Taco-shaped arthropod from Royal Ontario Museum’s Burgess Shale fossils gives new insights into the history of the first mandibulates

Exceptional fossils show how mandibulates were trapping prey in marine ecosystems 500 million years ago

TODAY'S MANTIS SHRIMP

ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM

 

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RESEARCHERS BELIEVE ODARAIA COULD HAVE SWUM UPSIDE DOWN TO GATHER FOOD AMONG ITS MANY SPINES ALONG ITS LEGS.

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CREDIT: ILLUSTRATED BY DANIELLE DUFAULT. COURTESY ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM

A new study, led by palaeontologists at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is helping resolve the evolution and ecology of Odaraia, a taco-shaped marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period. Fossils collected by ROM reveal Odaraia had mandibles. Palaeontologists are finally able to place it as belonging to the mandibulates, ending its long enigmatic classification among the arthropods since it was first discovered in the Burgess Shale over 100 years ago and revealing more about early evolution and diversification. The study The Cambrian Odaraia alata and the colonization of nektonic suspension-feeding niches by early mandibulates was published in the journal Proceedings B.

The study authors were able to identify a pair of large appendages with grasping jagged edges near its mouth, clearly indicative of mandibles which are one of the key and distinctive features of the mandibulate group of animals. This suggests that Odaraia was one of the earliest known members of this group. The researchers made another stunning discovery, a detailed analysis of its more than 30 pairs of legs, found an intricate system of small and large spines. According to the authors, these spines could intertwine, capturing smaller prey as though a fishing net, suggesting how some of these first mandibulates left the sea floor and explored the water column, setting the seeds for their future ecological success.

“The head shield of Odaraia envelops practically half of its body including its legs, almost as if it were encased in a tube. Previous researchers had suggested this shape would have allowed Odaraia to gather its prey, but the capturing mechanism had eluded us, until now,” says Alejandro Izquierdo-López, lead author, who was based at ROM during this work as a PhD student at the University of Toronto. “Odaraia had been beautifully described in the 1980s, but given the limited number of fossils at that time and its bizarre shape, two important questions had remained unanswered: is it really a mandibulate? And what was it feeding on?”

At almost 20 cm in size, the authors explain that early mandibulates like Odaraia were part of a community of large animals that could have been able to migrate from the marine bottom-dwelling ecosystems characteristic of the Cambrian period to the upper layers of the water column. These types of communities could have enriched the water column and facilitated a transition towards more complex ecosystems.

Cambrian fossils record the major divergence of animal groups originating over 500 million years ago. This period saw the evolution of innumerable innovations, such as eyes, legs or shells, and the first diversification of many animal groups, including the mandibulates, one of the major groups of arthropods (animals with jointed limbs).

Mandibulates are an example of evolutionary success, representing over half of all current species on Earth. Today, mandibulates are everywhere: from sea-dwelling crabs to centipedes lurking in the undergrowth or bees flying across meadows, but their beginnings were more humble. During the Cambrian period, the first mandibulates were marine animals, most bearing distinct head shields or carapaces.

“The Burgess Shale has been a treasure trove of paleontological information,” says Jean-Bernard Caron, Richard Ivey Curator at the Royal Ontario Museum, and co-author of the study. “Thanks to the work we have been doing at the ROM on amazing fossil animals such as Tokummia and Waptia, we already know a substantial amount about the early evolution of mandibulates. However, some other species had remained quite enigmatic, like Odaraia.”

The Royal Ontario Museum holds the largest collections of Cambrian fossils from the world-renowned Burgess Shale of British Columbia. Burgess Shale fossils are exceptional, as they preserve structures, animals and ecosystems that under normal conditions would have decayed and completely disappeared from the fossil record. Mandibulates, though, are generally rare in the fossil record. Most fossils preserve only the hard parts of animals, such as skeletons or the mineralized cuticles of the well-known trilobites, structures that mandibulates lack.

For over forty years Odaraia has been one of the most iconic animals of the Burgess Shale, with its distinctive taco-shaped carapace, its large head and eyes, and a tail that resembles a submarine's keel. The public can view specimens of Odaraia on display at the Willner Madge Gallery, Dawn of Life at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Photos of Odaraia fossil, ROMIP 60746.

