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Mexico apologizes to indigenous Maya for centuries of abuse

Joseph Choi 

The Mexican government on Monday issued an apology to the indigenous Maya people for years of abuse and discrimination, marking the anniversary of a 1901 battle that ended one of the last indigenous rebellions to take place in North America

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© Getty Images Mexico apologizes to indigenous Maya for centuries of abuse

The Associated Press reports that a ceremony was held in the town of Tihosuco, which is located in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, the headquarters of the indigenous rebellion and also where it ultimately ended. It is now known as the "Maya capital" due to its history in the rebellion.

"For centuries, these people have suffered exploitation and abuse," Mexican Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero said. "Today we recognize something which we have denied for a long time: the wrongs and injustices committed against the Mayan people."


"Today, we ask forgiveness in the name of the Mexican government for the injustices committed against you throughout our history and for the discrimination which even now you are victims of," Sánchez Cordero added.

The AP reports that this apology comes as Mexico commemorates 500 years since the Spanish conquest, and 200 years of Mexican independence.

Although the AP notes that Maya iconography and motifs are often used to attract tourists to Mexico, most Maya are excluded from benefitting from the money brought in from such attractions.

"We realize that we have a great history, that we are held up as an example, and people make a lot of money off our name, but that money never shows up in our communities," Mayan activist Alfaro Yam Canul said.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was also present at the ceremony, accompanied by Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, whose country holds the majority of the current Maya population.

Yam Canul called on López Obrador to revise rules regarding a nature reserve along the coast in order to allow the Maya to promote tourism there. The activist says the reserve called Sian Ka'an was "taken, stolen from us in a bad way, without our knowledge or consulting us."

Experts have said that tourism activity in the reserve could severely threaten its delicate ecosystem, the AP reports.

Yam Canul asked the Mexican president to change the rules "so that we Maya, followers of the cross, can enter and develop community ecological tourism, in which we do not want really big buildings."

Academic journals don't pay writers, excluding scholars who can't afford to work for free from getting published. Here's why that's a problem.

insider@insider.com (Elline Lipkin)

Elline Lipkin is an author and research scholar with UCLA's Center for the Study of Women.

Throughout her career, she says she's often written articles for academic journals without payment.

When journals don't pay writers, Lipkin says scholars with fewer financial resources are edged out.

The journal to which I contributed my article is available for purchase through its distributor Taylor & Francis - for $303 an issue. My article is downloadable for $45

After nearly 15 years as an independent academic, I always appreciate the impact of an eye-opening statement like: "Did you know most adjunct faculty, working full time, even with a doctorate, earn under $40,000 a year?"

Recently, I watched mouths drop during a weekend Zoom seminar on freelance writing when I held up a copy of a book, freshly published by a major university press, to which I'd contributed a chapter, and explained my "payment" consisted of two free copies of the volume. Then I casually mentioned that a recent book review I completed - for a prominent scholarly journal - would yield zero dollars.

The would-be journalists shook their heads, as most professionals do since payment for their labor, in dollars, is considered standard - which is to say pretty much all other fields.

Not so in academia.

To further drive my point home to the freelance writers, I held up the two books I've solo-authored and explained that one yielded an advance of exactly $1,000 and the other $4,000, since they were marketed as academic and literary work.

Pulling back the curtain on academic exploitation gets a great reaction every time. And after I began to directly question the gatekeepers of this system, the shock began to come from the other side.
Simply asking to be paid for your work in academia comes across as heresy

Some people act as if money taints the lofty ideas and intellectual labor of academic work.

"It's just not done," one editor said to me when I asked why I couldn't be compensated for a recent article. "Since we're an academic journal, we never pay."

Another editor moved from initial confusion to outrage at my audacity for even asking to get paid.
The trouble with this archaic system - where 'it's just not done' - is who it systemically leaves out

It's no secret that if you're inside the academic system - that is, lucky enough to land a tenure-track job - you're in for approximately seven years of intense ladder-climbing in which publication by a vetted journal equals the golden ticket to tenure, which secures a job, benefits, and retirement, for life.

For scholars on this path, each article, conference presentation, or book is another rung climbed to the promised security at the top.

This path is reliant on the fact that tenure-track faculty receive full-time salaries, and often use additional travel and grant money to support their work. As a result, not receiving a penny for an article is considered acceptable, since this work is underwritten by their departments and the expectation to publish is built into the very definition of their jobs.

