Latest news with #SwinburneUniversity
News.com.au
a day ago
- Health
- News.com.au
Green light for psychedelic drugs trial to treat binge-eating
Australian researchers will soon deploy a psychedelic compound found in 'magic mushrooms' to treat binge-eating in a world-first clinical trial. Experimental healthcare company Tryptamine Therapeutics announced the radical trial in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange this week, telling investors Swinburne University would conduct the open-label research on 12 patients suffering from binge-eating disorder. Open-label means there are no placebos involved and all patients and researchers know what is being administered. The patients will receives two doses of TRP-8803, a psilocin-based IV infusion. Psilocin, which is produced when psilocybin is broken down in the body, is a psychedelic compound that triggers changes in mood, perception and thinking patterns. Cognitive neuropsychologist Professor Susan Rossell, from Swinburne, designed the trial with Tryptamine and told NewsWire she hoped the psychedelics would open up the trial's participants to new ways of thinking. 'What we have found in other psychedelics work is that the psychedelic itself opens up people to think differently,' she said. 'And one of the things that we know with a lot of mental health conditions, is they start to have repetitive thinking and it becomes very rigid. 'So people with binge eating disorder, 'I need to consume lots of food to help with my emotional issues'. 'They are in that very stuck, rigid thought pattern and they can't find other ways to deal with their life stressors.' Binge-eating is the uncontrollable consumption of food and can lead to a range of serious health problems, including social isolation and weight gain. It is the second most common eating disorder in Australia. In the US, an estimated 1.25 per cent of adults experience the disorder each year and 1.6 per cent of teenagers aged 13 to 18 are affected. 'It's extraordinarily costly,' Professor Rossell said. The trial is expected to run for three to four months, with initial results due at the end of the year. Tryptamine CEO Jason Carroll said the primary objective of the trial was to assess TRP-8803's utility in treating the disorder, but it could also generate insights into how the product might help with other neuropsychiatric disorders. 'With patient recruitment initiatives now underway, we look forward to first enrolment and the commencement of baseline data generation from participations, prior to first patient dosing,' he said. Clinical trials involving psychedelics to treat medical conditions are growing around the world, but the impacts are not yet clear. Psychedelic drugs are illegal in Australia and there is evidence that consuming mind-altering substances can lead to adverse outcomes. A study on single-dose Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, funded by psychedelics company Compass Pathways and published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2022, revealed mixed results, with most participants experiencing 'adverse events'. 'Adverse events occurred in 179 of 233 participants (77 per cent) and included headache, nausea, and dizziness,' the researchers found. A small number of participants suffered serious negative impacts, the study revealed, including suicidal ideation and intentional self-injury. Professor Rossell said the Swinburne trial would be safe. 'I don't know whether these medications are going to work or not but I've worked with them now for two years and I haven't had anything negative happen with anybody in my trials, in the right and safe environment,' she said. She also said the use of an IV solution added an additional layer of control. 'The IV is even more safe,' she said. 'If we start to be aware that the person is having an unpleasant reaction, we can stop it straight away with the IV. 'With the oral preparations, they have to work through it. And it can leave people with some unpleasant feelings.' Tryptamine, a listed company with a market capitalisation of $43m, stresses the 'confirmed reversibility' of TRP-8803 as a key selling point for the product. 'This formulation aims to overcome several limitations of oral psilocybin, including significantly reducing the time to onset of the psychedelic state, controlling the depth and duration of the experience and reducing the overall duration of the intervention to a commercially feasible time-frame,' the company states. 'TRP-8803 also provides dosing flexibility and the ability to terminate treatment if the patient is experiencing an adverse event.' The company held $4.6m in cash as of March 31.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Automotive
- News.com.au
‘Turning point': Aussie EV growth spurt predicted on back of Israel-Iran conflict
