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A golden statue titled the “Iran War Participation Trophy” is the latest piece of art to appear on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in protest of President Donald Trump.

The giant installation has drawn attention since it was first spotted on Monday, with passersby stopping to read the lengthy inscription on the mock award.

“We hereby award President Donald J. Trump this participation trophy for his enthusiastic involvement in the Iran war,” reads the plaque at the base of the statue. “While some concern themselves with military strategy, diplomacy, or measurable outcomes, President Trump demonstrated the courage to participate regardless of the final score.”

“As the recipient of this prestigious award, President Trump joins the ranks of children everywhere who received recognition for simply showing up,” the plaque continues.

An accompanying plaque from the Secret Handshake, the anonymous artist collective behind the installation, encouraged visitors to leave more participation trophies for the President. As such, smaller trophies have since been placed at the base of the statue. 

In an emailed statement to TIME, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “These untalented ‘artists’ should stick to their ugly ‘art’ and refrain from weighing in on foreign policy—which they clearly know nothing about, given the fact that the United States military achieved all of its objectives during Operation Epic Fury.”

The Secret Handshake told TIME on Wednesday that the statue should be on the Mall “for the next several days” and described it as “an attempt to de-escalate the conflict through positive reinforcement.” 

The satirical statue comes amid discord in D.C., with Democratic lawmakers rallying against Trump’s decision to resume the Iran war. The U.S. and Iran continue to trade strikes over the Strait of Hormuz, after Trump declared the interim cease-fire agreement signed on June 17 as “over.” 

On July 10, Trump sent Congress a formal notification that the U.S.-Iran war had resumed. The Trump Administration views this notification as the start of a new 60-day window whereby the U.S. can engage in military action against Iran without seeking congressional approval. 

The Democratic Party strongly disagrees, with lawmakers referencing how both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed War Powers Act resolutions last month aimed to restrict Trump from continuing the war.

Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff of California on Monday called for Congress to “reassert its war powers authority” and filed a new War Powers Resolution.

Senate Democrats further showcased their objection to the resumption of the war by blocking an annual defense policy bill on Tuesday. With a vote of 50-46, the National Defense Authorization Act fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance.

Meanwhile, the Iran war-related trophy is just the latest form of protest art to appear in D.C. since Trump returned to office last year.

In June 2025, a sculpture titled “Dictator Approved” was placed on the National Mall. The statue depicted a golden hand giving a thumbs up and crushing the head of the Statue of Liberty. 

Beneath the sculpture, various plaques read messages of support for the President from world leaders. “President Trump is a very bright and talented man,” read one quote attributed to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Another, attributed to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, read: “The extraordinary courage of Donald Trump.”

In September, a sculpture depicting the President holding hands with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appeared outside the U.S. Capitol. 

An accompanying plaque read: “In honor of friendship month, we celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend’ Jeffrey Epstein.”

The sculpture appeared amid growing calls for Congress to release the full Epstein files. At the time, Trump's former relationship with the offender proved to be a key point of contention in the discourse.

More recently, in March, a statue depicting Trump embracing Epstein in a Titanic-style pose appeared on the National Mall.

The gold-painted replica of Trump could be seen standing behind Epstein, arms outstretched, at the bow of a miniature model of the doomed ship, a reference to the iconic pose of Jack and Rose in the 1997 blockbuster.

Installed by the Secret Handshake, the sculpture was titled “The King Of The World”—a nod to the quote famously delivered by Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jack.

For most of the past few decades, scientists chasing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease have focused on attacking the buildup of one protein in the brain that contributes to the disease: amyloid. They've had some success; there are currently two anti-amyloid treatments approved.

But while amyloid plaques are important in Alzheimer’s disease, memory and cognitive symptoms frequently only start once another protein, tau, also starts accumulating in the brain. While some experts believe the brain needs some amount of tau in order to function normally and maintain the architecture of neurons, abnormal tau tangles can contribute to cognitive problems associated with Alzheimer's.

That's why scientists at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London are reporting a series of encouraging results in testing for and reducing levels of tau, creating new ways to potentially manage the disease.

A tau-lowering approach

Developing anti-tau medications is a challenge, because tau starts to function abnormally inside of cells—unlike amyloid, which aggregates into plaques outside of cells, which makes the amyloid clumps easier to target with things like antibodies. In the first study of its kind, researchers at the biotechnology company Biogen reported early results from their study of diranersen, a drug that shuts down tau production at the source.

Researchers used a type of gene-based approach that blocks cells from making tau. It works by attaching to the genetic instructions cells use to produce tau, which prevents the production of the protein.

