This study examined resilience to flooding in Hoi An Ancient Town, a historical World Heritage Site in Vietnam. The town has been affected by flooding since at least the 17th century, and floods have recently increased in frequency and severity under the impacts of climate change and urban development. This study used the Adversity Acceptance as Resilience framework, which focuses on people’s abilities to comprehend, acknowledge, and adapt to challenges, to analyse the results of empirical research comprising on-site observations, examinations of historical and contemporary documents, and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. The long experience that Hoi An residents have with flooding has informed a community understanding that is closely tied to different stages of predicting, preparing for, coping with, and recovering from floods. Residents have learned to predict the onset and retreat of floods by observing changes in the natural environment, adapted the layout and architecture of the town to flooding, and developed comprehensive measures to prepare for flooding each year. This proactive and holistic approach to flood management is deeply rooted in transgenerational knowledge, as exemplified by the flood marks provided on buildings to serve as both symbolic reminders of previous floods and indicators of possible flooding scenarios. Advances in modern technology have allowed weather forecasts and social media to play significant roles in flood management strategies as well. Finally, floods have even been incorporated into the tourism experiences offered by the town. Indeed, floods are woven into Hoi An’s identity, illustrating how environmental challenges can be transformed into opportunities for cultural sustainability.

Drylands account for a disproportionate share of the world’s armed conflicts, a pattern frequently interpreted through the lens of resource scarcity – where climate change and water stress are seen as primary drivers of violence. While this framing underscores critical environmental pressures, it risks simplifying the complex social, ecological and political realities of these regions. This article critically examines the climate-conflict narrative surrounding Syria, which posits that drought-induced agricultural collapse and rural outmigration significantly contributed to the onset of civil war. Building on this critique, the paper advocates for a broader conceptual shift – viewing drylands not solely as zones of vulnerability, but as landscapes of endurance. In these regions, communities often navigate both extreme climatic conditions and chronic insecurity, which together constrain agricultural productivity and perpetuate poverty. This perspective highlights the adaptive capacities of dryland populations and the lessons they offer for understanding survival under compound stress. It also challenges dominant narratives and opens space for interdisciplinary approaches that integrate quantitative and qualitative perspectives. The article calls for a more nuanced research agenda that centers lived experience, long-term adaptation and the interplay between environmental and political pressures.

Suicide is a serious global health problem with ~73% deaths by suicide occurring in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs), many of which are among people experiencing humanitarian emergencies. Few guidelines outline specific steps and strategies to tackle suicide risk and manage post-attempt consequences in these settings, leaving program implementers with limited information to translate guidance to practice. This article describes the implementation of the Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) suicide safety protocol as part of a randomized controlled trial in northern Thailand for displaced adults from Myanmar with chronic physical health conditions. The CETA safety protocol has been used in many trials and programs to screen for and manage suicide risk, including in a prior CETA effectiveness trial with Myanmar adults. In this article, we describe how this safety protocol was adapted for the study setting, and utilized to effectively screen, assess suicidal thoughts and behaviors, develop and manage action plans for study participants with active suicidal ideation. We present three illustrative case descriptions of individuals with whom we implemented the safety protocol to highlight how suicide risk intersects with physical illness, psychosocial stressors and structural vulnerability. Reflections on feasibility, acceptability and adaptations – such as language translation, culturally grounded referral pathways and training for nonspecialist providers – are shared to inform future implementation. Our findings support the implementation of suicide safety protocols within humanitarian programming and offer practical insights for global health practitioners and policymakers working in similarly complex settings.

Women’s mental health is commonly regarded as worse than that of men across most cultures and countries, although the pronounced female disparity for affective disorders, particularly depression and anxiety, is reversed for other mental conditions such as addiction, alcoholism, or autism. Here we probe this puzzle within a life-history adaptationist framework, focusing on the high prevalence of mood disorders among women with the goal to evaluate their adaptive rather than pathological qualities. First, we characterize gender disparities in mental health, particularly mood disorders among women, and review their phenomenology. Then we survey known risks for mood disorder on cultural, ecological, experiential, and physical/physiological dimensions. Next we consider adaptationist explanations for depression, and map women’s life history in non-industrial societies, plotting resources, demands, and selection pressures. Thence we turn to how life-course selection pressures and female adaptive responses to them operate and intersect, illustrated by an example of low birthweight effects. Affective disorders vary in phenotype and prevalence within and across societies and through time, arising from an array of context-sensitive cost–benefit trade-offs for females that operate from birth onwards. Available evidence suggests that the general preponderance of mood disorder among females is adaptive overall albeit via multiple pathways.