Volatile oil prices in the wake of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran could trigger a growth spurt for EVs in Australia, one expert has predicted. With petrol prices tipped to reach $2.50 across the country in the wake of the conflict, Swinburne University urban mobility expert Hussein Dia says this could lead to a renewed interest in EVs as Aussies look for alternate energy sources. 'Petrol in some Australian cities could hit $2.50-a-litre according to some economists. As global instability worsens, other experts warn price spikes are increasingly likely,' Professor Dia says. 'What would happen next? There is a precedent: the oil shocks of the 1970s, when oil prices quadrupled. 'The shock drove rapid change, from more efficient cars to sudden interest in alternative energy sources. This time, motorists would likely switch to electric vehicles.' Professor Dia specialises in 'future urban mobility', and says strangled global oil supply leaves Australia in the lurch. 'If the flow of oil stopped, we would have about 50 days' worth in storage before we ran out,' he says. 'The best available option to reduce dependence on oil imports is to electrify transport. 'Cutting oil dependency through electrification isn't just good for the climate. It's also a hedge against future price shocks and supply disruptions. Transport is now Australia's third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. 'Now that emissions are falling in the electricity sector, transport will be the highest emitting sector emissions source as soon as 2030.' Israel attacked Iranian nuclear sites earlier this month, sparking the most turbulent period for oil prices since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The US bombing Iranian facilities this past weekend – and Iran's subdued response – bookended a volatile fortnight of trading in the commodity. Iran is the world's ninth largest producer of oil and its land border meets a crucial choke point for ships carrying oil out of the Persian Gulf; Strait of Hormuz. 'If this crisis continues or if another one flares up, it could mark a turning point in Australia's long dependence on foreign oil,' Professor Dia said. 'Australia currently imports 80 per cent of its liquid fuels, the highest level on record.' On Tuesday, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers issued a public warning to Australia's petrol companies. 'Recent spikes in the barrel price on international markets and volatility associated with unfolding events should not be used as an excuse for retailers to gouge customers or to increase prices opportunistically above and beyond the impact of events in the Middle East,' Mr Chalmers wrote to Australia's consumer watchdog. He directed the regulator to be on the lookout for petrol stations attempting to 'do the wrong thing by Australian motorists,' and implement non-justifiable charges on motorists.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers thought a mysterious radio burst came from deep space. It was actually a dead NASA satellite
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A powerful and mysterious blast of radio waves that astronomers believed was a fast radio burst (FRB) from far beyond the limits of the Milky Way has turned out to be an emission from a long-dead NASA satellite called Relay 2. The now-discounted FRB or "pseudo-FRB" was initially detected by the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) in June 2024 as this radio telescope scanned the sky over the southern hemisphere. It was remarkable because this burst of radio waves lasted less than 30 nanoseconds, much shorter than most FRBs, and yet it was strong enough to drown out all other signals from the sky. "This was a chance discovery made when looking for FRBs, which originate in distant galaxies," team member and Swinburne University of Technology astrophysicist Adam Deller told "Funnily enough, despite them being known for almost 20 years, we still don't actually know what generates FRBs, but most of the plausible theories involve a 'magnetar', which is a highly magnetized neutron star." The Relay 2 satellite was launched in 1964 as part of NASA's Relay program. Sitting in a medium Earth orbit, the spacecraft operated until 1965, but by 1967, its systems had completely failed. "It's part of space history, being one of the first ever communications satellites. There won't be many older satellites still up there," team member Clancy W. James from Curtin University's Institute of Radio Astronomy told "But we're also sure that this was not a transmission by the satellite. None of its systems would have been capable of producing this nanosecond signal."James explained that at the time of the event, Relay 2 was just around 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) from Earth. While this might seem like a vast distance, consider that FRBs are thought to originate from cosmic sources as distant as 9.1 billion light-years away. In fact, the closest FRB source, and the only one ever seen within our galaxy, is still located an estimated 30,000 light-years away. "So, although it appeared extremely bright to our telescope, this was just because it was much closer than the astronomical signals we were looking for," James continued. "It was difficult to get an image of it - it came out all blurry. This meant that it was close to the telescope. So, no astronomical object. Darn." Since the discovery of the first FRB in 