This model - to work for free to net the 'currency' of a publication credit - works only for salaried academics

The trouble is that tenure track jobs have shrunk exponentially, leaving everyone else who wants to participate in their field - adjuncts, lecturers, and independent academics - to essentially self-fund their own labor.

Also, it reinforces a system where separating labor from actual currency is acceptable, while others (literally) profit from it - all without questioning what it costs people to work for free and makes a level of economic privilege a baseline to participate within academia.

In the world of independent academics, some can afford to work for free, most likely because they're supported by a partner or other means. Then there are those, like myself, who continue to do this work because we want to contribute to our fields. Why should our voices be barred from the intellectual conversation?
Without payment for our work, the scholars most likely to stop participating are those with the fewest financial resources

This is a demographic which I suspect breaks down along race and class lines. What loss is there to the profession when swathes of scholars are edged out or chased from the conversation because they dared to think they should be paid for their work?

When I surveyed junior academics who were outside the tenure track, the concept of "choice" came up repeatedly. If you're adjuncting and want to make yourself competitive for a tenure-track job, most argued, it's a choice to put in the time during late nights and weekends to keep submitting to journals.

The reality of this is undeniable, but this argument seems suspiciously close to one I've heard for years about women opting out of the workforce simply by "choice." While people with economic privilege can exercise their "choice" to work for free, those who are worrying about rent, bills, and in all likelihood, mountains of student loans, have no actual choice at all.

The journal to which I contributed my article is available for purchase through its distributor Taylor & Francis - for $303 an issue. My article is downloadable for $45.

I refrained from asking the editor-in-chief if the printing paper was donated or if workers at the production plant were asked to work off the clock while they put together this issue.

I know the answer. If everyone else gets paid - an actual wage - for creating this volume, why are those whose labor make up its essential content asked to work for free?

Imagine it - money being exchanged for labor, even the intellectual kind. That this idea would come as a jolt to those within academia, who pay mortgages, bills, and need to eat, yet expect ideas to circulate in a kind of intellectual aerie - is itself shocking

Climate change impacts conservation sites across the Americas

 CONSERVE IS IN THEIR NAME; CONSERVATIVES, BUT NOT THEIR IDEOLOGY

DURHAM UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: AN INCA JAY AT OTUN QUIMBAYA, COLOMBIA view more 

CREDIT: PROFESSOR STEPHEN WILLIS

A continental-scale network of conservation sites is likely to remain effective under future climate change scenarios, despite a predicted shift in key species distributions.

New research, led by Durham University and published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, investigates the impacts of potential climate change scenarios on the network of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) across the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

The research was carried out in collaboration with Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, BirdLife International and the National Audubon Society.

IBAs are sites identified as being internationally important for the conservation of bird populations, with over 13,000 sites identified across 200 countries in the last 40 years. Many are covered by formal protected areas, while others are conserved by community-managed reserves or indigenous lands.

Two of the principal responses of species to recent climate change events are changes in range and abundance, leading to a global reshuffling of populations.

Range changes may cause species to disappear from areas they occupy, whilst providing them with opportunities to colonise new sites.

This redistribution could affect the ability of international site networks (including protected areas) to conserve species. Therefore, identifying which sites will continue to provide suitable conditions and which are likely to become unsuitable is important for effective conservation planning as our planet continues to warm.

Estimating the impact of climate change on species' distributions, and the consequences for networks of sites identified to conserve them, can help to inform conservation strategies to ensure that these networks remain effective.

The research modelled the effects of different scenarios of climate change on the wider network.

It determined that, for 73 percent of the 939 species of conservation concern for which IBAs have been identified, more than half of the IBAs in which they currently occur were projected to remain climatically suitable and, for 90 per cent of species, at least a quarter of sites remain suitable.

These results suggest that the network will remain robust under climate change. What is concerning however, is that seven percent of the species of conservation concern are projected to have no suitable climate in the IBAs currently identified for them."

Professor Stephen Willis, Director of Research in the Durham University Department of Biosciences said "The Caribbean and Central and South American region supports about 40% of all the bird species of the world, so this network is vital for a large proportion of the world's birds.

To develop realistic predictions of future changes, we not only considered where suitable climate will occur for species in future but also the likelihood of species dispersing to newly suitable sites.

This information is helping to identify potential management strategies across the IBA network.

