These mice grow bigger on the rainier sides of mountains. It might be a new rule of nature.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FIELD MUSEUM

 

IMAGE: THE SHAGGY SOFT-HAIRED MOUSE, FOUND IN THIS STUDY TO EXPERIENCE CHANGES IN SIZE BASED ON WHICH SIDE OF THE ANDES MOUNTAINS THE INDIVIDUAL LIVES ON. view more 

CREDIT: PABLO TETA

Scientists studying mice from the Andes Mountains in Patagonia noticed something they couldn’t explain: the mice from the western side of the mountains were bigger than the ones from the east, but DNA said that they were all from the same species. The researchers examined the skulls of 450 mice from the southern tip of South America, and found that existing biological laws didn’t explain the size differences. Instead, in a new paper in the Journal of Biogeography, the scientists put forth a new hypothesis: the mice on the western slopes were bigger because that side of the mountain range gets more rain, which means there’s more plentiful food for the mice to eat.

“There are a bunch of ecogeographic rules that scientists use to explain trends that we see again and again in nature,” says Noé de la Sancha, a research associate at Chicago’s Field Museum, an assistant professor of Environmental Science and Studies at DePaul University, and the paper’s corresponding author. “With this paper, I think we might have found a new one: the rain shadow effect can cause changes of size and shape in mammals.”

The mice that de la Sancha and his colleagues examined in this study are shaggy soft-haired mice, Abrothrix hirta. “They’re very cute little buggers, they have soft white bellies,” says de la Sancha. “They live in the mountains, which makes them unique, but they’re also found in lower elevations. Overall, they’re not very well-studied.”

De la Sancha’s colleague, Pablo Teta of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, began studying the shaggy soft-haired mice as part of his doctoral thesis. “He saw that some individuals of the species were really big, and some were really small. He thought they were different species. But their mitochondrial DNA suggested that they were one species, even though they’re so different,” recalls de la Sancha. “We wanted to explore why that is, to see if they were following some sort of rule.”

There are lots of “rules” of nature explaining patterns that we see in life. For instance, Bergmann’s rule explains why animals of the same species are bigger in higher latitudes. White-tailed deer in Canada are larger and bulkier than their skinny Floridian cousins. Bergmann’s rule explains that this is because having a thicker body in relation to your surface area helps you retain heat better, the same way that big pieces of food take longer to cool down than smaller bites.

To try to find a pattern to explain the differences in size, the researchers used statistical analyses to compare measurements of 450 mouse skulls. They then tried to map their findings onto different biological rules to see if any fit. Bergmann’s rule didn’t work; there wasn’t a strong correlation between mouse size and how far north or south the specimen lived. Other rules emphasize the role of temperature or precipitation, with mixed results for different groups and situations. This team did not find that latitude, or one of 19 other bioclimatic, temperature, or precipitation variables, best described the mice’s varying shapes and sizes. However, there did seem to be a pattern with longitude-- how far east or west the mice lived.

De la Sancha and his colleagues realized this might be related to what biologists call the “resource rule.” “This rule suggests that where there are more resources, individuals from the same species tend to be larger than where there are fewer resources,” says de la Sancha. “For instance, some deer mice that are found in deserts and other habitats tend to be smaller in drier portions of their habitats. Another hypothesis suggests that some animals tend to be smaller in mountains versus adjacent plains in North America. Our study found a mixed result of these rules.”

The sizes of mice seemed to be following the resource rule, but the question still remained: why were there more resources on the western slopes of the southern Andes than on the eastern slopes? De la Sancha had a “Eureka!” moment while teaching a class of undergraduates at Chicago State University.

“Believe it or not, when I was teaching ecology, one of the things that I was teaching about was the rain shadow effect,” says de la Sancha.

The rain shadow effect is a product of the way that water vapor travels over mountain ranges. The air over the ocean picks up water vapor, and as the ocean naturally warms, this water vapor rises. Prevailing winds, like the jet stream that goes from west to east, push this air from the ocean to the land, and as the air makes its way over mountain ranges, it gets colder as it goes up in elevation. The water vapor in the cold air condenses and falls as rain. If the mountain is really high, the air will run out of moisture by the time it gets to the far side of the peak. “Essentially, one side of the mountain will be humid and rainy, and the other will have cold, dry air. On some mountains, the difference is extreme. One face can be a tropical rainforest, and the other side will be almost desert-like,” says de la Sancha. “There is a rain shadow effect in most mountains on the planet, we see this phenomenon all over the world.”

In the middle of his lecture, de la Sancha realized that the rain shadow could explain why there was more food on the western side of the Andes, and thus, why the mice there were bigger. “That same day, I went home and wrote to Pablo,” he remembers. “I was like, ‘Dude, we need to talk about the rain shadow.’”

The rain shadow indeed neatly matched up with the rodents’ sizes-- the first time, to de la Sancha’s knowledge, that anyone has demonstrated the effects of the rain shadow on mammal size. And while so far it’s only been shown for one species of mouse, de la Sancha suspects that he and his colleagues have hit on a larger truth-- perhaps even the basis for a rule of its own someday.

“It’s exciting, because it could potentially be something that's more universal. We think it may be more of a rule than an anomaly,” says de la Sancha. “It’d be worthwhile to test it on lots of different taxa.”

