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How Hempel created a paint empire powering ships, skyscrapers and Farrow & Ball

Farrow & Ball is known for its outré colour names that include “Elephant’s Breath”, “Arsenic” and “Dead Salmon” but the company that owns the UK paint-maker has more than the luxury interiors market covered. Hempel a/s, a 109-year-old Danish company that owns various brands such as Crown, also manufactures cutting-edge coatings including those that adorn London’s Tower Bridge, the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Elsewhere, its innovations can be glimpsed on the exteriors of oil rigs and gas platforms, as well as wind-turbine blades and ship’s hulls. All are rigorously formulated to reduce drag and pollution, and dazzle for far more than their hue.

Orange, the new black?

Marine paint

Watching paint dry has never been this fascinating or this lucrative: in 2023, Hempel’s revenue grew by a record 13.7 per cent to €2.4bn. “Our marine business has seen huge growth in the past three years,” says Michael Hansen, Hempel group president and CEO, when Monocle meets him just north of Copenhagen at the company’s headquarters in Lundtofte. “Shipping is experiencing a paradigm shift. The focus now is on the environment and decarbonisation. Our marine coatings are here to help these organisations achieve their goals. If we can solve the biggest challenges facing the wind-energy industry, there is potential for real growth there too.”

The technicians in the research and development technology centre downstairs are busy tackling these issues. As Monocle dons anti-static overshoes, goggles and white coats, formulations specialist Camilla Holmberg informs photographer Mathias Eis that, due to the solvents used, this is an atex (“explosive atmosphere”) zone. For safety reasons, he’ll need to shoot at a minimum height of 80cms. First we visit the Colour Room, which is painted the most neutral of greys, where colours can be assessed under all sorts of lighting conditions. Next, Holmberg hands me a tongue of polyurethane paint that is used to coat the blades of wind turbines. Rain is an existential threat to offshore wind farms. In testing, Hempel subjects the blades to its helicopter-engined weather simulator and they come out looking like they’ve been gnawed by a colony of vicious rabbits. The paint’s rubbery texture counteracts this by enhancing wind resistance and providing protection against adverse conditions. Another of its miracle paints can help to maintain the integrity of burning buildings by puffing up to 50 times its original volume. It can withstand temperatures of 500c and is typically used for oil refineries but also coats the steel frame of Schiphol Airport.

CEO Michael Hansen

Chief people and culture officer Pernille Fritz Vilhelmsen

Hansen is particularly proud of Hempel’s newer marine coatings: one protects hull interiors against brutal cargos while also being easy to clean, enabling a quick turnaround in ports; another super-slippery, self-polishing, silicone-based external paint can reduce drag, and therefore fuel usage, by more than 17.7 per cent. There’s even a special paint to smooth over vertical welds on a ship’s outer hull. “This is really cool because welds are structural and you can’t grind them down,” says Hansen, taking nerdy delight in the details. “Using our paint on welds alone can reduce fuel consumption by 2 to 3 per cent. And it’s biocide-free, so it’s non-toxic.” To demonstrate the challenges faced when applying marine paints, Holmberg shakes a bottle of tomato ketchup. “To paint a ship, you need to be able to spray it but it mustn’t run or drip,” she says. “Just like ketchup when you shake it out of the bottle, it has to flow with the perfect consistency.”

In this context, Hansen’s move from shipping to paint, after 19 years at Danish shipping giant Maersk, doesn’t seem like such an odd career change. As he notes, Hempel started out in 1915 and Maersk was its first major customer. It was responsible for formulating the trademark “Maersk blue”. There are similarities between the company’s founders too. “Like Maersk, JC Hempel was a very entrepreneurial, outward-looking and innovative man: he went into the Middle East and Asia in the 1960s, for example,” says Hansen. “In addition to this, he firmly believed in moral responsibility.”

Protective clothing

This mindset led Jørgen Christian Hempel, who died 1986 aged 91, to effectively give away his fortune in 1948 when he created the Hempel Foundation, which is still the sole owner of the company. “He did it primarily to protect the group from a hostile takeover but over the past 20 years it has grown as a philanthropic foundation, giving more and more to charity,” says Hansen. Many of Denmark’s larger organisations, such as Lego, Maersk and Carlsberg, have separate charitable foundations but it is rarer for an entire company to be owned and run by them. It does have implications when the company needs to raise funds, though. “True, it means that we have to live from our own retained earnings but we want to be the industry leader in sustainability. For that, it is an advantage to have the foundation’s long-term approach. Above all, the fact that our dividends go to philanthropy gives the people who work here a huge sense of purpose.”

“The foundation is a major reason why so many people are drawn to roles at Hempel,” says Pernille Fritz Vilhelmsen, chief people and culture officer. “When we go to work, we know that our proceeds are not going straight to shareholders or an owner but towards doing good. It is a unique proposition in terms of employer branding and we do use it in recruitment.”

Inside Hempel’s HQ

This purpose-driven loyalty is one of the reasons why Hempel is considered to be among the best companies in Denmark to work for. Its HQ is appealing too. Built by Swedish architects Sweco, it has a central spiral staircase that emulates a can of paint being stirred. There is a fully staffed canteen and working hours are flexible. “Our Danish business is [financially] insignificant but we are still inspired by the country’s values,” says Hansen, who took over the top post a year-and- a-half ago. “We put our people first because innovation doesn’t come from nowhere. It also makes sense to be in Denmark. It’s easy to reach the rest of the world from Copenhagen; the reputation for quality of life here means that we attract overseas talent; and we have access to educated labour.” Since 2017 the Hempel Foundation has supported a science and technology centre within The Danish Technical University (DTU) that specialises in sustainable coating solutions. Once they have concluded their studies, many graduates join the organisation.

7,500
Employees in total (including 400 in the Danish HQ, 1,300 in the UK and 1,000 in China).

400 million
Total amount of paint produced in litres in 2023.

6,500
Number of Hempel paint standards.

26
Number of factories, plus 15 R&D centres.

€21m
The Hempel Foundation: has total assets of €848m and donated a record €21m in 2022.

Hempel’s business is divided into four sectors. Besides its marine, infrastructure and energy ventures, it also runs a decorative operation. Under this umbrella is paint and wallpaper company Farrow & Ball, which was founded in 1946 in Dorset, England, where it is still based. In 2021 it was bought by Hempel from US private-equity firm Ares for a reported €580m. The decorative arm also includes Crown Paints and JW Ostendorf in Germany. Farrow & Ball showrooms and Crown Decorating shops make up some of the 200 or so high street shops that Hempel runs in the UK. “Sometimes I wonder why we aren’t solely available online but the painting and decorating industry is surprisingly conservative,” says Hansen. “It turns out that professionals love to come into the shops for a cup of coffee before they start their day. It’s a big part of the appeal.” The decorative sector boomed during the coronavirus pandemic but has been hit by energy and material price hikes over the past two years. “There are still real challenges,” says Hansen. “Decorative hasn’t recovered yet.”