CAPTION

Itai National Park, Brazil

CREDIT

Professor Stephen Willis

Stuart Butchart, Chief Scientist at BirdLife International and a co-author on the study, said: "These results highlight how critical it is to effectively conserve the network of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas across the Americas in order to help safeguard birds in the region under climate change.

"Despite projections of significant shifts in the distributions of individual species, the network as a whole will continue to play a key role in future conservation efforts."

Aurelio Ramos, Senior VP, Audubon International Alliances Program said "Applying this science to secure and strengthen IBAs in the Americas is essential to support the future of birds and people. Audubon, BirdLife International, American Bird Conservancy and REDLAC have partnered in the Americas on a project to strengthen protection of Climate secure IBAs identified in the research called Conserva Aves"

Alke Voskamp of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre added "The results of this study highlight the importance of a network-wide perspective when making conservation management decisions for individual sites when planning for climate change."

The researchers note that designating protected areas to safeguard biodiversity is a cornerstone of species conservation and the importance of considering local environmental management decisions and their impacts on wider, global conservation networks has never been more relevant.

CAPTION

Plovercrest Hummingbird

CREDIT

Professor Stephen Willis

MEDIA INFORMATION

For further information please contact Professor Stephen G Willis at +44 (0) 191 33 41379 or email at s.g.willis@durham.ac.uk

Alternatively, please contact Durham University Marketing and Communications Office on communications.team@durham.ac.uk

Source information

Site-Based Conservation of Terrestrial Bird Species in the Caribbean and Central and South America Under Climate Change: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fevo.2021.625432/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Ecology_and_Evolution&id=625432

PHOTOS

Available through this Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kg46ynagz2cmzxw/AAD4MWlDBA_tT3UZ97dBWVRSa?dl=0

Credit - Professor Stephen Willis

Useful web links

Professor Stephen Willis' profile: https://www.dur.ac.uk/research/directory/staff/?id=1048

Dr. Stuart Butchart's profile: https://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/stuart-butchart

Alke Voskamp's profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alkevoskamp?originalSubdomain=de

About Durham University

Durham University is a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research based in historic Durham City in the UK.

We are a collegiate university committed to inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham and in the world.

We conduct boundary-breaking research that improves lives globally and we are ranked as a world top 100 university with an international reputation in research and education (QS World University Rankings 2021).

We are a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities and we are consistently ranked as a top 10 university in national league tables (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Complete University Guide).

For more information about Durham University visit: http://www.durham.ac.uk/about/

END OF MEDIA RELEASE: Issued by Durham University Marketing and Communications Office - http://www.durham.ac.uk/news

Forest fires drive expansion of savannas in the heart of the Amazon

Researchers analyzed the effects of wildfires on plant cover and soil quality in the last 40 years. The findings of the study show that the forest is highly vulnerable even in well-conserved areas far from the 'deforestation arc'.

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

Research News

 

IMAGE: FOREST DESTROYED BY FIRE IN MIDDLE NEGRO.THE EFFECTS OF WILDFIRES ON PLANT COVER AND SOIL QUALITY view more 

CREDIT: BERNARDO MONTEIRO FLORES

Agência FAPESP – White-sand savannas are expanding in the heart of the Amazon as a result of recurring forest fires, according to a study published in the journal Ecosystems.

The study was supported by FAPESP, and conducted by Bernardo Monteiro Flores, currently a postdoctoral fellow in ecology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil, and Milena Holmgren, a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

“The edges of the Amazon Rainforest have long been considered the most vulnerable parts owing to expansion of the agricultural frontier. This degradation of the forest along the so-called ‘deforestation arc’ [a curve that hugs the southeastern edge of the forest] continues to occur and is extremely troubling. However, our study detected the appearance of savannas in the heart of the Amazon a long way away from the agricultural frontier,” Flores told Agência FAPESP.

The authors studied an area of floodplains on the middle Negro River near Barcelos, a town about 400 km upstream of Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, where areas of white-sand savanna are expanding, although forest ecosystems still predominate. They blame the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires in the wider context of global climate change.

“We mapped 40 years of forest fires using satellite images, and collected detailed information in the field to see whether the burned forest areas were changing,” Flores said. “When we analyzed tree species richness and soil properties at different times in the past, we found that forest fires had killed practically all trees so that the clayey topsoil could be eroded by annual flooding and become increasingly sandy.”

