Massive 'Darth Vader' sea bug pulled from waters near Indonesia

The newly described species is one of the biggest isopods known to science.

Anterior view of Bathynomus raksasa, a new species of giant isopod.
(Image: © SJADES 2018)

By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer August 18, 2020

Buglike marine creatures that skitter across the sea bottom can grow to be as big as puppies, and a newly described species is one of the largest ever seen.

These crustaceans are known as isopods; the order Isopoda includes around 10,000 species that live in diverse habitats on land and in the ocean, and they can range in size from just a few millimeters to nearly 20 inches (500 mm) long. Of the ocean-dwelling isopods, the genus Bathynomus contains the biggest species; the newfound isopod, which turned up in the Indian Ocean in 2018, is among the largest of the Bathynomus species ever seen in the wild.

Named Bathynomus raksasa ("rakasa" is the Indonesian word for "giant"), the sizable sea bug measures about 13 inches (330 mm) in length, on average. It is the first new giant isopod species to be described in more than a decade, and is the first of these isopod behemoths to be found in waters near Indonesia, scientists reported in a new study.

Related: Marine marvels: Spectacular photos of sea creatures

Big or small, all isopods share many features, such as four sets of jaws, compound eyes, two sets of antennae, and a segmented body with seven sections, each with its own pair of legs, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Of the 16 previously described Bathynomus species, seven are considered to be "supergiants" — maturing at more than 6 inches (150 mm) long and then growing to be 12 inches (300 mm) or more, according to the study, published online July 8 in the journal ZooKeys.

Scientists compared the Bathynomus raksasa specimen (left) to a closely related supergiant isopod, B. giganteus (right) . (Image credit:Sidabalok CM, Wong HP-S, Ng PKL (ZooKeys 2020))




Researchers identified B. rakasa during the South Java Deep Sea Biodiversity Expedition; they collected two specimens, a male and a female, off the southern coast of Java, at ocean depths between 3,117 and 4,134 feet (950 and 1,260 meters). The unique shape of B. rakasa's head shield and abdominal segments, as well as the large number of spines — 11 to 13 — on its abdomen, indicated the supergiant is a new species, the scientists wrote in the study.

During the 2018 expedition, scientists were excited to discover the deep-sea Bathynomus isopods, a genus sometimes "affectionately" referred to as "Darth Vader of the Seas" (perhaps for their heads that resemble the Sith Lord's helmet), according to the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum's website. Museum collections specialist and expedition member Muhammad Dzaki Bin Safaruan held up a giant isopod while onboard the Indonesian research vessel Baruna Jaya VIII, in a photo shared by the museum on Instagram that year. "The staff on our expedition team could not contain their excitement when they finally saw one," museum representatives wrote in the post.

"The identification of this new species is an indication of just how little we know about the oceans," said study co-author Helen Wong, a researcher with St. John’s Island National Marine Laboratory, part of the Tropical Marine Science Institute at the National University of Singapore.

"There is certainly more for us to explore in terms of biodiversity in the deep sea of our region," Wong said in a statement.

Another team of scientists in 2019 captured rare — and gruesome — evidence of deep-sea isopod behavior, Live Science previously reported. Underwater video showed a group of these giant sea bugs as they ripped apart and feasted on the corpse of an alligator, which the researchers had submerged in the Gulf of Mexico to observe how bottom dwellers might consume this windfall of a meal.

Giant marine bugs that gorge on alligator carcasses may sound unsettling, but massive isopods' much-smaller cousins are arguably even more terrifying. Parasitic isopods known as tongue biters or tongue-eating louses devour fishes' tongues by siphoning off the tongue's blood supply as the organ slowly withers; the parasites then take the tongue's place in a still-living host's mouth.

Originally published on Live Science.

2 calves of one of world's most endangered large whales spotted

The birth of these babies brought hope for a critically endangered whale species.

A North Atlantic right whale calf was spotted on Dec. 4, 2020. 

This calf was born to 13-year-old Chiminea.
(Image: © CMAquarium)

Two rare newborn North Atlantic right whale calves were recently spotted in U.S. waters, according to news reports.

This is hopeful news, as the North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are critically endangered with only about 400 of them left in the wild, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries.

Biologists from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida spotted the first of the calves on Dec. 4 near Cumberland Island, Georgia. The young whale was born to 13-year-old Chiminea, who is believed to be a first-time mom, according to CNN. The second calf, found off Vilano Beach in Florida on Dec. 7, was born to 16-year-old Millipede and was seen swimming alongside bottlenose dolphins.