Paint samples in the Colour Room

The R&D lab’s paint storage

Ana Henriques, Hempel’s executive vice-president, head of decorative, is partly responsible for nurturing the sector back to health. Henriques joined the company from AB InBev in New York and has faith that the consumer brands can innovate their way back to greater revenues. “Farrow & Ball has always been a pioneer: we were the first to have showrooms rather than just traditional paint shops,” says Henriques.

“We have also embraced working with colour consultants, e-commerce and collaborating with designers. These days we are very well connected with influencers and a have a more-than-two-million-strong following on social media. But what comes first is the quality of our products, which are known for their richness and depth of colour.” In total, Farrow & Ball uses 12 different pigments to blend its 132 current shades. Historically, pigments would have come from a wide range of unusual sources: “India Yellow”, for instance, was once made from the urine of cows fed on a diet of mango leaves. Today they are all chemically created. The company is in the middle of gently revamping its colour range – something that happens every five years. The expectation this year is that surfaces that were painted at the height of the coronavirus pandemic will be looking a little tatty. “It has been a while since everyone redecorated,” says Henrique.

The air that we breathe in our homes and offices is a major topic among Danish architects right now. Volatile organic compounds (VOC), which are released when paint is applied, and over the longer term, are of particular concern. “Farrow & Ball was the first company to go 100 per cent water-based,” says Henriques. “People want their homes to feel healthy: they don’t want the smell of paint to linger, which means that they are going for low VOC options [Farrow & Ball paints are low- trace VOC – the best rating]. They also want to use colour to create specific moods.”

What’s on the cards?

Camilla Holmberg, formulations specialist

Customers can enlist the help of Farrow & Ball’s colour-consultancy service, which sees a representative visit homes to suggest a palette of calming tones or energising combinations. Before the end of the year the company will also offer an upgraded virtual service. It will then be possible to scan rooms, furniture included, on your phone and see the effect of different paints.

As a global company, Hempel employs a cross-cultural approach to colour and finish. “We have colour-trend teams who keep an eye on textiles, fashion, ceramics and social media,” says Henriques. “For instance, customers in the Middle East look for external paint in natural shades, you won’t see dark colours on houses and finishes need to withstand sand erosion. Cooler climates tend to like yellowish hues. In hotter climates, where the use of whiter indoor lighting is more widespread, colours appear differently. Big, bold reds are having a moment in Germany but in Scandinavia everything is white. Different countries are also drawn to different textures: in the US, smooth surfaces appeal whereas in Germany more ‘movement’ is allowed.” Even the way in which professionals work with Hempel varies. “In Germany, people prefer to use an oval paint bucket so that they can dip the roller straight in, unlike in other places, where they use trays.”

Looking ahead, the popularity of cold greys is waning and warmer tones might be returning to favour. But right now, Henriques detects a definite lust for coatings with depth. “Very rich green is having a bit of a moment,” she says, nodding emphatically.

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August 12, 2025
Colorado rabbits spotted with scary ‘horns and tentacles’ on their head; experts warn locals of growth virus

Residents in Fort Collins and other parts of Colorado have spotted wild rabbits with ‘scary’ horn-like and tentacle-shaped growths protruding from their heads and faces. Photos circulating on social media have startled locals. They show the animals with black, spiny structures resembling toothpicks or quills, sparking alarm and speculation about possible diseases.

Colorado residents have spotted several rabbits with tentacle-like growth(X)

Wildlife experts revealed that the unsettling condition is caused by Shope papilloma virus, a disease that creates wart-like tumors on rabbits, often around the head, ears, and eyelids. While the growths may look disturbing, officials stressed they do not pose a threat to humans, pets, or other wildlife.

The virus only spreads between rabbits, typically through bites from insects such as mosquitoes and ticks. According to the University of Missouri, the condition is a DNA virus ‘seen most frequently in cottontail rabbits of the Midwest with outbreaks in domestic rabbits’.

Local Sightings and reactions

Fort Collins residents have reported multiple sightings, including one rabbit that returned to a homeowner’s yard for two consecutive years with increasingly severe growths.

Some residents initially feared the animals had plague or another dangerous illness.

Descriptions of the appearance range from ‘black quills’ to a ‘scabby growth’ covering parts of the face.

“I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn’t,” a local, Susan Mansfield, told NBC local affiliate KUSA.“He came back a second year, and it grew.”

What is Shope Papilloma Virus?

The virus causes benign wart-like tumors, but in some cases, these can become malignant (cancerous). While generally not harmful to the rabbit’s overall health, tumors can create problems if they obstruct the mouth, nose, or eyes.

The disease is relatively common in wild rabbit populations, particularly during warmer months when insect activity is high.

There is no known cure for the virus; surgical removal of tumors is sometimes performed for domestic rabbits.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is advising residents to keep their distance. The rabbits are not dangerous.

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August 12, 2025
Nuclear-powered AI could make Rolls Royce UK’s biggest firm, says boss

Simon Jack

Business editor

Rolls-Royce

Artist’s impression of a small nuclear power station

Rolls-Royce’s plan to power artificial intelligence (AI) with its nuclear reactors could make it the UK’s most valuable company, its boss has said.

The engineering firm has signed deals to provide small modular reactors (SMRs) to the UK and Czech governments to power AI-driven data centres.

AI has boomed in popularity since 2022, but the technology use lots of energy, something which has raised practical and environmental concerns.

Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic told the BBC it has the “potential” to become the UK’s highest-valued company by overtaking the largest firms on the London Stock Exchange thanks to its SMR deals.

“There is no private company in the world with the nuclear capability we have. If we are not market leader globally, we did something wrong,” he said.

Tufan Erginbilgic has overseen a ten-fold increase in Rolls-Royce’s share price since taking over in January 2023.

However, he has ruled out the idea of Rolls-Royce seeking to list its shares in New York as British chip designer Arm has done and the likes of Shell and AstraZeneca have considered in the search for higher valuations.

This is despite the fact that 50% of its shareholders and customers are US-based.

“It’s not in our plan,” said Mr Erginbilgic, a Turkish energy industry veteran. “I don’t agree with the idea you can only perform in the US. That’s not true and hopefully we have demonstrated that.”

AI investment

Rolls-Royce already supplies the reactors that power dozens of nuclear submarines. Mr Erginbilgic said the company has a massive advantage in the future market of bringing that technology on land in the form of SMRs.

SMRs are not only smaller but quicker to build than traditional nuclear plants, with costs likely to come down as units are rolled out.