They also found that as burnt floodplain forest naturally recovers, there is a major shift in the type of vegetation, with native herbaceous cover expanding, forest tree species disappearing, and white-sand savanna tree species becoming dominant.

Less resilient

Where do the savanna tree species come from? According to Flores, white-sand savannas are part of the Amazon ecosystem, covering about 11% of the biome. They are ancient savannas and very different from the Cerrado with its outstanding biodiversity, yet even so they are home to many endemic plant species. They are called campinas by the local population. Seen from above, the Amazon is an ocean of forest punctuated by small islands of savanna. The seeds of savanna plants are distributed by water, fish and birds, and are more likely than forest species to germinate when they reach a burnt area with degraded soil, repopulating the area concerned.

“Our research shows native savanna cover is expanding and may continue expanding in the Amazon. Not along the ‘deforestation arc’, where exotic grasses are spreading, but in remote areas throughout the basin where white-sand savannas already exist,” Flores said.

It is important to stress that in the Amazon floodplain forest is far less resilient than upland terra firma forest. It burns more easily, after which its topsoil is washed away and degrades much more rapidly. “Floodplain forest is the ‘Achilles heel’ of the Amazon,” Holmgren said. “We have field evidence that if the climate becomes drier in the Amazon and wildfires become more severe and frequent, floodplain forest will be the first to collapse.”

These two factors – a drier climate, and more severe and frequent fires – are already in play as part of the ongoing climate change crisis. The study shows that wildfires in the middle Negro area during the severe 2015-16 El Niño burned down an area seven times larger than the total area destroyed by fire in the preceding 40 years.

“The additional loss of floodplain forest could result in huge emissions of carbon stored in trees, soil and peatlands, as well as reducing supplies of resources used by local people, such as fish and forest products. The new discoveries reinforce the urgency of defending remote forest areas. For example, a fire management program should be implemented to reduce the spread of wildfires during the dry season,” Flores said.

The article “White-sand savannas expand at the core of the Amazon after forest wildfires” is at: link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10021-021-00607-x.

Cayman Islands sea turtles back from the brink

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Research News

 

IMAGE: A GREEN TURTLE HATCHLING view more 

CREDIT: CAYMAN ISLANDS DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT

Sea turtles in the Cayman Islands are recovering from the brink of local extinction, new research shows.

Monitoring from 1998-2019 shows loggerhead and green turtle nest numbers increased dramatically, though hawksbill turtle nest numbers remain low.

In the first counts in 1998-99, just 39 sea turtle nests were found in total on the three islands. By 2019, the figure was 675.

Captive breeding of green turtles and inactivity of a traditional turtle fishery due to tightening of restrictions in 2008 contributed to this - but populations remain far below historical levels and still face threats including illegal hunting.

The study was carried out by the Cayman Islands Department of Environment and the University of Exeter.

"Our findings demonstrate a remarkable recovery for sea turtle populations that were once thought to be locally extinct," said Dr Janice Blumenthal, of the Cayman Islands Department of Environment.

"A combination of factors is thought to have led to this conservation success story.

"It is likely that a captive breeding operation by the Cayman Turtle Farm (now the Cayman Turtle Centre) drove the increase in Grand Cayman's green turtle population in the early years of monitoring.

"For loggerhead turtles, the most important factor was the restrictions placed on the legal turtle fishery in 2008."

Dr Jane Hardwick, also of the Cayman Islands Department of Environment, added: "For both species, the recovery was assisted by protection efforts by the Cayman Islands Department of Environment on nesting beaches, including patrols by conservation officers to reduce illegal hunting.

"However, our study finds that illegal take is an ongoing threat, with a minimum of 24 turtles taken from 2015-19, many of which were nesting females.

"Artificial lighting on nesting beaches, which can direct hatchlings away from the sea, increased over the period of our study.

"Additionally, as highly migratory endangered species, sea turtles are influenced by threats and conservation efforts outside of the Cayman Islands, showing a need for international co-operation in sea turtle management."

CAPTION

A green turtle hatchling

CREDIT

Cayman Islands Department of Environment

Historically, the Cayman Islands had among the world's largest sea turtle nesting populations, with turtles numbering in the millions. By the early 1800s, the populations had collapsed due to human overexploitation.

The new study shows that, despite reaching critically low levels, nesting populations of green and loggerhead turtles have recovered significantly.