However, the findings may mean that the shaggy soft-haired mice, and many of their fellow mammals, are in for a rough time. “The scary part is that we show that, at least to some effect,  climate patterns are important to determine the mice’s morphology-- their shape and size, either directly or indirectly through the resources they can find,” says de la Sancha. “With climate change, we know we’re going to see dramatic changes in temperature throughout the year, and changes in precipitation. While they might not be the most important variables affecting the mice’s well-being, they are important in determining available food sources.” If the weather patterns change and affect the plants that grow in the region, the mice might no longer be able to thrive as they once did.

Plus, de la Sancha notes, animals are already moving up mountains to escape the effects of climate change. “At a certain point, you run out of mountain,” he says. “There’s nowhere else to go. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t seem good.”

The unclear future of these mice in the face of climate change, according to de la Sancha, is a good reason to study animals like mice that often go unnoticed. “It’s important to understand how little we know about most small mammals,” he says. “They can be good indicators of long-term changes in our environment. We need to study them more. Our findings also show why museum collections are so important. This study was based on museum collections from Argentina, Chile, and the US, it’s an amalgamation of years and years of collecting and big data sets.

“This paper would not have been possible without museum collections and highlights the importance of museum- and collection-based research and its support worldwide,” notes Teta. “This type of research helps us better understand the big-picture, universal rules of how life on Earth works.”

CAPTION

Figure from the paper showing how the rain shadow affects mice.

CREDIT

Teta et al, 2022

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JOURNAL

Journal of Biogeography

ARTICLE TITLE

Andean rain shadow effect drives phenotypic variation in a widely distributed Austral rodent

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Sep-2022

Ecologists use the latest dental scanning technology to study young coral

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BRITISH ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: A 3D MODEL OF A BABY CORAL SKELETON SCANNED BY DR KATE QUIGLEY'S DENTAL SCANNER. view more 

CREDIT: DR KATE QUIGLEY

Inspired by a trip to the dentist, Dr Kate Quigley presents a new method for monitoring coral size and growth that reduces surveying time by 99%. The methodology and findings are published in the British Ecological Society journal, Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Dr Kate Quigley, a senior research scientist at the Minderoo Foundation who conducted the research at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and James Cook University, has developed a new non-destructive method for rapidly and safely scanning coral – cutting down on previously laborious and lengthy surveying techniques.

Inspired by a visit to the dentist, Dr Quigley remarked on the similarities between coral and our teeth – both being calcium-based and requiring measuring tools that can withstand wet surfaces. “One day, I was at the dentist, and they rolled out this new scanning machine. I knew immediately that it was something that could apply to scanning very small corals given corals and teeth actually share many similar properties. The rest is history!”

Coral reefs are among the earth's most productive ecosystems and provide essential nutritional and protective services to people across the globe. These important ecosystems have suffered serious declines over recent decades – spurring a flurry of research around their basic biology and restoration. Understanding the critical life stage of juvenile coral allows scientists to predict ecosystem changes, the impacts of disturbance and their potential for recovery.

Reconstructing coral 3D models reveals insights into their health and response to pressures like rising temperatures or acidification. Several methods exist to build and assess these 3D models, yet their effectiveness is reduced when constructing measurements at small scales.

Dr Quigley said: “At the moment, it is difficult to accurately measure very small objects in 3D, especially if you are interested in measuring small live animals, like coral, without hurting them.

“During my PhD it would take half a day to produce one scan, and I was interested in scanning hundreds of corals at a time.

“For the first time, this new method will allow scientists to measure thousands of tiny corals fast, accurately and without any negative health impacts on the coral. This has the potential to expand large-scale monitoring of ocean health and for up-scaling coral reef restoration.”

To assess the effectiveness of these dental scanners, namely the ITero Element 5D Flex, Dr Quigley measured juvenile corals at the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s National Sea Simulator. The coral, from the Great Barrier Relief, were temporarily removed from their indoor aquarium and their surface area and volume recorded before being returned to the tanks.

On average it took less than three minutes to scan and build a model of each individual coral compared to over 4 hours with previous methods – a 99% decrease in the time required to carry out such measurements. Dr Quigley recorded equally fast and precise performance when measuring and comparing models of dead skeletons and living coral tissue. Removing the need to sacrifice live animals to take measurements.

Whilst this is a massive step forward in cutting down the time involved in monitoring and studying small marine animals, 3D scans still need to be processed manually, which slows down analysis. Dr Quigley hopes that the next avenue for this research is to try and create an automatic analysis pipeline from scanning to measurement, potentially using AI.

At present, this technology can only be used to perform measurements out of the water. The hardware is not waterproof as the scanner relies on confocal laser technology.

“Potentially the scanner could be made completely waterproof. However, it is unclear how well the laser technology would work completely submerged underwater. We have taken this technology on the boat before and brought up wild and laboratory-reared corals for measurement, so we are getting there!”

CAPTION

Dr Kate Quigley used dental scanning machinery to measure baby coral straight from the boat.

CREDIT

Dr Kate Quigley

---

JOURNAL

Methods in Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1111/2041-210X.13959 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

A fast, precise, in-vivo method for micron-level 3D models of corals using dental scanners

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Aug-2022

Discovery and naming of Africa’s oldest known dinosaur

A Virginia Tech graduate student found and unearthed the fossil with other paleontologists during two digs in Zimbabwe in 2017 and 2019. Sterling Nesbitt, an associate professor in the Department of Geosciences, said

Peer-Reviewed Publication

VIRGINIA TECH

 

IMAGE: ARTISTIC RECONSTRUCTION OF MBIRESAURUS RAATHI (IN THE FOREGROUND) WITH THE REST OF THE ZIMBABWEAN ANIMAL ASSEMBLAGE IN THE BACKGROUND. IT INCLUDES TWO RHYNCHOSAURS (AT FRONT RIGHT), AN AETOSAUR (AT LEFT), AND A HERRERASAURID DINOSAUR CHASING A CYNODONT (AT BACK RIGHT). ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF ANDREY ATUCHIN. view more 

CREDIT: VIRGINIA TECH

An international team of paleontologists led by Virginia Tech has discovered and named a new, early dinosaur. The skeleton — incredibly, mostly intact — was first found by a graduate student in the Virginia Tech Department of Geosciences and other paleontologists over the course of two digs, in 2017 and 2019.