Related: In photos: tracking humpback whales

The North Atlantic right whale breeding season, which runs from mid-November to mid-April, is an important time of year for researchers to monitor the number of calves that are born.

Historic whaling left the species on the brink of extinction by the early 1890s, according to NOAA. Though whaling is no longer a serious issue for right whales — thanks to an international moratorium on whaling set up by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) — other human impacts have kept their numbers low. Entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes and increasing ocean noise pollution from human activities all pose a serious threat to their survival, according to NOAA.

The last three years in particular have been very challenging for North Atlantic right whales. Since 2017, the North Atlantic right whales have been experiencing what NOAA calls an "unusual mortality event." They report that during this time, 32 of these whales died and 13 were seriously injured due to entanglement and vessel strikes.

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This year's breeding season also got off to a poor start after a calf was discovered dead on the shore of a barrier island off North Carolina at the end of November, according to a statement from NOAA Fisheries.

"With a population at such low levels, every individual counts, and it is great to see these two new calves at essentially the beginning of the calving season," Jamison Smith, the executive director of the Blue World Research Institute, who took photos of the newborn whales via drones, told CNN.

However, there is still a long way to go. To maintain their population, at least 20 calves a year need to be born, according to NOAA, USA Today reported. But in the last four seasons, North Atlantic right whales have failed to achieve this target, only birthing a combined total of 22 calves.

Originally published on Live Science.

Huge methane cache beneath Arctic could be unlocked by the moon

Methane release changes with the tides.

In this digital reconstruction, methane can be seen rising as flares from the sea floor.
(Image: © Andreia Plaza Faverola)

By Patrick Pester - Staff Writer a day ago LIVE SCIENCE

The moon could be affecting how much methane is released from the Arctic Ocean seafloor, a new study finds. 

The tides, which are controlled by the moon, affect how much methane is released from seafloor sediments: Low tides mean less pressure and more methane released, while high tides create more pressure, and therefore less methane emission.

The research was conducted in the west-Svalbard region of the Arctic, with the findings published Oct. 9 in the journal Nature Communications.

"It is the first time that this observation has been made in the Arctic Ocean. It means that slight pressure changes can release significant amounts of methane. This is a game-changer and the highest impact of the study," study coauthor, Jochen Knies, a marine geologist at the Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE), said in a statement.

Related: 10 signs Earth's climate is off the rails

Methane is a greenhouse gas, which contributes to global warming by trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere. Huge methane reserves lurk beneath the seafloor and ocean warming is expected to unlock some of that trapped methane. So understanding how the tides impact these seafloor methane emissions is important for future climate predictions.

To find this tidal effect, the team measured the pressure and temperature inside the sediments and found that gas levels near the seafloor rise and fall with the tides.

By using a permanent monitoring tool they were able to identify methane release in an area of the Arctic Ocean where it has not previously been observed.

"This tells us that gas release from the seafloor is more widespread than we can see using traditional sonar surveys,” study co-author, Andreia Plaza Faverola, a marine geologist and geophysicist at CAGE, said in the statement.
Image 1 of 2

A full moon in Tromsø, Norway. (Image credit: Maja Sojtaric)

Their discovery implies that scientists have been underestimating greenhouse gas emissions in the Arctic.

"What we found was unexpected and the implications are big. This is a deep-water site. Small changes in pressure can increase the gas emissions but the methane will still stay in the ocean due to the water depth. But what happens in shallower sites? This approach needs to be done in shallow Arctic waters as well, over a longer period. In shallow water, the possibility that methane will reach the atmosphere is greater," Knies said.

This newly discovered phenomenon also raises questions about how rising sea levels and ocean warming, both of which are caused by climate change, will interact. Because high tides reduce methane emissions, it's possible rising sea levels, which come with higher tides, might partially counterbalance the threat of increased gas emissions being caused by a warming ocean.

Originally published on Live Science.

BRAIN-EATING AMOEBA IS SPREADING IN UNITED STATES, SCIENTISTS SAY

AND WE HAVE CLIMATE CHANGE TO BLAME.

BY VICTOR TANGERMANN / DECEMBER 17 2020

According to a new study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Naegleria fowleri, better known as the “brain-eating amoeba,” is slowly making its way northwards from the southern United States — and we’ve got climate change to blame.

The news isn’t quite as gloomy as it sounds, Live Science reports. The actual number of yearly cases isn’t increasing; it’s just that they’re occurring over a larger geographic range.

The single-celled organism behind the infections is usually found in warm bodies of freshwater, including lakes and rivers. Once a person is infected — an exceedingly rare occurrence usually resulting from swimming or diving in infected waters — the amoeba travels from the nose into the brain.