Hawksbill turtle nest numbers have not increased in tandem with loggerhead and green turtles - with a maximum of 13 hawksbill nests recorded in a single monitoring season.

Information on turtle nests is being used by the Cayman Islands authorities to target management efforts.

This includes "turtle-friendly lighting" initiatives, and a greater level of habitat protection for key areas has been proposed under the National Conservation Law of the Cayman Islands.

Professor Brendan Godley, of the University of Exeter, said: "I was fortunate to have been involved in establishing the turtle monitoring programme with the Department of Environment in the Cayman Islands back in 1998 and it is fantastic to see how protection and awareness has resulted in an increase in nesting turtles.

"The wonderful team and leadership of the Department of Environment have been instrumental in driving the monitoring and conservation."

Department of Environment Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie said: "We are extremely grateful to the many volunteers, interns, property owners, businesses, organisations and members of the public who have assisted with sea turtle conservation efforts over the past two decades.

"Sea turtles are a national symbol of the Cayman Islands and our community has come together to demonstrate our commitment to their protection. This research gives us essential information for strategically targeted management efforts to secure future survival of these populations."

The paper, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, is entitled: "Cayman Islands sea turtle nesting population increases over 22 years of monitoring."

CAPTION

A nesting green turtle

CREDIT

Mark Orr

Greta Thunberg and Fridays For Future, from global myth to local mobilization

Research by Silvia Díaz-Pérez, Roger Soler-i-Martí and Mariona Ferrer-Fons, members of the JOVIS research group at the Department of Communication, analysing the figure and influence of the activist on a global and on a local scale.

UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA - BARCELONA

Research News

 

In 2019 the climate movement experienced an unprecedented growth in its mobilization capacity and its political and media impact. The success of the movement is closely linked to the figure of Greta Thunberg and the global impact of her discourse and the "Fridays for Future" movement in hundreds of cities around the world.

A study by Silvia Díaz-Pérez, Roger Soler-i-Martí and Mariona Ferrer-Fons, members of the UPF JOVIS research group of the Department of Communication, analyses the activist's speeches and messages on social networks and their legitimization through her personal story, and it also looks into the "Fridays for Future" movement in Barcelona, based on Twitter and Instagram posts. The research was based on a project that has received funding from UPF's Planetary Wellbeing call.

Greta Thunberg creates a framework for collective action that is present in her speeches and posts on social networks and has great strength and a great impact

"What it analyses, therefore the article is how Greta Thunberg creates a framework for collective action that is present in her speeches and posts on social networks and has great strength and a great impact because it is accompanied by a personal story that follows the monomyth structure", Roger Soler-Martí explains. In mythology and art, the monomyth takes the shape of the archetypal journey of the hero who achieves such status by overcoming dangers and adventures after a calling or suffering an event that takes him from an ordinary world to a mythical world.

"Fridays for Future", an international, principally student movement that protests to demand action against global warming and climate change, gained momentum when the activist Greta Thunberg began to demonstrate in front of Swedish Parliament, in August 2018. The "Fridays for Future" movement, despite its diversity, serves Greta Thunberg as an agent of mobilization and resonance.

The "Fridays for Future" movement, despite its diversity, serves as an agent of mobilization and resonance in the activist's frame

The authors studied how Thunberg's global frame is incorporated locally, for which they focused on the case of "Fridays for Future" in Barcelona via Twitter and Instagram content from its creation (February 2019) until the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic.

The results show a clear influence of the activist in the discourse of local movements and among their followers. As Soler-i-Martí, co-author of the work explains, "despite the rejection of personalist leaderships and despite the particular characteristics of the local group, the activist's global framework is very present in the discourse broadcast on "Fridays for Future" Barcelona social networks".

The construction of the frames in social movements arise from two-way dialogue between the global and the local dimensions

And Soler-i-Martí adds, "In addition, the study reveals how the experience of local groups of the movement also influenced the evolution of Thunberg's discourse, which has changed over time, incorporating new actors and strategies. This element highlights how the construction of the frames in social movements arise from two-way dialogue between the global and the local dimensions".

The analysis provides empirical evidence of the importance of global and local dynamics in social movements on the Internet and highlights that the use of the basic elements of Thunberg's frame lead messages from the local "Fridays for Future" Barcelona movement to have a greater impact on social networks among its followers.

