It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, July 17, 2020
Google Said It Would Invest $10 Billion In India. Nearly Half Of It Is Going To The Country's Richest Man.
Google is the second large Silicon Valley tech company to buy a stake in Jio Platforms after Facebook.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai poses as villagers take photographs in an Indian village in 2017.
On Monday, Google announced that it will invest $10 billion in India over the next few years. Two days later, the company revealed a key detail: Nearly half of the money will go to a top telecom operator owned by Asia’s richest man.
The internet giant will invest $4.5 billion into Jio Platforms as part of a plan to provide "increase access for the hundreds of millions in India who don't own a smartphone," Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted Wednesday. Mukesh Ambani, Jio's owner, has a net worth of more than $70 billion.
Google first unveiled the $10 billion Digitization Fund for India on Monday at an online event featuring key Google executives, including Pichai, and members of the Indian government. The company said that the money would go towards providing Indians with inexpensive internet access, digitizing the country’s small and medium businesses, and using artificial intelligence in areas like healthcare, agriculture, and education.
Over the last few years, India has become a key market for large American tech companies as they seek growth beyond the United States and Europe. More than 500 million Indians — just under half the country’s population — are now online, and nearly all of them use inexpensive smartphones that run Google’s Android operating system.
Most of that growth has been fueled by Jio. Ambani, an industrialist, founded Jio and pumped it with $35 billion to blanket the country with a high-speed 4G network, which brought the price of data down to pennies. The move launched a telecom pricing war in India and made Jio the country’s largest telecom carrier with over 388 million subscribers — more than the entire population of the United States. Jio plans to grow by rolling out internet-powered services such as e-commerce, streaming TV, music services, online gaming, and video conferencing apps.
As part of the Jio investment, Google and Jio will also work together to create an affordable, entry-level Android smartphone for more than 500 million Indians who still don't have access to the internet, bothompanies said.
Over the last three months, investors from around the world have poured in $20 billion into Jio Platforms. In April, Facebook announced that it would buy nearly 10% of the company for $5.7 billion. Facebook’s investment was followed by American private equity firms General Atlantic, Vista Equity Partners, and Silver Lake Partners, as well as chip giants Intel and Qualcomm.
Pranav Dixit is a tech reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Delhi
Back To School: Teachers Are Ready To Quit Rather Than Put Their Lives At Risk
“Most parents have no idea how bad this is going to be.”
Caroline O'DonovanBuzzFeed News Reporter Posted on July 16, 2020, at 6:01 p.m. ET Lm Otero / AP
This spring, a teacher in Dallas was invited to the high school graduation of the first class of students she had taught when she became a teacher a little over a decade ago — but the ceremony was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, just a couple months later, facing an uncertain plan for reopening schools, she’s applying for jobs in the private sector and considering quitting teaching altogether.
“At this point, if anybody were to offer me something, I would rather do that than risk my health,” she said.
Typically, the Dallas-based teacher, who requested anonymity to protect her job, teaches 25 elementary-age students in a small classroom with windows that don’t open. She has major reservations about going back, but in Texas, where cases of the coronavirus are surging and some hospitals are running out of beds, it's illegal for teachers to strike, and those who break their contracts can lose their teaching certification altogether.
Earlier this week, the superintendent of her district said at a video staff meeting that the plan is still for students to attend school in person. At the end of the meeting, he acknowledged the unprecedented difficulties and risks teachers will face.
“We appreciate you, we care about you, we want to provide the best opportunity, the best climate we possibly can,” the superintendent said, according to an employee who attended the meeting. “So many people ask me each and every day how can we support and, I don’t know if you are religious or not, but we need your prayers. We need your prayers for our children and our families.”
But many staff members’ concerns were not assuaged by this.
“Everyone on the group text was like, What do you mean, pray? It’s not comforting by any means,” the teacher said.
“I love, love my job. But this? It’s not worth my life,” she continued. “I’m scared of getting sick and bringing it to my family. I’m scared of dying. I think we all are, you know?”
The Trump administration is eager to reopen schools in part because parents can’t return to work and be efficient economic engines without childcare. But in many states, it’s proving difficult if not impossible to send kids back to school safely because businesses reopened too early, and the health system is now once again dealing with a surge in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.
The crisis over when and how to reopen schools underscores a central contradiction in American society: It can’t function without the public school system, which doesn’t have the funding and resources to follow the basic health and safety guidelines that would make reopening schools during a global pandemic feasible.
Teachers are quick to acknowledge that remote, online learning isn’t nearly as effective as being in the classroom, but with coronavirus cases rising all over the country, many don’t feel prepared to go back, either. A lack of national leadership on the schools issue has left states to give orders and school districts to make piecemeal plans that many teachers don’t understand or trust.