He estimates that the world will need 400 SMRs by 2050. At a cost of up to $3bn (£2.2bn) each, that’s another trillion dollar-plus market he wants and expects Rolls-Royce to dominate.

The company has signed a deal to develop six SMRs for the Czech Republic and is developing three for the UK.

But it remains an unproven technology. Mr Erginbilgic conceded he could not currently point to a working SMR example but said he was confident in its future potential.

There are also concerns about the demands on water supplies from the data centre and SMR cooling systems.

In response, companies including Google, Microsoft and Meta have signed deals to take energy from SMRs in the US when they are available.

Next generation aircraft

Rolls-Royce sees SMRs as key to its future, but its biggest business is aircraft engines.

Already dominant in supplying engines to wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, it plans to break into the next generation of narrow-bodied aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. This market is worth $1.6tn – nine times that of the wide-bodied .

Rolls-Royce is a bit player in a market that has powerful and successful leaders, and that rival Pratt and Witney lost $8bn trying and failing to break into.

The market is dominated by CFM International – a joint venture between US-based GE Aerospace and French company Safran Aerospace Engines.

Industry veterans told the BBC that market leaders can and will drop prices to airline customers long enough to see off a new assault on their market dominance.

But Mr Erginbilgic said this is not just the biggest business opportunity for Rolls-Royce. Rather, it is “for industrial strategy… the single biggest opportunity for the UK for economic growth”.

“No other UK opportunity, I challenge, will match that,” he said.

Share price up ten-fold

Although Rolls-Royce sold its car making business to BMW nearly 30 years ago, the name of the company is still synonymous with British engineering excellence.

But in the early part of this decade that shine had worn off. The company was heavily indebted, its profit margins were non-existent, and thousands of staff were being laid off.

When Mr Erginbilgic took over in January 2023, he likened the company to “a burning platform”.

“Our cost of capital was 12%, our return was 4% so every time we invested we destroyed value,” he said.

Two and a half years later, the company expects to make a profit of over £3bn, its debt levels have fallen and shares have risen over 1,000% – a ten-fold rise.

So how did that happen? And is Mr Erginbilgic right to think that Rolls-Royce’s roll is only just starting?

‘Grudging respect’

The timing of his appointment was fortunate according to some industry veterans.

Rolls-Royce’s biggest business – supplying engines to commercial airlines – has rebounded strongly from the Covid pandemic.

The company’s most successful product – the Trent series of aircraft engines – are at the sweet spot of profitability as the returns on investment in their development over a decade ago begin to pour into company coffers.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 arguably made it almost inevitable that its defence business would see higher spending from European governments – which has been confirmed by recent announcements.

Unions have not always been fans of Mr Erginbilgic’s hard-charging approach.

In October 2023, one of his first major move was cutting jobs, which drew criticism from Sharon Graham, the boss of the Unite union.

“This announcement appears to be about appeasing the markets and its shareholders while ignoring its workers,” she said at the time.

However, overall global headcount has grown from 43,000 to 45,000 since 2023 and union sources say there is “grudging respect” for Mr Erginbilgic.

Those sources give him one third of the credit for the turnaround around in the company’s fortunes, with a third credited to market conditions and a third to his predecessor Warren East for “steadying the ship”.

So does Mr Erginbilgic really believe that Rolls-Royce can be the UK’s most valuable company – overtaking the likes of AstraZeneca, HSBC, and Shell?

“We are now number five in the FTSE. I believe the growth potential we created in the company right now, in our existing business and our new businesses, actually yes – we have that potential.”

Rolls-Royce is undoubtedly a company with the wind at its back – and Tufan Ergenbilgic certainly believes he has set the sails just right.

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August 12, 2025
Smart Monitor M9 Earns Praise as a Do-It-All Display for Work and Play – Samsung Global Newsroom

Samsung Electronics is delivering a more responsive and refined screen experience with the Smart Monitor M9 (M90SF model), the first OLED display in Samsung’s Smart Monitor (M series) lineup.

The Smart Monitor M9 brings together the brilliance of a 4K OLED display with built-in Smart TV Apps, AI-powered features and Samsung Gaming Hub to achieve a seamless experience no matter what’s on screen — no PC required.

Since its release, the device has earned praise from industry experts for its stunning picture quality, intelligent features and gaming-ready performance.

Below is a summary of what leading tech outlets are saying about the Smart Monitor M9 (listed in alphabetical order):

Next-Level Picture Quality Backed by QD-OLED Brilliance

Highlighting the high-end features and performance improvements of the M9, one of Samsung’s best OLED 4K models in its class, Tom’s Guide wrote, “The new M9 offers a significant upgrade over its predecessor thanks to its 32-inch 4K QD-OLED panel, which dramatically enhances contrast and color for an improved movie-watching experience.”

The Smart Monitor M9 delivers true-to-life visuals powered by QD-OLED technology, producing rich colors and deep inky blacks — complemented by sharp 4K resolution. With support for VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400, content appears with greater depth and contrast, even in dark scenes.

“The Smart Monitor M9 features Samsung Vision AI, providing advanced upscaling and picture optimisation features,” added Tom’s Guide. “During my time with the M9, I came to the conclusion that it’s a huge leap forward from its predecessor, offering more than enough advancements to justify a price increase.”

Techaeris rated the M9 a 9.7 out of 10, calling its QD-OLED panel “one of the best you’re going to find on any monitor,” and noting the display “looks spectacular” with colors that “pop” and brightness that “doesn’t wash out the colors.”

To help reduce the risk of burn-in and maintain screen integrity over time, Samsung OLED Safeguard+ features advanced technologies like adaptive brightness controls and a proprietary cooling system with a Pulsating Heat Pipe.

Game in High Gear With Pro-Level Specs

“With a brilliant 4K QD-OLED display, 165Hz refresh rate, Smart TV apps, Gaming Hub, and more, this is a do-it-all monitor and TV, perfect for work and play,” wrote Techaeris.

The Smart Monitor M9 is engineered for smooth, fast-paced gaming, featuring a near-instant 0.03ms GTG response time and support for both NVIDIA G-SYNC^™ Compatible and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro.

HomeTheaterReview described the M9 as “one of the most impressive displays money can buy,” pointing to a responsive performance and “color accuracy that creative professionals will drool over.”

Whether jumping into cloud-based titles via Samsung Gaming Hub or connecting to a console or PC, the M9 delivers the speed and clarity needed for an immersive gaming experience. The same reviewer noted they use the M9 just as often without a PC as with one, describing it as “the kind of paradigm shift that makes this monitor truly special.”

A Smarter Screen and a Smarter Experience: AI That Adapts to You

“Imagine a monitor so capable, you might forget to connect a computer,” wrote HomeTheaterReview, which awarded the M9 five stars and an “Editors’ Choice” distinction.