Once there, the organism can kick off a nasty brain condition called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). And yep, according to the CDC, PAM is “usually fatal.”

The good news: there have only been 34 infections reported in the US in the last ten years, according to CDC data.

Since the amoeba prefers warm waters, up to what Live Science reports to be a hot-tub-like 113 degrees Fahrenheit, an upward shift in global temperatures caused by climate change is giving N. fowleri new opportunities to expand north over the last 40 years, according to the CDC study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases this week.

The study, which examined CDC data from 1978 t0 2018, found that new cases moved northwards at about 8.2 miles per year.

“It is possible that rising temperatures and consequent increases in recreational water use, such as swimming and water sports, could contribute to the changing epidemiology of PAM,” the paper reads.

Deadly 'brain-eating amoeba' has expanded its range northward

The organisms' expanded range may be due to increased temperatures from climate change.


(Image: © Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

By Rachael Rettner - Senior Writer 2 days ago

Deadly "brain-eating amoeba" infections have historically occurred in the Southern United States. But cases have been appearing farther north in recent years, likely because of climate change, a new study finds.


The study researchers, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), examined cases of this brain-eating amoeba, known as Naegleria fowleri, over a four-decade period in the U.S. They found that, although the number of cases that occur each year has remained about the same, the geographic range of these cases has been shifting northward, with more cases popping up in Midwestern states than before.

N. fowleri is a single-celled organism that's naturally found in warm freshwater, such as lakes and rivers, according to the CDC. It causes a devastating brain infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is almost universally fatal. Infections occur when contaminated water goes up a person's nose, allowing the organism to enter the brain through the olfactory nerves (responsible for your sense of smell) and destroy brain tissue. Swallowing contaminated water will not cause an infection, the CDC says.

Related: 5 key facts about brain-eating amoebas

Because N. fowleri thrives in warm waters, up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius), it's possible that warming global temperatures may affect the organisms' geographic range, the authors said.

In the new study, published Wednesday (Dec. 16) in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the researchers analyzed U.S. cases of N. fowleri linked to recreational water exposure — such as swimming in lakes, ponds, rivers or reservoirs — from 1978 to 2018. They identified a total of 85 cases of N. fowleri that met their criteria for the study (i.e. cases that were tied to recreational water exposure and included location data.)

During this time, the number of yearly reported cases was fairly constant, ranging from zero to six per year. The vast majority of cases, 74, occurred in southern states; but six were reported in the Midwest, including Minnesota, Kansas and Indiana. Of these six cases, five occurred after 2010, the report said.



A map showing cases of Naegleria fowleri infections tied to recreational water in the U.S. from 1978 to 2018. (Image credit: CDC/Emerg Infect Dis. 2021 Jan)

What's more, when the team used a model to examine trends in the maximum latitude of cases per year, they found that the maximum latitude had shifted about 8.2 miles (13.3 kilometers) northward per year during the study period.

Finally, the researchers analyzed weather data from around the date each case occurred, and found that on average, daily temperatures in the two weeks leading up to each case were higher than the historical average for each location.

"It is possible that rising temperatures and consequent increases in recreational water use, such as swimming and water sports, could contribute to the changing epidemiology of PAM," the authors wrote.

Efforts to characterize PAM cases, such as knowing when and where these cases occur, and being aware of changes in their geographic range, could help predict when it's riskiest to visit natural swimming holes, the authors said.

Since there is no rapid test for N. fowleri in water, the only sure way to prevent these infections is to avoid swimming in warm freshwater, the CDC says. If you choose to go swimming in warm freshwater, you can try to avoid having water go up your nose by holding your nose closed, using nose clips or keeping your head above water.

Originally published on Live Science.

Climate emergency: elections in spotlight as crucial decade begins

Katie Kouchakji

Friday 18 December 2020

In October, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a historic majority in elections, with her party’s platform including a pledge to achieve a 100 per cent renewable electricity system by 2035. She has since declared a climate emergency and that her government will be carbon neutral by 2025.

In South Korea in April, President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party won a majority in the National Assembly in the county’s legislative election, following a campaign that included a commitment to a Green New Deal and a net-zero goal.

These results represent victories for campaigning platforms that included strong climate action as part of the recovery from the Covid-19-induced economic crisis.

“Having a pro-climate action White House will be a critical part of mobilising greater ambition and reinvigorating multilateralism

Nathaniel Keohane

Senior Vice-President at Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, DC

‘Time is of the essence on climate – we’ve lost a lot of time in the past two decades’, says Roger Martella, former General Counsel at GE and Council Member of the IBA Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law.