2007, astronomers have discovered over 1,000 FRBs, yet they remain one of the most fascinating and curious signals in the cosmos. So, finding out an exceptional example of such an FRB is actually a "pseudo-FRB" caused by a defunct piece of NASA equipment may initially be a little disappointing. Surprisingly, team member and University of Edinburgh astronomer Marcin Glowacki wasn't disappointed at all that this signal turned out to be a signal from a man-made satellite. "It was like an interesting puzzle for us to be able to localize this result from such a relatively close object to what we are used to! It certainly took some time and effort, as we had to adjust how we measured the signal with ASKAP to account for it being so close. It's like how phone cameras can struggle to focus on something very close to them," Glowacki told "While we are mostly interested in astrophysical systems, this discovery is important for monitoring satellites in the future with ASKAP and other radio telescopes." Glowacki further explained how a man-made object so close to Earth could have been mistaken for a cosmic blast of radio waves in the first place."It was a very bright radio signal that we saw once. Most FRBs have been found only once thus far, and are also exceedingly bright compared to other radio transients, such as from pulsars," he told "However, this is on a shorter timescale than any known FRB. Signals from FRBs typically last from microseconds to several millisecond-timescales, rather than only a few 10s of nanoseconds. "It was indeed good luck that ASKAP happened to be looking at the same part of the sky that the Relay 2 satellite was in when it gave off that signal - that allowed us to investigate further and determine the origin of the signal." Thus, any initial disappointment can be offset a little by the fact that this observation was an amazing chance discovery. Additionally, this opens up an entirely new mystery; the team still can't quite explain how Relay 2 managed to fire off a signal that could be mistaken for an FRB. As mentioned above, the team is certain that this "pseudo-FRB" signal wasn't an intentional emission, as not only has Relay 2 been inoperative for 58 years, but even when it was working, its transmission signal wasn't capable of generating such short-lived radio pulses. "What caused this signal from Relay 2? That's a good question. We don't know!" Glowacki explained. "One theory is electrostatic discharge (ESD) – a build-up of electricity that results in a spark-like flash. Another is that a micrometeorite had struck the satellite and produced a cloud of charged plasma, right as ASKAP was observing the part of the sky it was in. " James elaborated that ESD is a spark that is almost exactly the same as the effect generated when you rub your feet on carpet and shock your friend (or enemy). "Spacecraft get charged with electricity when they pass through ionized gas or 'plasma' above the atmosphere, and when enough charge builds up, they generate a spark," James continued. "New spacecraft are built with materials to reduce the build-up of charge, but when Relay 2 was launched, this wasn't well-understood. "Hence, perhaps it produced such a big spark because it was old." The problem with this theory is that all expectations for how sparks should behave suggest they should last tens of microseconds or longer. That's over a thousand times longer than this signal lasted. Additionally, the spacecraft charging described by James occurs mostly during active periods of the sun, and thus so too does the resulting sparking. That activity also impacts the Earth's magnetic bubble, the magnetosphere, and at the time of this "pseudo-FRB," the magnetosphere was extremely quiet. As for micrometeorite impacts as the culprit, James explained that there are predictions that these tiny flecks of space dust, which weigh no more than a thousandth to a billionth of a gram, can produce flashes of radio waves when they impact a satellite. However, to do this, James said, micrometeorites need to be travelling at about 44,000 miles per hour (around 70,000 km per hour). "Based on one estimate, we think a 22 microgram micrometeorite might have been able to produce a flash such as the one we saw," James said. Again, the issue with this explanation is that predictions suggest the signal should have lasted microseconds, not milliseconds. Additionally, 22 micro-gram micrometeoroids are not common. James and colleagues estimated only about a 1% chance that they would have been pointing ASKAP toward a satellite at the same time as one hit it. "We slightly favor the ESD scenario, because the now-collapsed Arecibo telescope once saw similar signals from GPS satellites, albeit lasting 1000 times longer than ours," James added. "But we don't know." If you are an FRB-nerd like we are at there may be a concern clawing at the back of your mind right now. The team was quick to put our minds at rest that other FRBs may be revealed as "pseudo-FRBs." "The short answer is that's not at all a possibility," James said. "Most telescopes detecting FRBs now also measure exactly where they come from, and can pinpoint