SETI's 1st 'conversation' with a humpback whale offers insight on how to talk to E.T.

Samantha Mathewson
Thu, December 14, 2023 

An image of a whale's tail above water.

Humpback whale "conversations" provide valuable insight on how humans may one day communicate with life beyond Earth.

Researchers from the SETI Institute, University of California Davis and the Alaska Whale Foundation recently "conversed" with a humpback whale named Twain using an underwater speaker and recorded a humpback "contact" call. Twain responded to the researchers' call by matching the interval variations between signals of each playback call over a 20-minute period.

If you're having a Star Trek flashback, yes, this is awfully reminiscent of that one film in which the crew receives alien whale transmissions that can only be decoded underwater. And in fact, mirroring our sci-fi fantasies, this demonstration of interspecies communication has implications for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, according to a statement from the SETI Institute.

"We believe this is the first such communicative exchange between humans and humpback whales in the humpback ‘language,'" Brenda McCowan, lead author of the study from U.C. Davis, said in the statement.

Related: Why are we still searching for intelligent alien life?

Much like how astronaut crews simulate missions to Mars or the moon on Earth, the Whale-SETI team is studying humpback whale communication systems to better understand how to detect and interpret signals from outer space. Their findings can be used to develop filters that can be applied to any extraterrestrial signals received, according to the statement.

"Because of current limitations on technology, an important assumption of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is that extraterrestrials will be interested in making contact and so target human receivers," Laurance Doyle, coauthor of the study from the SETI Institute, said in the statement. "This important assumption is certainly supported by the behavior of humpback whales."

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— Search for intelligent aliens explores new radio-frequency realms

Twain's response to each playback call showcases a sophisticated level of understanding and interaction. The humpback whale approached and circled the team’s boat upon hearing the contact call played via an underwater speaker. Matching the interval variations between each call mirrors a human-like conversational style, according to the study.

"Humpback whales are extremely intelligent, have complex social systems, make tools — nets out of bubbles to catch fish — and communicate extensively with both songs and social calls," Fred Sharpe, co-author of the study from the Alaska Whale Foundation, said in the statement.

Therefore, working with humpback whales offers a unique opportunity to study intelligent communication in non-human species. The team will apply principles of information theory to develop filters that can aid in processing extraterrestrial signals and the search for intelligent life beyond Earth.

Their findings were published Nov. 29 in the journal PeerJ.

How global warming shakes the Earth: Seismic data show ocean waves gaining strength as the planet warms

Richard Aster, Colorado State University
Sat, December 16, 2023

THE CONVERSATION

Storm Ciarán pounded England's Newhaven Lighthouse and harbor wall on Nov. 4, 2023. AP Photo/Kin Cheung

As oceans waves rise and fall, they apply forces to the sea floor below and generate seismic waves. These seismic waves are so powerful and widespread that they show up as a steady thrum on seismographs, the same instruments used to monitor and study earthquakes.

That wave signal has been getting more intense in recent decades, reflecting increasingly stormy seas and higher ocean swell.

In a new study in the journal Nature Communications, colleagues and I tracked that increase around the world over the past four decades. These global data, along with other ocean, satellite and regional seismic studies, show a decadeslong increase in wave energy that coincides with increasing storminess attributed to rising global temperatures.

What seismology has to do with ocean waves

Global seismographic networks are best known for monitoring and studying earthquakes and for allowing scientists to create images of the planet’s deep interior.

These highly sensitive instruments continuously record an enormous variety of natural and human-caused seismic phenomena, including volcanic eruptions, nuclear and other explosions, meteor strikes, landslides and glacier-quakes. They also capture persistent seismic signals from wind, water and human activity. For example, seismographic networks observed the global quieting in human-caused seismic noise as lockdown measures were instituted around the world during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the most globally pervasive of seismic background signals is the incessant thrum created by storm-driven ocean waves referred to as the global microseism.
Two types of seismic signals

Ocean waves generate microseismic signals in two different ways.

The most energetic of the two, known as the secondary microseism, throbs at a period between about eight and 14 seconds. As sets of waves travel across the oceans in various directions, they interfere with one another, creating pressure variation on the sea floor. However, interfering waves aren’t always present, so in this sense, it is an imperfect proxy for overall ocean wave activity.

A second way in which ocean waves generate global seismic signals is called the primary microseism process. These signals are caused by traveling ocean waves directly pushing and pulling on the seafloor. Since water motions within waves fall off rapidly with depth, this occurs in regions where water depths are less than about 1,000 feet (about 300 meters). The primary microseism signal is visible in seismic data as a steady hum with a period between 14 and 20 seconds.

What the shaking planet tells us

In our study, we estimated and analyzed historical primary microseism intensity back to the late 1980s at 52 seismograph sites around the world with long histories of continuous recording.

We found that 41 (79%) of these stations showed highly significant and progressive increases in energy over the decades.

The results indicate that globally averaged ocean wave energy since the late 20th century has increased at a median rate of 0.27% per year. However, since 2000, that globally averaged increase in the rate has risen by 0.35% per year.

Ocean wave intensification since the late 1980s: Each circle is a seismic station, with size proportional to the vertical acceleration of the Earth at that station smoothed over three years. Red circles indicate periods when ground motions are larger than the historical median; blue indicate periods when they are smaller. The synchronized graph shows the median vertical acceleration anomaly for all stations and reflects El Niño cycles and a more pronounced increase in recent years. 