While some school staffers feel ready to go back, others are so frustrated and afraid that they’ve floated the idea of organizing a national walkout similar to the 2018 and 2019 teacher strikes over low pay. But as public employees, teachers in some states are legally barred from striking, and some are afraid that breaking their contract by resigning at the last minute or organizing “sick-outs” as a form of protest could lead to them losing not just their jobs, including insurance and salary, but their teaching certifications and therefore their ability to work at all.
Rather than face that decision, Michael McCann, who taught middle school English in Virginia for the last three years, decided to quit in June. The problem, he said, is that leaders are “expecting teachers to be the glue that holds society together.”
McCann was lucky to be hired as a technical writer, a job he can do from home, just a month before his wife is due to give birth to their son in August.
Quitting his teaching jobs wasn’t an easy decision for McCann, who said he’ll miss the students he worked with last year and those he would have taught this year in eighth grade. But he ultimately felt he couldn’t reconcile the lack of leadership, and the country’s failure to get the pandemic under control, with the safety of his family.
“If they were more straightforward with the employees as far as what to expect … They keep on sending out surveys, but we don’t know what decisions are being made based on those surveys,” he said. “I’m like, Are you guys going to make this decision the week we’re supposed to start back? If they could give us some sort of secure answer or give us some comfort as far as what we’re expecting, I probably wouldn’t have applied for that position.”
McCann said he worries for his former students’ safety and education, but also for the nurses, counselors, administrators, food handlers, and other adults at school who he feels don’t have the appropriate support to deal with the crisis.
Olivier Douliery / Getty Images School buses parked at the Arlington County Bus Depot in Virginia.
School bus drivers, some of whom are left alone with dozens of students at a time, will also experience health risks when school reopens. Buses in districts that go back on a rotating schedule will have more room for distancing, but in other areas, drivers will have to make multiple trips per morning, sanitizing buses between runs and enforcing rules about masks while also driving. The school staff union in Houston has said 80% of bus drivers are declining to come back because of health issues and age concerns related to the virus, according to KHOU.
Vicki has been driving a school bus in a city in Indiana for almost 30 years. School this year is currently scheduled to start on Aug. 5. She drives a bus for children with disabilities, so there are fewer students and an aide is available to help keep everyone safe. But she has friends who drive buses that can carry as many as 54 students at a time, and she’s worried about their safety.
“I’d be a lot more nervous if I had to drive a big bus,” said Vicki, who asked to be identified only by her first name. “I am worried some about myself getting sick but more worried about possibly being a carrier and giving it to others in my family or one of my special needs kids.”
Jeffery Yarger has been driving a school bus for 21 years and is partially retired. He considered not going back this year because of the virus, but with plans put in place for him to drive fewer students and time to sanitize the bus between trips, he’s decided he’s up to the job.
“I have thought about it, but I love my job very much,” he said. “I am nervous about it. Anybody in their right mind would be nervous.”
Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that schools reopen for in-person learning, as long as reasonable safety measures are taken. But teachers in some districts are concerned that even basic protocols are simply not possible.
“They’re saying they will keep social distancing, but I don’t know if we have the physical space for that,” said a teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota, who requested anonymity to protect her job.
Some teachers are worried that students won’t wear masks, or bring them to school, or perhaps even be able to afford them. Teachers in Dallas were told students would wear masks, but one kindergarten teacher was skeptical of that promise. “They said we’d have masks and face shields and everyone is going to be covered, but it’s a school district — sometimes we don’t have soap,” he said.
He was also worried about having the room to distance kids and the staff to monitor them, especially given the number of teachers he’s heard are considering early retirement to avoid the health risks. The Minnesota-based teacher had similar concerns, saying masks are a manageable problem in her district compared to the issue of space.
“Kids will wear T-shirts over their faces. Volunteers will make masks if they need to — community fundraising and mask drives and sewing circles and all that stuff,” she said. “But plexiglass shields around kids? Or being able to put them 6 feet apart? That’s where the budgeting stuff would have to come in, and as far as school districts, we don’t have the money for that.”
The situation she describes stands in stark contrast to some schools in places like Indonesia, China, and Thailand where students are temperature screened, tested for COVID-19, and provided with plexiglass barriers and disinfection chambers.
In the US, many students don’t have regular access to the internet or a computer, which makes remote learning a nonstarter. Some teachers feel the time and energy currently being spent on how to reopen schools would be better put to use addressing how to make distance learning more equitable, more feasible for parents, and more effective for students.
The St. Paul–based teacher worries this is just one way the pandemic will widen inequality between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. She’s also seen parents posting ads online for tutors to help their students get a better education from home, a resource lower-income families can’t afford.
“Our budgets,” the St. Paul–based teacher said, “are a reflection of our societal priorities.”
The eruption of protests over the police killing of George Floyd sparked a national debate over racist policing and, in turn, the size of police department budgets; in 2017, Minneapolis spent a higher percentage of its discretionary budget on policing than all but two other American cities. Funding for schools and other community needs has not grown apace with funding for law enforcement in US cities. The Minneapolis board of education canceled its $1.3 million contract with the Minnesota Police Department and promised to “redirect those funds into our schools and our community” according to the Nation. But elsewhere, school budgets are being slashed.