The study included 416 people with Alzheimer’s disease who were randomly assigned to receive one of three different doses of diranersen or a placebo twice a year, delivered directly into the cerebrospinal fluid via a lumbar puncture. After 18 months, those who received diranersen had 50%-65% less tau in their brains, as detected by PET scans, compared to those who got a placebo treatment. This reduction seemed to translate into cognitive benefits: people who took the drug slowed their cognitive decline by up to 50% on certain brain tests that measure memory, recall, reasoning skills, and orientation. Interestingly, the trial showed that the participants treated with the highest dose of diranersen did not show greater improvement than those treated with the lowest dose; all derived some benefit.

“This is the first trial to ever show reduction in tau,” says Dr. Lawren VandeVrede, assistant professor of neurology at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center and a principal investigator in the study. “Other trials have shown reduction in the rate of accumulation of tau, but not in the actual reduction of tau in the brain. And importantly, we saw clinical benefit of doing that.”

Dr. Lennart Mucke, director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and professor of neurology and neuroscience at the University of California San Francisco, published the groundbreaking paper involving mice that first showed the potential of reducing tau to address the progression of Alzheimer's disease. "It's very gratifying for me, of course," he says of the results. "Quite a few of my colleagues were concerned whether overall tau reduction would be well tolerated, and I always thought that it was by far the most pragmatic approach. Certainly our animal studies always suggested that even partial reduction is beneficial. And this Biogen trial clearly shows that also seems to be the case in humans."

Mucke disagrees with others in the field who maintain that some amount of tau is important for maintaining the normal structure of neurons; based on his work with animals, he believes that if disease processes like those involved in Alzheimer's disease start to appear, then tau becomes an enabler to the disease, essentially fueling the abnormal mechanisms along. "There are probably quite a few functions that tau is involved in that, under normal circumstances, don't do anything bad," he says. "But if a disease comes along—not only Alzheimer's, but epilepsy and autism spectrum disorders—tau reduction can dampen the down processes that lead to these diseases."

Debate on this point can, and should, continue, says Mucke. But the important lesson of the study, he adds, is that reducing tau matters, regardless of how it might be involved in the process of Alzheimer's disease.

The study is still an early trial of the experimental drug. But if diranersen's effects are confirmed by more studies, which Biogen says it plans to conduct, then VandeVrede can imagine a future where the drug might one day be taken alongside an anti-amyloid drug. (The ones currently on the market can at best slow cognitive decline by about 30%.) “If we see the benefit of tau, then my instinct is that clinicians will think, 'What if we use both?'” says VandeVrede. “If you slow down something with a drug, and can then slow it down again with another drug, you end up with something that may look like stabilization. And that would be a huge win in the Alzheimer’s world.”

The tau trackers

If there are clinical benefits to reducing tau, then doctors will need a good way to measure tau and track it in the brain. Other researchers at the conference reported success with a blood test that can detect tau levels up to 10 years before Alzheimer’s symptoms appear.

In a new study published in JAMA, researchers at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School found that levels of a form of tau found in the blood, called ptau217, can identify people at higher risk of rapid cognitive decline. In a group of more than 2,700 cognitively normal people who were followed for years, those with the highest ptau217 levels had a 78% higher likelihood of becoming cognitively impaired in 10 years, and a 38% likelihood in five years, compared to those with lower levels. The researchers found that ptau217 levels in the blood provided more predictive information about cognitive decline beyond brain scans and genetic testing, the approaches most often used today.

Blood tests that measure tau are currently reserved for people who already have symptoms: either to help confirm Alzheimer’s disease or to rule it out. But these results are the first to show that a blood-based tau test could be useful in cognitively normal people—to identify those at highest risk of going on to develop Alzheimer’s before they get sick.

“I think this will change accessibility in early detection of Alzheimer’s disease dramatically,” says Rachel Buckley, associate professor of neurology at Mass General Brigham, who led the study. ”Especially if there is something we can do about treatment in the future for people who don’t yet have symptoms.”

The findings open a path to screening for and identifying people in the general population who might be at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s, similar to the way other conditions are managed to prevent disease rather than waiting until symptoms appear. These results "are a game-changer, in the same way we think about screening for cancer where people get tested before any symptoms," says Dr. Reisa Sperling, senior author of the paper, a professor of neurology at Harvard, and director of the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. "For 10 years, I’ve been saying the same should be true of Alzheimer’s, and it’s finally [starting to] come true.”

That may still be a few years away. At the moment, people with higher tau levels still don’t have a specific treatment that will help them lower their levels—although studies have hinted that some basic prevention strategies, like maintaining a healthy heart, getting enough sleep, remaining socially engaged, and staying physically active, can slow or reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. More rigorous studies of these behavioral interventions will produce results in coming years, Sperling says.