The M9 is a smart entertainment hub that provides built-in access to popular streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube, Samsung TV Plus and Samsung Gaming Hub, enabling cloud-based gaming and content streaming, all without a PC.

Powered by the NQM AI Gen3 Processor, the M9 optimizes both picture and audio for a more immersive viewing experience. Intelligent features like 4K AI Upscaling Pro, AI Picture Optimizer and Active Voice Amplifier (AVA) Pro automatically adapt to content and the display’s surroundings to consistently provide reliable, high-quality entertainment.

Whether used for content viewing, cloud gaming, or everyday tasks, it delivers the flexibility of a monitor and the functionality of a smart TV. Techaeris calls the M9 “an outstanding monitor” and adds, “for those who only want to spend once, this is a solid choice.”

The M9 also features a 90W-charging USB-C, one HDMI 2.1, one DisplayPort 1.4, and eARC ports, supporting a variety of gaming and entertainment input needs. The slim metal stand, which offers tilt and height adjustment, “deserves special mention,” according to HomeTheaterReview, for its balance of form and function in a modern flat-back design.

The Smart Monitor M9 was named a CES 2025 Innovation Awards Honoree, receiving the recognition for its advancements in display performance and intelligent features.

Techaeris named the M9 a Top Pick of 2025, citing its versatility across work, play and everything in between. That recognition joins a growing list of accolades across Samsung’s next-generation display portfolio, including a 2025 Techaeris Innovation Award for the Odyssey 3D G90XF — celebrated for its “mind-blowing” 3D experience and praised as the “real deal” for those seeking a 3D monitor without glasses.

For more information on the Samsung Smart Monitor M9, visit samsung.com.

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August 12, 2025
Ukraine will not cede land that could be Russian springboard for new war, Zelenskyy says | Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine could not agree to a Russian proposal to give up more of his country’s territory in exchange for a ceasefire because Moscow would use what it gained as a springboard to start a future war.

The Ukrainian president said he did not believe that Donald Trump supported Russia’s demands, and he expressed hope the US leader would act as an honest mediator when he meets Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

He added there was no sign that Russia was preparing to implement a ceasefire, as reports emerged that small sabotage groups had pierced Ukrainian defences in the eastern Donbas, advancing about six miles in three days. Zelenskyy also warned that Russia was planning new offensives on three parts of the frontline.

Speaking to journalists in the run-up to the Trump-Putin summit, and a day before a virtual meeting with US and European leaders, Zelenskyy said he believed Putin wanted to dominate his country because he “does not want a sovereign Ukraine”.

It was therefore dangerous, Zelenskyy said, for Ukraine to be forced by the US into accepting Russia’s demand to take over the parts of Donbas it does not control after the Alaska summit. The region sought by Russia amounted to “about 90,000 square kilometres” of the country, he said.

Last week Russia indicated it was prepared to consider a ceasefire in the Ukraine war for the first time, in exchange for Ukraine withdrawing from the parts of Donbas it still controlled. Though Trump then suggested that Russia and Ukraine could engage in some “swapping of territories”, Zelenskyy said he understood that Russia was “simply offering not to advance further, not to withdraw from anywhere” and that swaps were not on the table.

Map

“We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do it,” Zelenskyy said. “For Russians, Donbas is a springboard for a future new offensive.” The region demanded by Russia was too strategically important to give up, he said, because it was a heavily fortified area that protected Ukraine’s central cities.

“I have heard nothing – not a single proposal – that would guarantee that a new war will not start tomorrow and that Putin will not try to occupy at least Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv” once Russia had gained all of Donbas, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine’s leader said he wanted Putin instead to agree to a ceasefire on the current frontlines and for both sides to return all prisoners of war and missing children, before any discussion about territory and the future security of the country. “Any question of territory cannot be separated from security guarantees,” he said.

Zelenskyy said he would not be at the summit in Alaska, the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin with both in office since 2018. But he said he hoped it would be followed by “a trilateral meeting” with Trump and Putin, though the Russian leader has so far said he is not willing to meet Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian leader also expressed faith in the unpredictable Trump, who he said could act as an honest broker between himself and Putin. “I do not believe that Putin’s proposal is Trump’s proposal,” he said. “I believe that Trump represents the United States of America. He is acting as a mediator – he is in the middle, not on Russia’s side. Let him not be on our side but in the middle.”

He said he did not know what exactly Putin and Trump were going to discuss in Alaska, saying “probably there is a bilateral track” of talks about other topics of mutual interest, such as trade, sanctions and business. But he said Putin had scored a diplomatic win in securing the meeting: “He is seeking, excuse me, photographs. He needs a photo of his meeting with President Trump.”

Zelenskyy said Russia was desperately trying to show it was winning the war and that the Kremlin wanted “to create a certain narrative, especially in the American media, that Russia is moving forward and Ukraine is losing” by mounting sabotage attacks in the Donbas region.

He acknowledged that “groups of Russians advanced about 10 kilometres in several places” although he said: “They have no equipment, only weapons in their hands,” and said that some had already been killed or captured.

But the breach is ill-timed from Ukraine’s point of view. In Alaska, Putin is likely to tell Trump that such successes show that Russia is gradually winning the three-year war in the east, and so US future support for Kyiv will be wasted.

Map showing Russian advances

War maps showed two lines of advance east of the town of Dobropillya, and gains of about six miles since Friday. Experts said the next few days would be critical to see if Ukraine could contain the break in the front.

Ukraine’s military said Russia had concentrated about 110,000 troops in the sector and that the invaders were “brazenly attempting to infiltrate our defensive lines with sabotage and small infantry groups, regardless of their losses”.

The military command said in a social media post that reserves had been deployed at the order of Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s chief military commander, in an effort to restore the frontlines.

Residents of Drobopillya and nearby villages are evacuated on Tuesday. Photograph: Pierre Crom/Getty Images

The Institute for the Study of War said Russian “sabotage and reconnaissance groups” had infiltrated Ukrainian-held territory near Dobropillya, a key supply point in the west of the Donetsk region.

“It is premature to call the Russian advances in the Dobropillya area an operational-level breakthrough,” the ISW said on Monday night. It said the invaders would now try to turn “tactical advances” into something more significant.

Russia is taking heavy casualties of about 1,000 a day, with 500 killed and 500 wounded on Monday, Zelenskyy said, as it relies heavily on infantry assaults to break Kyiv’s defensive lines.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s casualties on the same day were much smaller – a total of 340 – “18 killed and 243 wounded, with 79 missing in action”. But in the past when Moscow’s forces have broken through, Ukraine has frequently proved unable to push them back.

