UK

Now is not the time to water down financial regulation



By International Affairs

September 4, 2022

The writer is director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics

The furore over Vladimir Putin’s closure of the already well-maintained Nord Stream 1 pipeline for further maintenance added to panic about rising energy prices. Yet the German benchmark power price halved in a week, revealing the real dynamic.

Despite Putin’s chest-thumping, wholesale providers of oil — autocratic leaders and chief executives of oil majors — lack the power to fix the price of their products.

This has not prevented widespread condemnation of oil majors in the current crisis. But such criticism is misdirected. Given global capital mobility and the nature of deregulated and financialised commodity markets, nationalisation of commodity producers and windfall taxes would not lower prices. Instead increased regulation of global markets is needed. But this week the British parliament proposes doing the very opposite — deregulating markets and worsening the cost of living crisis.

Real power over commodity prices lies in the “paper markets” — not with wholesalers. Wall Street and Chicago Mercantile Exchange investors deploy vast sums in speculation on movements in the price of both food and energy prices. It’s a profitable game. Net revenues at Wall Street banks rocketed in the first half of 2022.

Wheat futures prices traded in Chicago jumped more than 50 per cent in March, to as high as $13.40 a bushel one Friday. At the same time the share of non-commercial speculators holding long positions in hard wheat and corn rose sharply to 50 per cent. And as Lighthouse Reports revealed in April 2022, investors pumped $1.2bn into two major agricultural exchange traded funds, compared with just $197mn for the whole of 2021.

Prices for food, oil and gas are determined independently of both wholesalers and costs. And despite standard economic theory, they are fixed independently of the supply and demand for oil — as the recent fall in German prices amply demonstrates.

The paper market has inflicted real losses on oil exporters and the oil and gas majors. Both suffered tremendous losses in 2014, 2015, and 2020. In 2020 the five integrated supermajors — ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and Total — lost $76bn. Oil prices plunged into negative territory in 2020. Saudi Arabian energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had it right: “the paper and physical markets have become increasingly disconnected”.

Rocketing inflation and the rising burden of both food and energy prices have led to global economic and political chaos — especially in low-income countries. We can trace the problem back to Clinton-era deregulation that allowed new players and new derivatives to overwhelm the price stability and discovery functions. The 2008 financial crisis, which forced millions into economic hardship and poverty, can be laid at the door of those anarchic markets.

To deal with the crisis, the EU passed the Mifid 2 regulations and mandated limits on positions. Today’s chaos is largely a result of watering down those regulations. Global commodity markets are broken, no longer working for those who actually need them — the food and energy producers and consumers.

The UK government’s proposals in the Financial Services and Markets bill, which returns to the House of Commons on Wednesday, will foment global market volatility by weakening the financial stability mandate of the Bank of England. The bill proposes to give the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority roles as cheerleaders of volatile global markets, by adding secondary objectives for “economic growth and competitiveness”.

Rather than stabilising price volatility, the government will use this moment of market turmoil to exacerbate the crisis.

Alberta UCP leadership candidates unite to raise alarm on Alberta sovereignty bill

Yesterday 


EDMONTON — More than half the candidates in the race to replace Premier Jason Kenney are raising the alarm over a rival's plan to proclaim Alberta would reject federal laws and court decisions deemed against the province's interests.



The four say the Alberta sovereignty act proposal by candidate Danielle Smith is resonating with United Conservative Party members and they have a duty to speak out on it.

They call it a dangerous exploitation of latent anti-Ottawa anger and a backdoor separation bid that cannot succeed and would instead further inflame and divide the party and the province.

"The consequence will be (Smith) will have a caucus that will be standing up against the leader," candidate Leela Aheer told reporters Thursday in Calgary.

"If Danielle Smith wins this (race), I plan to stay on, and I plan to fight this.

"We could very, very easily end up in another leadership race again," she added.

The four UCP caucus members said they won't vote for Smith's proposed Alberta sovereignty act and questioned whether it would even gain enough votes to pass in the house.

"There would be extreme division within caucus. There could be a split in the party," said Rajan Sawhney.

Brian Jean equated Smith's plan to shouting "Freedom!" to rile up party members.

"It feeds on the anger but accomplishes absolutely nothing because there's no pathway except through negotiations and the Constitution being opened," said Jean.