CREDIT

Photo by Jean-Bernard Caron, Royal Ontario Museum.

Fossil of Odaraia ROMIP 952413_1.

CREDIT

Jean-Bernard Caron, Royal Ontario Museum

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2024.0622 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

The Cambrian Odaraia alata and the colonization of nektonic suspension-feeding niches by early mandibulates

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

23-Jul-2024

 

Pitt engineers partnering with county on environmental and climate justice solutions

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

As the climate warms, Pennsylvania rainfalls are becoming more extreme while flood-related risks are worsening, according to a recent report from the nonprofit organization Climate Central. 

This intensity is only expected to climb with future warming – creating devastating effects on the health and stability of environmental justice communities, communities with predominantly people of color or those living below the poverty line, across Allegheny County. 

Engineers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering and Mascaro Center of Sustainability Innovation (MCSI) are partnering with the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and Landforce, an employment and environmental social enterprise, through a three-year $930,411 Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G) grant to increase climate resilience in environmental justice communities through water-based cleanup projects and green infrastructure to minimize flooding and associated public health risks in environmentally burdened communities in the county. 

The Department of Emergency Services, Department of Sustainability and Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) are providing consultation for the climate resilience plans and green stormwater infrastructure designs. Allegheny CleanWays, a local nonprofit organization that works to eliminate illegal dumping and littering in Allegheny County, will oversee the cleaning of illegal dumping grounds and removing trash from waterways. 

“This partnership is emblematic of the important role universities can and should play with and in service of our communities, especially communities that are most affected by the flooding we’ve been experiencing these past few years,” said Melissa Bilec, co-director of Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Special Assistant to the Provost for Sustainability, and the George M. and Eva M. Bevier Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Pitt. “I feel honored and grateful to work with a talented team, and aim to demonstrate the service and talent of Pitt Engineering and MCSI.” 

Through Pitt’s sustainability capstone course – part of the undergraduate sustainability certificate and graduate degree program in sustainable engineering – students will partner with external stakeholders and determine solutions to these complex sustainability challenges. 

“We’re excited to be partnering with Pitt to achieve measurable and meaningful environmental and public health results in our environmentally vulnerable communities," said Dr. Stephen Strotmeyer, program manager, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, ACHD. "This has been a county goal since the creation of the Plan for a Healthier Allegheny to improve climate resilience and preparedness by 2027.”

As part of the grant, $93,110 will be allocated to Pitt to design small-scale green infrastructure projects that align with the climate resilience plans created by collaborations between municipal leaders and residents in environmental justice communities, the ACHD, the Steel Rivers and Turtle Creek Valley Councils of Governments (COGs), and other government and academic partners. The plans will use data from the ACHD Climate Resilience Dashboard and input from the community gathered during a series of focus groups. 

“Students will meet with government councils, municipalities, and nonprofit partners to learn about the priorities of each community. The goal is that they create designs for green infrastructure projects that are cost effective within a reasonable timeframe,” said David Sanchez, MCSI associate director and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. “These projects will be created by the community, for the community to divert stormwater and reduce the impacts of flooding.”

In addition to their physical projects, students will develop a model to estimate the amount of storm water diverted per project, the total projected environmental impact, and the estimated maintenance costs. 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the EJG2G program provides funding at the state, local, territorial and tribal level to support government activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health impacts in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms. For 2023, the EPA selected 88 EJC2C cooperative agreements that receive a total of $86.1 million in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and annual appropriation act funding to help underserved and overburdened communities across the country. 

 

Colonial legacy: Goethe University Frankfurt researches international project on land use conflicts in West Africa

German Research Foundation and foreign funding institutions provide €620,000 in funding

 NEWS RELEASE 24-JUL-2024

GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT

 

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THROUGH TRANSHUMANCE AND CAUSE LAND USE CONFLICTS IN THE SAVANNAH FOREST ECOSYSTEM. THIS PROCESS WILL INTENSIFY IN THE FUTURE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND DWINDLING RESOURCES.

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CREDIT: JUERGEN RUNGE, GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT, GERMANY

FRANKFURT. During the German and French colonial period, at the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, around 50,000 farmers from the Kabyè ethnic group were forcibly resettled from the densely populated north to the sparsely populated south in what are now the West African states of Togo and Benin. Whereas the German colonial power needed workers to build transport routes, the French government wanted to develop the region for agriculture.