The findings of this new sauropodomorph — a long-necked dinosaur — newly named Mbiresaurus raathi were been published today in the journal Nature. The skeleton is, thus far, the oldest dinosaur skeleton ever found in Africa. The animal is estimated to have been 6 feet long with a long tail. It weighed anywhere from 20 to 65 pounds. The skeleton, missing only some of the hand and portions of the skull, was found in northern Zimbabwe.

“The discovery of Mbiresaurus raathi fills in a critical geographic gap in the fossil record of the oldest dinosaurs and shows the power of hypothesis-driven fieldwork for testing predictions about the ancient past,” said Christopher Griffin, who graduated in 2020 with a Ph.D. in geosciences from the Virginia Tech College of Science.

Griffin added, “These are Africa’s oldest-known definitive dinosaurs, roughly equivalent in age to the oldest dinosaurs found anywhere in the world. The oldest known dinosaurs — from roughly 230 million years ago, the Carnian Stage of the Late Triassic period — are extremely rare and have been recovered from only a few places worldwide, mainly northern Argentina, southern Brazil, and India.”

Sterling Nesbitt, associate professor of geosciences, also is an author on the study. “Early dinosaurs like Mbiresaurus raathi show that the early evolution of dinosaurs is still being written with each new find and the rise of dinosaurs was far more complicated than previously predicted,” he said.

The international team at the heart of this discovery include paleontologists from the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, and Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Finding Mbiresaurus raathi and other fossils

Found alongside Mbiresaurus were an assortment of Carnian-aged fossils, including a herrerasaurid dinosaur, early mammal relatives such as cynodonts, armored crocodylian relatives such as aetosaurs, and, in Griffin’s description, “bizarre, archaic reptiles” known as rhynchosaurs, again typically found in South America and India from this same time period.

(Mbiresaurus is derived from Shona and ancient Greek roots. "Mbire" is the name of the district where the animal was found and also is the name of an historic Shona dynasty that ruled the region. The name "raathi" is in honor of Michael Raath, a paleontologist who first reported fossils in northern Zimbabwe.)

From their findings, Mbiresaurus stood on two legs and its head was relatively small head like its dinosaur relatives. It sported small, serrated, triangle-shaped teeth, suggesting that it was an herbivore or potentially omnivore.

Part of the 2019 expedition team in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, before fieldwork. Left to right: Kudzie Madzana, Edward Mbambo, Sterling Nesbitt, George Malunga, Christopher Griffin, Darlington Munyikwa. 

“We never expected to find such a complete and well-preserved dinosaur skeleton,” said Griffin, now a post-doctorate researcher at Yale University. “When I found the femur of Mbiresaurus, I immediately recognized it as belonging to a dinosaur and I knew I was holding the oldest dinosaur ever found in Africa. When I kept digging and found the left hip bone right next to the left thigh bone, I had to stop and take a breath — I knew that a lot of the skeleton was probably there, still articulated together in life position.”

Nesbitt, who is a member of the Virginia Tech Global Change Center, part of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, added, “Chris did an outstanding job figuring out a place to test his ideas about early dinosaur evolution, went there, found incredible fossils, and put it all together in a fantastic collaboration that he initiated.”

A theory on dinosaur dispersal

In addition to the discovery of Mbiresaurus, the group of researchers also have a new theory on dinosaur migration, including the when and where.

Africa, like all continents, was once part of the supercontinent called Pangea. The climate across Pangea is thought to have been divided into strong humid and arid latitudinal belts, with more temperate belts spanning higher latitudes and intense deserts across the lower tropics of Pangea. Scientists previously believed that these climate belts influenced and constrained animal distribution across Pangea, said Griffin.

“Because dinosaurs initially dispersed under this climatic pattern, the early dispersal of dinosaurs should therefore have been controlled by latitude,” Griffin said. “The oldest dinosaurs are known from roughly the same ancient latitudes along the southern temperate climate belt what was at the time, approximately 50 degrees south.”

Griffin and others from the Paleobiology and Geobiology Research Group at Virginia Tech purposefully targeted northern Zimbabwe as the country fell along this same climate belt, bridging a geographic gap between southern Brazil and India during the Late Triassic Age.

More so, these earliest dinosaurs were restricted by climatic bands to southern Pangea, and only later in their history dispersed worldwide. To bolster this claim, the research team developed a novel data method of testing this hypothesis of climatic dispersal barriers based on ancient geography and the dinosaurian family tree. The breakdown of these barriers, and a wave of northward dispersal, coincided with a period of intense worldwide humidity, or the Carnian Pluvial Event.

After this, barriers returned, mooring the now-worldwide dinosaurs in their distinct provinces across Pangea for the remainder of the Triassic Period, according to the team. “This two-pronged approach combines hypothesis-driven predictive fieldwork with statistical methods to independently support the hypothesis that the earliest dinosaurs were restricted by climate to just a few areas of the globe,” Griffin said.

