erect thousands of miles of seawalls, ratchet up homes, buildings, and roads, and relocate hundreds of millions of people. One thing is challengingand the other is even more challenging, Minchew says. Theres no easy path forward.

The Danish practices part-retrofit, part-rebuild of the modernist tower for British Land will see the landmark turned into a science and tech-led workplace, with lab-enabled spaces for cutting-edge businesses of all sizes.A significantly reworked version of the proposal, already redrawn once in 2023, was submitted in December last year.Camden Councils planning committee voted to approve the project on Thursday evening (21 March), subject to secondary approval from the Mayor of London.AdvertisementThe proposal involves deconstructing the existing Euston Towers faade and floor slabs, while maintaining its central core, basement structure and foundations, and re-building it with enlarged floorplates. The scheme will increase internal floor area from 54,830m to 79,830m. Source:3XN (Taken from planning documents)Approved design (left) and December 2023 design (right)After its transformation, the 36-storey building will provide predominantly flexible office and lab-enabled floorspace for research and development, including accelerator space aimed at start-ups or existing businesses with rapid growth potential on floors four to 11.The plans also include nearly 1,000m of retail space, with 372m restaurant and caf space with terraces overlooking a revitalised public realm.The makeover will divide the tower into four quadrants with a crown at the top, and a podium featuring rounded colours and light-coloured cladding. The rebuild will incorporate 32 storeys the same height as the existing, but with larger floor-to-ceiling heights per floor.Camden Councils planning officers recommended the scheme for approval on the grounds that it aligns with the [boroughs] strategic objective of delivering new high-quality office and lab-enabled space in the heart of the Knowledge Quarter.AdvertisementOfficers said that, while the existing tower is not considered to be of architectural merit, the proposed building would be of high quality and would result in an overall space which was more inclusive, greener and more inviting. Source:British land APPROVED: 3XN and British Land's re-jigged overhaul of Euston TowerThe part-rebuild proposal sparked controversy over its sustainability credentials when it was unveiled for public consultation in July, featuring 25 per cent retention of the existing building.Sceptics included The Observers architecture critic, Rowan Moore, who hit back at the proportion of existing building fabric set to be retained, arguing the climate emergency requires a more radical rethink of construction [than] 25 per cent retention.However, a subsequent redesign following a three-part feasibility study by Camden Council advisers means that now 31 per cent of the existing structure will be retained.In their report to the councils committee, Camden planning officers acknowledged that refurbishing the existing building would be technically possible and more sustainable than 3XNs proposed part rebuild, which, they stated, shows low figures with regards to carbon reduction.However, officers concluded that, if refurbishment were not a viable option, the proposal would be reasonable given the design requirements for lab-enabled offices, which they acknowledged would result in higher whole-life carbon and operational carbon impacts.The report concluded: Officers therefore support deconstruction/demolition. Officers have pushed for retention of as much as possible, but have accepted substantial demolition is needed in this case to deliver on other objectives. Source:3XN (Taken from planning documents)APPROVED: 3XN and British Land's re-jigged overhaul of Euston Tower - massing modelBritish Land, which has owned and operated Regents Place, including Euston Tower, for nearly 40 years, previously told the AJ during a 2023 site visit that the company had worked hard to mitigate the carbon impact of the project and take the right approach to retrofitting the older building.David Lockyer, head of development at British Land, said the developer was delighted with the planning consent which he insisted would be the first West End tower in a generation, and likely to be the last.Lockyer added: This world-class building will provide the space for the UKs greatest minds to turn research into real-world solutions.The tower is ideally located at our Regents Place campus, where the Knowledge Quarter meets the West End, and where businesses can benefit from the great concentration of academic and research institutions between Harley Street and Kings Cross.The developer recently signed British generative AI company Synthesia for 1,860m at a neighbouring building, 20 Triton Street, and is developing a further 27,870m office and lab space at 1 Triton Square with Royal London Asset Management.3XN was supported by London-based architects Adamson Associates and architecture and landscape studio DSDHA on the designs. DSDHA practice director Deborah Saunt has described the building as a key gateway to Camdens West End.3XN senior partner and head of design Audun Opdal previously said the practice had developed a guiding hierarchy for elements which will be removed from Euston Tower.He explained: Where we cannot retain materials in situ, we are developing innovative methodologies for recycling and upcycling, working closely with research institutes to further this.