To this day, however, farming is difficult in this part of the country – naturally a tree savannah – where the soil is less fertile and the climate alternates between two wet and two dry seasons. Climate change only serves to exacerbate these agricultural problems. Beyond that, it also acts as an accelerant for land use conflicts with the semi-nomadic Peulh/Fulbe ethnic group, who graze their herds of cattle there.

In the fertile hilly north, where the Kabyè traditionally farm on terraces bordered by low stone walls, the resettlements resulted in labor shortages, market distortions and rural exodus. The indigenous population became increasingly impoverished, amid a looming threat of socio-cultural collapse, which Togo's political leadership has been trying to counteract since the country's independence.

As part of the “Indigenous People of West Africa, IPWA” project, an international team of researchers now wants to examine the consequences of the colonial era in detail and disclose current restrictive social and political structures in indigenous ethnic groups in order to promote good governance that includes indigenous leaders. The aim is to pave the way for indigenous communities to be involved in identifying innovations, solutions and pathways to adapt to and mitigate environmental and climate change.

The three-year IPWA project will start in July 2024 and will receive €620,000 in funding by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), the Canadian New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), the US National Science Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

IPWA is part of a consortium on global environmental and climate change among indigenous groups with researchers from Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA.

Project: Confronting “Green Colonialism” – Indigenous-led Action and Solutions for Food-Water-Energy Sustainability (IPWA).

Goethe University Frankfurt
University of Alberta, Canada
Michigan State University
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Université de Kara, Kara, Togo
Université d‘Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin

Kabyé homestead with granary

CREDIT

Juergen Runge, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

 

Waters along Bar Harbor, Acadia home to billions of microplastics

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

 

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GRACE JOHNSON COLLECTS WATER SAMPLES FROM A STREAM ON MOUNT DESERT ISLAND IN JULY 2023.

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CREDIT: COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

Along the shores of Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor and the Schoodic Peninsula are the vast, briny waters of Frenchman Bay. With 98 square miles of water and 39 islands, the bay is vital to shorebirds, fish, lobstermen and outdoor recreationists. University of Maine researchers, however, have discovered that Frenchman Bay and its tributaries are also home to a significant amount of microplastic pollution. 

In a new study published in Environmental Engineering Science, researchers reveal there are an estimated 400 billion microplastic fibers on the surface of Frenchman Bay and several connected rivers and estuaries where freshwater from rivers meet salty seawater. The watershed contains an average of 1.8 fibers per liter of water. 

“Imagine the 32-ounce water bottle you use every day. If you were to fill your water bottle with water from Frenchman Bay, you would find about two microplastics. Now imagine how many water bottles would fit in the massive volume of Frenchman Bay; that is a lot of microplastics,” said Grace Johnson, lead author and master’s student in civil and environmental engineering. Johnson collaborated with other UMaine students and faculty and researchers from the University of Notre Dame and Valparaiso University, both in Indiana.

Microplastics are smaller than five millimeters in length, tiny enough for humans and animals to ingest with ease, but trillions of them have been found in rivers, lakes and oceans worldwide. Examples include small pieces broken down from larger debris and minuscule beads manufactured for health and beauty products, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Microplastics can impair digestion and reproduction in animals, and some of their additives are associated with endocrine disruption and cancer in humans, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. They can also absorb and transport other harmful toxicants that pollute waterways, including a group of chemicals known as PFAS.  

Researchers conducted two water sampling campaigns for the study in 2022 and 2023. Using glass mason jars, they collected 129 samples in the bay, river and estuaries off the side of a boat in 17 weeks. Using microscopes, the fibers were pinpointed in the samples and their properties were analyzed by measuring their light signatures — the color and wavelengths of the light that cells reflect or absorb.

Concentrations of microplastics were, on average, highest in the bay itself, followed by the connected rivers and then the estuaries. Among the rivers, Egypt Stream in Franklin had the highest average concentration of microplastic fibers, followed by Kilkenny Stream in Hancock, then Union River, which passes through Ellsworth. Among the estuaries, the one between Stave Island and Gouldsboro had the highest average concentration, followed by the Sullivan Estuary that leaves Egypt Bay, then Jordan River between Lamoine and Trenton. 