their host galaxy, which a satellite wouldn't have. These instruments are very good at identifying the direction of such a signal and getting rid of it. "If a satellite did miraculously produce an FRB imposter, somebody in charge of the satellite programmed it to produce an artificially dispersed signal just to troll us! In that case, we could always pinpoint the direction of origin and check if there was a satellite there or not." The biggest clue that an FRB is an artificial signal is its dispersion measure, which Glowacki explains is the effect of a time delay at lower frequencies of radio signals coming from FRBs and pulsars. It is due to ionized electrons slowing the signal at lower frequencies as FRBS travel through space, encountering plasma. This gives astronomers a good indication of how far signals have travelled. "For FRBs, there is such a large delay, due to the amount of ionized electrons between us and what creates the signal, that the only possible explanation is that they nearly always originate from another galaxy, sometimes billions of light years away," Glowacki said. "The signal we had detected barely had any measurable time delay. It had to have come from very close by, relatively speaking."Deller added that it is certainly possible that there are many more such bursts happening from this or other satellites. However, he said that a lack of dispersion is a dead giveaway that a signal came from much closer to Earth than an FRB so cases of mistaken identity aren't likely. This doesn't mean that this research hasn't highlighted a possible problem that needs to be considered. "We do need to be wary of confusing such signals with potential sources that are within or very close to our solar system," Glowacki said. "For example, there may be other satellite signals to be detected that may be harder to differentiate." Related Stories: — Scientists find universe's missing matter while watching fast radio bursts shine through 'cosmic fog' — Mysterious fast radio burst traced back to massive 'cosmic graveyard' of ancient stars — Mysterious fast radio bursts could be caused by asteroids slamming into dead stars For James, the big question going forward is how this research could help use radio telescopes to monitor satellites. These instruments could be particularly useful for detecting ESD."ESD is a huge problem for satellites, and can cause all kinds of damage," James said. "The problem is that ESD is very difficult to monitor. Mostly, it is only ever a 'suspected' cause, since it's extremely difficult to just go up to check on a satellite and work out what went wrong. So if that can be monitored from the ground relatively easily, that's great!" Deller agrees, adding there is a lot more to learn about the phenomenon discovered by the team. "Everyone is still surprised that it was possible to generate such a short-duration pulse," Deller concluded. "I'm hoping that we or some other group detect some more in the coming years and are able to come up with a model for how it happens. "It would be great if that turned out to be useful in terms of helping to avoid damage to satellites." The team's research is published on the paper repository site arXiv.
ABC News
21-06-2025
- Science
- ABC News
The Vera C Rubin Observatory is about to show us the universe like never before
The Vera C Rubin Observatory is about to open its eyes. Perched on a Chilean mountaintop, the US-funded observatory promises to "revolutionise our view of the cosmos". Using the world's largest digital camera, the observatory will take images of the Southern Hemisphere over the next 10 years. After a decade under construction, which cost $US810 million ($1.2 billion) alone, it is about to release its first snapshots to the public early in the week. Australia is one of many countries contributing to the telescope's development, and astronomers such as Tania Barone from Swinburne University of Technology are gearing up for the wealth of information the observatory is expected to generate. The Rubin Observatory, or officially the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, is built on the Chilean mountain of Cerro Pachón, 2,647 metres above sea level. The high altitude and dry air gives it a view of the night sky with minimal interference. Inside, a telescope with an 8.4 metre-wide mirror will feed light into a camera the size of a car. The 3,000-kilogram camera is the largest digital camera ever made, and each exposure will capture an area of the night sky about 45 times the area of the full moon. The camera will use six different coloured filters to take images in different light spectra from ultraviolet beyond our vision, right through to infrared. When combined, these filters will provide a spectacularly detailed view of the cosmos over time. The camera will snap a picture every few seconds, and will be able to photograph the whole Southern Hemisphere sky every couple of days. It is scheduled to do this for 10 years, building up a decade-long survey of space and how it changes. But Dr Barone said that the observatory will also be able to provide astronomers with super-fast results. "Every