Brenen Wynd, also a doctoral graduate of the Department of Geosciences, helped build the data model. “The early history of dinosaurs was a critical group for this kind of problem. Not only do we have a multitude of physical data from fossils, but also geochemical data that previously gave a really good idea of when major deserts were present,” he said. “This is the first time where those geochemical and fossil data have been supported using only evolutionary history and the relationships between different dinosaur species, which is very exciting.”

A boon for Zimbabwe and Virginia Tech paleontology

The unearthing of one of the earliest dinosaurs ever found — and most of it fully intact — is a major win for the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe. “The discovery of the Mbiresaurus is an exciting and special find for Zimbabwe and the entire paleontological field,” said Michel Zondo, a curator and fossil preparer at the museum. “The fact that the Mbiresaurus skeleton is almost complete, makes it a perfect reference material for further finds. It is the first sauropodomorph find of its size from Zimbabwe, otherwise most of our sauropodomorph finds from here are usually of medium- to large-sized animals.”

Darlington Munyikwa, deputy executive director of the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, added, “The unfolding fossil assemblage from the Pebbly Arkose Formation in the Cabora Bassa Basin, which was hitherto known for paucity of animal fossils, is exciting. A number of fossil sites [are] waiting for future exploration were recorded, highlighting the potential of the area to add more valuable scientific material.”

Much of the Mbiresaurus specimen is being kept in Virginia Tech's Derring Hall as the skeleton is cleaned and studied. All of the Mbiresaurus skeleton and the additional found fossils will be permanently kept at Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

“This is such an exciting and important dinosaur find for Zimbabwe, and we have been watching the scientific process unfold with great pride,” said Moira Fitzpatrick, the museum’s director. She was not involved in the study. “It has been a pleasure to work with Dr. Griffin,and we hope the relationship will continue well into the future.”

The discovery of Mbiresaurus also marks another highpoint for the Paleobiology and Geobiology Research Group. In 2019, Nesbitt authored a paper detailing the newly named tyrannosauroid dinosaur Suskityrannus hazelae. Incredibly, Nesbitt discovered the fossil at age 16 as a high school student participating in a dig expedition in New Mexico in 1998.

“Our group seeks out equal partnerships and collaborations all over the world and this project demonstrates a highly successful and valued collaboration,” Nesbitt said. “We will continue studying the many fossils from the same areas as where the new dinosaur came from and explore the fossil beds further.”

Funding for the dig and follow-up research came from several sources, including National Geographic Society, the U.S. National Science Foundation, Geological Society of America, Paleontological Society, Virginia Tech Graduate School, Virginia Tech Department of Geosciences, and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil.

Related stories

Virginia Tech paleontologist finds, names new 3-foot-tall relative of Tyrannosaurus rex

What do people and dinosaurs have in common? More than you think

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JOURNAL

Nature

Automation nation: Robot stocks drinks at convenience store amid Japan labour shortage

AP
By Yuri Kageyama
31 Aug, 2022 

The Tx Scara robot can restock shelves with up to 1000 bottles and cans a day. Photo / AP

A small robot with a clip-like hand and enough smarts to know which drinks are popular is part of an effort to make convenience stores even more convenient.

On a recent day in Tokyo, the robot named Tx Scara slid back and forth behind the refrigerated shelves in the back of a FamilyMart store.

The hand on the end of its mechanical arm grasped a bottle or can from the stacks to the side, then the robot slithered to the right spot and placed the drink on the shelf — in a place chosen after its artificial intelligence and tiny cameras matched the kind of beverage to what's running short.

Tx Scara is filling a needed role in Japan's "conbini", as the ubiquitous tiny stores selling snacks, drinks and knick-knacks are called.

Most such stores are open 24-7 and are filled with 3000 kinds of products, but have relatively few workers. The beverage shelves in the back are furthest from the cash register, keeping workers running back and forth. And the beverage space is refrigerated - uncomfortably cold for people to stay there too many hours.

Tx Scara, which goes at an undisclosed price, can restock up to 1000 bottles and cans a day. Its artificial intelligence, called "Gordon", knows when and where products need to be placed on shelves, according to Tokyo-based Telexistence, which created Tx Scara.

"We want to automate all the repetitive jobs and boring jobs done by humans. That is the direction we are going. And the best way to do that is to use the robots," chief executive Jin Tomioka said.

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Industrial robots are already common in factories, but Tomioka's 50-employee company sees great potential at warehouses and home centres, he said. His robots are far more affordable than industrial robots, such as those at auto plants, but can prove just as crucial for social needs, being designed to coexist and collaborate with people, and helping out with routine and rudimentary tasks.
Telexistence CEO Jin Tomioka and FamilyMart executive officer Tomohiro Kano look at shelves of a FamilyMart convenience store in Tokyo. Photo / AP

Tomioka's robots are tailored for existing stores, which don't have to change their layout or routine. Their hardware uses Nvidia GPU-accelerated AI technologies to allow for remote control over Azure, the cloud computing service operated by Microsoft.

A Telexistence operator wearing virtual reality glasses can see problems when they occur, such as a dropped beverage, and fix them from the company office.

Tx Scara is now at 300 of the 16,000 FamilyMart stores in Japan. There are 40,000 more conbini in Japan, and the US has about 150,000 convenience stores.

With its ageing population, Japan has a labour shortage that's expected to only get more severe in the coming years.