Source: Rick Aster

We found the greatest overall microseism energy in the very stormy Southern Ocean regions near the Antarctica peninsula. But these results show that North Atlantic waves have intensified the fastest in recent decades compared to historical levels. That is consistent with recent research suggesting North Atlantic storm intensity and coastal hazards are increasing. Storm Ciarán, which hit Europe with powerful waves and hurricane-force winds in November 2023, was one record-breaking example.

The decadeslong microseism record also shows the seasonal swing of strong winter storms between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It captures the wave-dampening effects of growing and shrinking Antarctic sea ice, as well as the multi-year highs and lows associated with El Niño and La Niña cycles and their long-range effects on ocean waves and storms.

In November 2022, Hurricane Nicole’s intense waves eroded the land beneath several homes in Daytona Beach, Fla.

AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Together, these and other recent seismic studies complement the results from climate and ocean research showing that storms, and waves, are intensifying as the climate warms.

A coastal warning

The oceans have absorbed about 90% of the excess heat connected to rising greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in recent decades. That excess energy can translate into more damaging waves and more powerful storms.

Our results offer another warning for coastal communities, where increasing ocean wave heights can pound coastlines, damaging infrastructure and eroding the land. The impacts of increasing wave energy are further compounded by ongoing sea level rise fueled by climate change and by subsidence. And they emphasize the importance of mitigating climate change and building resilience into coastal infrastructure and environmental protection strategies.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

It was written by: Richard Aster, Colorado State University.

Read more:

Dreaming of beachfront real estate? Much of Florida’s coast is at risk of storm erosion that can cause homes to collapse, as Daytona just saw

IPCC climate report: Profound changes are underway in Earth’s oceans and ice – a lead author explains what the warnings mean

Earth’s energy budget is out of balance – here’s how that’s warming the climate

Richard Aster receives funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Land of the lost: Hidden lagoon network found with living fossils similar to those from more than 3 billion years ago

Taylor Nicioli, CNN
Sat, December 16, 2023 

Scientists have discovered a previously hidden ecosystem with an expansive system of lagoons in the salt plains of Puna de Atacama, an arid plateau in Argentina — with giant stromatolites that could provide a glimpse into the earliest life on Earth and possibly even on Mars, according to new research.

Stromatolites are layered rocks created by the growth of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, through photosynthesis. The structures are considered to be one of the oldest ecosystems on Earth, according to NASA, representing the earliest fossil evidence for life on our planet from at least 3½ billion years ago.

“These are certainly akin to some of the earliest macrofossils on our planet, and in really a rare type of environment on modern Earth,” said Brian Hynek, a professor in the department of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, who helped document the ecosystem. “They are a window into the distant past as to what life might have looked like 3½ billion years ago on our planet.”

Ancient giant stromatolites used to be widespread in Earth’s Precambrian era, which encompasses the early time span of around 4.6 billion to 541 million years ago, but now they are sparsely distributed around the world. The most well-developed areas are in the Bahamas and the Shark Bay area in Western Australia, according to the nonprofit conservation organization Bush Heritage Australia.

Modern stromatolites are relatively small, Hynek said, whereas ancient stromatolites used to grow to 20 feet (6 meters) tall and 16 to 22 feet (5 to 7 meters) wide, he said. Beneath the waters of Puna de Atacama’s lagoons, the recently uncovered stromatolites are up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide and several feet high, according to a news release from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Stromatolites also tend to grow in alkaline conditions, but the Puna de Atacama’s system of lagoons are acidic. The stromatolites found today are almost all carbonate rocks (made of limestone), but these structures are mostly composed of the minerals gypsum and halite (rock salt), Hynek said.

It is unclear why the stromatolites are so large, Hynek said, but he speculated that the inland ecosystem sat undisturbed for a long period of time, which allowed them to grow unimpeded.

More on ancient stromatolites

Unlike modern stromatolites, ancient stromatolites grew in a period when the atmosphere lacked oxygen. In these conditions, the stromatolites’ microbes used anoxygenic photosynthesis, which doesn’t require oxygen, to convert light energy into compounds that support living cells.

“It is spectacular to find structures that could be biogenic (produced by living organisms) at this unusual altitude,” said Pieter Visscher, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Connecticut who has extensively studied stromatolites, in an email. “A major issue with the discovery, whether biogenic or not, is that these are formed in the presence of oxygen (in the current atmosphere). Until 2.3 billion years ago, there was no oxygen.”

While the stromatolites are in an environment containing oxygen, Hynek said he believes the layers farther down in the rock have little to no access to oxygen and are actively formed by microbes using anoxygenic photosynthesis. This would make the structures similar to the ones found on ancient Earth.

The system of lagoons in Argentina was initially discovered through satellite imagery in April 2022. - Brian Hynek

Hynek spotted the system of lagoons through satellite imagery in April 2022 when he was studying another lagoon in northwestern Argentina that had smaller stromatolites with microbes that use anoxygenic photosynthesis.

“We’re not sure if the microbes are actively participating in their growth (in the newly discovered stromatolites). We think they are. But we haven’t done the experiments yet to try to figure that part out,” said Hynek, who documented preliminary observations with microbiologist Maria Farías, cofounder of Punabio SA Environmental Consulting. “There’s a lot of work to be done. We just discovered them and hardly scratched the surface.”