Some school staffers are worried that funding issues could even lead to furloughs or layoffs. Whether school is in person or online, teachers will be required to show up, but other school employees like cafeteria workers and bus drivers don’t know what will happen to their jobs if schools don’t physically reopen. Like millions of other workers, they’re caught between wanting a paycheck and wanting to stay healthy.
A security guard who works on contract at a high school in Turlock, California, said she’s more worried about losing her job than the health risks of going back to school. She’s confident that school staff will be able to get kids to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
“I hope it opens. My kids need their teacher and classroom setting and this is also my livelihood. I would be losing so much if I get laid off,” she said. “We can’t put our lives on hold otherwise we will be homeless.”
While states have struggled to figure out how to reopen schools, bars, restaurants, and even theme parks have reopened in communities around the country. Disney World reopened — complete with no-mask-required “relaxation zones” — in the same week that Florida set a record for new coronavirus cases, according to the New York Times.
Just 45 minutes north of Disney in Seminole County, Florida, one teacher who requested anonymity is wrestling with what to do when school starts. “We are going to open back up full scale Aug. 10, and many are terrified,” he said.
Frederic J. Brown / Getty Images A crossing guard stops traffic outside Ramona Elementary School in Alhambra, California.
He worries about the health of his wife, who recently underwent heart surgery, and his daughter, who’s been in and out of the hospital for a lung condition. The district where he works, in which classrooms are typically crowded, hasn’t said it will mandate masks. “Most parents have no idea how bad this is going to be,” he said. “I am just sitting here looking around in bewilderment.”
The Florida teacher said he’s suggested a sick-out — a labor action in which employees coordinate to call in sick at the same time — but teachers in Florida are legally barred from going on strike. “They are afraid of [losing] their license and job and healthcare due to taking a stand,” he said.
Teachers in other states, including Texas, are also not legally allowed to strike, and some, including the teacher from Dallas, are even worried that turning in a last-minute resignation could be considered a breach of contract. “We’re scared of losing our license,” she said. “The state of Texas can take away your certification.”
As of now, schools in Texas are supposed to open next month. The Dallas-based teacher said she’s having trouble sleeping as more people in the area get sick. “Before it was like a friend of a friend. Now it’s people that you know that are sick. It’s getting closer,” she said.
She’s still not sure what she’ll do if the district decides to reopen in-person schooling at full capacity. While she may not have a choice about going back, she said if she had her own kids she’d sign them up for online learning, and she recommends that parents do the same.
The other day, she said a student’s mom called her and asked if she would speak to her son. “She was like, ‘Can you talk to him? Because he is crying that he doesn’t want to go to school and come back and kill us,’” she said.
“I can't lie to them,” the teacher said. “That’s what I told her. I wish I could tell him it’s going to be okay, but I’m scared, too.” ●
Caroline O'Donovanis a senior technology reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in San Francisco.
NFL vows action after 'disturbing' harassment claims The NFL vowed Friday to act on findings from an owner-financed investigation of the Washington Redskins after 15 women said they had been sexually harassed while employed by the team.
The Washington Post reported the detailed allegations Thursday, prompting team owner Dan Snyder to hire Washington law firm Wilkinson Walsh to conduct a review of the team's culture and policies as well as workplace misconduct.
Rather than launching its own probe, the NFL said it will meet with the investigating attorneys paid for by Snyder, who was not among the executives accused of inappropriate behavior, and act upon their findings.
"These matters as reported are serious, disturbing and contrary to the NFL's values. Everyone in the NFL has the right to work in an environment free from any and all forms of harassment," the league said in a statement on its website.
"Washington has engaged outside counsel to conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations. The club has pledged that it will give its full cooperation to the investigator and we expect the club and all employees to do so.
"We will meet with the attorneys upon the conclusion of their investigation and take any action based on the findings."
The newspaper report said the harassment took place from 2006 through 2019 and led to the departure of three team employees in the past week.
Emily Applegate, the only woman among the 15 identified by the Post, said the club was indifferent when a female employee alleged she had been groped by a wealthy stadium suite holder.
She also said she was verbally abused by a former senior executive while being ordered to wear tight-fitting clothes during meetings with clients.
Applegate told the Post her time with the Redskins was "the most miserable experience of my life" and added, "we all tolerated it, because we knew if we complained -- and they reminded us of this -- there were 1,000 people out there who would take our job in a heartbeat."
New Washington coach Ron Rivera released a statement saying everyone needed to understand the team's policy against harassment moving forward, noting he had a personal stake in the matter.
"Biggest thing is that we have to move forward from this and make sure everybody understands we have policies that we will follow and that we have an open door policy with no retribution," Rivera said.