FamilyMart executive officer Tomohiro Kano referred to the Japanese expression "seeking even a cat's paw for help" to describe how desperate a situation might get. "At FamilyMart, we are seeking a robot's arm for help," he said with a laugh.

While modern robots are taking on serious work like mapping disaster zones and helping doctors perform surgery, the humble Tx Scara tirelessly does the unglamorous work of stocking shelves with bottled tea and orange drinks.

IT worker Taisuke Miyaki watched the robot working as he peered into the beverage shelf. He acknowledged he hadn't noticed it before although he shops at FamilyMart often, especially for his favourite bottled jasmine tea.

"Come to think of it, the shelves are always nicely stocked lately," he said.

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After shutting down Indian Ford plant, union and management keep workers in the dark

Yuvan Darwin and Kranti Kumara

WSWS.ORG

Over 2,600 workers who mounted a five-week strike earlier this year against Ford’s plan to shut the Chennai car assembly plant in the southern state of Tamilnadu have been completely abandoned by the Chennai Ford Employees Union (CFEU). 

The largely young, militant workers struck and occupied the plant to preserve their jobs. For its part, the CFEU explicitly accepted the global automaker’s decision to close the plant and did nothing more than negotiate for a slightly larger severance package. Workers rejected this surrender and struck in defiance of the CFEU.

Striking Chennai Ford workers voicing support for building a rank-and-file committee [Photo: WSWS]

The major union confederations isolated the struggle, and the CFEU shut it down on July 2. CFEU officials herded the economically distressed workers back into the plant to fulfill management’s quota before the plant was closed. Management dismissed most workers and used a small number to complete production before the final sports utility vehicle rolled of the assembly line on July 20. Management has brought in a handful of workers to manufacture some parts, after which the plant will be permanently closed in an “orderly way.” 

The closure of the Chennai Ford plant is part of mass layoffs and plant closures the Ford Motor Company management is implementing as a part of its global restructuring drive. With the help of the pro-capitalist unions in Europe and around the world, the US-based automaker is pitting workers against each other to extract profits and shift to the production of electric vehicles. This includes the bidding war the unions in Germany and Spain have thrown workers into, which resulted in huge wage cuts and longer hours for Ford workers in Valencia, Spain, and the planned closure of Ford’s Saarlouis plant in Germany.

The company claimed it would pay wages to all workers until August 31, but as management told The Hindu daily, “this is subject to the union and employees’ continued support as and when required by the company/supervisors throughout July and August. We look forward to the union’s support in concluding the severance negotiations successfully well before the August deadline.”

As of this writing, there has been no communication from the CFEU leadership about what if anything it is discussing with the management. It is not even clear whether permanent workers, contract workers and trainees will receive the same amount of whatever severance package is being negotiated between the CFEU, management and the Tamilnadu state government.

Ramesh, a Chennai worker who participated in the online call with German and US workers sponsored by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), told the WSWS, “Until now there has been no update from union leaders. Everything is being kept hidden from us. We are totally in the dark. The workers are now dispersed to their native places. The union leaders never informed or discussed any of the developments or decisions they have been imposing on us.”

When Ford announced in September 2021 its plans to halt production in India and close its two plants in Chennai and Sanand, Gujarat, this shocked workers, many of whom are sole bread winners for their families. At the time, 43-year-old Murugan, who worked at the plant for 21 years, told The NEWS Minute website, “The mean age in our plant (labourers) is 35. Most of the men who work here have children in high school (11th, 12th), younger children in primary and homemaker wives. They have dedicated their careers to Ford and this plant and now feel abandoned.”

The closure of the Chennai plant will destroy 4,000 jobs directly and as many as 40,000 in ancillary industries. While the Chennai plant is scheduled for closure, the Sanand plant in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat has been sold to Tata Motors, which announced plans to assemble electric vehicles at the plant.

Will Lehman, a Mack Trucks worker in the US and socialist candidate for the president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), denounced the plant closing and called on Ford workers to unite internationally to defend jobs. He told the WSWS, “Ford workers here in the US need to recognize the attack on our Indian brothers as an attack on all of us in the working class. They demonstrated their willingness to fight, and their union demonstrated its willingness to concede in no different a fashion than the UAW or any other trade union around the world.

“In my recent tour of factories in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia, I’ve seen the social devastation wrought by the shutdown of factories by global corporations like GM and Ford. Neighborhoods are destroyed, school systems collapse, and lives are lost—all for the profits of big business.

“We need to organize internationally if we are going to mount a successful fight against multinational companies like Ford. It is up to all of us to recognize that fact and act on it by building rank-and-file committees on every shop floor. In every country, workers should coordinate their struggles through the building of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees.”

Under Ford’s “Global Redesign” project, the company is in the process of ending assembly operations in India, Brazil and Russia. It has cut 12,000 jobs already and has announced further mass layoffs. The company has either sold or closed six plants located in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Russia and the Czech Republic in the last three years alone.

A couple of days after the Chennai plant closure, a senior bureaucrat in the Tamil-chauvinist DMK party–led Tamilnadu state government issued a warning to local police officials telling them to be on alert for any collective resistance by Ford workers against the plant closure. 

Calling for suppression of any such action, the letter stated that “junior workers of Ford company (1500) are disappointed with severance package and may continue agitation demanding job only. Due to these agitations by workers, some untoward incidents may happen as company is going to be closed by July 31. ... [The] necessary steps should be taken with vigilance to prevent these incidents.”