Hynek and Farías were slated to present their findings December 11 at the 2023 meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, according to a news release.
Possible window into ancient Mars

If the stromatolites are produced by microbes using anoxygenic photosynthesis, the discovery could provide insight on the possibility of life on ancient Mars, Hynek said.

“We’ve identified more than 600 ancient lakes on Mars; there may have even been an ocean. So, it was a lot more Earth-like early on,” he said. Hynek also said the minerals gypsum and halite, found in the stromatolites in Argentina, are also in salt deposits all over Mars.

“If Mars ever evolved life through photosynthesis, this is the type of thing we’d be looking for (stromatolites) — and it is the type of thing we’re looking for,” said Hynek, who is also a research associate at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

“If we’re going to find any sort of fossils on Mars, this is our best guess as to what they would be, because these are the oldest ones from the Earth rock record.”

Hynek said he hopes to return to the lagoon soon to conduct more research on the stromatolites.

“Stromatolites on Mars? A long shot, but who knows. So far, no carbonates at the surface of Mars, but the search continues,” Visscher said, for potential signs of life.

UK

World’s largest crane ‘Big Carl’ puts the ‘lid’ on Hinkley Point C

Jonathan Leake
Fri, December 15, 2023 

The gigantic crane has 12 engines and can lift up to 5,000 tonnes – equivalent to ten jumbo jets - Ben Birchall/PA

The world’s largest crane nicknamed “Big Carl” has been used to place a roof wider than the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral on top of the Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor in Somerset.

The 820ft crane, which at full height is three quarters of the size of The Shard in London, was deployed to place a 47m-wide dome on top of the reactor on Friday.

The 245-tonne steel dome is the top part of the reactor building’s inner containment – a steel cylinder encased in concrete. Installation of the roof allows the plant’s first reactor to be installed next year.

The 820ft crane is three quarters of the size of The Shard in London - Ben Birchall/PA

Simon Parsons, Nuclear Island Area Director, said: “Building the first nuclear power station in a generation is a challenging job... Lifting the dome allows us to get on with the fitting of equipment, pipes and cables, including the first reactor which is on site and ready to be installed next year.”

“Big Carl” has been stationed at Hinkley Point since 2019 and has been crucial to the construction of the new nuclear power site. The gigantic crane has 12 engines and can lift up to 5,000 tonnes – equivalent to ten jumbo jets.

Hinkley Point is on Somerset’s north coast, overlooking the Bristol Channel, and is already home to two older nuclear power stations. Hinkley Point A is now closed but Hinkley Point B still has one of its two reactors in operation. It is run by EDF, the French state energy company, which is also building HInkley Point C.

About 10,000 people from 3,500 companies are involved in the construction, making it one of the UK’s biggest infrastructure projects. Once completed it will provide up to 7pc of the UK’s electricity.

‘Big Carl’ has been stationed at Hinkley Point since 2019 - Ben Birchall/PA

Hinkley Point C received government approval in 2016 and was initially supposed to open in 2025 and cost £18bn.

However, the 3.2 gigawatt plant has suffered multiple delays and rising prices, and is now expected to cost around £32bn. The projected opening date has also been put back and the station is unlikely to start operating before 2032.

Nuclear Minister Andrew Bowie said Hinkley Point C would generate enough power for 6m homes. Mr Bowie said: “This is a major milestone in building Britain’s first nuclear reactor in a generation... Hinkley Point C will reduce our reliance on imported energy and support our shift to net zero.”

Mexico's Maya tourist train opens for partial service amid delays and cost overruns
Associated Press
Sat, December 16, 2023 


The inaugural train with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on board passes near Chochola, Quintana Roo State, Mexico, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. Mexico's president inaugurated a 290-mile (473-kilometer) stretch between the colonial Gulf coast city of Campeche and the Caribbean coast resort of Cancun. 

(AP Photo/Martin Zetina)


MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Maya Train rail project opened partially to the general public Saturday, amid hours-long delays and huge cost overruns.

Passengers waiting for the twice-daily train to leave the resort of Cancun were left waiting on the platform for about five hours before being able to board. Officials apologized for the delayed and said it was due to trains being “reconfigured.”

Some passengers napped on the floor of the concrete platform. Some — many self-declared supporters of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — cheered when the train finally appeared in Cancun.

The train running in the other direction from the Gulf coast colonial city of Campeche was also delayed for hours, because only one side of the planned double rail line is finished. Officials estimated it would take about 5 1/2 hours to travel the 290 miles (473 kilometers) from Campeche to Cancun.

Meanwhile, the cost of the project has soared from original estimates of around $8.5 billion, to as much as $28 billion.

The 950-mile line, called the Maya Train, is meant to connect beach resorts and archaeological sites. However, only about one-third of it — the 290-mile (473-kilometer) stretch that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador inaugurated with dignitaries and the press Friday — has even been partly finished.

Officials pledged the rest of the line would be ready by the end of February. But even on the part López Obrador inaugurated Friday, just a single line of a planned double-line track has been finished, meaning one train has to wait on a siding while another passes.

The stretch running between Campeche and Cancun is about one-third of the entire project and covers the least controversial portion of the route, which crosses many environmentally sensitive areas.

A first-class ticket on one of the two trains from Cancun to Merida, the most popular stop, will cost the equivalent of $68. A first-class bus covers the route in about the same time and costs about $58, with buses leaving about every half hour from the city centers, rather than remote train stations on the outskirts.