A former senior Ukrainian army officer, Bohdan Krotevych, said the piercing of Ukraine’s lines had come about because “instead of reinforcing defensive units with infantry”, senior commanders in Kyiv had prioritised deploying newly mobilised soldiers into assault forces, leaving units already on the frontline weakened.

“To stabilise the front, we must reinforce brigades on the line of contact with infantry,” Krotevych said, and he called for Ukraine to urgently strengthen its reserve forces and adopt a defensive strategy rather than try to counter high-risk Russian infantry assaults with its own.

Dobropillya is a key supply point for the beleaguered towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad to the south and the principal cities of Ukrainian-held Donbas to the east from the centre of the country.

Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing a fresh offensive in the autumn involving nearly 30,000 troops moved from Sumy, in the north-east of Ukraine, “in three directions” on the frontline – towards Zaporizhzhia in the south and Pokrovsk and the nearby Novopavlika in the south-east.

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August 12, 2025
Study reveals gait retraining could help treat knee osteoarthritis

Editor’s note: This article was adapted from a release from the University of Utah.

Nearly a quarter of people over the age of 40 experience painful osteoarthritis, making it a leading cause of disability in adults. Osteoarthritis involves degradation of joint-cushioning cartilage, and there is currently no way of reversing this damage: the only option is to manage pain with medication, and eventually, joint replacement.

A study conducted at Stanford University is now demonstrating the potential for another option: gait retraining.

By making a small adjustment to the angle of their foot while walking, participants in a year-long randomized control trial experienced pain relief equivalent to medication. Critically, those participants also showed less knee cartilage degradation over that period as compared to a group that received a placebo treatment.

Published in The Lancet Rheumatology, it is the first placebo-controlled study to demonstrate the potential effectiveness of a biomechanical intervention for osteoarthritis.

The study was led by an interdisciplinary team at Stanford: Scott Uhlrich, who is now an assistant professor in the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah; Valentina Mazzoli, who is now an assistant professor in New York University’s Department of Radiology; and Julie Kolesar, a research engineer in Stanford’s Human Performance Lab who worked for the Veteran’s Administration at the time of the study.

“We’ve known that for people with osteoarthritis, higher loads in their knee accelerate progression, and that changing the foot angle can reduce knee load,” said Uhlrich. “So the idea of a biomechanical intervention is not new, but there have not been randomized, placebo-controlled studies to show that they’re effective.”

A personalized approach

The researchers were specifically looking at patients with mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis in the medial compartment of the knee – on the inside of the leg – which tends to bear more weight than the lateral, outside, compartment. This form of osteoarthritis is the most common, but the ideal foot angle for reducing load in the medial side of the knee differs from person to person depending on their natural gait and how it changes when they adopt the new walking pattern.

“Previous trials prescribed the same intervention to all individuals, resulting in some individuals not reducing, or even increasing, their joint loading,” said Uhlrich. “We used a personalized approach to selecting each individual’s new walking pattern, which improved how much individuals could offload their knee and likely contributed to the positive effect on pain and cartilage that we saw.”

“This study not only demonstrates a promising approach to help individuals with osteoarthritis,” said Scott Delp, a senior author of the paper, director of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at Stanford, and James H. Clark Professor in the School of Engineering, “It also showcases how powerful a more personalized approach can be.”

Scott Delp | Andrew Brodhead

In their first two visits, participants received a baseline MRI and practiced walking on a pressure-sensitive treadmill while motion-capture cameras recorded the mechanics of their gait. This allowed the researchers to determine whether turning the patient’s toe inward or outward would reduce load more, and whether a 5- or 10-degree adjustment would be ideal.

This personalized analysis also screened out potential participants who could not benefit from the intervention, as none of the foot angle changes could decrease loading in their knees. These participants were included in previous studies, which may have contributed to those studies’ inconclusive pain results.

Moreover, after their initial intake sessions, half of the 68 participants were assigned to a sham treatment group to control for the placebo effect. These participants were prescribed foot angles that were identical to their natural gait. Conversely, participants in the intervention group were prescribed the change in foot angle that maximally reduced their knee loading.

Participants from both groups returned to the lab for six weekly training sessions, where they received biofeedback – vibrations from a device worn on the shin – that helped them maintain the prescribed foot angle while walking on the lab’s treadmill. After the six-week training period, participants were encouraged to practice their new gait for at least 20 minutes a day, to the point where it became natural. Periodic check-in visits showed that participants were adhering to their prescribed foot angle within a degree on average.

After a year, all participants self-reported their experience of knee pain and had a second MRI to quantitatively assess the damage to their knee cartilage.

“The reported decrease in pain over the placebo group was somewhere between what you’d expect from an over-the-counter medication, like ibuprofen, and a narcotic, like OxyContin,” Uhlrich said.

Delp added, “The MRIs also showed improved biomarkers of cartilage health in the intervention group. This is an exciting finding that gives hope to people with osteoarthritis.”

A lasting intervention

Beyond the quantitative measures of effectiveness, participants in the study expressed enthusiasm for both the approach and the results. One participant said: “I don’t have to take a drug or wear a device … it’s just a part of my body now that will be with me for the rest of my days, so that I’m thrilled with.”

Participants’ ability to adhere to the intervention over long periods of time is one of its potential advantages.

“Especially for people in their 30s, 40s, or 50s, osteoarthritis could mean decades of pain management before they’re recommended for a joint replacement,” said Uhrlich. “This intervention could help fill that large treatment gap.”

Before this intervention can be clinically deployed, the gait retraining process will need to be streamlined. The motion-capture technique used to make the original foot angle prescription is expensive and time-consuming; the researchers envision this intervention to eventually be prescribed in a physical therapy clinic and retraining can happen while people go for a walk around their neighborhood.

“We and others have developed technology that could be used to both personalize and deliver this intervention in a clinical setting using mobile sensors, like smartphone video and a ‘smart shoe,’” said Uhlrich. Future studies of this approach are needed before the intervention can be made widely available to the public.

For more information

Additional Stanford co-authors include Amy Silder, former associate director of the Human Performance Lab; Andrea Finlay, a staff statistician in the Ladd Lab; Feliks Kogan, assistant professor (research) of radiology in Stanford Medicine; and Garry Gold, professor of radiology in Stanford Medicine. Gary S. Beaupre of the Palo Alto VA is also a co-author.

Delp is also a professor of bioengineering, of mechanical engineering and, by courtesy, of orthopaedics in the Schools of Medicine and Engineering. He is also a member of Stanford Bio-X, the Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI), and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Gold is also a member of Bio-X, the Cardiovascular Institute, the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Kogan is also a member of Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance.