time it looks at the same patch of sky, it will immediately compare it to what it looked like before," Dr Barone said. "If there's a change, it sends out alerts, and suddenly everyone can follow it up and see what's happening." The observatory is named after the US astronomer Vera Rubin, who uncovered some of the first evidence for dark matter. The observatory was born out of a quest by astronomers to solve the mystery of dark matter. Researchers started floating the idea for the observatory in the 1990s, discussing what type of telescope they would need to learn more about dark matter and how powerful it would need to be. The observatory will be useful for understanding dark matter, but it will also be able to spot a number of other things. Rachel Webster, an astrophysicist at the University of Melbourne, said that the telescope's ability to capture the whole night sky, several times a week, will allow researchers to view rare objects that were previously only captured by chance. These include stars that explode as supernovas, or quasars that send out regular pulses of energy across the universe like clockwork. "I've got experiments that I designed and thought about 30 years ago which I had never been able to do," Professor Webster said. A particular area of interest is gravitational lensing: where the gravity of objects can warp and magnify light coming from more distant objects. "We're going to be able to find a whole lot more of these incredible targets, which tell us a whole lot about, dark matter, the nature of the universe, and also the nature of these really distant galaxies because they are very brightly magnified," Dr Barone said. The telescope's huge lens will also capture very faint light, allowing researchers to see distant large-scale objects. "We haven't been able to really do that before, because telescopes tend to have fairly small scales," Professor Webster said. Jonti Horner, an astrophysicist at the University of Southern Queensland, said the telescope would also be able to spot much closer objects. The observatory will be able to spot many more asteroids, comets, and other close Solar System objects than any previous telescope. Professor Horner said that the observatory will also give people a much better chance of seeing asteroids that could crash into the Earth. "If we find something that's on a collision course, it gives us hugely more time to see that it's coming, giving us the option to do something about it — whether that's deflecting the object or evacuating the area," he said. Earlier this year, NASA spotted an asteroid, dubbed 2024 YR4, that had a higher-than-usual chance of hitting the Earth within seven years. Experts now think it poses no significant risk. "If Vera Rubin was operating 10 years ago, we would have found that object 10 years ago," Professor Horner said. The observatory will also be useful for finding out if the the elusive Planet Nine, a theoretical gigantic planet beyond Neptune, actually exists. The Rubin Observatory's first pictures will be released early this week. The official unveiling happens at 1am (AEST) this Tuesday, June 24. If you are keen, you can watch the unveiling live on the telescope's website or rug up and go to a watch party in Melbourne, Sydney or Perth. The telescope's official mission will begin a little later this year, and researchers anticipate it will not be long before they see exciting information coming out of the observatory. Australian researchers have arranged to get access to Rubin's information, by helping to process Rubin's information. The observatory will be generating some 20 terabytes of data every night. "The volume of data that will come off is beyond even the resources of the US," Professor Webster said. Australian researchers have developed software that the observatory will run on, helping to process these vast torrents of data. "We found that the most efficient or effective way that we contribute was to offer our brains," Professor Webster said. "So we've had a number of IT people who've been working on the data processing." In return, the Australian astronomy community has negotiated to get access to Rubin's information as soon as it is generated, allowing them to progress their research further. "It was really impressive to see astronomers who come from totally different research fields with totally different research interests, all saying 'this is really important to us, we need to have access,'" Professor Horner said.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It can be a scary time to be trans, but there's joy in living with authenticity