That led to questions about whether the train will ever cover its operating costs, much less its construction budget.

Mexico's army, which operates the train and built part of the railway, did not respond to a request for comment about the delays or cost overruns.

In comments Friday, López Obrador acknowledged, “Yes, things are lacking (on the train), of course,” and predicted it would take “three years, four years” for the train system to begin covering its operating costs under the best scenario.

Asked how much the construction cost of the project would be, the president said: “I don't know ... I don't have the exact figure.”

Originally projected to cost $8.6 billion, by now $22.7 billion has been assigned to the project, and Treasury Secretary Rogelio Ramírez told local media the final cost would be around $28 billion.

Unlike the remaining two-thirds of the Maya Train, the part of the line inaugurated Friday already had an old train line running over much of the route. Many of the still-unfinished parts were cut through the jungle and built over sensitive, relic-filled cave systems, drawing objections from environmentalists.

López Obrador has raced to finish the Maya Train project before he leaves office in September, rolling over the objections of ecologists, cave divers and archaeologists.

The train runs along the Caribbean coast and threatens extensive caves where some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered. Because of the region’s limestone geology, it is riddled with caves that carry most of its water.

While officials have touted the train as utilitarian transport for freight and local residents, its only real source of significant income would be tourists. However, given its frequent stops, unwieldy route and lack of feasibility studies, it is unclear how many tourists will actually want to buy tickets.

“The train won’t help residents get to work or school, and besides, it’s very expensive,” SELVAME, a coalition of groups opposing the project, said in a statement Friday. “The train runs through the jungle, filling cenotes (sinkhole lakes) and underground rivers with concrete, without any studies.”

López Obrador has tried to rush through the project by exempting it from normal permitting, public reporting and environmental impact statements, claiming it is vital to national security.

In November 2021, his administration issued a broad decree requiring all federal agencies to give automatic approval for any public works project the government deems to be “in the national interest” or to “involve national security.”

____


Mexico's flagship train inauguration masks delay, cost concerns

Fri, December 15, 2023







Inauguration of the first phase of the touristic Maya Train, in Campeche


By Cassandra Garrison

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico is set to inaugurate a tourist train that is a flagship infrastructure project of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, though experts say it is still a long way from being fully operational, with the opening rushed.

"It's the most important public work in the world," Lopez Obrador said recently of the 1,554 kilometer-long (965 mile) project.

An official ceremony on Friday will launch the first section of the so-called Tren Maya, a track from the southern state of Campeche to the tourist hotspot of Cancun.

Another section from Palenque to Cancun is expected to be inaugurated by the end of December, and the remaining routes will be up and running in February, the government says.

But experts cast doubt on the timeline. The project is far from complete, according to an aide to Lopez Obrador and a person involved in the construction, who spoke on condition of anonymity. When exactly it will be is unclear, they said.

Originally projected at $7.5 billion, the Tren Maya will cost more than $28 billion, government officials have said. Tickets will range from 1,166 to 1,862 pesos ($67.45 to $107.72).

It is one of several signature Lopez Obrador works battling delays and spiraling costs. A refinery under construction in southern Mexico has yet to produce usable gasoline despite being inaugurated in 2022. A new Mexico City airport he opened over 20 months ago has yet to draw much passenger traffic.

Lopez Obrador had pledged to finish the train by the end of 2023, which he says will create jobs and boost connectivity.

Hold-ups and legal challenges have plagued its progress. Environmental activists and scientists argue the construction critically endangers a delicate below-ground ecosystem and essentially splits the jungle in half.

"In terms of safety, part of the delays in the project is precisely because of these points ... The project has been changed several times," said another expert who participated in the government's environmental impact study.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the expert told Reuters there are unfinished sections between Tulum, Xpujil and Escarcega. To conclude on time would take massive, hitherto lacking, coordination between all the project's participants, he added.

It was a mad rush to the December inauguration, he said.

Mexico's defense ministry, which is running the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

On Wednesday, a group of activists and divers entered a cave directly below the construction in Quintana Roo state in the Yucatan peninsula to highlight the train line's impact on a vital part of the local ecosystem.

It is one of hundreds of subterranean caves carved out from soft limestone bedrock by water over millions of years over which the train will pass. Underground pools, known as cenotes, are a main source of fresh water to countless communities and wildlife in the peninsula.

"We have no idea what is going to happen to our water," said activist Cristina Nolasco. "We should have done this in a sustainable way that can also guarantee the structural resilience, and we're not doing that."

($1 = 17.2857 Mexican pesos)

(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; additional reporting by Dave Graham and Jose Luis Gonzalez; Editing by Sonali Paul)

Mexico's Maya Train opens, despite environmental concerns

AFP
Fri, December 15, 2023

Mexico's Mayan Train, a flagship project of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (RODRIGO OROPEZA)


Mexico's Maya Train, a flagship project of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was set to open Friday with a promise of prosperity for one of the country's most impoverished regions, but also dogged by accusations that it has devastated the environment.

"It is a magnum opus" that was built "in record time," said Lopez Obrador in his daily morning conference before the opening ceremony, praising participation of the armed forces in the railway's development.

The left-wing leader was due to board the first run of the tourist train between the colonial city of Campeche and the Caribbean resort of Cancun, Mexico's leading tourist destination that welcomed 34 million foreign visitors between January and October, according to official figures.