The research was supported by fellowships from the National Science Foundation (DGE-114747) and the Stanford Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education, Merit Review Award I01 RX001811 from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, and Award P2CHD101913 from the United States National Institutes of Health.

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August 12, 2025
Comet’s Water Reveals Clues About Life on Earth

A team of scientists have made a discovery that could help solve one of Earth’s greatest mysteries, where did our planet’s water come from? Using powerful radio telescopes, the researchers have detected water vapour in a comet located far beyond Neptune’s orbit, and the results are changing our understanding of how life sustaining water arrived on our world.

The comet, known as 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, orbits in the outer reaches of our Solar System between Jupiter and Neptune. What makes this discovery remarkable is that the astronomers detected water vapour so far from the Sun, where temperatures are extremely cold. This suggests the comet contains unusually volatile materials that can sublimate, transitioning directly from ice to gas, even in the frigid outer Solar System.

This Image of the Week features the remarkable Comet 29P, imaged by Gemini North of the international Gemini Observatory (Credit : International Gemini Observatory)

Using the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) in Chile, scientists observed distinct radio wavelengths emitted by water molecules as they escaped from the comet’s nucleus. This marks one of the most distant detections of water vapour from a comet ever achieved, providing crucial data about the composition of these ancient remnants from our Solar System’s formation.

For decades, scientists have debated how Earth acquired its oceans with leading theories suggesting water arrived through bombardment by comets and asteroids during the planet’s early history, roughly 4 billion years ago. However, not all water sources it seems are created equal.

Two of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 12-metre antennas gaze at the sky at the observatory’s Array Operations Site (AOS), high on the Chajnantor plateau at an altitude of 5000 metres in the Chilean Andes (Credit : Iztok Bončina/ESO)

The key lies in the ratio of heavy water (deuterium) to regular water. Different regions of the Solar System produced ice with distinct deuterium signatures. By analyzing these ratios in comets, asteroids, and Earth’s oceans, scientists can trace which celestial bodies most likely delivered our water.

Previous studies of comets from the inner Solar System showed deuterium ratios that didn’t match Earth’s oceans very well. However, comets from the outer Solar System, like 29P appear to have ratios much closer to what we find in Earth’s water. This discovery strengthens the theory that comets from the distant Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud were major contributors to our planet’s water supply.

Known objects in the Kuiper belt beyond the orbit of Neptune. (Scale in AU. Distances but not sizes are to scale; the yellow disk is about the size of Mars’ orbit and the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are also shown

Understanding how Earth acquired its water has implications for the search for life elsewhere. If we can determine which types of celestial bodies best deliver life sustaining water to rocky planets, we can better predict which exoplanetary systems might harbour habitable worlds.

This research demonstrates the power of modern radio astronomy to probe the chemical composition of distant objects. As telescopes become more sensitive, scientists expect to detect water vapour in even more distant comets, building a comprehensive map of water distribution throughout our Solar System’s history.

Each new detection brings us closer to understanding not just how Earth became a blue planet, but how common water rich worlds might be throughout the universe.

Source : Comet’s Water Holds Clues to Life on Earth

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August 12, 2025
Hooper: the film that turned the stuntman into a movie star | Culture
Writing about Hooper in his autobiography, director Hal Needham claims the film pioneered the concept of outtakes. Subsequent films would feature flubbed line readings, misbehaving props, actions gone wrong and various other bloopers in their credits sequences. But Hooper – a film about, as its tagline proclaims, “the greatest stuntman alive!” – uses its final minutes to showcase extra stunts that didn’t make the final cut.

Instead of leaving them on the cutting room floor, these outtakes instead make the stunt performer’s (typically effaced) labour not only visible, but a point of celebration. An original ditty, Nothin’ Like the Life (Of A Hollywood Stuntman), was even commissioned as the soundtrack.

In film production, the success of the stunt performer is paradoxically predicated on their invisibility. They do the work of constructing the star’s image while maintaining the illusion that they were never there at all. In return, stars do interviews and claim – almost always falsely – that they “do their own stunts”.

It’s this idea that Hooper – starring megastar Burt Reynolds, hot off the success of his and Needham’s previous collaboration, Smokey and the Bandit – lays out, turning the spotlight on the unsung profession and foregrounding the stunt performer as not a faceless entity but the film’s star. Needham, a former stuntman and perhaps the first in Hollywood to move from rigging wires to sitting in the director’s chair, shoots the film with a palpable reverence for the profession, informed by his experience on more than 300 films and 3,000 episodes of television. (In Reynolds’ own autobiography, he claims that Needham was so good at vehicle stunts that he earned the nickname “the master of suspension”.)

Hooper seems to live a relatively glamorous life as a stuntman. Clocking off from his role as stunt performer and coordinator on the fictional Bond riff The Spy Who Laughed at Danger, he returns to his ranch to be met by his girlfriend, Gwen (Sally Field), a fistful of beers and a horse to drink them with.

All the brewskis are part of the problem; Hooper’s an addict and an alcoholic, whose tendency to mask the pain of his many falls with pills and booze keeps him at arm’s length with his sweetheart. He embodies an archetype Gwen’s all too familiar with: her own father, Jocko (Brian Keith), is an ageing stuntman himself, equally in the wars. “You should drink more,” Jocko tells Hooper. “Nothing hurts when you’re numb.”

‘The spectacle of the stunt almost becomes secondary to the amusement of hanging out with Hooper and his buddies.’ Photograph: Ronald Grant

As his doctor informs him, Hooper’s next accident could be his last – a danger accentuated by his director’s desire to flout safety precautions. Making matters worse, Hooper has to contend with new blood personified in the hotshot Ski (Jan-Michael Vincent). Ski’s affection for aerial antics and coiffed hair brings to mind none other than Tom Cruise, whose own turn towards stunting stardom – via high-profile, high-pressure capers – remains a high point of the latter-day Mission: Impossible films.

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Contrastingly, much of Hooper’s pleasures come from its lax and loose structure. The spectacle of the stunt almost becomes secondary to the amusement of hanging out with Hooper and his buddies: a post-bar brawl party at Hooper’s house isn’t a rambunctious rave, but a sleepy screening of his stunt reel, the room silent but for the flicker of the projector. A scratchy print showcases a bi-plane gag of Hooper’s own.

The film-within-a-film’s director is a thinly veiled dig at New Hollywood auteur Peter Bogdanovich, whom Needham worked under, found pompous, and wrote skewering dialogue for. He takes glee in making the character bluster. “Films are tiny pieces of time, and we captured it!” goes one stuffy comment – but I like to think there’s some truth in there. Every stunt recorded is a small miracle – and Hooper captures the magic.
- Hooper is available to stream on HBO Max in Australia and available to rent in the US. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here
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August 12, 2025
expert reaction to study looking at calorie labelling on takeaway menus, and food choices

August 12, 2025

A study published in the BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health looks at calorie labelling and takeaway food choices.