The article is relevant because it shows the glocal (global-local) dynamics in the creation and resonance of the discourse and messages of a global social movement, as well as the central role of social networks in this process. The study ends by showing how the pandemic has altered this framework of collective action that requires adapting to the new circumstances.

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Related work:

Silvia Díaz-Pérez, Roger Soler-i-Martí, Mariona Ferrer-Fons (2021), "From the global myth to local mobilization: Creation and resonance of Greta Thunberg's frame", Comunicar, 68, https://doi.org/10.3916/C68-2021-03

Fertility apps with hundreds of millions of users collect and share excessive information

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

The majority of top-rated fertility apps collect and even share intimate data without the users' knowledge or permission, a collaborative study by Newcastle University and Umea University has found.

Researchers are now calling for a tightening of the categorisation of these apps by platforms to protect women from intimate and deeply personal information being exploited and sold.

For hundreds of millions of women fertility tracking applications offer an affordable solution when trying to conceive or manage their pregnancy. But as this technology grows in popularity, experts have revealed that most of the top-rated fertility apps collect and share sensitive private information without users' consent.

Dr Maryam Mehrnezhad, of Newcastle University's School of Computing and Dr Teresa Almeida, from the Department of Informatics, Umeå University, Sweden, explored the privacy risks that can originate from the mismanagement, misuse, and misappropriation of intimate data, which are entwined in individual life events and in public health issues such as abortion, infertility, and pregnancy.

Dr Mehrnezhad and Dr Almeida analysed the privacy notices and tracking practices of 30 apps, available at no cost and dedicated to potential fertility. The apps were selected from the top search results in the Google Play Store and let a user regularly input personal and intimate information, including temperature, mood, sexual activity, orgasm and medical records.

Once the apps were downloaded, the researchers analysed GDPR requirements, privacy notices and tracking practices. They found out that the majority of these apps are not complying with the GDPR in terms of their privacy notices and tracking practices. The study also shows that these apps activate 3.8 trackers on average right after they are installed and opened by the user, even if the user does not engage with the privacy notice.

Presenting their findings at the CHI 2021 Conference, taking place on May 8-13, Dr Mehrnezhad and Dr Almeida warn that the approach of these apps to user privacy has implications for reproductive health, and rights.

Dr Mehrnezhad said: "Users of these apps are normally women who are considered marginalised user groups and the data concerning these groups is personal, more sensitive, and identified by GDPR legislation as 'special category data' requiring extra protection."

Dr Almeida added: "Data are kept in such a vulnerable condition, one in which a default setting allows not only for monetizing data but also to sustain systems of interpersonal violence or harm, such as in cases of pregnancy loss or abortion, demands a more careful approach to how technology is designed and developed.

"While digital health technologies help people better manage their reproductive lives, risks increase when data given voluntarily are not justly protected and data subjects see their reproductive rights challenged to the point of e.g. personal safety."

The study shows that majority of these fertility apps are classified as 'Health & Fitness', a few as 'Medical', and one as 'Communication'. The authors argue that miscategorising an unsecure app which contains medical records as 'Health & Fitness' would enable the developers to avoid the potential consequences, for example, of remaining in the app market without drawing significant attention to it. This means that fertility app data could continue to be sold to third parties for a variety of unauthorised uses, such as advertising and app development.

The team is currently looking into the security, privacy, bias and trust in IoT devices in Femtech. In light of their research, these researchers are calling for more adequate, lawful, and ethical processes when dealing with this data to ensure women get protection for the intimate information that is being collected by such technologies. They advise to seek to improve the understanding of how marginalised user groups can help to shape the design and use of cybersecurity and privacy of such technologies.

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Reference

Maryam Mehrnezhad and Teresa Almeida. 2021. Caring for Intimate Data in Fertility Technologies. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21), May 8-13, 2021, Yokohama, Japan. ACM, New York, NY, USA 11 Pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445132

Microplastics found in Europe's largest ice cap

REYKJAVIK UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: MICROPLASTICS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN VATNAJOKULL, EUROPE'S LARGEST ICE CAP. view more 

CREDIT: EIRIKUR SIGURDSSON

In a recent article in Sustainability, scientists from Reykjavik University (RU), the University of Gothenburg, and the Icelandic Meteorological Office describe their finding of microplastic in a remote and pristine area of Vatnajokull glacier in Iceland, Europe's largest ice cap. Microplastics may affect the melting and rheological behaviour of glaciers, thus influencing the future meltwater contribution to the oceans and rising sea levels.