The stretch of rail being inaugurated Friday is the first of seven sections that will cover a total of 1,554 kilometers (965 miles) around the Yucatan Peninsula, an area rich in flora, fauna and archaeological ruins. The others will be operational in the first quarter of 2024.

The route includes parts of the Mayan Riviera, which covers a jungle region considered the second-most important forest reserve in Latin America after the Amazon, as well as cenotes -- freshwater caves -- and underground rivers.

Activists and environmental organizations said the project caused massive damage to the region's ecosystem, dubbing it an "ecocide," and succeeded in temporarily halting work through legal appeals.

But Lopez Obrador issued a decree declaring the infrastructure works a matter of "national security" and construction resumed.

Greenpeace and other NGOs have warned that the train threatens to contaminate cenotes and underground rivers in particular.

They also point out danger of the ground collapsing due to the weight of the structure, in addition to affecting flora and fauna.

The Mexican president has called the protesters "pseudo-environmentalists" and has defended the work on several occasions, promising to plant millions of trees in the area.

Mexico's president inaugurates first part of $20 billion tourist train project on Yucatan peninsula
Associated Press
Updated Fri, December 15, 2023 



 Rogelio Jiménez Pons, director of Fonatur, points to a map of a planned tourist train line through the Yucatan Peninsula known as the Maya Train, during an interview in Mexico City, March 18, 2019. Mexico’s president on Dec. 15, 2023 inaugurated the first part of this project of his administration.

 (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president on Friday inaugurated the first part of the pet project of his administration, a tourist train that runs in a rough loop around the Yucatan peninsula.

The $20 billion, 950-mile line, called the Maya Train, is meant to connect beach resorts and archaeological sites. However, it is not finished yet. Officials pledged the rest of the line would be ready by the end of February. But it was clear from the unfinished earthworks and the existence of just a single lane of a planned double-lane track, even the first section has not been completed yet.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador opened a 290-mile (473-kilometer) stretch Friday between the colonial Gulf coast city of Campeche and the Caribbean coast resort of Cancun. That is about one-third of the entire project, and covers the least controversial stretch.

It will take about 5 1/2 hours to travel from Campeche to Cancun at an average speed of about 50 miles per hour (80 kph), though officials have promised the train will be capable of speeds of up to 75 mph (120 kph).

There will be two trains per day each way, with stops in the colonial city of Merida, the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza and about ten other towns. Originally, officials had planned on charging separate, lower fares for Mexicans on the line, and foreign tourists would pay a higher fare.

But the only prices listed for the first runs were differentiated only by first-class and “tourist class” tickets, on sale starting Saturday, though most are sold out.

A first-class ticket on one of the two trains from Cancun to Merida each day will cost the equivalent of $68. A first-class bus ticket on the same route costs about $58, with buses leaving about every half hour.

The first train cars to set out Friday were reserved for officials, dignitaries and the press. López Obrador called it a record-setting project that will eventually link Cancun with beach towns like Playa del Carmen and Tulum, and Mayan ruins at Calakmul and Palenque.

“There are no public works projects like this in the world,” López Obrador said. “It was also done in record time.”

Layda Sansores, the governor of Campeche state, claimed “the entire peninsula is breaking out in cries of ‘Hallelujah!’”

Unlike the remaining two-thirds of the Maya Train, the part of the line inaugurated Friday already had an old train line running over much of the route. Many of the still-unfinished parts were cut through the jungle and built over sensitive, relic-filled cave systems, drawing objections from environmentalists.

López Obrador has raced to finish the Maya Train project before he leaves office in September, rolling over the objections of ecologists, cave divers and archaeologists.

The train runs along the Caribbean coast and threatens extensive caves where some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered. Because of the region's limestone geology, it is riddled with caves that carry most of its water.

While officials have touted the train as utilitarian transport for freight and local residents, its only real source of significant income would be tourists. However, given its frequent stops, unwieldy route and lack of feasibility studies, it is unclear how many tourists will actually want to buy tickets.

“The train won't help residents get to work or school, and besides, it's very expensive,” SELVAME, a coalition of groups opposing the project, said in a statement Friday. “The train runs through the jungle, filling cenotes (sinkhole lakes) and underground rivers with concrete, without any studies.”

López Obrador has tried to rush through the Maya Train project by exempting it from normal permitting, public reporting and environmental impact statements, claiming it is vital to national security.

In November 2021, López Obrador’s government issued a broad decree requiring all federal agencies to give automatic approval for any public works project the government deems to be “in the national interest” or to “involve national security.”

The train was partly built by the Mexican army and will be run by the armed forces, to whom López Obrador has entrusted more projects than any other president in at least a century.

López Obrador is known for his fascination with trains, the armed forces and state-owned companies in general. In November, he announced he will require private rail companies that mostly carry freight to offer passenger service or else have the government schedule its own trains on their tracks.

Almost no regular passenger rail service remains in Mexico following a 1995 reform that gave concessions to two private railway companies: Mexico’s Ferromex and a subsidiary of U.S. railway Kansas City Southern.

A few tourist trains run on relatively short, unconnected routes to tourist attractions like northern Mexico’s Copper Canyon and the western tequila-producing region around Jalisco.

NORDIC STRIKE

Elon Musk has started a war with 

Tesla workers that he's unlikely to win

Beatrice Nolan

Sat, December 16, 2023 at 

• Elon Musk's Tesla is facing strike action in Sweden.