"After the fantasy is over, and we've had our bedtime story — our fairy tale — then what? Because you're going to wake up in the morning and it's still going to be the same, except you're going to be a lot angrier."

Sawhney said if Smith wants to challenge Ottawa through the Constitution, she can do so now through the courts and through the Charter's notwithstanding clause.

"(Smith's plan) is flagrantly unconstitutional and it flirts with separatism," she said.

Recommended video: UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith outlines her proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act

Duration 5:51   View on Watch

Travis Toews said the bill would create a legal vacuum, sending investors fleeing and stranding business owners between conflicting federal and provincial laws.

"Alberta must stand up to Ottawa and protect our interests, but the sovereignty act is not the way we win," said Toews.

Smith responded in a written statement.

"I entirely trust the judgment of our UCP membership to select the leader they feel will best defend them against Ottawa's continued unconstitutional attacks," she wrote.

"I will respect their decision when it is made. I would expect my future caucus colleagues to do the same."

All seven candidates have promised varying polices for Alberta to gain a better deal with the federal government when it comes to a range of grievances from energy policy to equalization payments.

Smith has been drawing large crowds at party events and is seen as a front-runner to replace Kenney. Ballots were issued last week and a winner is to be announced Oct. 6.

Candidate Todd Loewen's policy proposals have been similar to those of Smith.

Rebecca Schulz, the former children's services minister, did not join the others at Thursday's event.

In a statement, Schulz reiterated she is against the sovereignty act. She said if it's introduced, Smith's signature bill would be rejected by the UCP caucus, resulting in yet another party leadership race.

Political scientist Duane Bratt said having half the candidates jointly challenge a policy proposal is highly unusual for a race and speaks to the looming legal and political implications of Smith's plan.

Bratt also criticized Schulz's non-appearance.

He said Schulz appeared to be trying to position herself in safe political middle ground by criticizing Smith in print while avoiding being visually linked to the four by appearing at the event.

"There is no neutrality (on this issue)," said Bratt, with Mount Royal University in Calgary. "(Schulz) is playing leadership games with an issue that is too important."

Legal experts have criticized Smith's proposal as not only illegal but as a fundamental attack on the rule of law and the checks and balances that underpin a democracy.

Kenney has said he won't vote for the proposal and Lieut.-Gov. Salma Lakhani announced last week she is duty-bound to refuse to sign into law a bill that violates the Constitution.

Smith has promised her bill would challenge the Constitution in a constitutionally acceptable way, but she has not explained how.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2022.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Restaurant finds itself in hot water with CRA over servers' electronic tips

Jamie Golombek - Financial Post

A recent tax case involved a popular, seaside restaurant 

in downtown Halifax that didn’t remit CPP and EI on part of its servers’ tips.

If you’re an employee who gets a regular paycheque, you’ll be very familiar with the concept of source withholdings, which reduces your take-home pay.

Put simply, your employer is legally required to withhold and remit federal and provincial income tax to the Canada Revenue Agency, as well as Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions and employment insurance (EI) premiums.

Failure to withhold any of these can land an employer in hot water with the CRA, as one Nova Scotia restaurant recently found out. But before delving into details of the case, let’s review the basic rules governing CPP and EI deductions.

Under the CPP, the employer’s contribution is determined by applying a contribution rate to the “contributory salary and wages of the employee … paid by the employer,” less certain deductions. For 2022, employee CPP/QPP contributions are 5.7 per cent of earnings between $3,500 and $64,900, so the maximum amount of contributions for this year is $3,500. Employers are required to match employee contributions.

For 2022, an employee’s EI premiums are 1.58 per cent of “insurable earnings” up to $60,300, so the maximum EI premium you may pay is $953. Insurable earnings are defined as “the total of all amounts, received or enjoyed by the insured person (i.e., employee) that are paid to the (employee) by the … employer in respect of that (insurable) employment.”

Under the EI Act, employers must contribute 1.4 times the employee premiums, or 2.21 per cent of insurable earnings, with a 2022 maximum premium of $1,334 per employee.

The recent case involved a popular, seaside restaurant in downtown Halifax that didn’t remit CPP and EI on part of its servers’ tips. Customers sometimes leave a tip in cash, which the servers are free to keep without advising their employer. Most customers, however, choose to pay their restaurant bills using a debit, credit or gift card, and include a tip in their electronic payment. The restaurant, in turn, shares these tips with its servers in a formalized, daily procedure.