This is the first time that the finding of microplastic in the Vatnajökull glacier is described. The group visualised and identified microplastic particles of various sizes and materials by optical microscopy and μ-Raman spectroscopy.

The discussion about microplastics has mainly been focused on the contamination of the sea, but hitherto little research has been conducted on plastic in the earth's ice caps. To date, microplastic particles have been found in the Italian Alps, in the Ecuadorian Andes and icebergs at Svalbard. According to Dr Hlynur Stefansson, Associate Professor at the RU Department of Engineering and first author of the article, understanding the distribution of microplastic and its short and long-term effects on the dynamics of ice is of vital importance.

The findings confirm that microplastic particles are distributed through the atmosphere. "We do not understand well enough the pathways for microplastic particles in our environment. Is the plastic carried by snow and rain? We need to know more about the causes. The samples we took are from a very remote and pristine location in Vatnajokull glacier, with no easy access, so direct pollution from human activity is unlikely," Dr Stefansson says. "We also need to know much more about the short and long-term effects of microplastic on the dynamics of the ice and if they contribute to the melting of glaciers. If that is the case, it will play a critical role in future meltwater contribution to the oceans and rising sea levels. The plastic particles degrade very slowly in the cold glacier environment and can accumulate and persist in the glaciers for a very long time. Eventually, however, they will be released from the ice, contributing to pollution in rivers and the marine environment. It is therefore very important to map and understand the presence and dispersal of microplastics in glaciers on a global scale."

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Microplastics in Glaciers: First Results from the Vatnajökull Ice Cap https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4183/htm

Mangroves and seagrasses absorb microplastics

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK

Research News

 

IMAGE: MANY ANIMALS LIVE IN SEAGRASS BEDS AND ARE THUS EXPOSED TO MICROPLASTIC. view more 

CREDIT: TROELS LANGE/SDU.

Mangroves and seagrasses grow in many places along the coasts of the world, and these 'blue forests' constitute an important environment for a large number of animals. Here, juvenile fish can hide until they are big enough to take care of themselves; crabs and mussels live on the bottom; and birds come to feed on the plants.

However, the plant-covered coastal zones do not only attract animals but also microplastics, a new study shows.

- The denser the vegetation, the more plastic is captured, says Professor and expert in coastal ecology, Marianne Holmer, from the University of Southern Denmark.

She is concerned about how the accumulated microplastics affect animal and plant life.

- We know from other studies that animals can ingest microplastics and that this may affect their organism.

Animals ingest microplastics with the food they seek in the blue forests. They may suffocate, die of starvation, or the small plastic particles can get stuck different places in the body and do damage.

Another problem with microplastics is that they may be covered with microorganisms, environmental toxins or other health hazardous/disease-promoting substances that are transferred to the animal or plant that absorbs the microplastics.

- When microplastics are concentrated in an ecosystem, the animals are exposed to very high concentrations, Marianne Holmer explains.

She points out that microplastics concentrated in, for example, a seagrass bed are impossible to remove again.

The study is based on examinations of three coastal areas in China, where mangroves, Japanese eelgrass (Z. japonica) and the paddle weed Halophila ovalis grow. All samples taken in blue forests had more microplastics than samples from control sites without vegetation.

The concentrations were up to 17.6 times higher, and they were highest in the mangrove forest. The concentrations were up to 4.1 times higher in the seagrass beds.

Mangrove trees probably capture more microplastics, as the capture of particles is greater in mangrove forests than in seagrass beds.

Researchers also believe that microplastics bind in these ecosystems in the same way as carbon; the particles are captured between leaves and roots, and the microplastics are buried in the seabed.

- Carbon capture binds carbon dioxide in the seabed, and the blue forests are really good at that, but it's worrying if the same thing happens to microplastics, says Marianne Holmer.

Although the study was conducted along Chinese coasts, it may be relevant to similar ecosystems in the rest of the world, including Denmark, where eelgrass beds are widespread.

- It's my expectation that we will also find higher concentrations of microplastics in Danish and global seagrasses, she says.

The study was conducted in collaboration with colleagues from the Zhejiang University in China, among others, and is published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

The blue forests: Lots of plants grow in or below sea level; mangroves, seaweed, seagrass and marsh plants. Especially mangroves and seagrasses absorb and store carbon like plants on land and are thus extremely important for the planet's carbon footprint.

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