This letter reflected the stark reality that despite all of its posturing of being for the “common man,” the DMK, which the Stalinist CPM is allied with and promotes as a friend of the working class, will ruthlessly crush any worker agitations against plant closure. Ford management knows the whole government apparatus, including the police and the courts, is on its side. In June, management warned the striking workers if they did not end their occupation and return to work, their strike would be declared “illegal.”

The DMK government and Ford management feel emboldened not only by the treachery of the CFEU but, more importantly, the Stalinist CITU (Center of Indian Trade Unions) and the AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress) and the Maoist-controlled LTUC union federations. Although they have considerable presence in the Nagar industrial zone, both Stalinist union federations have deliberately isolated the struggle of Ford workers. 

This bitter experience has convinced several workers who took part in the strike and held discussions with the WSWS of the need for workers to form rank-and-file committees in opposition to the pro-capitalist trade unions and to fight for a global counter-offensive by the working class.

ISRAEL
After strike averted: New school year begins today

About 2.5 million students begin the new school year, a day after a teachers' strike was averted.

Israel National News
Sep 1, 2022, 
schoolsNew School YearTeachers Union

Classroom (illustration)iStock

Following the summer vacation and after all the strike threats have been lifted, 2,496,000 students will begin the school year in approximately 5,440 educational institutions across the country on Thursday morning.

177,000 of the students will begin first grade and 136,000 will begin twelfth grade. About 290,000 are special education students, of which about 114,000 are in special education classes and about 175,000 are integrated in regular classes. 21,000 students have been diagnosed as gifted, and 129,000 were awarded the title of outstanding students.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid will arrive in the morning at Nitzanei Hamada Elementary School in Rehovot, together with the Minister of Education Yifat Shasha-Biton and the Secretary General of the Teachers' Union, Yaffa Ben David, where they will open the new school year with the students.

On Wednesday morning, negotiators from the Finance Ministry and the Teachers’ Union achieved a breakthrough in talks, laying the foundation for an agreement which will allow the school year to begin as scheduled.

As part of the deal, the Treasury agreed to increase the starting wage for teachers to 9,000 shekels per month, with bonuses starting at 1,100 shekels.

Grants for teachers completing additional training courses three years after beginning work as teachers will be raised to 10,000 shekels.

The entry-level wage for school administrators will be raised to 19,000.

Tenure will now be granted only after three years, and the process for dismissing problematic teachers has been shortened.

In addition, the deal modifies the school vacation schedule, with teachers now require to work on Lag Ba’omer, Ta’anit Esther (the fast before Purim), and the days immediately following festivals (Isru Chag).

In exchange, schools will close during the period in between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, with teachers also granted two extra vacation days, to be used whenever they choose.

As part of the Finance Ministry’s plan to encourage outstanding teachers, administrators will be able to offer highly rated teachers monthly bonuses of between 400 to 1,000 shekels.

The Finance Ministry announced that it also intends to extend state-sponsored summer school programs through the end of July.

With the strike cancelled, the labor dispute will be withdrawn from the court docket.

Hawaii closes last coal-fired power plant as ban begins

By CALEB JONES, Associated Press - Yesterday

HONOLULU (AP) — The last bits of ash and greenhouse gases from Hawaii’s only remaining coal-fired power plant slipped into the environment this week when the state’s dirtiest source of electricity burned its final pieces of fuel.


Windmills and solar panels are shown in Kahuku, Hawaii on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)© Provided by Associated Press


Windmills and solar panels are shown in Kahuku, Hawaii on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023.

The last coal shipment arrived in the islands at the end of July, and the AES Corporation coal plant closed Thursday after 30 years in operation. The facility produced up to one-fifth of the electricity on Oahu — the most populous island in a state of nearly 1.5 million people.


A windmill turns in the background in Kahuku, Hawaii on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

“It really is about reducing greenhouse gases,” Hawaii Gov. David Ige said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And this coal facility is one of the largest emitters. Taking it offline means that we'll stop the 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases that were emitted annually.”

Like other Pacific islands, the Hawaiian chain has suffered the cascading impacts of climate change. The state is experiencing the destruction of coral reefs from bleaching associated with increased ocean temperatures, rapid sea level rise, more intense storms and drought that is increasing the state's wildfire risk.

In 2020, Hawaii’s Legislature passed a law banning the use of coal for energy production at the start of 2023. Hawaii has mandated a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045, and was the first state to set such a goal.

But critics say that while ending the state's dirtiest source of energy is ultimately a good move, doing so now is not. Renewable sources meant to replace coal energy are not yet on line because of permitting delays, contract issues and pandemic-related supply-chain problems. So the state will instead burn more costly oil that is only slightly less polluting than coal.


The AES Corporation coal-fired power plant in Kapolei, Hawaii is shown on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022 during a ceremony to mark the closure of the facility. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

“If you are a believer that climate change is going to end because we shut down this coal plant, this is a great day for you," said Democratic state Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Technology. “But if you pay an electricity bill, this is a disastrous day for you.”

The end of coal and the additional cost of oil will translate to a 7% increase in electricity bills for consumers who already face the nation's highest energy and living costs.

“What we’re doing ... is transitioning from the cheapest fossil fuel to the most expensive fossil fuel,” Wakai said. "And we’re going to be subjected to geopolitical issues on pricing for oil as well as access to oil. ”


Hawaii Gov. David Ice speaks at the AES Corporation's coal-fired power plant in Kapolei, Hawaii during a ceremony to mark the closure of the facility, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023.