In New Zealand, James Shaw, Minister of Climate Change and co-leader of the Green Party, is however feeling ‘increasingly confident about the direction of travel. The level of consensus that we built up in the last term in getting the Zero Carbon Act through with unanimous support of the House has meant that there is a level of openness … and an understanding that [climate change] is real and we need to make some really tough calls.’

In the US, meanwhile, Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election in November is seen as a turning point.

‘It’s not an exaggeration to say the outcome of this US presidential election will have pretty fundamental implications for global climate action’, says Nathaniel Keohane, Senior Vice-President at Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, DC. ‘Having a pro-climate action White House will be a critical part of mobilising greater ambition and reinvigorating multilateralism.’

Biden has pledged to bring the US back into the Paris Agreement, a move welcomed by the climate community. ‘I don’t expect much of a honeymoon for a Biden administration’, Keohane says, with expectations high for Biden to table more ambitious reduction targets under the 2015 deal. ‘The fork in the road couldn’t be clearer, both for the US and for the world.’

International treaties, while not law, help drive action by keeping the collective pooling of sovereignty together, says Tom Burke, Co-founding Director and Chairman of think tank E3G. ‘The more the world is all moving in the same direction at a global level, the more you strengthen the hand of those people who want to deal with the problem and want to change the way the economy is structured to deal with the problem’, he says.

Another pivotal ballot is Germany’s September 2021 general election, which will anoint Angela Merkel’s successor as Chancellor.

‘Merkel has been a really staunch champion of [combatting] climate change, for a very long time’, says Burke. ‘She has been consistent in her application to the issue and, clearly, she’s the most influential leader in the EU.’

The relationship between the EU, China and the US is pivotal for climate action, with Merkel’s leadership having made a difference to the EU’s stance, he says.

The EU and China are among those which have put forward net-zero pledges in recent months, which Keohane describes as ‘game-changing’.

For Australia, China’s net-zero emissions by 2060 pledge ‘has huge implications … in terms of our trade and regional security relationships as well’, says Emma Herd, the Sydney-based Chief Executive Officer of the Investor Group on Climate Change.

South Korea and India have also adopted emission reduction targets, and over 50 per cent of Australia’s key trading partners have committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, if not sooner – a fact that will influence Australia’s path forward.

‘It’s not surprising that climate change is so hard in Australia, given we are a carbon intensive economy’, says Herd. This challenge has given rise to the so-called ‘climate wars’, which have led to flip-flopping policy in the country for over a decade.

Australia’s next federal election is due in 2022, with a smattering of state elections first. The state elections are important to watch, says Herd, as policy implementation happens at a state level, for example in energy infrastructure.

Shaw remains optimistic that climate action globally will accelerate and that leaders will rise to the challenge. ‘What will happen is that the effects of climate change will continue to accelerate and be felt by a greater number of people, and that will make inaction less tolerable than it has been in the past’, he says.

However, he compares responses to the climate emergency as being similar to those to Covid-19, in the sense that by the time an outbreak is recognisable, it’s already two weeks too late. ‘So if you’re already feeling the effects of climate change, and that’s what’s giving you the conditions to make the right decisions, it’s kind of like, “well, look behind you”.’

These delays in acting will lead to a more disruptive and costly transition than if steps were taken in advance of these effects being felt, Shaw says. He points to extreme fires in Australia and California as ‘the canary in the mine’, rather than being the ‘new normal’.

Despite these early warning signs, climate action in the latter part of the last decade has been stymied by an increase in populist and nationalist politics and climate denialism – enabled by President Trump.

Shaw believes a change of US leadership will have a mitigating effect on this trend, but worries that, given the pressures and economic distress resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and the misfiring response in many places, there could easily be the conditions for greater authoritarianism in some places, with significant implications for climate policy.

Having successful green recoveries from Covid-19 could help resolve some of the resentment and divisions that fuel populism, says Burke. ‘If the lessons from Covid-19 are learned and translated into a broader view of policy … there is reason to hope because you’ll deal with some of those underlying resentments’, he adds.‘But there’s no guarantee of political success for anything.’

‘There is a sense of urgency that is different from before’, says Martella, noting that climate action has been driven forward in the US with efforts by investors, business groups and non-governmental organisations regardless of national politics. ‘The world has just fundamentally changed in the past few years’, he adds.