At the end of each shift, each server prints a “summary of sales” from the restaurant’s point-of-sale system. That summary shows each server’s food sales, beverage sales, cash received from patrons who paid in cash, electronic payments received and electronic tips. This info is used to prepare a “cash out sheet.”

On that sheet, the server records their electronic tips, the cash received, a kitchen staff “tip-out” (equal to one per cent of food sales), and an amount equal to two per cent of the electronic tips (the processing charge). The restaurant retains the tip-out to pass along to its kitchen staff and the processing charge to cover its credit-card fees. The net amount is the server’s “net electronic tip.”

If none of the server’s customers happened to pay their restaurant bills in cash that day, the restaurant simply transfers an amount equal to the server’s net electronic tip to the server, typically the next business day, via direct bank deposit. This is known as the “due-back.”

In some circumstances, a server’s due-back is less than the server’s net electronic tip. This happens when a restaurant customer pays in cash, which the server retains and is taken into account in calculating the due-back. In these cases, the server’s net electronic tip is partially received in cash (from customers’ payment of their restaurant bills), and partly from the due-back received from the restaurant itself.

At the end of each shift, each server also prepares two envelopes in which they place cash to “tip out” the onsite restaurant manager and assistant manager — two per cent — and the support staff (bussers, hosts/hostesses and bartenders) at one per cent per support staff person (to a maximum of three per cent).

Each server delivers their summary of sales, their cash out sheet, and the two envelopes to the onsite manager at the end of their shift who later distributes the cash tip-outs to the restaurant managers and support staff. The sales summary and cash out sheet were set aside and picked up the next morning by someone from accounting to facilitate payment of the servers’ due-backs.

The restaurant took the general position that due-backs received by servers were not considered to be “pensionable salary and wages” for purposes of CPP rules, nor “insurable earnings” for purposes of the EI Act. As a result, when it calculated its CPP and EI liabilities for 2015, 2016 and 2017, it did not consider any portion of the electronic tips.

Needless to say, the CRA took a different view and assessed the restaurant on the basis that a portion of the servers’ electronic tips for 2015, 2016 and 2017 should have been considered. The taxpayer took the matter to Tax Court in 2020 and lost. It then appealed the decision to the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA), which heard the case earlier this year.

The key question the court had to decide was whether the due-backs were properly considered to be amounts paid by an employer to employees “in respect of” their employment. The restaurant argued the due-backs are not paid in respect of a server’s employment and are not insurable earnings because a server’s due-back bears “little or no relation to the server’s net tip. It is simply the difference between cash payments for meals and electronic tips owing.”

The three-judge appellate panel disagreed, citing a seminal 1983 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, which stated that the words “in respect of” have “wide scope and import such meanings as ‘in relation to,’ ‘with reference to’ and ‘in connection with.’ In other words, “but for” their employment as servers by the restaurant, the servers would not receive any tips paid to them in the form of due-backs.

The FCA, in a written decision released last month, concurred with the lower court’s decision, and concluded the due-backs were “contributory salary and wages of the employee paid by the employer” for purposes of the CPP and “insurable earnings” for purposes of the EI Act.

Jamie Golombek, CPA, CA, CFP, CLU, TEP, is the managing director, Tax & Estate Planning with CIBC Private Wealth in Toronto. Jamie.Golombek@cibc.com

Ex Burger King workers get another bite at 'no-hire' conspiracy lawsuit

FILE PHOTO: Sgn on a Burger King restaurant is shown in Miami


By Barbara Grzincic

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court has revived a potential class action against Burger King over its prior use of a “no-hire” clause that blocked all franchisees from hiring each other’s employees.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday reversed a ruling by a district court judge in Miami, who dismissed the workers’ claims that the no-hire clause was an unlawful conspiracy to suppress wages and employee turnover.

The 11th Circuit said the judge erred in finding that Miami-based Burger King Worldwide, its parent companies, and its franchisees had all operated as a “single economic enterprise” that was categorically incapable of conspiring with itself.

“(T)here’s just no question that Burger King and its franchisees compete against each other and have separate and different economic interests,” and that, “in the absence of the No-Hire Agreement,” each franchised restaurant “would pursue its own economic interests and therefore potentially and fully make its own hiring decisions, including about wages, hours, and positions,” Circuit Judge Robin Rosenbaum wrote for the panel.