"Plus, my daughter works for the team and I sure as hell am not going to allow any of this."
The Redskins, who announced Monday they were dropping the controversial name following pressure from sponsors, said the review would "help the team set new employee standards for the future."
NFL calls allegations against Redskins officials ‘serious, disturbing and contrary’ to league’s values
The NFL said Friday that the allegations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse made by women against former officials of Washington’s team are “serious, disturbing and contrary to the NFL’s values.” The league indicated that it will consider potential disciplinary action after reviewing the findings of the outside investigation that was initiated Thursday by the team.
“These matters as reported are serious, disturbing and contrary to the NFL’s values,” the league’s statement said. “Everyone in the NFL has the right to work in an environment free from any and all forms of harassment. Washington has engaged outside counsel to conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations. The club has pledged that it will give its full cooperation to the investigator and we expect the club and all employees to do so. We will meet with the attorneys upon the conclusion of their investigation and take any action based on the findings.”
The team said Thursday that it had hired D.C. attorney Beth Wilkinson and her firm, Wilkinson Walsh, “to conduct a thorough independent review of this entire matter and help the team set new employee standards for the future.”
The women’s allegations spanned from 2006 to 2019 and were made against Larry Michael, the team’s former senior vice president of content and its play-by-play announcer on its radio broadcasts; Alex Santos, the team’s former director of pro personnel; Richard Mann II, the team’s former assistant director of pro personnel; Dennis Greene, former president of business operations; and Mitch Gershman, former chief operating officer.
No women accused team owner Daniel Snyder or former team president Bruce Allen of inappropriate behavior. But some expressed skepticism that Snyder and Allen were unaware of the behavior. The women blamed the team for having an understaffed human resources department and said they viewed an environment of verbal abuse by top executives as contributing to the team’s inappropriate treatment of employees.
Santos and Mann were fired by the Redskins last weekend. Michael announced his retirement this week.
The individuals accused of misconduct also could be subject to potential discipline under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
The NFL fined former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson $2.75 million in 2018 after investigating claims of workplace misconduct against him. Richardson sold his team to David Tepper.
The team has announced plans to change its controversial name, long considered by some observers to be offensive to Native Americans. The allegations also come with Snyder’s minority ownership partners — Fred Smith, Dwight Schar and Robert Rothman — having hired an investment banking firm to attempt to sell their ownership shares. They own an estimated 40 percent of the team.
Z2 Comics is continuing its line of music-themed graphic novel releases with a brand new project spotlighting one of the most acclaimed musicians and composers of all time, The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively reveal. Following books showcasing artists as diverse as Poppy, The Grateful Dead, and Charlie Parker, this November will see the release of Final Symphony: A Beethoven Anthology.
Produced in association with Universal Music Group, the graphic novel will retell Ludwig van Beethoven’s life story with a number of “world class artists” celebrating the main events with all-new illustrations, as per the publisher. The book will be released with an accompanying compilation of Beethoven’s music by Z2 and Deutsche Grammophon a month ahead of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in December.
“As one of the longest-standing record labels, Deutsche Grammophon has been celebrating Beethoven’s 250th anniversary this year with a number of projects, including the most comprehensive New Complete Edition of Beethoven’s Works ever issued and wonderful new releases with stars like Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniel Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma and Rudolf Buchbinder,” said Deutsche Grammophon VP of marketing Kleopatra Sofrioniou in a statement. “We are delighted to be encouraging the dialogue between the visual arts and classical music and hope that this exciting new project will open doors for comic book fans to discover the magic of Beethoven’s music.”
“Beethoven wrote some of the most universally recognizable pieces of music in the history of the planet,” added Z2 publisher Josh Frankel. “It is of course, incredibly exciting to publish the work of some of today’s well-known artists, but to have this chance to tell comic book stories from and inspired by the life of one of the most legendary artists of all time is humbling. We have done our very best to honor this by putting together what we believe will be an essential read for music lovers of all ages.”
Final Symphony: A Beethoven Anthology will be written by Brandon Montclare (Marvel’s Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, Image Comics’ Rocket Girl), with David Mack (Cover, Daredevil) providing painted cover artwork, as seen above. The line-up of artists illustrating the book will be revealed at a later date.
Real or fake? This fish caught in Malaysia apparently has human teeth (Twitter/ @raff_nasir)
If social media is to be believed, a fisherman in Malaysia recently made a catch with a surprisingly human-like set of chompers.
A photo was posted to Twitter by user @raff_nasir on July 2 and it swiftly picked up viral fame as more and more people commented on the lips and teeth of this particular specimen.
The beast has been identified as as a triggerfish by local media, of which there are 40 different types. Triggerfish are supposedly territorial and aggressive, charging at intruders and using those impressive teeth to battle with crabs and sea urchins, according to National Geographic.