The AES coal plant closure means Hawaii joins 10 other states with no major coal-fired power facilities, according to data from Global Energy Monitor, a nonprofit advocating for a global transition to clean energy. Rhode Island and Vermont never had any coal-fired power plants.

While Hawaii is the first state to fully implement a ban on coal, a handful of others previously passed laws. The 2015 law in Oregon, the first state to pass a ban, isn't effective until 2035. Washington state's 2020 coal ban starts in 2025. California, Maine and Texas are among states that have restricted construction of new coal-fired plants.

The number of coal-burning units in the United States peaked in 2001 at about 1,100. More than half have stopped operating since then, with most switching to more cost-effective natural gas.

U.S. Energy Information Administration data shows oil generated about two-thirds of Hawaii's electricity in 2021. That makes Hawaii the most petroleum-dependent state, even as it tries to make a rapid transition to renewables.


The AES Corporation's coal-fired power plant is shown in Kapolei, Hawaii during a ceremony to mark the closure of the facility, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

Hawaii already gets about 40% of its power from sustainable sources including wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal.

State Sen. Kurt Fevella, a Republican and the Senate Minority Leader, suggested that Hawaiian Electric Company and other energy corporations should absorb the additional cost of shifting to renewables.

“The fact that Hawaii’s families are already doing what is necessary to reduce their energy uses while still paying the most in the nation for household electricity is unsustainable,” said Fevella. “While I believe utility companies like HECO can do more to reduce the energy burden passed on to Hawaii’s ratepayers, I also believe developers of renewal energy projects should also bear a greater portion of the transmission costs."


Windmills spin near the ocean in Kahuku, Hawaii on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

Hawaiian Electric Company, the state's sole distributor of electricity, said it can do little to change the prices to consumers.

“We’re a regulated monopoly,” said Vice President of Government and Community Relations and Corporate Communications Jim Kelly. ”So we don’t set the prices. We don’t make any money on the fuels that we use to generate electricity.”


Oahu's power plants are shown on the horizon as an airliner takes off from the international airport in Honolulu, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

AES, the operator of Hawaii's last coal plant, has transitioned to creating clean energy and is working on large solar farms across the state, including one in West Oahu that will replace some lost coal energy when completed next year.


Makena Coffman, a professor at the University of Hawaii and the director of the university's Institute for Sustainability and Resilience, walks through campus on Friday, Aug. 12, 2022 in Honolulu. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

“Renewables are getting cheaper by the day," said Leonardo Moreno, president of AES Corporation's clean energy division. “I envision a future where energy is very, very cheap, abundant and renewable."


Scott Glenn, the state of Hawaii's Chief Energy Officer, works in his office on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022 in Honolulu. As Hawaii transitions toward its goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning in 2023. 

Sustainable energy experts say getting rid of coal is critical in curbing climate change. While the current renewable landscape is not perfect, they say technologies are improving.


Construction crews work on unfinished racks for solar panels at the AES Corporation's West Oahu solar farm in Kapolei, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward it goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning 2023.

“This is the decade of climate action that we really need to be moving on right now,” said Makena Coffman, University of Hawaii professor and director for the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience. “And so these are available technologies and they might get incrementally better, but let’s not wait 10 years to do it.”


Construction crews work on unfinished racks for solar panels at the AES Corporation's West Oahu solar farm in Kapolei, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward it goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning 2023. 

Profits from the increased electricity costs to Hawaii consumers will go mostly to overseas oil producers, said Hawaii's Chief Energy Officer Scott Glenn.


Unfinished racks for solar panels are shown at the AES Corporation's West Oahu solar farm in Kapolei, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. As Hawaii transitions toward it goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045, the state's last coal-fired power plant closed this week ahead of a state law that bans the use of coal as a source of electricity beginning 2023. 

Hawaii’s petroleum is distributed by Par Pacific, a Houston-based company which has traditionally sourced the state's oil from Libya and Russia. But after the invasion of Ukraine, Hawaii halted oil shipments from Russia and replaced it with products from Argentina.

Extending the coal plant's operation would be complicated and costly, Glenn said, noting that the plant has been planning decommissioning for years and would now have to buy coal at market price.

“Coal is going up. It’s getting more expensive,” he said of the supply Hawaii gets from clearcut rainforests in Indonesia. "If we were using U.S. coal, it would not be the cheapest energy source on the grid.”


A coal barge is tied to a dock after delivering the last shipment of coal to Hawaii, Thursday, July 28, 2022 in Honolulu. (Hawaii State Energy Office via AP)© Provided by Associated Press

Why would Hawaii, a small U.S. state in the middle of the Pacific, try to lead the way in moving to sustainable energy?

“We are already feeling the effects of climate change,'" Glenn said. “It’s not fair or right to ask other nations or states to act on our behalf if we are not willing and able to do it ourselves. If we don’t, we drown.”

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Associated Press data journalist Mary Katherine Wildeman in Hartford, Conn. contributed to this report.

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Follow Caleb Jones on Twitter: @CalebAP. Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment


A coal barge and oil ship are docked in Honolulu after the state received its last shipment of coal, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (Hawaii State Energy Office via AP)© Provided by Associated Press

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

AP Photo/Caleb Jones


Hawaii receives its final shipment of coal from a barge docked in Honolulu, Wednesday, July 27, 2022. (Hawaii State Energy Office via AP)© Provided by Associated Press

Lufthansa aims to minimise effect of pilots' strike on Friday

Wed, August 31, 2022 

Lufthansa ground staff in Germany go on strike over 9.5% pay claim, in Munich

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's Lufthansa on Thursday said it would do everything possible to minimise the effects of a pilots' strike set to begin on Friday and defended its offer during wage talks.

