Young people are unhappy, and something needs to be done about it. One word that comes up a lot in discussions of how to address the mental health crisis among children and teenagers is resilience: teach them how to bounce back from adversity, and they’ll be better able to deal with situations that might lead to mental distress.

The problem, as psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist Dusana Dorjee explains, is that resilience is just one piece in a much bigger jigsaw. It’s true that children can learn skills to help improve their mental wellbeing, and resilience is one of these skills, but it’s not the only one they need. And when so many of the factors that affect youth mental health are far beyond a child’s control – such as poverty or the climate crisis – asking them to be resilient about it could be viewed as passing the buck.

Speaking of terrifying issues, our experts have been dissecting Donald Trump’s ambition to acquire Greenland and the value its resources could offer the US in future disputes with China. And new research suggests that many species have similar tolerance levels for heat, meaning mass extinctions due to a warming planet are more likely than may have previously been thought. Plenty there for the kids to worry about.

And in our podcast, The Conversation Weekly, host Gemma Ware talks to professor of materials and society Mark Miodowonik to understand how we’ve become a planet swamped in plastic.

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