'bibir dia lagi seksi dari aku 😠pic.twitter.com/zzq8IPWzvD — RaffNasir• (@raff_nasir) July 2, 2020 Local reports identify the fish as a triggerfish (Twitter/ @raff_nasir)
Locally, the odd-looking creature is known as ayam laut or ikan jebong, reports the Rakyat Post.
It goes on to say the species is highly sought for the aquarium trade which leads to fishermen gathering the threatened species from the wild.
We spoke to marine experts at the World Wildlife Fund which conformed the fish as a Blackpatch triggerfish (Rhinecathus verrucosus) because of its distinctive orange side-stripe.
‘It’s a well-known species with a wide distribution from the Seyshelles to the Great Barrier Reef, which would include Malaysia,’ a spokesperson for the WWF told Metro.co.uk.
Racist filmed shouting 'n*****' at BLM protesters dies after stepping into path of truck
Rachel Ruit, 41, died on Tuesday - a day after she was terribly injured after stepping out in front of a fire truck
Racist filmed shouting ‘n*****’ at BLM protesters dies after stepping into path of truck View 48 comments Jimmy McCloskey
Thursday 16 Jul 2020 2:06 pm
Share this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messenger 2k SHARES
Rachel Ruit, who shot to notoriety after she was filmed screaming racist abuse at Black Lives Matter protesters, has died after stepping out in front of a truck (Pictures: Facebook/Twitter) An infamous racist filmed screaming ‘N*****’ at a group of Black Lives Matter protesters has died after stepping out in front of a truck.
Rachel Ruit, 41, died on Tuesday, a day after she was struck by an Asheville Fire Department Truck in Asheville, North Carolina. Police are investigating Ruit’s death, and say they believe it was accidental.
A powerful photo taken shortly after she was fatally injured showed an unidentified black woman praying over the racist as paramedics tried to save her. Eyewitness Jonathan Rowell captured the photo, and said that Ruit – who was filmed hurling racist abuse last month – did not appear to have stepped out in front of the truck deliberately. Rowell wrote: ‘Some of you probably saw the video of a white lady near the Vance Monument screaming “Ni**er, Ni**er” seeing as how the video went viral on Facebook…
‘I just witnessed the same lady from that video accidentally step out into traffic on Patton Avenue, going towards downtown Asheville, as she was walking with traffic coming from behind her…the Asheville Fire Department truck that you see in the background is the vehicle that she stepped out in front of…
‘There were over a dozen bystanders that had come to see what was going on…and then there was 1 lady who was praying out loud & I mean praying very intensely…begging God to please let this lady survive… ‘And that 1 person was the Black lady standing right in front of me in this picture. Praying & praying & praying and in tears for coincidentally the same woman who was yelling the N word with such hatred in her heart. Just sayin.
’ Ruit shouted ‘Fuck! N*****’ then gave the finger to Aisha Sabur in Asheville, North Carolina, last month. Sabur was filmed remonstrating with Ruit, who then screamed: ‘Touch me n****. Touch me and you go to jail. Touch me bitch!’
Ruit was charged with simple assault over the racist video (Picture: Asheville PD)
A group of white Black Lives Matter activists then stepped in to defend Sabur and her family, only to face the same vile slurs from Ruit.
One woman who walked over to here was told: ‘Touch me bitch. Fuck you n*****.’ Ruit then screeched ‘Touch me n*****’ at that woman’s white friend four times, before storming off.
The video was widely-shared online, with Sabur calling Ruit’s behavior: ‘the most blatant display of racism that I have ever experienced. Speaking to CNN, Sabur added: ‘She wanted me to know that, “If you touch me, I will call the police and you will be held accountable,” and that’s a big part of why I didn’t lose my cool.’
North Carolina does not have hate speech laws, but Ruit was charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct over the racist incident. That investigation is now likely to be dropped in the wake of her death.
This deep-sea dragon fish has ultra-black skin capable of absorbing the bioluminescent light that might blow its cover (Credits: SWNS)
Fish living in the ocean’s murky depths have evolved ultra-black skin, making them virtually impossible to pick out from the shadows. At least 16 species – including dragon fish and fangtooth – escape predators using their own natural ‘stealth wear’ to absorb over 99% of the light hitting them.
The dark-as-night camouflage comes from tiny ‘packets of pigments’ on their skin called melanosomes, which are very different to other black coloured animals. Co-author Dr Karen Osborn, of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in the United States, said: ‘If you want to blend in with the infinite blackness of your surroundings, sucking up every photon that hits you is a great way to go.
‘Mimicking this strategy could help engineers develop less expensive, flexible and more durable ultra-black materials for use in optical technology, such as telescopes and cameras, and for camouflage.’ Sunlight, under the right conditions, can reach 1000 metres below the ocean, but there is rarely any visible light below 200 metres. Animals living at these depths are forced to make their own light, known as bioluminescence, to spot their prey.