The union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), said late on Wednesday that pay talks had failed and the strike would affect both passenger and cargo services.

VC is demanding a 5.5% pay rise this year for its more than 5,000 pilots and automatic inflation compensation thereafter.

Strikes and staff shortages have already forced airlines including Lufthansa to cancel thousands of flights this summer and caused hours-long queues at major airports, frustrating holidaymakers keen to travel after COVID-19 lockdowns.

Michael Niggemann, the Lufthansa executive board member responsible for human resources, said the German carrier had made a good, balanced offer during talks and the strike would inconvenience several thousand customers.

"We want solutions at the negotiating table," he said, adding that Lufthansa's offers were a good basis for continuing talks.

Lufthansa has offered a total of 900 euros ($901.35) more in basic pay per month in two stages over an 18-month term as well as an agreement guaranteeing cockpit staff a minimum fleet size.

($1 = 0.9985 euros)

(Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Kirsti Knolle

Rail Strike Leaves Normal Life In Netherlands Crippled

Almost the entire Dutch railway network was shut down on Tuesday as workers affected by soaring inflation and staff shortages went on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.


UPDATED: 31 AUG 2022 

All trains listed were marked "Cancelled" in red at Utrecht central station as train services came to a 

A stranded traveller passes an artwork of a blue train by Miffy creator Dick Bruna, at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Deserted railway platforms are seen at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Escalators lead to deserted railway platforms at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Cars sit in traffic jams as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.


Stranded travellers use their mobile phones in an otherwise deserted Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.



Deserted railway platforms are seen at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.


No departing trains are listed on the overhead screens at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.



A stranded traveller uses his mobile phone in an otherwise deserted Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.



All trains listed were marked "cancelled" in red at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

A rail worker sits on a bench in an otherwise deserted Utrecht central station as train services have ground to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Deserted railway platforms are seen at Utrecht central station as train services came to a near standstill in the latest in a series of strikes by railway workers hits the Netherlands.

Netherlands Rail Strike | Photo: AP/Peter Dejong

Bernie Sanders backs RMT and striking UK workers in fight against ‘oligarchs’

Bernie Sanders has spoken in support of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, saying ‘our job right now internationally is to stand together’.


US senator Bernie Sanders speaking during a Save London Transport rally at TUC Congress House, London 

(Jonathan Brady/PA) / PA Wire

By Lucas Cumiskey



United States senator Bernie Sanders has backed UK unions fighting for improved pay and conditions, saying “working people all over the globe have got to stand together”.

Mr Sanders, 80, who represents the state of Vermont, addressed the Save London Transport rally, organised by unions including the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), in central London on Wednesday.

It comes after the RMT claimed a long-term funding arrangement announcement by the Government and Transport for London on Tuesday will attack Tube workers’ pay and pensions, warning it will lead to strikes.

Mr Sanders, who competed for the US Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, said: “Let me thank the RMT for inviting me to be with you this evening, it is in truth a real honour and I want to convey to you my belief that millions of working people throughout this country are proud of what you are doing, they’re proud of their fight for justice and we stand with you.

US senator Bernie Sanders speaking during a rally at Congress House, London (Jonathan Brady/PA) / PA Wire
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Bernie Sanders hails RMT strikes as an ‘inspiration’ on visit to London

Rail workers to stage fresh strikes

“What is going on today in the UK is no different than what is going on in the United States of America, same bloody thing.

“What you are seeing is people on the top, people who are phenomenally rich, are becoming richer, you are seeing a middle class continue to shrink and you’re seeing millions and millions of people living in abject poverty.

“In the year 2022, we cannot allow that to happen, whether it’s the UK or the United States, working people all over the globe have got to stand together.”

He added: “Our job right now internationally is to stand together. Our job right now is to bring people all over the world together, to make it clear to the oligarchs that their day and their power is ending.”

Speaking ahead of the event, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told the PA news agency: “It’s great that the senator’s come over, he reached out to us – coming here to express his solidarity for workers in the UK but also around the world, and in his own country, the USA.

“I think Sanders moved the debate in the American democratic primaries, he’s made (President Joe) Biden bring forward a very brave pro-union agenda and many people on the union side are pleased with some of the measures that President Biden has brought in, and Bernie Sanders is responsible for that.

“But he’s also responsible along with others of generating a new wave of trade union activity, with new unions, new union activists from a diverse background, getting to grips with some of these corporate profits and corporate rip-offs that are going on in the States.


“And we can learn from that over here, I’m sure that they can learn from what we’re doing, so we’ve got to make those connections and make our movement international.”

The rally at Congress House in London (Jonathan Brady/PA) / PA Wire

On what Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer could learn from Mr Sanders, he said: “He’s got to be in sympathy and empathy with working people and their problems, show working people that he understands their issues.”

He added: “The purpose tonight is the funding crisis that’s been going on in London transport ever since Covid started when the fares fell away because people were told not to travel.

“So that’s left a massive hole in London transport and Transport for London’s finances and the mayor has had a multiple arrangement of short-term deals, sometimes as little as a week or two, he’s got a 19-month deal now but that seems to have put services under threat to some extent because we have got to trust that the Tories are going to finance that.

“But also it seems to put our members’ pay, their jobs, their pensions and their terms and conditions on the table.

“This is a rally in defence of London transport services but also in defence of London transport workers.”