“What is striking to me is that we collected water samples in the open ocean and we were still able to find one-to-two microplastic fibers in pretty much every liter we sampled,” said Onur Apul, study co-author, Johnson’s advisor and assistant professor of environmental engineering. “The quantities we are seeing in the natural environment are variable, but it is indicating that we created a new environmental domain — the ‘microplastisphere’ — during the extremely short timespan that we occupied the planet.”

The team also investigated how microplastics traveled throughout the watershed by sampling water from nine sites on Mount Desert Island, particularly within the town of Bar Harbor. In 2023, they collected water samples from the culvert at Grant Park, right across from Bubble Rock; a couple sites at Kebo Stream; and several sites at or near Cromwell Brook, including the wastewater treatment plant and a culvert for the transfer station. They sampled on clear days and during rain events, as culverts release stormwater. 

The Grant Park culvert possessed the highest concentrations of microplastics by a wide margin at 15 fibers per liter, followed by the wastewater treatment plant, the transfer station and the other spots along Cromwell Brook and Kebo Stream. Average concentrations of microplastic fibers in all locations, however, were higher than those in the estuaries, rivers and Frenchman Bay. 

Study findings indicate that microplastics were transported from the land through the rivers and estuaries into Frenchman Bay. According to researchers, weaker currents allow fibers to remain in the bay for longer periods. The research team recommends additional studies into contamination in the bay and surrounding watershed to support possible techniques for mitigating the spread of microplastics. 

“Once the microplastics are dispersed in Frenchman Bay there is no removing them, and they pose a threat to both marine life and humans. In the Bay, fish and other marine species can ingest the microplastics, and when people eat the fish, they can also ingest microplastics. Therefore, it is important as a society that we create less plastic waste capable of ending up in the ocean,” Johnson said. 

In addition to Johnson and Apul, other researchers involved in the project include UMaine graduate students Taylor Bailey, Dilara Hatinoglu and Bea Van Dam; UMaine faculty Lauren Ross and Sean Smith; Ph.D. student Ozioma Nwachukwu and associate professor Kyle Doudrick of Notre Dame; and professor Julie Peller from Valparaiso University.  

“We find microplastics in fish tissue, in guano, in our beaches, in our drinking water, in the human brain and even in the human placenta,” Apul said. “Our recommendation is ‘mindful use,’ because plastics are very helpful in a lot of cases, such as medical use or food packaging, but some plastics are carelessly used and discarded. A plastic coffee stirrer, for example, has a use time of a few seconds. The second suggestion I have for people is preventing pollution by sustainability- and safety-focused policy making.”

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JOURNAL

Environmental Engineering Science

DOI

10.1089/ees.2024.0102 

ARTICLE TITLE

Land–Sea Connection of Microplastic Fiber Pollution in Frenchman Bay, Maine

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-Jul-2024

 

New study confirms mammal-to-mammal avian flu spread

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

ITHACA, N.Y. – A new Cornell University study provides evidence that a spillover of avian influenza from birds to dairy cattle across several U.S. states has now led to mammal-to-mammal transmission – between cows and from cows to cats and a raccoon.

“This is one of the first times that we are seeing evidence of efficient and sustained mammalian-to-mammalian transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1,” said Diego Diel, associate professor of virology and director of the Virology Laboratory at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Diel is co-corresponding author of the study, “Spillover of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Virus to Dairy Cattle” published in Nature.

Whole genome sequencing of the virus did not reveal any mutations in the virus that would lead to enhanced transmissibility of H5N1 in humans, although the data clearly shows mammal-to-mammal transmission, which is concerning as the virus may adapt in mammals, Diel said.

So far, 11 human cases have been reported in the U.S., with the first dating back to April 2022, each with mild symptoms: four were linked to cattle farms and seven have been linked to poultry farms, including an outbreak of four cases reported in the last few weeks in Colorado. These recent patients fell ill with the same strain identified in the study as circulating in dairy cows, leading the researchers to suspect that the virus likely originated from dairy farms in the same county.