The team ‘scooped up’ nearly 40 black fish swimming up to a mile below the surface in Monterey Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, using a trawl net and unmanned marine vehicle.
They then measured how much light was being reflected off each fish using a spectrometer and found 16 species reflected less than half a per cent of light, making them 20 times darker than everyday black objects like paper and tires. Anglerfish, which are about the size of a ‘golf tee’, were found the darkest species, reflecting just 0.04 per cent of light. Only one other animal in the world is known to be as dark, the birds-of-paradise of Papua New Guinea.
Taking pictures of the fish proved difficult, even with sophisticated equipment, because the cameras could not capture their features.
Dr Osborn said: ‘It didn’t matter how you set up the camera or lighting — they just sucked up all the light.’ Normal black skin and ultra-black skin look very different when magnified thousands of times under an electron microscope, the researchers found. Both have tiny cell-structures called melanosomes, which contain melanin – the same pigment found that determines the colour of human skin.
But melanosomes in the ultra-black fish were a different shape and size, looking more like a tic-tac than tiny pearls and forming a continuous sheet around the body, unlike normal black skin, which contains pigment-less gaps.
Co-author doctoral student Alexander Davis at Duke University said: ‘Melanosomes are packed into the skin cells like a tiny gumball machine, where all of the gumballs are of just the right size and shape to trap light within the machine.
‘Their ultra-black camouflage could be the difference between eating and getting eaten.’ Some birds and butterflies also trap enough light to produce ultra-black surfaces, but not in the same way. These animals combine a layer of melanin with light-capturing structures, shaped like tiny tubes or boxes. Dr Osborn said: ‘This is the only system that we know of that’s using the pigment itself to control any initially unabsorbed light.’
The researchers hope their findings could pave the way toward making new light-capturing materials. Dr Osborn added: ‘Adopting this efficient design strategy could improve the manufacture of ultra-black materials, which currently use an architecture more like what is found in ultra-black birds and butterflies. ‘Instead of building some kind of structure that traps the light, if you were to make the absorbing pigment the right size and shape, you could achieve the same absorption potentially a lot cheaper and [make the material] a lot less fragile.’
Fish living in the ocean's murky depths have evolved ultra-black skin that absorbs 99.5 per cent of light making them invisible to predators even if they have their own 'headlamps'
Anglerfish were the darkest of all species studied and reflect just 0.04% of light
A total of 16 fish species were found with the ultra-black skin
Cellular pockets packed with the dark pigment melanin are present in the skin
This absorbs more than 99% of all light and makes the fish appear almost invisible in the opaque depths of the ocean
Some fish that live in the deepest reaches of the ocean have evolved skin so dark it absorbs more than 99 per cent of all light, rendering the animal almost invisible.
The animals are so efficient at soaking up light that they appear as mere silhouettes, seemingly devoid of any features.
Academics from the US have identified at least 16 species that use the ultra-black form of camouflage to avoid predators, including the dragon fish and fangtooth.
In the ocean's depths, no natural sunlight penetrates and some predators have the ability to glow using bio-luminescence to hunt their prey.
Being able to hide in plain sight and absorb all this light without being spotted is a major survival advantage.
Some of the species with the ultra-black skin also have their own bio-luminescent lures, or headlamps, but their skin is so dark that none of the light bounces off their bodies, allowing them to attract and ensnare their food.
Scroll down for video
Pictured, a specimen of the ultra-black fish species Anoplogaster cornuta. This fish was so lively after being sampled and documented that the research team released it back to the deep via submarine the day after being caught in a trawl net
The darkness is created by melanin, a pigment which also gives human skin its colour. More melanin creates a darker skin tone.
In these fish species however, they have evolved to maximise production of melanin and have melanosomes, specific cellular pockets packed with the dark pigment.
They are arranged close to the surface of the skin and lie in such a way as to maximise light absorption.
Co-author Alexander Davis, a co-author of the study and doctoral student in biology at Duke University, says: 'These pigment-containing structures are packed into the skin cells like a tiny gumball machine, where all of the gumballs are of just the right size and shape to trap light within the machine.'
Pictured, the ultra-black ridgehead (Poromitra crassiceps ).These fish are also commonly known as bigscales because of the few giant scales they possess. Their ultra-black skin covers their scales, but the skin and scales detach easily when a predator tries to grab them Pictured, the ultra-black Pacific blackdragon (Idiacanthus antrostomus), the second-blackest fish studied by the research team. These fish have a bioluminescent lure that they use to attract prey, and if not for their ultra-black skin and transparent, anti-reflective teeth, the reflection of their lure would scare prey away The Pacific blackdragon (pictured) has light-producing organs below their eyes that scientists expect might be used as a searchlight to spot prey Dr Karen Osborn, of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in the United States, adds: 'Effectively what they've done is make a super-efficient, super-thin light trap.
'Light doesn't bounce back; light doesn't go through. It just goes into this layer, and it's gone.'