IBA - The global voice of the legal profession (ibanet.org)

GOP group claims its carbon tax is better for the economy than climate mandates
by Josh Siegel, Energy and Environment Reporter | WASHINGTON EXAMINER
| December 18, 2020 

A Republican-backed group pushing for Congress to pass a carbon tax is out with a new study Friday showing it would achieve the same level of emissions reductions as a regulatory approach while producing better economic outcomes.

The group, the Climate Leadership Council, is seeking to shore up support for its carbon tax and dividend proposal as policymakers have gravitated toward other ideas.

Democrats, including President-elect Joe Biden, are instead embracing regulations and mandates for combating climate change, while Republicans oppose new taxes or regulations and are offering more limited policies. The council, led by former Republican Secretaries of State James Baker III and George Shultz, is seeking to counter that.

“The intent of this study was not to criticize any particular regulation, however, if our objective is to find a global solution to climate change and rapidly decarbonize in a way that promotes the economy and where U.S. families come out ahead, it’s clear our solution is the best approach,” Greg Bertelsen, CEO of the Climate Leadership Council, told the Washington Examiner.

The council commissioned the firm NERA Economic Consulting to model its proposal for a carbon tax beginning at $40 per ton, increasing 5% every year. The proposal, dubbed a “carbon dividend,” would return the revenue to taxpayers through equal quarterly payments to offset higher energy prices.

The study found the plan would cut carbon emissions in half by 2036, about the same as an approach featuring a mixture of regulations and mandates.

But the carbon dividends policy results in an additional $190 billion per year in gross domestic product, on average, and by 2036, annual GDP is $420 billion higher under that method.

The subsidy to taxpayers also would translate into greater purchasing power for households, as most lower- and middle-income people would collect more in dividends than they pay in increased energy costs.

By 2036, annual consumption per household is $1,260 higher with the carbon dividends approach than projected under the regulatory scenario.

The study attributes those benefits to the idea that the “price signal” from the tax would encourage energy producers and other businesses across the economy to switch to cleaner, non-fossil fuel alternatives.

By contrast, a regulatory approach that tackles each economic sector on its own is more siloed and could force some sectors to make higher-cost reductions.

The regulatory scenario projected in the study would consist of a mixture of policies.

These include a clean energy standard for electricity and efficiency targets for homes and buildings, a subsidy program to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles, requirements for coal plants to adopt carbon capture technologies, stricter vehicle fuel efficiency standards, and a ban on fossil fuel leasing on federal lands.

Biden has broadly endorsed most of those policies, while his climate plan, as he proposed in the campaign, does not mention a carbon tax. But Bertelsen said the council is “delighted” that Biden is nominating Janet Yellen to be his Treasury Department secretary. Yellen, an economist and former Fed chair, is a longtime carbon tax supporter who has specifically endorsed the dividend approach as a founding member of the council.

“We know in working with Dr. Yellen that she cares deeply about finding a pragmatic solution to climate that promotes economic growth,” Bertelsen said.

Critics of carbon taxes say it’s attractive in theory but does not stand up to political reality.

Carbon taxes have routinely been rejected by voters in states, while more than half of states have been able to enact some form of clean electricity standard or mandate.

“I really worry that the ONLY carbon tax/dividend scenario that is examined is an idealized system and there is no evidence that such a system could exist in the real world,” David Victor, a professor at University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, told the Washington Examiner in an email.

Joseph Majkut, director of climate policy at the Niskanen Center, said that "regulations might have more immediate traction" but "a carbon tax offers efficiency and well-understood designs to help households."

Noah Kaufman, an economist at Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy, said the council’s study adds to a “mountain of evidence showing that some form of carbon pricing is going to be part of a cost-effective decarbonization strategy.”

But Kaufman told the Washington Examiner that a carbon tax would be more effective if it were implemented alongside a portfolio of other climate policies, including regulations and standards.


“So, to some extent, this study sets up a false choice, because I'd expect some combination of the two scenarios to be more cost-effective than either one,” said Kaufman, who used to work at NERA Economic Consulting but was not involved with its study for the council.

Women's mass grave sheds light on female victims of Spanish Civil War



By Juan Medina


FARASDUES, Spain (Reuters) - Archaeologists in northeastern Spain have uncovered the mass grave of 10 women killed by a fascist firing squad in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, drawing attention to the often overlooked plight of women in the conflict.

Well preserved white buttons trace a path up some of their spines, the last remnants of the clothes they wore on the day they were executed on Aug. 31, 1936 after being snatched from their homes in the village of Uncastillo the previous night.

Their bodies were dumped in a narrow pit in the local cemetery in neighbouring Farasdues, in the region of Aragon.