"Trans euphoria is a reality, a very, very strong reality. And as much negative news is out there, I think there needs to be as much transgender euphoria and joy celebrated, honored, respected, spread out into the world.'— Aspen Paskal The latest news about trans people in America is rarely positive. Executive orders coming out of the White House curtail the public lives of trans people more and more each day. Discrimination and harassment are rampant as are the stories of violence and suicide. We can predict that more trans people, especially trans women of color ― already more at risk than other groups ― will be murdered. And that is often compounded by gender dysphoria, the distress some people feel when their bodies or presentations — or society's perceptions of them — don't align with their gender. While it's a scary time in history to be trans, there are countless transgender and gender nonconforming people leading everyday lives full of joyful resistance. And just plain joy — the kind all humans feel in large ways and small, the kind that comes from taking a risk, achieving a goal, helping others or enjoying nature. Joy can, and should, be accessible to everyone. More from Freep Opinion: As a gay couple, we worried about acceptance in conservative Michigan town Ximón Kittok (they/them) says it's 'vital' to focus on trans joy, now more than ever. 'It offers that important counter narrative to what a lot of the media out there is focusing on,' Kittok said, 'which is the misinformation around trans identity and trans experience, or tragedy narratives around how tough it is to be trans.' As executive director of the Grand Rapids Trans Foundation, Kittok knows this well. 'I think focusing on gender euphoria is a beautiful thing,' they continued. 'Transness is about coming into yourself in a really authentic and meaningful way.' For Kittok, who is genderqueer and nonbinary, that means asking themselves the kind of questions many of us ask, even if we're not trans or gender nonconforming: Who am I? How do I want to show up in the world? How do I want to show up to myself in a way that feels very liberating? 'Despite all of the negative legislation and media coverage, people are continuing to come out as trans because it is that life-saving and life-affirming,' Kittok added. More from Freep Opinion: I'm a gay man in Detroit. Celebrating Pride feels more important than ever. New research from Swinburne University and Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia backs this up. Reframing how trans people see themselves can improve mental health outcomes. And it's not just the fault of the government and the media. Even the medical establishment sometimes focuses too much on transness as marked by gender dysphoria and feeling out of place in one's body, Kittok says. 'Shifting the narrative to something that is more focused on gender euphoria can sort of depathologize the experience,' Kittok said, 'where it's less about what's wrong and more about finding what feels right.' Given that gender dysphoria is a feeling of distress, gender euphoria, conversely, is the feeling of comfort or happiness some trans people feel when their gender is affirmed. People sometimes experience gender euphoria when their body aligns with their gender or when others use the correct name and pronouns for them. One trans advocate in the Swinburne University study compared gender euphoria to 'being able to breathe without having to think about it, when — maybe for years — you had to think about every single breath.' For some, it's about being addressed properly for the first time. For others, it's hormones or surgery that help people feel more comfortable and in alignment with their identity. It might be the first time a trans person wears clothing and presents oneself to the world in a way that feels authentic. At the Grand Rapids Trans Foundation and out in the community, Kittok often witnesses trans and gender diverse individuals experiencing validation in their authentic selves for the first time. Sometimes, that happens in a courtroom. 'We have helped hundreds and hundreds of trans people through their legal name change process,' Kittok said. 'And as part of that, for our organization it's important that we provide emotional and moral support.' They explained the law recently changed, and that navigating any legal process can be daunting. Talking to a judge can also feel daunting, so folks using the Foundation's services are asked if they would like someone to accompany them and be a 'friendly face.' 'The moment when the judge says, OK, your name is now officially, you know, 'your name,' and they sign the document, the level of just joy and ecstasy that people experience in that moment where their name is officially changed is a really beautiful and powerful moment,' Kittok said. 'I think name changes tend to be sort of a rite of passage for the trans community in a lot of ways.' Baddie Brooks (she/her), a vocal artist, musician and first-year music teacher who lives in Ypsilanti, talked about her own experiences with gender euphoria. Brooks was recently named Miss Trans Michigan 2025 by Trans USA National Pageantry, a 501c3 organization whose pageants emphasize advocacy for the trans community. It's like a weight has been lifted, Brooks says. 'It almost feels like you had an elephant on your chest and then it just lifts suddenly.' That can happen naturally when people use Brooks' correct pronouns or she is treated with respect in the workplace. When people refuse to do 'the bare minimum,' Brooks says, it's sad. 