Soaking up light, whether from the sun or from bioluminescent creatures, is an effective technique to avoid being eaten in the bleak world of the deepest oceans.
The team caught and analysed 40 black fish swimming up to a mile below the surface in Monterey Bay and the Gulf of Mexico using a trawl net and unmanned marine vehicle.
They measured how much light was being reflected off each fish using a spectrometer.
This revealed 16 species reflected less than half a per cent of light, making them 20 times darker than everyday black objects like paper and tires.
Anglerfish, which are about the size of a 'golf tee', were found the darkest species, reflecting just 0.04 per cent of light.
Only one other animal in the world is known to be as dark, the birds-of-paradise of Papua New Guinea.
Dr Osborn said: 'Mimicking this strategy could help engineers develop less expensive, flexible and more durable ultra-black materials for use in optical technology, such as telescopes and cameras, and for camouflage.'
Pictured, the ultra-black fish species Anoplogaster cornuta being sampled before it was released back into the ocean
Ultra-black nightmare fish reveal secrets of deep ocean camouflage
Goths know black is cool. Some scary-looking fish swimming the ocean depths know this, too.
A team of researchers is unlocking the deep, dark secrets of blacker-than-black fish that have developed special skin characteristics to help them hide from predators that use bioluminescence to hunt.
The researchers, including lead author Alexander Davis, a doctoral student in biology at Duke University, published a study on the ultra-black fish in the journal Current Biology (PDF) on Thursday. They identified at least 16 species of deep-sea-dwelling fish with skin that absorbs over 99.5% percent of light. It's the ultimate camouflage for the inky depths of the ocean.
A deep-sea dragonfish has ultra-black skin capable of absorbing bioluminescent light. It also has great teeth.
As the names suggest, dragonfish and common fangtooth fish aren't the cuddliest looking critters in the sea. They might appear nightmarish to squeamish humans, but they're of great interest to scientists who are looking at ways to develop new ultra-black materials.
Vantablack is the most famous of the ultra-black coatings. It was designed for defense and space sector applications, but has also appeared in architecture and art. It's not the only one of its kind. MIT announced a new "blackest black" material in 2019.
Surrey NanoSystems in the UK announced Vantablack, a nanotech material, in 2014 to much fanfare and many Spinal Tap jokes. It became known as one of the blackest-black materials ever created.At the time, Surrey NanoSystems described Vantablack as "revolutionary in its ability to be applied to lightweight, temperature-sensitive structures such as aluminium whilst absorbing 99.96% of incident radiation, believed to be the highest-ever recorded." None more black. Surrey has continued to refine Vantablack and even figured out how to make the light-absorbing coating work as a spray. It has since graced everything from wristwatch faces to high-end vehicles.
The ocean research team used a spectrometer to measure light reflecting off the skin of fish pulled up from Monterey Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. These denizens of the deep live up to a mile below the ocean surface.
"The darkest species they found, a tiny anglerfish not much longer than a golf tee, soaks up so much light that almost none -- 0.04% -- bounces back to the eye," Duke University said in a release on Thursday.
The scientists discovered differences between black fish and ultra-black fish by focusing on melanosomes, structures within cells that contain the pigment melanin.
According to study co-author Karen Osborn, "Mimicking this strategy could help engineers develop less expensive, flexible and more durable ultra-black materials for use in optical technology, such as telescopes and cameras, and for camouflage." Osborn is a research zoologist with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
The ultra-black fish presented some challenges for the scientists when it came to photos. "It didn't matter how you set up the camera or lighting -- they just sucked up all the light," said Osborn.
Fortunately for your nightmares, Osborn captured startlingly toothy views of an ultra-black deep-sea dragonfish and an Anoplogaster cornuta. Be sure to cue up some Bauhaus music and stare deeply into their milky eyes.