Mari Carmen Rios’ grandmother Inocencia Aznares was among them.

“Why did they kill her?” Because they couldn’t find my uncle? Because she could read and write? Because she voted for the republic? ... I don’t know ... Nothing they did makes sense,” Rios said.

More than 500,000 people were killed during the 1936-1939 war. Historical foundations estimate over 100,000 bodies remain missing, many in unmarked mass graves.

The leftist coalition government approved a bill in September to finance exhumations from mass graves as part of efforts to “restore democratic memory”.

Academic research on the conflict, though extensive, has been overwhelmingly focused on the experience of men, said Cristina Sanchez, who investigates civil-war violence against women at Zaragoza University.



“Where are all the women? ... Now we are finding that they were present as victims of violence and as perpetrators.”

Some were persecuted for their political leanings or activism but many more were killed as substitute victims for their male relatives, she said. Methods of execution were equally savage for both sexes.

“We have deaths by drowning, deaths by hanging, and the majority were killed by firing squad.”

Excavations in Farasdues began in November but the massacre had remained lodged in the area’s collective memory for decades, said archaeologist Javier Ruiz.

“Carrying off 10 women in one go didn’t happen in many places, at least not in Aragon ... In Uncastillo these 10 women have never been forgotten.”

Next to their grave, archaeologists uncovered another site with the bodies of at least seven men, who are yet to be identified.

For Rios, the excavation triggered powerful feelings of outrage, which later gave way to a sense of closure: “When you say ‘We’ve found her, she’s there, we’re going to bury her with grandpa,’ honestly it makes me very happy.”




Reporting by Juan Medina in Farasdues,; Additional reporting by Cristina Sanchez in Madrid,; Writing by Nathan Allen,; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Alexandra Hudson

 

‘Productivity’ in a pandemic: How employers are gearing up to spy on workers

Data is the new frontline of workers’ rights. We need to get serious about these risks now and take a stand, writes Prospect's Andrew Pakes.

Many of us will have upgraded our home working set-up during these last few months, adding a better chair, or carefully curating our bookshelves for online calls. Workplaces have been ‘upgrading’ too.

Thousands of employers have been updating software that is cloud-based, with changes that claim to make our ability to juggle work remotely a little more streamlined. But some of this software can also be used to make it easier for our employers to spy on us.

Take features like Office365’s Productivity Score, which potentially allows employers to track employees’ activity at an individual level. Other companies offer similar tools, adding together hundreds of thousands of micro actions builds up a profile on every worker and how they are working.

This includes things like how many emails have been sent, how many meetings they schedule, whether they are engaging with each other in messaging, or how long it takes them to reply.

Employers can view this in aggregate to see the trends in their IT usage, and how they compare against other firms. But they can also enable an option to view every worker’s own individual data. This allows employers to secretly gather data on how you are working, which they can use to judge your performance.

You may have heard of GDPR – the General Data Protection Regulations – from when you are asked to give permissions to receive marketing emails. However, GDPR has many other implications. We all have rights as ‘data subjects’ to know when any data is being collected on us where we are identifiable, and where there is a ‘high risk’ that we could suffer detriment employers have to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).

We also have the right to be consulted as part of the process of minimising these risks. By definition, any data about your performance at work that could be used in decisions like promotion and pay decisions should meet this threshold of possible ‘high risk’. That means that if your employer is using this feature in Office 365, and hasn’t consulted with the workers, they could be in breach of the regulations.

Features like Productivity Score are potentially the thin edge of an unsavoury wedge. Automated hiring systems and monitoring software is becoming big business in the United States and during Covid, is has become a bigger issue in the UK too. A quick web search reveals the names of some of these products: Sneak; SpyCop; SpyAgent.

This goes to the heart of how data is changing work.  Privacy is the intersection of control and freedom, collective rights and individual protections. Surveillance software raises issues that start with privacy but quickly address employment rights. Who decides what productivity is?  This is crucial as algorithms replace policy.  What happens once the metrics are collected? Do they identify individual and personal data?  What decisions can employers make about us?

Data is the new frontline of workers’ rights. We need to get serious about these risks now and take a stand. The risks are that we are sleepwalking into a new age of surveillance where dispersed workers are monitored, measured and checked.

The always-on culture was already blurring the line between our work and private lives. Today, with many of us asking whether we are now working from home or living at the office, that concept of privacy is playing out from our laptops in our kitchens and spare rooms.