• The Swedish strike has inspired several sympathy strikes in nearby countries including Finland.

• The coordinated industrial action is causing headaches for Tesla's operations in the country.

Elon Musk is at war with a group of Swedish workers.

The billionaire's EV company, Tesla, faces a wave of strikes across the nation.

The industrial action began in late October when the trade union IF Metall announced a walkout in Sweden. Since then, several other unions, including labor groups in nearby countries like Denmark, Norway, and Finland have joined in solidarity.

The Swedish workers want to force a collective agreement on Tesla, which is commonplace in the country.

"Coverage of collective agreement is extremely high in Sweden," Lars Calmfors, a professor of international economics at Stockholm University, said. "If you look at the whole economy, somewhere around 85% of all employees are covered by collective agreement."

There is no legal minimum wage in Sweden, instead, the nation relies on collective agreements to keep compensation fair.

Relationships between unions and companies in the country are also relatively harmonious.

"There is a strong tradition of cooperation between unions and employers in all the Nordic countries. But this culture of
cooperation is especially strong in Sweden with a very low level of
industrial conflict," Calmfors said

US companies have to play by Swedish rules

The situation Tesla has found itself in is not unprecedented.

"International corporations often have their own compensation and pension systems that conflict with the systems that we have in Sweden," Calmfors said.

US company Toys R Us faced similar industrial action when it refused to give workers a collective agreement in the 1990s. After a three-month strike, the toy company reached an agreement with the Swedish retail store employees' union and essentially gave in.

The coordinated sympathy strikes are already causing a headache for Tesla's operations in the country.

The Swedish postal service successfully halted deliveries of new license plates for the EVs, while Danish dockworkers refused to unload the Tesla vehicles.

Musk even publically lashed out at the workers, calling the strikes "insane."

Tesla has a lot to lose

The Swedish Tesla strike is a relatively small one. The EV company doesn't have a factory in the country and only employs around 120 people at its service facilities in Sweden.

The market is not especially important to Tesla, but giving in to the Swedish strikes may cost the company more in terms of reputational damage.

"Tesla doesn't have a collective agreement anywhere — at least not a voluntary one," Calmfors said. "If they would enter a collective agreement in Sweden, it would show workers in other countries that this red line is not absolute.

"It's not the consequences in Sweden of collective agreement that they fear, it's that it might provide an incentive for unions in other countries."

But Tesla is facing a formidable opponent in the Nordic nation, Calmfors said.

"Unions are afraid of what this might start in the longer run," he said. "If it becomes accepted that big firms in Sweden could be without the collective agreement, I think they fear that this strong social norm will be weakened over time."

The striking workers are partially funded by unions, which provides an extra incentive to strike, he said.

"It's a big thing for both Tesla and for Swedish unions," he said. "But I think the most probable outcome is that Tesla will lose."

BI approached Tesla for comment on the strikes but did not immediately hear back.

Tesla battling increased support in country’s strike against automaker: ‘You can’t just make your own rules’

Stephen Proctor
Fri, December 15, 2023 


Despite a recent win in court, Tesla’s troubles in Sweden continue to grow as more and more workers join the strike against the EV giant.

IF Metall, a trade union in Sweden, gave Tesla a strike notice in October that hundreds of mechanics from the company’s seven workshops in the country would strike if Tesla didn’t sign a collective agreement.

Tesla first opened up shop in Sweden in 2013, but the company has declined to sign any sort of collective agreement in the highly unionized country because the company doesn’t have a manufacturing plant there.

But unions are a major part of the Swedish labor model. Roughly 90% of the workforce is covered by collective agreements that protect worker conditions and standardize pay, insurance, and pensions. Because of this, other workers have joined the strike, including postal workers who refused to deliver Tesla plates for new cars.

Tesla quickly won a lawsuit against the Swedish transport authority and state-run PostNord, in which a court ruled that the transport authority had to figure out how to get the plates to Tesla. But that was just a minor victory among a growing problem as more workers are joining the IF Metall strike against Tesla.

Around 50 workers at Hydro Extrusions in Vetlanda, Sweden, have joined in a sympathy strike, though the company is not directly involved in the strike. Hydro Extrusions is responsible for delivering components for the Model Y to a factory in Berlin, Germany.

The troubles for Tesla have even poured over into neighboring Denmark, where the country’s largest trade union has joined the strike. This will prevent dock workers and drivers in Denmark from receiving and transporting Tesla vehicles going to Sweden.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called secondary action against the company like the PostNord strike “insane,” but those representing the workers don’t appear to be backing down.

“If you look at this from a long-term perspective, it could be a threat to the Swedish model,” head of the IF Metall union Marie Nilsson said. “It’s really important for us.”

Jan Villadsen, chair of 3F Transport, the Danish union that joined the strike in solidarity with IF Metall, said, “Even if you are one of the richest in the world, you can’t just make your own rules. We have some labor market agreements in the Nordic region, and you have to comply with them if you want to run a business here.”

Elon Musk Is Getting Absolutely Destroyed in Sweden
Victor Tangermann
Thu, December 14, 2023 


The pressure against Tesla is really starting to mount in northern Europe.

After unions stopped unloading Tesla vehicles from ships in Sweden last month over a labor disagreement with the Elon Musk-led company, the Swedish Transport Workers' union announced today that it will stop collecting waste at Tesla workshops on Christmas Eve to turn up the pressure — unless, of course, the EV maker signs a collective agreement in Sweden.