While the virus does have the ability to infect and replicate in people, the efficiency of those infections is low. “The concern is that potential mutations could arise that could lead adaptation to mammals, spillover into humans and potential efficient transmission in humans in the future,” Diel said.

It is therefore critical to continue to monitor the virus in affected animals and also in any potential infected humans, Diel said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded programs for H5N1 testing, at no cost to producers. Early testing, enhanced biosecurity and quarantines in the event of positive results, would be necessary to contain any further spread of the virus, according to Diel.

Infections from H5N1 were first detected in January 2022, and have resulted in the deaths of more than 100 million domestic birds and thousands of wild birds in the U.S. The Cornell AHDC's and Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory scientists were among the first to report detection of the virus to dairy cattle herds. The cows were likely infected by wild birds, leading to symptoms of reduced appetite, changes in fecal matter consistency, respiratory distress and abnormal milk with pronounced decrease in milk production.

The study shows a high tropism of the virus (capability to infect particular cells) for the mammary gland and high infectious viral loads shed in milk from affected animals.

Using whole genome sequencing of characterized viral strains, modeling and epidemiological information, the researchers’ determined cases of cow to cow transmission when infected cows from Texas were moved to a farm with healthy cows in Ohio. Sequencing also showed that the virus was transmitted to cats, a raccoon and wild birds that were found dead on affected farms. The cats and raccoon most likely became ill from drinking raw milk from infected cows. Though it isn’t known how the wild birds became infected, the researchers suspect it may have resulted from environmental contamination or aerosols kicked up during milking or cleaning of the milking parlors.

Kiril Dimitrov, assistant agency director for microbiology and research and development at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, is also a co-corresponding author.

Co-first authors include Leonardo Caserta, assistant research professor and interim associate director of the Virology Laboratory at AHDC, and Elisha Frye, DVM ‘10, assistant professor of practice, both in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences; and Salman Butt, a postdoctoral researcher in Diel’s lab. Cornell co-authors include Melissa Laverack, Mohammed Nooruzzaman, Lina Covaleda, Brittany Cronk, Gavin Hitchener, John Beeby, Manigandan Lejeune and Francois Elvinger.

The study was funded by the AHDC, the Ohio Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory, the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory and the USDA.

-30-

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-024-07849-4 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Spillover of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Virus to Dairy Cattle

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

25-Jul-2024

The COVID-19 pandemic slowed progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals and increased inequalities

Study analyzed 7 major health themes across 185 countries before and after the COVID-19 pandemic

PLOS

 

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MEAN CUMULATIVE LOSSES BY 2030 IN ALL HEALTH-RELATED INDICATORS: COUNTRIES.

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CREDIT: SILVEIRA ET AL., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly widened existing economic and health disparities between wealthy and low-income countries and slowed progress toward health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a new study published July 24, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Wanessa Miranda of Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and colleagues.

The global SDGs were established in 2015 as a wide and integrated agenda with themes ranging from eradicating poverty and promoting well-being to addressing socioeconomic inequalities. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is known to have delivered a devastating blow to global health, with large economic repercussions.

The new study investigated the potential impact of these economic disruptions on progress toward health-related SDGs. The research team used data from the official United Nations SDG database and analyzed the associations between well-being, income levels, and other key socioeconomic health determinants. A yearly model was extrapolated to predict trends between 2020 and 2030 using a baseline projection as well as a post-COVID-19 scenario.

The study estimated average economic growth losses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as 42% and 28% for low and lower middle-income countries and 15% and 7% in high- and upper middle-income countries. These economic disparities are projected to drive global health inequalities in the themes of infectious disease, injuries and violence, maternal and reproductive health, health systems coverage and neonatal and infant health. Overall, low-income countries can expect an average progress loss of 16.5% across all health indicators, whereas high-income countries can expect losses as low as 3%. Individual countries, such as Turkmenistan and Myanmar, have estimated a loss of progress which is as much as nine times worse than the average loss of 8%. The most significant losses are seen in Africa, the Middle East, Southern Asia, and Latin America.

The authors conclude that the impact of the pandemic has been highly uneven across global economies and led to heightened inequalities globally, particularly impacting the health-related targets of the 2030 SDG Agenda. 