'I definitely get nervous every time I start a new job, because I never know if the environment is going to be accepting or not. I'm thankful to be in the current position I'm in as a music educator as well as a performer, because, you know, whenever you have an employer who's not accepting, it's very disheartening.' As a performer and pageant winner, Brooks has chosen to lead a very public life. And a large part of her confidence stems from the joy she finds in being and expressing her authentic self. Brooks enjoys the glamor of pageantry, noting that she's a big fan of drag pageants. Miss Trans Michigan piqued that interest, she says, 'Because it was rooted in advocacy for the trans community. And everyone who's competing is trans.' Brooks first experienced gender euphoria as a student at Eastern Michigan University where she studied journalism, public relations and music. 'I think one of the first moments that I experienced joy is the first time that I got my makeup done,' Brooks said. 'Their name was Morgan, a friend that I went to school at Eastern with. It was my first time wearing makeup and I kind of did it in secret, because I just wasn't allowed to do that in the home that I grew up in.' That was the first time, Brooks said, she was able to express her femininity. Brooks performed at Ferndale Pride May 31, and continues touring festivals all over the state and beyond. Separately, Brooks' 16-track album, released in 2023, is the basis of her Reclamation Tour, which, not coincidentally, has a lot to do with trans joy. 'On my tour, people will expect the full creative storytelling of reclamation,' Brooks said. 'So the story will center around how queer and trans people are able to reclaim their identity and how there is power in reclaiming who you are despite society's expectations, despite bias, discrimination.' Like Brooks, Aspen Paskal (he/him) is an educator. Over the course of his career, he has worked with youth in communities across the country. Recently, Paskal was laid off because the grant that supported his work was cut 'due to the political situation.' Paskal is taking it in stride, perhaps because at 61 he has faced greater personal challenges, and remains remarkably positive. Gender euphoria is something he's very attuned to. 'For me, it's a meditation practice,' said Paskal, who was born in Detroit and returned two and half years ago after a long hiatus. 'So when I first get up in the morning, I'm going to actually support and honor me being trans in the world, and what a gift it was for me to take 40-plus years to realize that I was a trans masc person.' Sharing that inner joy and direct experience is part of Paskal's practice, too. He explained by positing a few questions: 'Sometimes being trans, there's ways that you have to figure out, how can I access that trans joy more often? How can I bring it into my daily life? How can I bring it into my relationships with people that I love? How do I bring that trans joy to people that I might be having some disagreements with because they're misgendering me or they're not using the pronouns or respecting the pronouns that I use?' Paskal has gone through many life changes over the last few years in the aftermath of the death of his father at the age of 102. At that time, Paskal decided to return to Detroit to live in the home he grew up in. A profound moment occurred one day, when Paskal, who is a master gardener, was tending a plot at a community garden in Berkeley, California, his home of more than 35 years. 'I was just filled to the brim with sadness,' Paskal says, 'grieving the loss of my father, grieving the loss of not being in Detroit, grieving the loss of a relationship that had recently ended. So there had been a number of things that I brought directly into the soil, the compost of the plot. And I just cried.' Then Paskal asked the universe for a sign, to show how he could go through the grief and sadness and still remain rooted to the planet. At that moment, out of that place of sorrow, Paskal envisioned a well-rooted tree with many interconnected roots. And he recognized the roots as belonging to a colony of trees: Aspen trees. 'I knew immediately that that was my name: Aspen,' Paskal said. 'And out of that interconnected place, it was like I just walked through a brand new door. There was sunlight just streaming down everywhere. And I realized that the life that I had been carrying around in my body for so long finally was starting to emerge. And from that, I realized that it was time for me to leave the Bay Area, believe it or not, and come back to my roots, Detroit. And it was the best decision I've made in my entire life.' Ellen Knoppow is a writer who believes in second acts. Her work has appeared in Pride Source/ Between The Lines, The Philadelphia Gay News, Our Lives Magazine and Oakland County Times. In 2022, Ellen received the award for Excellence in Transgender Coverage from NLGJA: The Association for LGBTQ+ Journalists and a 2024 Michigan Press Association award for her coverage of government and education. Submit a letter to the editor at and we may run it online and in print. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: For Pride, trans Michiganders share joy in their identities | Opinion