And it's not just Sweden — many neighboring countries are now also looking to take action in solidarity.

"This kind of sympathy action is very unusual," Tommy Wreeth, head of the transport union, told the Financial Times. "We are doing it now to protect the integrity of Swedish collective agreements and the Swedish labor market model."

"Tesla cannot buck the norm in the Swedish labor market," he added.

In late October, workers under the IF Metall union went on strike, arguing that Tesla wasn't willing to bargain with the union over wages, pensions, and insurance.

Unsurprisingly, given Musk's previous pursuit of union-busting tactics, Tesla has refused to come to the table ever since.

Instead of beating around the bush, Musk has been overt about his hatred for collective bargaining and workers' rights.

"I disagree with the idea of unions," he said during the New York Times's Dealbook Summit last week, the same event at which he told advertisers to go "fuck" themselves.

Unsurprisingly, the company's inaction on the matter has led to an outpouring of solidarity, with unions across Sweden banding together against the carmaker, blocking imports at ports and refusing to repair damaged Tesla chargers, among other actions.

Postal workers have stopped delivering mail to the company, including license plates. A local court of appeal also overturned Tesla's attempts to have license plates directly delivered from the Swedish Transport Agency.

Meanwhile, Musk has called the strike "insane," effectively throwing fuel onto the growing fire.

Fast forward just over a week, and unions in Norway, Denmark, and Finland have now said they're also ready to stop unloading cars from ships, according to the Financial Times.

And it's not just workers. Denmark's largest pension fund announced last week that it's selling its Tesla stock holdings over Musk's refusal to bargain.

Now, the Swedish Transport Workers' union is leaving the carmaker with a literal trash pile by refusing to pick up garbage from the company.

Musk isn't just picking a fight with Swedish workers — he's drawing out a lengthy legal battle with much of northern Europe.

And there's plenty on the line for the carmaker, as Teslas are hugely popular in Sweden and Norway.

"Even if you are one of the richest people in the world, you can’t just make your own rules," said Jan Villadsen, the chairman of the 3F union’s transport division, in a statement. "We have some agreements on the labor market in the Nordics, and you have to comply with them if you want to do business here."

More on Tesla: Tesla Unveils New Humanoid Robot


A Swedish union says it'll stop collecting trash from Tesla's workshops to show solidarity for striking workers

Tom Carter
Thu, December 14, 2023

A Swedish union says it will stop collecting trash from Tesla's workshops amid ongoing strikes.

It's the latest escalation in the company's battle with Swedish unions.

The strike has disrupted deliveries of Tesla license plates in Sweden, a move Musk called "insane."

Elon Musk's Scandinavian union headache keeps getting worse.

Tesla is now facing the unpleasant prospect of overflowing trash cans after Sweden's Transport Workers Union said it would stop collecting trash from the company's workshops in solidarity with striking workers, according to a report from Reuters.

The move marks a further escalation of the US automaker's ongoing battle with Swedish unions.

At the end of October, mechanics in the Swedish union IF Metall walked out to secure a collective labor agreement. This is a common arrangement in Scandinavian countries that would allow unions to negotiate with Tesla over wages and working conditions.

Other industries have joined the strike in support, with dockworkers refusing to unload the company's electric cars and electricians stopping maintenance work on Tesla charging stations.

The Transport Workers Union is just the latest to throw its weight behind the strike, with union officials saying workers will stop collecting the company's waste on December 24 unless Tesla signs a collective bargaining agreement.

"This type of sympathy action is very rare. We are using it now to protect the Swedish collective agreements and the safety of the Swedish labor market model," Tommy Wreeth, head of the transport union, told Reuters.

Tesla faces growing strike action across Scandinavia, with unions in Denmark, Norway, and Finland backing the strike and pledging not to unload or transport Teslas bound for the Swedish market.

The strike has also seen postal workers in Sweden refuse to deliver Tesla license plates, a move Elon Musk called "insane" in a post on X.

Tesla sued the Swedish Transport Agency to try and restart deliveries, but a Swedish court rejected the company's suit in a decision last week.

The escalating wave of union action is a serious headache for Musk, who has been a longtime critic of organized labor.

The billionaire told The New York Times' Dealbook conference that he disagreed with the idea of unions, saying they create a "lords and peasants" atmosphere that pits workers against their companies.

Tesla has firmly opposed any attempts by its US workers to unionize, with the National Labour Board ruling in 2021 that the company had repeatedly violated labor laws by preventing employees from organizing.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Nordic investors urge Tesla to back down in Swedish labour dispute

Reuters
Thu, December 14, 2023

The logo of Tesla is seen at a Tesla Supercharger station in Dietikon

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -A group of Nordic institutional investors said in a letter to Tesla on Thursday they were deeply concerned by the conflict between the company and labour unions in Sweden, and asked it to reconsider its approach to collective bargaining.

Tesla is facing a backlash from unions and some pension funds in the region over its refusal to accept a demand from Swedish mechanics for collective bargaining rights covering wages and other conditions.

A group of Nordic investors, which includes Norway's largest pension fund KLP, Sweden's Folksam and Denmark's PFA and PensionDanmark said the Swedish labour market model enabled the Nordics to thrive. The model means employers and unions agree on working conditions and salaries with very little involvement of the government.