The Stockport Pyramid at Junction One of the M60 designed by Christopher Denny from Michael Hyde and Associates (completed 1992) Source:&nbsp Shutterstock/iron bellA 50-year-old practice has gone into voluntary liquidation, blaming rocketing cost of Professional Indemnity Insurance MHA Architects, the trading name for Michael Hyde & Associates, which has offices in Sheffield and Manchester, appointed liquidators Cowgills this month.Founded in 1974, the practice is best known for the Stockport Pyramid, which was completed in 1992 to the designs of the firms Christopher Denny, and for its mid-90s revamp and extension of Owen Williams Futurist Art Deco Daily Express Building in Manchester.Explaining the circumstances which led to the companys closure, director Jimmy Lennon told the AJ: The principal cause [of the liquidation] was the cost of maintaining Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) cover since 2020, given the market in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.AdvertisementThis eroded cash reserves, leaving the company vulnerable to cashflow issues in a competitive market struggling to navigate uncertain project timelines.The recently posted statement of affairs shows the company owes PII providers PIB Insurance Brokers 106,000, as well as nearly 60,000 to HM Customs and Revenue, 244,000 to other trade creditors and almost 262,000 to staff, covering payments in lieu of notice and redundancy monies.The 744,000 deficit also included 97,5oo due to directors for long-term loans to the company.According to the companys last accounts for the year ending 31 March 2024, the practice had 15 employees. But the AJ understands there were only nine staff remaining when MHA ceased trading, with numbers already reduced as part of an earlier cost-cutting exercise in late 2024.Back in 2016 MHA Architects had a workforce of 27 and an annual turnover of nearly 2.4 million.AdvertisementThe companys website, which has now taken been taken down, said the practice had provided design services to both private and public sector clients, working on projects ranging in value from 50,000 to 200 million.The outfit had previously worked in housing, education, healthcare, scientific research, leisure and commercial development.In 2019 the company reshuffled its management team following the retirement of long-term directors Harold Morris and Ian Thorp.The practice was then run by a new board made up of Lennon, Paul Chadwick, Andrew Callicott and Chris Yorke. Source:Shutterstock/Raymond OrtonThe Daily Express Building in Manchester which was given an overual by MHA Architects in the mid 90sThe news of MHA Architects demise comes as the RIBAs Future Trends survey for February revealed that architects expect their workloads to increase over the next three months, signalling a return to optimism after three months of pessimism.The most positive outlooks, according to the survey, are in the housing and commercial sectors, with confidence in residential schemes the highest since mid-2022.The institutes monthly bellwether of the professions ongoing workloads showed that London stood out as the most positive region.However, Adrian Malleson, the RIBAs head of economic research and analysis, said: [Despite] this increased optimism, significant risks to future growth remain.These include heightened geopolitical uncertainty and growing threats to global supply chains due to protectionist trade policies. Commentary received from practices in February gives a mixed picture.Practices report difficulty gaining sufficient work of sufficient valueMany describe a challenging market, hindered by client hesitancy, raised interest rates, planning delays, strong fee competition, an increased regulatory burden and upcoming increases in Stamp Duty and employers NICs.He added: In such a market, some practices report difficulty gaining sufficient work of sufficient value to maintain current staffing levels and ensure practice viability. Other practices, however, give a more optimistic assessment, with reports of more enquiries, full order books for the year, new growth sectors and an overall strong start to the year.2025-03-21Richard Waitecomment and share

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