The Information Commissioners’ Office has voluntary guidance on employment practices.  It states: “Workers have legitimate expectations that they can keep their personal lives private and that they are also entitled to a degree of privacy in the work environment.” Yet technology is moving so fast and, with the widespread move into remote working, the concepts of privacy are changing and we need updated guidance clearly stating what rights workers’ have and how we should be involved.

At Prospect we have been warning about the risks of mass employee surveillance being introduced in under the cover of the switch to remote working. Over the summer we conducted polling to see how workers viewed the prospect of being monitored remotely. Our polling asked workers if they had heard of some of the most common monitoring technologies.

Only one third had heard of keystroke monitoring, where employers can check how often you are typing, and the same number had heard of software that allows employers to use cameras on work computers to monitor how much time you spend ‘at your desk’. Only a quarter had heard of new electronic tracking that check when you are logged on to your email, or even where you are. When they do hear about this, opposition is predictably strong. Two thirds would be uncomfortable with keystroke monitoring, and this rises to three quarters for tracking software and up to eighty per cent for cameras.

As it stands, workers are not remotely aware that the technology exists – let alone what their rights are.

There is a real risk that thousands of workers will have their rights systematically violated. Our argument is simple. Workers need to know when they are being monitored, they need to be consulted on the introduction of this technology, and this has to be transparency so that decisions made by algorithms or on the back of this data can be challenged. More transparency will be good for employers as well, helping morale among workers and preventing bad decisions based on dodgy data.

That is why we have launched a petition calling on Microsoft to disable the Productivity Score feature by default, or at the very least limit it to aggregate anonymised data. Workers need to be involved in these decisions.

Andrew Pakes is Research Director at Prospect.

 

Everyday Plastics Are Leaching Hazardous Chemicals

NEWS   Dec 18, 2020 | Original story from Endocrine Society

 

Credit: Maurice Angres/ Pixabay\\Read Time: 3 min

Plastics contain and leach hazardous chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that threaten human health. An authoritative new report, Plastics, EDCs, & Health, from the Endocrine Society and the IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network), presents a summary of international research on the health impacts of EDCs and describes the alarming health effects of widespread contamination from EDCs in plastics.

EDCs are chemicals that disturb the body's hormone systems and can cause cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders, and neurological impairments of developing fetuses and children. The report describes a wealth of evidence supporting direct cause-and-effect links between the toxic chemical additives in plastics and specific health impacts to the endocrine system.

Conservative estimates point to more than a thousand manufactured chemicals in use today that are EDCs. Known EDCs that leach from plastics and threaten health include bisphenol A and related chemicals, flame retardants, phthalates, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), dioxins, UV-stabilizers, and toxic metals such as lead and cadmium. Plastic containing EDCs is used extensively in packaging, construction, flooring, food production and packaging, cookware, health care, children's toys, leisure goods, furniture, home electronics, textiles, automobiles and cosmetics.

Key findings in the report include:

One hundred and forty-four chemicals or chemical groups known to be hazardous to human health are actively used in plastics for functions varying from antimicrobial activity to colorants, flame retardants, solvents, UV-stabilizers, and plasticizers.

Exposure can occur during the entire life span of plastic products, from the manufacturing process to consumer contact, recycling, to waste management and disposal.

EDC exposure is a universal problem. Testing of human samples consistently shows nearly all people have EDCs in their bodies.

Microplastics contain chemical additives, which can leach out of the microplastic and expose the population. They can also bind and accumulate toxic chemicals from the surrounding environment, such as seawater and sediment, functioning as carriers for toxic compounds.

Bioplastics/biodegradable plastics, promoted as more ecological than plastics, contain similar chemical additives as conventional plastics and also have endocrine-disrupting effects.

"Many of the plastics we use every day at home and work are exposing us to a harmful cocktail of endocrine-disrupting chemicals," said the report's lead author, Jodi Flaws, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, Ill. "Definitive action is needed on a global level to protect human health and our environment from these threats."

The Swiss Ambassador for the Environment, Franz Xavier Perrez, commented, "Plastics, EDCs, and Health, synthesizes the science on EDCs and plastics. It is our collective responsibility to enact public policies to address the clear evidence that EDC in plastics are hazards threatening public health and our future."

In May, the Swiss Government submitted a proposal to the Stockholm Convention to list the first ultra-violet (UV) stabilizer, plastic additive UV-328, for listing under the Stockholm Convention. UV stabilizers are a common additive to plastics and are a subset of EDCs described in this report. The Stockholm Convention is the definitive global instrument for assessing, identifying, and controlling the most hazardous chemical substances on the planet.