How Deep-Sea, Ultra-Black Fish Disappear – Science Behind Skin That Absorbs More Than 99.5% of Light By SMITHSONIAN JULY 16, 2020 The ultra-black Pacific blackdragon (Idiacanthus antrostomus), the second-blackest fish studied by the research team. These fish have a bioluminescent lure that they use to attract prey, and if not for their ultra-black skin and transparent, anti-reflective teeth, the reflection of their lure would scare prey away. The Pacific blackdragon also has light-producing organs below their eyes that scientists expect might be used as a searchlight to spot prey. In the July 16 issue of the journal Current Biology, a team of scientists led by Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History research zoologist Karen Osborn and Duke University biologist Sönke Johnsen report on how a unique arrangement of pigment-packed granules enables some fish to absorb nearly all of the light that hits their skin, so that as little as 0.05% of that light is reflected back. Credit: Karen Osborn, Smithsonian Ultra-black fish skin absorbs more than 99.5% of light in a new, extremely efficient way, a discovery that may advance high-tech optical and camouflage technology. Deep in the ocean, where sunlight barely reaches, Smithsonian scientists and a team of collaborators have discovered one of the blackest materials known: the skin of certain fish. These ultra-black fish absorb light so efficiently that even in bright light they appear to be silhouettes with no discernible features. In the darkness of the ocean, even surrounded by bioluminescent light, they literally disappear. In the July 16 issue of the journal Current Biology, a team of scientists led by Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History research zoologist Karen Osborn and Duke University biologist Sönke Johnsen report on how a unique arrangement of pigment-packed granules enables some fish to absorb nearly all of the light that hits their skin, so that as little as 0.05% of that light is reflected back. Mimicking this strategy could help engineers develop less expensive, flexible and more durable ultra-black materials for use in optical technology, such as telescopes and cameras, and for camouflage, Osborn said. Osborn first became interested in fish skin when she tried to photograph some striking black fish she and her colleagues caught in trawl nets used to sample the deep sea. Despite sophisticated equipment, she said, she could not capture any detail in the images. “It didn’t matter how you set up the camera or lighting — they just sucked up all the light.” One specimen of the ultra-black fish species Anoplogaster cornuta. This fish was so lively after being sampled and documented that the research team released it back to the deep via submarine the day after being caught in a trawl net. In the July 16 issue of the journal Current Biology, a team of scientists led by Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History research zoologist Karen Osborn and Duke University biologist Sönke Johnsen report on how a unique arrangement of pigment-packed granules enables some fish to absorb nearly all of the light that hits their skin, so that as little as 0.05% of that light is reflected back. Credit: Karen Osborn, Smithsonian Careful measurements in the laboratory confirmed why cameras could not capture their features: Many of the black fish found in the deep sea absorbed more than 99.5% percent of the light that hit their surfaces. That means they are ultra-black — blacker than black paper, blacker than electrical tape, blacker than a brand-new tire. And in the deep, dark sea, where a single photon of light is enough to attract attention, that intense blackness can improve a fish’s odds of survival. Because sunlight does not reach more than a couple hundred meters beneath the ocean’s surface, most deep-sea creatures make their own light, called bioluminescence. Bioluminescent glows are used to attract mates, distract predators and lure prey. They can also expose nearby animals — foiling a predator’s stealthy approach or shining a beacon on potential prey — unless those animals have the right camouflage. “If you want to blend in with the infinite blackness of your surroundings, sucking up every photon that hits you is a great way to go,” Osborn said. One specimen of the ultra-black fish species Anoplogaster cornuta. Credit: Karen Osborn, Smithsonian The near-complete light absorption of ultra-black fish depends on melanin, the same pigment that colors and protects human skin from sunlight. Osborn and her colleagues discovered that this pigment is not just abundant in the skin of ultra-black fish, it is distributed in a unique way. Pigment-filled cellular compartments called melanosomes are densely packed into pigment cells and these pigment cells are arranged very close to the surface of an ultra-black fish’s skin in a continuous layer. The size, shape and arrangement of the melanosomes cause them to direct any light they do not immediately absorb toward neighboring melanosomes within the cell, which then suck up the remaining light. “Effectively what they’ve done is make a super-efficient, super-thin light trap,” Osborn said. “Light doesn’t bounce back; light doesn’t go through. It just goes into this layer, and it’s gone.” “These pigment-containing structures are packed into the skin cells like a tiny gumball machine, where all of the gumballs are of just the right size and shape to trap light within the machine,” said Alexander Davis, a co-author of the study and doctoral student in biology at Duke University. Fish are not the only animals known to trap enough light to produce an ultra-black surface. Ultra-black feathers and scales have been found on a few birds and some butterflies, where they contrast with brightly colored regions, making the colors appear more vibrant. Those animals produce the effect by combining a layer of melanin with light-capturing structures like tiny tubes or boxes. In the resource-limited deep sea, ultra-black fish appear to have evolved a more efficient system, Osborn said. “This is the only system that we know of that’s using the pigment itself to control any initially unabsorbed light.” This melanosome-based ultra-blackness seems to be a common strategy in the deep sea: Osborn and her team found the same distinct patterns of pigment in 16 species of distantly related fish. Adopting this efficient design strategy could improve the manufacture of ultra-black materials, which currently use an architecture more like what is found in ultra-black birds and butterflies, Osborn said. Such materials, sought after for sensitive optical equipment, are currently both extremely delicate and expensive to produce. “Instead of building some kind of structure that traps the light, if you were to make the absorbing pigment the right size and shape, you could achieve the same absorption potentially a lot cheaper and [make the material] a lot less fragile,” she said. ### Reference: “Ultra-black Camouflage in Deep-Sea Fishes” byAlexander L. Davis, Kate N. Thomas, Freya E. Goetz, Bruce H. Robison, Sönke Johnsen and Karen J. Osborn, 16 July 2020, Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.044 Funding and support for this research were provided by the Smithsonian, Duke University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense’s National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