"We as Nordic investors acknowledge the decade old tradition of collective bargaining, and therefore urge Tesla to reconsider your current approach to unions," the investors, which have assets of approximately one trillion dollars under management, said in the letter.

Tesla has managed to avoid collective bargaining agreements with its roughly 127,000 workers, and CEO Elon Musk has been vocal about his opposition to unions.

The labour dispute between Tesla and a Swedish trade union has sparked sympathy strikes across the region and prompted some pension funds to sell their shares in the company.

Tesla, which has revolutionised the electric car market, says its Swedish employees have as good or better terms than those the union is demanding.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Johan Ahlander; editing by Louise Rasmussen and Sharon Singleton)

Tesla’s Nordic Dispute Sparks Angry Letter From Money Managers

Sanne Wass and Jonas Ekblom
Thu, December 14, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s showdown with trade unions across the Nordic region is threatening to spill over to the financial markets after a group of pension funds and asset managers sent a letter to Elon Musk urging him to change course

Nordic institutional investors managing a total of $1 trillion in assets said they are “deeply concerned” about Tesla’s attitude to worker rights in Sweden and demanded the carmaker accept collective bargaining agreements for its staff, according to a letter sent Thursday and seen by Bloomberg News. Signatories to the letter include Denmark’s Velliv Pension & Livsforsikring A/S and AkademikerPension.

The group of at least 15 investors called out Tesla’s sustainability credentials over its challenge to the so-called “Nordic Model” by not letting mechanics at seven of its Swedish repair shops sign up to an agreement that covers basic rights such as minimum pay and gender equality. They also pointed out how the same model has benefited Tesla in building up “a significant market share” in the region, which trumps even Germany when it comes to deliveries of cars.

While the investors didn’t use the letter to threaten to sell the shares they hold in Tesla, cracks are beginning to appear elsewhere. Last week saw Danish fund PensionDanmark A/S become the first major asset manager in the region to publicly dump shares in the electric vehicle maker as a result of the conflict, selling its $69 million stake.

The dispute that began in October has already upended Tesla’s operations in the region as sympathy actions from other trade unions have spread to dockworkers in neighboring Denmark, Finland and Norway. From next week Tesla will have to transport its cars bound for Sweden via trucks from continental Europe.

The escalating blockade has extended beyond deliveries to registration plates and even trash collection at Tesla’s premises. Swedish postal workers have for several weeks refused to handle any mail or packages bound for Tesla locations, halting the delivery of license plates to dealerships.
But there are few signs either side of the conflict is ready to back down soon. On Thursday, Tesla published a job posting in search for a Stockholm-based public policy expert who needs to have “a proven track track record of getting regulatory changes made in the Nordics.” Chief Executive Officer Musk has previously called the situation “insane” and has been fighting back in Sweden with lawsuits to limit the conflict’s impact.

In the investor letter, the group asked for a meeting with Tesla’s board in early 2024 to discuss the matter. “We as Nordic investors acknowledge the decade old tradition of collective bargaining, and therefore urge Tesla to reconsider your current approach to unions,” they wrote.

Read More: How Musk’s Anti-Union Stance Faces Test in Sweden: QuickTake

--With assistance from Craig Trudell.

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Japan’s Kishida Removes Ministers in Bid to Stay in Power

Isabel Reynolds and Yuki Hagiwara
Thu, December 14, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his cabinet in an attempt to contain a funding scandal that threatens the future of his struggling government

The premier replaced four ministers Thursday who are among lawmakers accused of concealing income from fundraising events, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who has been a key player in Japan’s efforts to revive its semiconductor industry.

Former Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will replace Matsuno, while former agriculture minister Ken Saito will take over the trade portfolio, the two told reporters. Tetsushi Sakamoto was appointed as agriculture minister. Takeaki Matsumoto was named as internal affairs minister, Kyodo News reported and a representative from his office confirmed.

The move comes as reports from the Yomiuri newspaper and other media say prosecutors are preparing to raid the offices of lawmakers under suspicion, who are members of the largest faction within the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The slush fund from the group once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may have amounted to about ¥1 billion ($7 million), the Yomiuri reported this week.

It’s unclear whether the reshuffle will help shore up support for Kishida’s government, the most unpopular in more than a decade according to a series of polls. Failure to steady the ship could force him to resign. One ruling party lawmaker has already suggested Kishida could do so in the spring, ahead of the end of his term as party leader in September.

Support for Kishida’s cabinet fell 4.2 percentage points to 17.1% in a survey published by Jiji Press on Thursday.

No general election need be held until 2025, and the LDP retains higher support rates than any of the opposition parties, meaning it is unlikely to lose power any time soon.

In the meantime, the turmoil threatens Kishida’s policy program, as he tries to push through measures to shield voters from the effects of inflation and seeks ways to fund his plans for the largest defense expansion since World War II. Kishida is reported to be considering canceling a trip to South America that had been planned for January.

Three senior ruling party officials also resigned Thursday, public broadcaster NHK said, in a move that could hamper the passage of next year’s budget. The ministers and officials, along with other faction members, are suspected of failing to declare income from fundraising events, in a breach of the political funds law.

The extent of alleged involvement by cabinet ministers and senior party officials has invited comparisons with the so-called Recruit affair of the late 1980s, when allegations of insider trading felled then-Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita.

--With assistance from Takashi Hirokawa.