Prof Amelia Lake, Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Teesside University, said:

“The complexity of trying to make highly accessible, highly palatable, high fat, high salt, high sugar food healthier.

“This analysis is helpful as it illustrates how unlikely people are to check calorie labelling but may find a traffic light system more useful.

“As the takeaway food environment expands before our eyes with the rise and rise of the digital food environment, these findings are very important in a real world setting.

“As with all surveys, there are limitations to this research – namely those under 35 and males – but largely this is a very helpful piece of research to think about how we make healthier choices easier for people who are ordering online takeaway food.”

Prof Amanda Daley, Professor of Behavioural Medicine and an NIHR Research Professor in Public Health, Loughborough University, said:

“Takeaways are an important focus for research of this kind because takeaway orders are typically very high in calories. However, this is a small observational study, so it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions from the findings. The results are not surprising either given that people often order takeaways as a treat, where they are less likely to want to focus on the number of calories in their order.

“We have known for some time that calorie labelling alone has only a small impact of the decisions people make about what food to purchase. One reason for this is calorie information is just a number and there is no meaning or context to this information. We need to find other ways of expressing to the public what calories mean for them. Regarding takeaways specifically, often people order takeaways as a treat where they are less likely to want to focus on the number of calories in their order. The problem here however is that takeaways are often very high in calories.”

Prof Fiona Gillison, a chartered member of the British Psychological Society, said:

“This study’s large and diverse sample, along with its clear focus on takeaway outlets, offers useful insight into calorie labelling in the UK. It suggests that calorie labels in takeaway food can reduce the number of calories ordered for a minority of people, which scaled up to the whole population could make it a useful tool alongside other public health initiatives.

“However, the study relies on people’s self-reports of their behaviour which has its limitations in terms of memory and social desirability, so there is still a case for more objective measurement of people’s behaviour in response to calorie labelling.

“As always, we should balance the potential for benefit for people trying to reduce their weight with the potential for harm for those with eating disorders.”

Rachel Richardson, Acting Head of Methods Support, The Cochrane Collaboration, said:

“The up-to-date evidence on the effectiveness of calorie labelling is best represented by a recent review from The Cochrane Collaboration, published in January 2025. The review examined evidence from 25 studies and concluded that calorie labels in supermarkets, restaurants and other food outlets led to a small reduction in the calories people selected and purchased. Importantly, the studies included 18 randomised controlled trials and most were conducted in real-world field settings. The authors concluded that the cumulative effect at a population level could make a meaningful contribution to public health.

“The findings from this study published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention and Health seem to suggest that calorie labelling rarely influences food choices when ordering a takeaway. However, it is important to interpret these findings with caution.

“Firstly, the study reports the results from a survey of a small number of people – 1,040, and only 235 people responded to the question about the impact of calorie information. It also seems as if the sample for the survey may not be representative of the general UK population – for example 46% reported ordering takeaway once every two weeks or more and younger people and men were underrepresented in the sample.

“Secondly, participants were asked if they noticed calorie information the last time they ordered takeaway food online and only 23% did. However, smaller businesses are not required to provide calorie information on menus, so it may be that some menus did not include any calorie information.

“Lastly, this study does not measure people’s actual behaviour and only reports on what people say they will do or have done. Such data are not a reliable measure of real-world behaviour.

“In summary, there is some interesting information in this study – particularly the comments made by participants on healthy eating, but the most reliable evidence on the effectiveness of calorie labelling comes from thorough and systematic reviews of multiple well-conducted studies, such as the recent publication from The Cochrane Collaboration.”

Dr Amanda Avery, Associate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Nottingham, said:

Context summary:

“The research, led by researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University of Reading and University of Exeter, looked at the impact of mandatory calorie labelling on take-away choice.

“Calorie labelling was mandated from April 2022 for large out of home food businesses across England, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways. As well as listing the calories for each food item, menus also need to include a statement of the recommended daily calorie intake.

“The researchers surveyed 1,040 adults living in England who had reported buying takeaways at least once in the past 12 months. Over a quarter of the sample (27%) reported having takeaways weekly or more often and a further 41% reported having takeaways every two weeks to once a month

Comments:

“This is a reasonably representative sample of adult consumers of take-aways and over a quarter were consuming take-aways at least once per week. The results very clearly demonstrate that taste and price are the most important factors for adults in England deciding which takeaway to order, while healthiness and low carbon footprint are the least important – equally so. The majority (77%) of respondents did not notice any calorie information during their most recent online takeaway purchase. Of those who did, most said it did not affect their food choices. When asked questions on recommended energy content, very few correctly identified the recommended 600kcal content for a meal.

“Whilst fewer young adults responded to the survey, those who did and were under the age of 35 were more than twice as likely to order takeaways weekly or more often than those who were older. Notably individuals with overweight or obese BMI category levels were also found to be twice as likely to have weekly or more frequent takeaways compared to those with healthy or underweight BMI scores. But one of the study limitations is that weight and height were self-reported and not all participants reported their weight and height. Thus this finding could be an over- or under-reporting.

“It would definitely be good to know why calorie labels are not being noticed or taken into account when adults are choosing take-aways and why so many are ordering take-aways so frequently. Having a tasty take-away that exceeds calorie recommendations would not matter so much if people consume take-aways less frequently.

“Future studies need to include more men and people aged under 35 years.

“The research also asked for ideas from participants. Participants suggested that a traffic light system might be more helpful than calorie labelling in guiding choices.

“The mandatory calorie labelling probably has had limited impact on out-of-the home food choices, including take-away choices but that is not to say that it is not helpful as part of a wider public healthy strategy to try and help reduce levels of obesity across England.

“The helpful take-away messages from this research are that people could be guided to make healthier, quick and easy fake-aways at home and if people do choose to have a take-away, healthier options need to be available that are tasty and cheaper.”

Dr Tom Jewell, Senior Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, said:

“These interesting findings suggest that calorie information has a limited influence on takeaway choices for consumers in England. A limitation of the study is that it is a survey, so people have to recall their decision-making choices and report them. This introduces some degree of bias, as food choices may have been made days or even weeks ago. Also, the authors were not able to provide data on the participants’ ethnicity, which is unfortunate, as it would be interesting to understand any potential impact of ethnicity on takeaway choices.”

‘Calorie labelling and other drivers of takeaway food choices’ by Laura Cornelsen et al. was published in the BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health at 23:30 UK time on Tuesday 12 August 2025.

DOI: 10.1136/bmjnph-2025-001268

Declared interests

Prof Amelia Lake: “Amelia is Deputy Director of Fuse the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health and is Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Teesside University.