The authors add: “The COVID-19 pandemic significantly widened existing economic and health disparities between wealthy and low-income countries and slowed progress toward health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Overall, low-income countries can expect an average progress loss of 16.5% across all health indicators, whereas high-income countries can expect losses as low as 3%.”

#####

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0305955

Citation: Silveira F, Miranda W, Sousa RPd (2024) Post-COVID-19 health inequalities: Estimates of the potential loss in the evolution of the health-related SDGs indicators. PLoS ONE 19(7): e0305955. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305955

Author Countries: Brazil

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0305955 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Post-COVID-19 health inequalities: Estimates of the potential loss in the evolution of the health-related SDGs indicators

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Jul-2024

Even people who harbor positive sentiments toward immigrants imagine immigrants' faces as less trustworthy and less competent than US citizens' faces

PLOS

 

IMAGE: 

DEPICTION OF THE TRIAL SEQUENCE IN THE STEREOTYPE MISPERCEPTION TASK.

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CREDIT: HUTCHINGS ET AL., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

Even people who harbor positive sentiments toward immigrants imagine immigrants' faces as less trustworthy and less competent than US citizens' faces

###

Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306872

Article Title: Intergroup evaluative bias in facial representations of immigrants and citizens in the United States

Author Countries: USA

Funding: This work was facilitated by the National Science Foundation Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, grant #1764097 awarded to ART and grant #2215236 awarded to JWS. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0306872 

ARTICLE TITLE

Intergroup evaluative bias in facial representations of immigrants and citizens in the United States

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

24-Jul-2024

COI STATEMENT

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla says she’s barred from the Olympic opening ceremony due to her hijab

ISLAMOPHOBIA AS SECULARISM SANS PLURALISM


The Eiffel Tower is seen behind a Paris Olympics canvas, from the Trocadero plaza Thursday, July 18, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

BY TOM NOUVIAN
 July 24, 2024

PARIS (AP) — French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla says she has been barred from Friday’s opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics because she wears a hijab, and the French Olympic Committee said it is working with her to find a solution that adheres to the team’s secular requirements for athletes.

Sylla, a 26-year-old member of France’s 400-meter women’s and mixed relay teams, shared her frustration on Instagram on Sunday.

“You are selected for the Olympics, organized in your country, but you can’t participate in the opening ceremony because you wear a headscarf,” she wrote.

France enforces a strict principle of “ laïcité ”, loosely translated as “secularism.” On Wednesday, David Lappartient, president of the French Olympic Committee, said that French Olympians are bound by the secular principles that apply to public sector workers in France, separating state and church, which includes a ban on hijabs.

“It’s perhaps sometimes not understandable in other countries in the world, but it’s part of our DNA here in France,” he said.

Lappartient said discussions are underway with Sylla to find a solution that adheres to the French Olympic team’s secular requirements while also respecting the athlete’s “legitimate wish that her beliefs are respected.”


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“I have no doubt that a solution can be found,” he said. “We hope that everyone can take part in the opening ceremony.”

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Sylla’s post has prompted support from fellow athletes, including members of the French Olympic team, who voiced their indignation. Pole vaulter Marie-Julie Bonnin commented “I can’t believe it” on Sylla’s post, and relay teammate Muhammad Abdallah Kounta added “liberty, equality, fraternity they say. Please share this. This is not normal.”

Sylla has competed with a black headscarf in several previous events, including the World Championships in 2022 and 2023, as well as the World Relays in May 2024.

During Friday’s opening ceremony, the French delegation will wear tailor-made uniforms from the French luxury brand Berluti, owned by the LVMH group.

French Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said LVMH is involved in the effort to be “inventive with solutions so that everyone feels comfortable.”

Sylla’s hijab first arose as a concern before the European Championships in Rome earlier this year. The solution was a blue cap incorporated into the team kit that Oudéa-Castéra said “respected our principles.” The cap had a sewn-on strip of fabric that Sylla wore to cover her hair. It’s unclear if Sylla will wear a similar hair piece to compete in Paris.

“We want to follow the same logic. That’s why we’re progressing in discussions with LVMH and Berluti. I am confident,” Oudéa-Castéra said.
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Associated Press writer John Leicester contributed to this story.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games