The need for effective public policy to protect public health from EDCs in plastics is all the more urgent given the industry's dramatic growth projections. Pamela Miller, IPEN Co-Chair, commented, "This report clarifies that the current acceleration of plastic production, projected to increase by 30-36% in the next six years, will greatly exacerbate EDC exposures and rising global rates of endocrine diseases. Global policies to reduce and eliminate EDCs from plastic and reduce exposures from plastic recycling, plastic waste, and incineration are imperative. EDCs in plastics are an international health issue that is felt acutely in the global south where toxic plastic waste shipments from wealthier countries inundate communities."

"Endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure is not only a global problem today, but it poses a serious threat to future generations," said co-author Pauliina Damdimopoulou, Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. "When a pregnant woman is exposed, EDCs can affect the health of her child and eventual grandchildren. Animal studies show EDCs can cause DNA modifications that have repercussions across multiple generations."

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

UK

Priti Patel pushes ahead with plans to clamp down on protest

Looks like the Home Secretary is ganging up on peaceful protesters...

Environmental and human rights groups have condemned Government plans to restrict protest rights.

The proposed law is a threat to democracy and “another attack on our ability to stand up to power”, human rights campaigners Liberty said.

The plans – confirmed today in the Telegraph – come after a wave of Extinction Rebellion protests in September which blocked access to three printing presses owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Politicians and media outlets united in condemnation of the demonstrations, with Home Secretary Priti Patel now planning new legislation to make such activities illegal.  

The plans would curb protests which ‘threaten the tenets of democracy, including blocking Parliament, newspaper distribution, and judicial hearings’, according to the Tory-friendly Telegraph.

Worrying trend

But campaigners are concerned about what they see as a long-term trend of threats to the right to protest. In 2019, the Metropolitan Police unlawfully used an injunction to ban protest during the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations, at which thousands of people were arrested.

During the Black Lives Matter demonstrations this year, the Home Secretary said the protests were illegal under Covid restrictions, and many demonstrators were subject to aggressive police tactics such as kettling. On 2nd November, a Home Office spokesperson said that protests are included in the ban on gatherings of more than two people, and on 4th November Home Secretary Priti Patel called on police to “strengthen” enforcement of the rules.

Police monitoring group Netpol found: “Racism affected the manner in which police enforced lockdown regulations and responded to Black Lives Matter protests.”

But Sam Grant, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Liberty, said: “We all want to be able to stand up for what we believe in, and in a healthy democracy protest is a key way that we can all fight for a better society. By restricting protest you do not protect democracy, you threaten it.

“These plans are the latest step in a clear campaign to undermine the right to express dissent, after a year that has seen people from all walks of life take to the streets to demand change and ensure their voices are heard.”

He added: “This move must be seen in the light of this Government weakening ways we can challenge it across the board, by trying to limit our access to law. Being able to challenge governments and other public bodies is at the heart of our democracy. Threatening protest is just another way this Government is limiting our ability to stand up to power.”

Unlock Democracy’s director Tom Brake is also concerned. He told Left Foot Forward: “We should be wary of a Home Secretary whose justification for clamping down on the right to protest is to protect democracy.

He added: “The right to peaceful assembly or to protest peacefully is enshrined in Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and any attempt to water it down, by a Government renowned for creating hostile environments, must be treated as highly suspicious.”

Labour and lockdown

Asked by Left Foot Forward whether Labour will back new restrictions on protest from Priti Patel, Keir Starmer’s spokesman said today that the party will “have to look at the details” and wait until the legislation is published.

Apparently referring to Extinction Rebellion protests which triggered the review, he added that: “Police did take action…[Keir] supported the decision of the police.”

In the first few days of the second coronavirus lockdown in England, over 200 people were arrested at protests in London and Manchester, and more arrests were made at protests across the country over the following weeks. The Metropolitan Police incorrectly said that protests were illegal and made further arrests on 28 November.

Liberty successfully campaigned for the Tiered lockdown regulations that came into effect in December to include an explicit exemption to make clear that they do not prohibit protests.

XR push back

Commenting on the plans from the Home Secretary, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion told this site: “Women have the vote in the UK today because of the Suffragettes’ protests, which were hugely unpopular with the government and the press at the time.

“With the Committee on Climate Change and the National Audit Office both releasing reports this year predicting that the government will fail to meet its existing climate targets, which are already woefully inadequate, it has never been more important that citizens have the right to hold their government to account.” 

Restricting peaceful protest? Sounds like the actions of a bully…

Josiah Mortimer is co-editor of Left Foot Forward.

Image credit: Atlas of the Future

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