A multi-pronged approach to prevention

Researchers from Lund University also reported results of a study comparing how accurately primary care physicians and dementia specialists diagnosed Alzheimer’s in their patients if they used the experimental blood test for tau as well as other currently available tools, such as brain scans, family history of the disease, and a blood test on the market that compares amyloid to tau levels. They found that both groups of doctors were about 90% accurate when including the test, and that the blood test was especially useful for primary care doctors in ruling out Alzheimer’s.

But even with such tests and potential treatments in the future, questions about access remain. Screening for people without symptoms of Alzheimer’s is not currently covered by major payers and Medicare. Two years ago, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a federally convened panel of independent experts that reviews available evidence on disease prevention and rates the strength of the data, determined that there was not enough evidence to support the benefit of screening the general population for Alzheimer’s disease. But things are evolving fast, says Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, and the group is laying the groundwork to encourage payers, including Medicare, to cover the cost of screening for tau should additional studies continue to support its importance in identifying those at higher risk.

What’s clear is that after decades of frustratingly slow progress, Alzheimer’s disease research is finally gaining momentum, and the latest findings point to the importance of looking beyond amyloid to including tau-based strategies as well. “We’re beginning to prepare for what that future is going to look like," says Carrillo, "and it’s exciting."

Last Saturday night, on July 11, trains into Leeds, England, where I live, were canceled because of an electrical issue. The only way for me to get back home—or, in the case of most of my fellow passengers, to get to the big pub screens showing the England-Norway World Cup match—was to take the local double-decker bus. I was in the company of about two dozen teenage boys, many shirtless in the heat, drink cans locked in their fists, in a state of high excitement, and in possession of a battered boom box.  

First, the muted strains of "Three Lions," the English football anthem exploring the great disappointment of being an English football fan in recent decades, began to mix with the muttering and chatter of the bus. Then as the music swelled towards the chorus, a wall of eager voices rose above the rest of the noise: "Football's coming home, it's coming home!" The sound was raucous, atonal, yet weirdly joyful, and as the bus swung round the curves past blackened stone cottages and fields freshly hayed, a middle-aged man in the front of the bus turned around, and, hanging onto the back of his seat, started to sing along. 

An older couple put up their hands and began to sway. "No more years of hurt, no more need for dreaming!" A man with a cane coming up the stairs raised it triumphantly. He staggered into the aisle and held onto the seatbacks, belting out the lyrics as the bus pulled back into the road. The setting sun was pouring red through the clouds as a pair of children scampered into seats at the back and then jumped when the whole bus roared, "Three lions on a shirt!" 

Why do sports fans sing?

It’s not just England, and it’s not just football. Group singing is an important tradition surrounding big events for many sports around the world. When crowds of people sing in unison in a stadium or arena—when fans of Turkish basketball sing “12 Giant Men,” for example, or cricket fans belt out “Mrs. Robinson”—it’s sometimes intended to pep up the players. Fans often write new lyrics referencing individual players or make jokes about the opponents (or about the singers themselves). 

But fan singing serves another purpose, social scientists say. On a fundamental level, “music can turn a collection of individuals into a temporary social group,” says sports psychologist Andy Lane of University of Wolverhampton in the U.K. “The song effectively tells people: ‘We are experiencing this together.’” 

When people who have watched a televised game sing on the bus or on the sidewalks of their neighborhoods—despite being nowhere near the stadium—it’s a continuation of the same effect. “After an important win, the emotional intensity remains high, and singing allows supporters to express joy, affiliation, and shared meaning in public,” says Lane. “It can be both spontaneous emotional release and a signal of belonging.” Watch rugby fans in the streets of Paris, singing after a match, and you can feel the energy.

After wrapping up “Three Lions” on the bus, the crowd segued into Oasis' "Wonderwall." (Not every place might have been willing to roll with a loud singalong on public transit, rather than in a stadium: A Dutch graduate student visiting from Germany gazed about him in disbelief, marveling that this would never happen in Germany—that someone would have called the police.) 

Even non-fans can join in

This type of public singing can spread beyond the initial group to people who are not even sports fans. After “Wonderwall,” the bus continued into “Sweet Caroline,” the Neil Diamond hit from 1969 that has become an unofficial English football anthem. A grandmotherly woman leaned across the aisle, smiled, and told people within earshot that she was singing along to “Sweet Caroline” when she was a teenager.

It’s that sense of universality that makes these moments endure. “Familiar songs such as ‘Three Lions,’ ‘Wonderwall,’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’ are culturally shared, so they can temporarily reduce the boundary between supporters and bystanders,” says Lane. “People begin by joining the song, but in doing so they also join the group.”

Later that night, long after the bus had arrived at its destination, England won, advancing to the World Cup semifinals. On July 15, they will play Argentina. How many fan singalongs might fill the buses and streets today?