“They might even attempt to entice stand-out employees to leave one restaurant and join their own. But the No-Hire Agreement removes that ability,” Rosenbaum wrote, joined by Circuit Judge Charles Wilson and Senior Circuit Judge Frank Mays Hull.

Dean Harvey of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, lead counsel for Jarvis Arrington, Sandra Munster and Geneva Blanchard, declined to comment on the pending litigation. The workers’ appeal drew amicus support from the U.S. Justice Department.

Burger King and its attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit was one of many filed by fast-food workers since 2016, when the U.S. Justice Department and the Washington state attorney general began targeting the industry's ubiquitous use of no-hire or “no-poach” agreements.

Burger King dropped the no-hire clause from its franchise agreements in 2018 as part of a settlement with the Washington attorney general. Several other fast-food chains did the same.

In lawsuits by pre-2018 workers, however, the chains have argued that there was no conspiracy or, in the alternative, that any restraint of trade was not unreasonable.

The judge in the Burger King case found it unnecessary to consider the latter argument, but Burger King urged the 11th Circuit to uphold the dismissal on that ground anyway. The International Franchise Association and the Florida Chamber of Commerce agreed in separate amicus briefs.

The panel declined, saying “those inquiries are best left to the district court” on remand.

The case is Arrington, et al. v. Burger King Worldwide Inc., Burger King Corp., and Restaurant Brands International Inc., 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 20-13561.

For Arrington et al.: Dean Harvey of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, Yaman Salahi formerly of Lieff Cabraser, and Derek Brandt of McCune Wright Arevalo

For Burger King: Stuart Singer of Boies Schiller & Flexner; Luis Suarez of Heise Suarez Melville

 