Mental health literacy (MHL) strategies are crucial for mental health promotion and prevention. This study aimed to determine the acceptability, feasibility, appropriateness and initial efficacy of an adapted MHL program in a community sample of adults in Kenya. This was a quasi-experimental pre-post study conducted from July 2023 through July 2024. The MHL program contained nine modules delivered over 3 days. Participants were assessed at baseline and immediately after the program. The primary outcomes were mental health knowledge and participants’ attitudes on mental health/illness. Secondary outcomes included depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, self-perceived social support, self-perceived wellbeing, MHL program acceptability, feasibility and appropriateness. Relative to baseline, we observed statistically significant improvement in mental health knowledge and attitude on mental health/illness postintervention. We also observed significant improvements in all secondary outcomes. The MHL program also emerged as contextually appropriate, acceptable and feasible. The adapted MHL program is acceptable and appropriate and can feasibly be delivered by trained non-specialist facilitators. Also, the MHL program has the potential to increase participants’ MHL and attitudes and reduce symptoms of common mental disorders and promote self-perceived wellbeing. Future research should explore how improvements can be sustained over the long term.

The paintpot cuttlefish Ascarosepion tullbergi (Appellöf, 1886) exhibits a distinctly benthic lifestyle, in contrast to the typical ontogenetic shift from benthic to nekto-benthic modes observed in most cuttlefish species. While many cuttlefish initially attach to substrates using arms IV and the ventral mantle, they generally transition to swimming-based locomotion as they mature. A. tullbergi, however, remains benthic throughout its life, relying on arms IV and the lateral edges of the ventral mantle for attachment and using an ambling gait for locomotion from hatching to adulthood. Despite the ecological significance of benthic specialisation, embryonic development in fully benthic cuttlefish remains poorly studied, as previous research has primarily focused on nekto-benthic species. To address this gap, we described the embryonic development of A. tullbergi and compared it with that of other sepiid species. Although the overall developmental pattern of A. tullbergi is broadly similar to that of other nekto-benthic cuttlefish, this species exhibits a pronounced early investment in benthic traits, particularly in the development of arms IV and the lateral edges of the mantle. Specifically, arms IV in A. tullbergi develop earlier and more prominently than in other Sepiidae species that undergo ontogenetic shifts in life mode. This early specialisation underscores the unique ecological strategy of A. tullbergi and reflects its adaptation to a lifelong benthic niche. The present study provides a description of embryonic development in A. tullbergi and contributes to a deeper understanding of cephalopod diversity.

To understand the challenges of climate change in a specific setting, it is essential to examine the social, cultural, environmental, economic and other national contexts. This paper provides an overview of Bhutan, highlighting the current climate change trends and their potential impacts on both the environment and society. Special attention is given to the impending implications for Bhutan’s education system, particularly how changing climatic conditions may affect learners’ well-being, learning and education. Additionally, the paper discusses the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) — the national development philosophy of Bhutan — and how climate change may challenge this aspiration while also presenting opportunities to advance sustainability. Finally, the prospects for further exploration and the role school communities may have in climate actions are underlined.

Some individuals may compensate for their underlying social cognitive vulnerabilities, therefore exhibiting adaptive real-world social behavior through enhanced attentional mechanisms despite underlying social cognitive challenges. From a developmental psychopathology framework, adaptive behaviors vary dimensionally in the community and across development to promote compensation. Yet, compensation in the broader community of children without categorical clinical diagnoses has not yet been studied. Moreover, the extent to which compensation demonstrates stability versus change is unknown. This study examines childhood social compensation longitudinally in a community-ascertained sample (N = 315) of 7–17 year-old (M = 12.15, SD = 2.97) children (33% non-white, 44% female). Compared to children with equally poor emotion recognition but substantially more real-world social behavior challenges, high compensators demonstrated better attentional alerting (d = 0.81, p < 0.001) without the “cost” of internalizing symptoms. Results showed both stability and instability in compensation group membership over time, with the high compensation group more likely to have unstable classification relative to the no compensation group (OR = 0.26, p = 0.001). Taken together, this study clarifies the processes underlying social compensation in the community and suggests a developmental psychopathology perspective is valuable in understanding how compensation develops across the lifespan. Such work has the potential to inform practices and policies that support social adaptation and promote resilience.