Amelia sits on the scientific committee of the British Nutrition Foundation and is an executive for Nutrition North (Northern Health Science Alliance).

She has no industry CoIs.”

Prof Amanda Daley: “I conduct research in a similar field to the research and have no conflicts of interest to declare.”

Rachel Richardson: “I am an employee of The Cochrane Collaboration, but was not involved in the recent review.”

Dr Amanda Avery: “Besides academic position (Programme Director for Master of Nutrition & Dietetics & MSc Clinical Nutrition, Associate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the Division of food, Nutrition & Dietetics at the University of Nottingham), Amanda holds a position as Consultant dietitian in weight management at Slimming World.”

Dr Tom Jewell: “My conflict of interest is that I hold a NIHR grant to investigate the impact of calorie labelling on people with eating disorders – NIHR award 205226: https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR205226.”

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August 12, 2025
expert reaction to papers published in the Lancet Psychiatry Physical Health Commission – on physical health monitoring for people prescribed psychiatric medication and looking at lifestyle interventions in mental health care

August 12, 2025

Two papers published in the Lancet Psychiatry Physical Health Commission look at monitoring the physical health of people prescribed psychiatric medication and lifestyle interventions in mental health care.

Comment on the paper on physical health monitoring for people prescribed psychiatric medication*:

Dr Natalie Shoham, Senior Clinical Lecturer in the Unit for Psychological Medicine at the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health, QMUL, and honorary consultant psychiatrist, said:

“The second report of the Lancet Commission provides an up-to-date, comprehensive and practical guide for clinicians on how to reduce the burden of side effects caused by psychotropic medications, based on a review of a wide range of evidence. The report has direct real-world implications for healthcare provision, and potential to improve quality of life for many individuals prescribed antipsychotic medications. The challenges inherent in ensuring that all people prescribed antipsychotics benefit from the recommendations must now be addressed.”

Dr Paul Keedwell, Consultant Psychiatrist and Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said:

“The report is a well-meaning set of recommendations for improving the physical health outcomes of people prescribed medication for mental illness. Although clients often benefit from medication from a mental health point of view, many psychotropic medications put on weight and contribute to the development of metabolic syndrome.

“Feedback from service users was included in the report. This was particularly valuable. Most individuals receive advice on diet and exercise, and even have gym memberships subsidised by the health service, but they commonly struggle to enact these for two main reasons.

“Firstly, many individuals suffer with treatment-resistant illness, including disabling depression and schizophrenia, where the symptoms deter them from exercising and planning/preparing healthy meals.

“Secondly, many medications that individuals might need to stay well provide a barrier to exercise by inducing sedation and lethargy. This is particularly true with antipsychotics like clozapine, which commonly induce weight gain.

“Until more effective and better-tolerated medications are developed for mental illness more consideration should be given to the use of additional medications like metformin which can help with weight loss, even in the absence of diabetes. Also, it seems to me that this is a population that would benefit greatly from access to GLP agonists if they have medication induced obesity, including Wegovy and Mounjaro.”

Dr Prasad Nishtala, Reader in the Department of Life Sciences, University of Bath, said:

“This report is a landmark in bringing together the best available evidence on preventing and managing the physical health side effects of psychiatric medication. Cardiometabolic and neurological complications can shorten life expectancy, while sexual health problems may reduce treatment adherence. Together, these issues significantly affect the overall quality of life. The Commission rightly emphasises proactive prevention, shared decision-making, and coordinated care, and adding a standardised psychotropic adverse event monitoring tool would further strengthen clinical monitoring. Or even better, integrated digital tools that combine intervention tracking with proactive side-effect monitoring, particularly during the early stages of treatment, would help clinicians act quickly and consistently to protect patients’ physical health.”

Comments on both papers:

Dr Jo Howe, Research Associate for the RESOLVE study, Aston University, said:

“These two reports offer an evidence-based roadmap for preventing and managing the physical health side-effects of psychotropic medication and embedding lifestyle interventions in mental health care. They highlight practical measures such as early monitoring, shared decision making, integrating lifestyle interventions like physical activity and nutrition support, and the prophylactic use of metformin for high-risk prescriptions. Our research on antipsychotic-induced weight gain reinforces the value of preventative care — acting early to anticipate risks and making interventions sustainable within routine practice. Many services still need clear guidance on when and how to initiate metformin, and clarity over responsibility for physical health. Too often, mental and physical health care are delivered in silos, meaning opportunities for prevention are missed. These reports are rigorous and grounded in current evidence, but their real-world impact will depend on breaking down these silos, alongside workforce capacity, service redesign, and policy commitment. If implemented well, they could help close the unacceptable 13–15 year life expectancy gap for people with severe mental illness.”

Prof Ian Maidment, Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, and Associate Dean Research and Enterprise (Pharmacy), Aston University, said:

“Life expectancy in people with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia is reduced by up to 20 years partly related to physical health issues; managing the physical health of people with mental illness has been an international priority for many years. Many psychotropic medications cause physical health problems for people with mental illness, for example anti-psychotics are associated with significant weight gain potentially 30kg or more. The commission has synthesised the evidence and produced clear recommendations for practice. One key challenge is implementation of the recommendations into day-to-day routine clinical care. Successful implementation will require a system wide approach working across primary, secondary and social care. In summary, we desperately need to improve the physical healthcare in people with mental illnesses; implementation of the evidence is a vital next step.”

*‘Holistic prevention and management of physical health side-effects of psychotropic medication: second report of the Lancet Psychiatry Physical Health Commission’ by Sean Halstead et al. was published in the Lancet Psychiatry at 23:30 UK time on Tuesday 12 August 2025.

DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(25)00162-2

‘Implementing lifestyle interventions in mental health care: third report of the Lancet Psychiatry Physical Health Commission’ by Scott B Teasdale et al. was published in the Lancet Psychiatry at 23:30 UK time on Tuesday 12 August 2025.

Declared interests

Dr Natalie Shoham: “My COI is that one author was a subsidiary supervisor for my PhD.”

Dr Paul Keedwell: “No conflicts of interest.”

Dr Prasad Nishtala: “No COI to declare.”

Dr Jo Howe: “I am a chartered psychologist and research consultant specialising in mental and physical health integration, including NIHR-funded work on antipsychotic-induced weight gain and preventative care pathways (https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13962). I have no relevant industry funding and no current advisory roles with pharmaceutical companies.”

Prof Ian Maidment: “I’m an active researcher in this area, but don’t believe that this represents a Conflict of Interest. See: Non-pharmacologicaL InterVEntions for Antipsychotic-Induced Weight Gain (RESOLVE) in People Living With Severe Mental Illness: A Realist Synthesis. Obesity Reviews. e13962, https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13962.”

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August 12, 2025