Alberta MLA and Quebec MNA showing leadership on farmland ownership, says NFU The National Farmers Union (NFU) applauds Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock United Conservative MLA Glenn van Dijken for bringing forward Alberta’s Bill 206, the Prohibiting Ownership of Agricultural Lands (Pension Plans and Trust Corporations) Act, and Québec Solidaire agriculture critic, MNA Émilise Lessard-Therrien who brought forward Quebec’s Bill 991 An Act to combat agricultural land grabbing. Both private members’ bills were tabled in their respective provincial legislatures this spring and attempt to curb farmland grabbing by powerful financial actors.  Ever since the rise of investor farmland purchases following the 2008 financial-food-fuel crisis, the NFU has been sounding the alarm, standing in staunch resistance to the trend, and working to document it.  Bill 206 would ban pension funds from owning Alberta farmland. Globally, pension funds control USD$56 trillion, and are some of the primary actors turning communities’ lands, waters, and social services into financial assets while making them inaccessible or unaffordable to the people who need them. While the effort to bar pension funds is a positive first step, we also need to put limits on other investors – wealthy individuals, hedge funds, and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) –  that are driving farmland prices above the land’s productive value by purchasing farmland as a financial investment. Quebec has legislation ensuring only Quebec residents and Quebec-owned corporations can own more than 4 hectares of farmland. With Bill 991, MNA Émilise Lessard-Therrien, proposes further limits on land grabbing by targeting private investment funds. Lessard-Therrien’s bill crucially limits not only direct purchase of farmland, but also “indirect” purchase, such as through ownership of shares of a corporation that buys farmland. However, Bill 991 seemingly would not limit public pension funds from purchasing farmland.   Bill 991 would also improve transparency by creating a public registry of agricultural land transactions. This would allow for a better-informed public dialogue about the future of farmland tenure. Although each province collects this type of data already, access to the information can be very limited. The NFU supports better public access to land titles data, particularly for public researchers. So far, only Saskatchewan has enabled researchers to use land titles data to develop a picture of investor farmland ownership and farmland concentration over time.  While many private members’ bills are never passed, the NFU hopes that Bills 206 and 991 will advance through their legislatures and spark further public debate. The fact they were brought forward reflects growing awareness and concern about the impacts of concentration of ownership by investment companies and institutions like pension funds. The NFU continues to push for laws and policy that will ensure the land can support farmer livelihoods, flourishing rural communities and healthy ecologies into the future.  Un député albertain et une député québécoise font preuve de leadership en matière de propriété agricole, déclare l’UNF L’Union nationale des fermiers (UNF) applaudit Glenn van Dijken, le député conservateur d’Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock United, pour avoir proposé le Projet de loi 206, en Alberta, Loi pour interdire la propriété de terres agricoles (par les plans de pension et les sociétés de fiducie), ainsi que la député Émilise Lessard-Therrien, porte-parole en matière d’agriculture pour Québec Solidaire, pour son Projet de loi 991, au Québec, Loi pour combattre l'accaparemment des terres agricoles. Les deux projets de loi d’initiative parlementaire furent déposés dans leurs législatures provinciales respectives ce printemps pour tenter de limiter l’accaparement des terres agricoles par de puissants acteurs financiers.   Depuis la montée des achats de terres agricoles par des investisseurs suite à la crise financière-alimentaire-carburant en 2008, l’UNF a sonné l’alarme, offrant une résistance acharnée à cette tendance et s'efforçant de la documenter.   Le Projet de loi 206 interdirait aux fonds de pension d’appartenir des terres agricoles albertaines. À l’échelle mondiale, les fonds de pension contrôlent 56  billions de dollars américains, et ils sont parmi les principaux acteurs qui convertissent en actifs financiers les terres, les eaux et les services sociaux, tout en les rendant inaccessibles ou inabordables aux gens qui en ont besoin.   Bien que l’effort d’interdire les fonds de pension soit une première démarche positive, il nous faut également imposer des limites à d’autres investisseurs – des individus fortunés, des fonds de couverture et les fiducies de placements immobiliers (FPI) – qui font monter les prix des terres agricoles au-delà de la valeur productive de la terre en achetant des terres agricoles comme investissement financier.   Le Québec a une législation qui assure que seulement les résidents du Québec et les corporations proprement québécoises peuvent appartenir plus de 4 hectares de terre agricole. Avec le Projet de loi 991, la député Émilise Lessard-Therrien propose des limites additionnelles sur l’accaparemment des terres en ciblant les fonds d’investissement privés. Le Projet de loi de Lessard-Therrien limite de manière cruciale non seulement les achats directs de terres agricoles, mais également les achats « indirects », comme par la propriété d’actions d’une corporation qui achète des terres agricoles. Cependant, il semble que le Projet de loi 991 n'empêcherait pas les fonds de pension publics d’acheter des terres agricoles. Le Projet de loi 991 aiderait également à améliorer la transparence en créant un registre public des transactions foncières agricoles. Ceci permettrait un dialogue public mieux éclairé à propos de l’avenir de la tenure des terres agricoles. Bien que chaque province recueille déjà ce type de données, l’accès à l’information peut être très limitée. L’UNF appuie un meilleur accès public aux données sur les titres fonciers, plus particulièrement pour les chercheurs publics. Jusqu’à présent, seulement la Saskatchewan a permis aux chercheurs d'utiliser les données sur les titres fonciers pour dresser un bilan de la propriété des terres agricoles par des investisseurs, ainsi que la concentration des terres agricoles en leurs mains au fil du temps.   Bien que plusieurs projets de loi d’initiative parlementaire ne soient jamais adoptés, l’UNF espère que les projets de loi 206 et 991 vont franchir les étapes dans leurs législatures et provoquer plus de débats publics. Le fait qu’ils furent proposés reflète une conscience et une préoccupation croissantes à propos des impacts de la concentration accrue de propriétés par des sociétés de placement et des institutions comme les fonds de pension. L’UNF continue à faire pression pour des lois et des politiques qui vont assurer que la terre puisse supporter les moyens de subsistance des fermiers, des communautés rurales florissantes et des écologies saines dans l’avenir.

The National Farmers Union is a grassroots farmer organization advocating for farm families across Canada since 1969. Members work together to achieve agricultural policies that ensure dignity and income security for farm families while protecting and enhancing rural environments for future generations.  The NFU advocates for a food system based on the principles of food sovereignty, which calls for a food system that values farmers and what they grow; rebuilds relationships between food producers and those who eat; reclaims local decision making about food production and environmental protection; and strengthens connections between people and the land, empowering communities and citizens to make intentional decisions based on local needs and conditions to ensure a resilient and sustainable future.The NFU collaborates locally, nationally and internationally to research, educate and share effective solutions that lead to a better world for farm families and their local communities.  All farmers are welcome to join the NFU as full voting members. Non-farmers may join as non-voting Associate Members. All who support the NFU's goals are invited to donate to support our work. For more about the NFU please visit our website.   L’Union nationale des fermiers est un organisme fermier de base qui revendique et défend les familles fermières à travers le Canada depuis 1969. Les membres travaillent ensemble pour l’établissement de politiques visant à assurer la dignité et la sécurité du revenu pour les familles fermières, tout en protégeant et en améliorant les milieux ruraux pour les générations futures.  L’UNF plaide pour un système alimentaire basé sur les principes de la souveraineté alimentaire qui : valorise les fermiers et ce qu’ils produisent ; rebâtit les relations entre les producteurs de denrées alimentaires et ceux qui les consomment ; récupère la prise de décision locale en matière de production alimentaire et de protection de l’environnement ; et, consolide les connexions entre les gens et la terre, habilitant ainsi les communautés et les citoyens à prendre des décisions intentionnelles axées sur les besoins et les conditions locales de sorte à assurer un avenir résilient et durable. L’UNF collabore à l’échelle locale, nationale et internationale sur la recherche, l’éducation et le partage de solutions efficaces qui mènent vers un monde meilleur pour les familles fermières et leurs communautés locales. Tous les fermiers et fermières sont bienvenus à se joindre à l’UNF en tant que membres votants à part entière. Les non-agriculteurs peuvent également se joindre en tant que membres associés sans droit de vote. Tous ceux et celles qui appuient les objectifs de l’UNF sont invités à faire un don pour soutenir nos efforts. Pour de plus amples de renseignements sur l’UNF, veuillez visiter notre site web.

First discovery of microplastics from water trapped on plant leaves

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PENSOFT PUBLISHERS

 

IMAGE: MICROPLASTICS view more 

CREDIT: KATARÍNA FOGAŠOVÁ

Although they have not been around for long, microplastics have found their way to almost every ecosystem on the planet. They have been discovered in the soil, in rivers, in our food and bottled water, and even in the human body. Recently, a team of researchers found, for the first time, microplastics in water trapped in plant leaf axils.

Katarína Fogašová, Peter Manko, and Jozef Obona of the University of Prešov, Slovakia, initially set out to Eastern Slovakia to study the organisms living in the little water puddles forming in teasel leaf axils. 

Teasels of the genus Dipsacus have characteristic opposite leaves that grow on the stem above each other in several levels. As they clasp the stem, they form cup-like structures that collect water, known as telmata. 

“Teasel phytotelmata are a relatively common but overlooked aquatic microcosm with a very short-term occurrence of only 3 to 4 months.“

To their surprise, they found differently coloured fragments and fibers, some reaching 2.4 mm in length, which were identified as microplastics.

“These phytotelmata are very small and have a short lifespan,” the researchers write in their paper, which was published in the journal BioRisk. “The question is, therefore, how were they polluted with microplastics?”

No other sources of contaminants were found in the studied area, so the fragments and fibers most likely came from polluted atmosphere, they suggest. Another theory is that snails may have transported them from the soil or from other plants, in or on their bodies. 

“The first finding of microplastics in small short-term water reservoirs created by plants is further evidence that contamination of this kind spreads through various pathways and probably no environment on Earth is safe, which of course makes our discovery quite disheartening,” the researchers say.

“On the other hand, the results of our research of teasel phytotelmata, as a very unusual and highly specific natural environment, offer many possibilities for use in researching the spatio-temporal characteristics of the spread of microplastic pollution and its potential impact on the plants themselves, as well as organisms bound to them by ecological relations.”

They suggest that, due to their abundance and theoretical ability to capture microplastics in several ways from the environment, teasel phytotelmata could be a good indicator of microplastic presence.

“Our publication therefore not only brings the first discovery of microplastic pollution of habitats of this type, but also the first proposal of a new approach to the use of teasel phytotelmata and similar micro-ecosystems provided by plants (or artificially created), as bioindicators of the presence of microplastics in the environment, possible sources and pathways of their spread through the environment and spatio-temporal changes in microplastic contamination.”

  

CAPTION

The teasel Dipsacus

CREDIT

Katarína Fogašová

Fly pupae in teasel phytotelmata

CREDIT

Katarína Fogašová

An insect drowned in phytotelmata

CREDIT

Katarína Fogašová

Microplastics

CREDIT

Katarína Fogašová

Microplastics

CREDIT

Katarína Fogašová

Original source:

Fogašová K, Manko P, Oboňa J (2022) The first evidence of microplastics in plant-formed fresh-water micro-ecosystems: Dipsacus teasel phytotelmata in Slovakia contaminated with MPs. BioRisk 18: 133-143. https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.18.87433

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JOURNAL

BIORISK – Biodiversity and Ecosystem Risk Assessment

DOI

10.3897/biorisk.18.87433 

ARTICLE TITLE

The first evidence of microplastics in plant-formed fresh-water micro-ecosystems: Dipsacus teasel phytotelmata in Slovakia contaminated with MPs

Could more of Earth’s surface host life?

Jupiter’s orbit shape plays key, overlooked role on Earth

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE

 

IMAGE: VISUAL EXAMPLES OF ORBITAL ECCENTRICITY. view more 

CREDIT: PHOENIX7777

Of all known planets, Earth is as friendly to life as any planet could possibly be — or is it? If Jupiter’s orbit changes, a new study shows Earth could be more hospitable than it is today.

When a planet has a perfectly circular orbit around its star, the distance between the star and the planet never changes. Most planets, however, have “eccentric” orbits around their stars, meaning the orbit is oval-shaped. When the planet gets closer to its star, it receives more heat, affecting the climate. 

Using detailed models based on data from the solar system as it is known today, UC Riverside researchers created an alternative solar system. In this theoretical system, they found that if gigantic Jupiter’s orbit were to become more eccentric, it would in turn induce big changes in the shape of Earth’s orbit.

“If Jupiter’s position remained the same, but the shape of its orbit changed, it could actually increase this planet’s habitability,” said Pam Vervoort, UCR Earth and planetary scientist and lead study author. 

Between zero and 100 degrees Celsius, the Earth’s surface is habitable for multiple known life forms. If Jupiter pushed Earth’s orbit to become more eccentric, parts of the Earth would sometimes get closer to the sun. Parts of the Earth’s surface that are now sub-freezing would get warmer, increasing temperatures in the habitable range. 

This result, now published in the Astronomical Journal, upends two long-held scientific assumptions about our solar system. 

“Many are convinced that Earth is the epitome of a habitable planet and that any change in Jupiter’s orbit, being the massive planet it is, could only be bad for Earth,” Vervoort said. “We show that both assumptions are wrong.”

The researchers are interested in applying this finding to the search for habitable planets around other stars, called exoplanets. 

“The first thing people look for in an exoplanet search is the habitable zone, the distance between a star and a planet to see if there’s enough energy for liquid water on the planet’s surface,” said Stephen Kane, UCR astrophysicist and study co-author. 

During its orbit, different parts of a planet receive more or fewer direct rays, resulting in the planet having seasons. Parts of the planet may be pleasant during one season, and extremely hot or cold in another. 

A habitable zone, shown in green here, is defined as the region around a star where liquid water, an essential ingredient for life as we know it, could potentially be present.

CREDIT

NASA/JPL-Caltech

“Having water on its surface a very simple first metric, and it doesn’t account for the shape of a planet’s orbit, or seasonal variations a planet might experience,” Kane said. 

Existing telescopes are capable of measuring a planet’s orbit. However, there are additional factors that could affect habitability, such as the degree to which a planet is tilted toward or away from a star. The part of the planet tilted away from the star would get less energy, causing it to be colder. 

This same study found that if Jupiter were positioned much closer to the sun, it would induce extreme tilting on Earth, which would make large sections of the Earth’s surface sub-freezing.

It is more difficult to measure tilt, or a planet’s mass, so the researchers would like to work toward methods that help them estimate those factors as well. 

Ultimately, the movement of a giant planet is important in the quest to make predictions about the habitability of planets in other systems as well as the quest to understand its influence in this solar system. 

“It’s important to understand the impact that Jupiter has had on Earth’s climate through time, how its effect on our orbit has changed us in the past, and how it might change us once again in the future,” Kane said.   

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JOURNAL

The Astronomical Journal

DOI

10.3847/1538-3881/ac87fd 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

ARTICLE TITLE

System Architecture and Planetary Obliquity: Implications for Long-term Habitability

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Sep-2022

Unraveling a mystery surrounding cosmic matter

UC Riverside physicist and colleague invoke the cosmological collider to explain why matter, and not antimatter, dominates the universe

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE

 

IMAGE: YANOU CUI IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY AT UC RIVERSIDE. view more 

CREDIT: I. PITTALWALA/UC RIVERSIDE.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Early in its history, shortly after the Big Bang, the universe was filled with equal amounts of matter and “antimatter” — particles that are matter counterparts but with opposite charge. But then, as space expanded, the universe cooled. Today’s universe is full of galaxies and stars which are made of matter. Where did the antimatter go, and how did matter come to dominate the universe? This cosmic origin of matter continues to puzzle scientists.

Physicists at the University of California, Riverside, and Tsinghua University in China have now opened a new pathway for probing the cosmic origin of matter by invoking the “cosmological collider.” 

Not just any collider

High energy colliders, such as the Large Hadron Collider, have been built to produce very heavy subatomic elementary particles that may reveal new physics. But some new physics, such as that explaining dark matter and the origin of matter, can involve much heavier particles, requiring much higher energy than what a human-made collider can provide. It turns out the early cosmos could have served as such a super-collider. 

Yanou Cui, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at UCR, explained that it is widely believed that cosmic inflation, an era when the universe expanded at an exponentially accelerating rate, preceded the Big Bang. 

“Cosmic inflation provided a highly energetic environment, enabling the production of heavy new particles as well as their interactions,” Cui said. “The inflationary universe behaved just like a cosmological collider, except that the energy was up to 10 billion times larger than any human-made collider.” 

According to Cui, microscopic structures created by energetic events during inflation got stretched as the universe expanded, resulting in regions of varying density in an otherwise homogeneous universe. Subsequently, these microscopic structures seeded the large-scale structure of our universe, manifested today as the distribution of galaxies across the sky. Cui explained that new subatomic particle physics may be revealed by studying the imprint of the cosmological collider in the cosmos’ contents today, such as galaxies and the cosmic microwave background. 

Cui and Zhong-Zhi Xianyu, an assistant professor of physics at Tsinghua University, report in the journal Physical Review Letters that by applying the physics of the cosmological collider and using precision data for measuring the structure of our universe from upcoming experiments such as SPHEREx and 21 cm line tomography, the mystery of the cosmic origin of matter may be unraveled.

“The fact that our current-day universe is dominated by matter remains among the most perplexing, longstanding mysteries in modern physics,” Cui said. “A subtle imbalance or asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the early universe is required to achieve today’s matter dominance but cannot be realized within the known framework of fundamental physics.” 

Leptogenesis to the rescue

Cui and Xianyu propose testing leptogenesis, a well-known mechanism that explains the origin of the baryon — visible gas and stars — asymmetry in our universe. Had the universe begun with equal amounts of matter and antimatter, they would have annihilated each other into photon radiation, leaving nothing. Since matter far exceeds antimatter today, asymmetry is required to explain the imbalance.

“Leptogenesis is among the most compelling mechanisms generating the matter-antimatter asymmetry,” Cui said. “It involves a new fundamental particle, the right-handed neutrino. It was long thought, however, that testing leptogenesis is next to impossible because the mass of the right-handed neutrino is typically many orders of magnitudes beyond the reach of the highest energy collider ever built, the Large Hadron Collider.” 

The new work proposes to test leptogenesis by decoding the detailed statistical properties of the spatial distribution of objects in the cosmic structure observed today, reminiscent of the microscopic physics during cosmic inflation. The cosmological collider effect, the researchers argue, enables the production of the super-heavy right-handed neutrino during the inflationary epoch. 

“Specifically, we demonstrate that essential conditions for the asymmetry generation, including the interactions and masses of the right-handed neutrino, which is the key player here, can leave distinctive fingerprints in the statistics of the spatial distribution of galaxies or cosmic microwave background and can be precisely measured,” Cui said. “The astrophysical observations anticipated in the coming years can potentially detect such signals and unravel the cosmic origin of matter.”

Cui was supported in the research by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The title of the paper is “Probing Leptogenesis with the Cosmological Collider.”

The University of California, Riverside is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UCR's enrollment is more than 26,000 students. The campus opened a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Center. The campus has an annual impact of more than $2.7 billion on the U.S. economy. To learn more, visit www.ucr.edu.

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JOURNAL

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.111301 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Probing Leptogenesis with the Cosmological Collider.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Sep-2022