'Kill Black people': Elon Musk's Tesla sued for racial abuse at electric vehicle plant

Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY
Thu, September 28, 2023 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker Tesla for a pervasive pattern of racial abuse at one of its manufacturing plants and for retaliating against Black employees who complained about the stereotyping, hostility and slurs.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Oakland Thursday, Black employees at Tesla’s Fremont, California facility were routinely subjected to graffiti, swastikas, threats such as “‘kill black people,” and nooses on desks and other equipment, in bathroom stalls, in elevators and on new vehicles on the production line since 2015, the EEOC alleged.

Black employees described racist imagery as “frequent,” “constant,” “a regular thing,” and occurring “too many times to count,” the lawsuit alleged.

Employees who objected to the racial hostility were terminated, transferred or had their job duties changed, according to the lawsuit.

“Despite having actual or constructive knowledge of racial harassment and misconduct, Tesla failed and refused to take steps to address the behavior. Tesla failed to investigate complaints of racial misconduct. Tesla failed to adopt policies or practices to ensure that its temporary workforce did not perpetrate racial harassment at the Fremont Factory,” the EEOC lawsuit charged.

A charging station for Tesla electric cars is pictured at a car park in Berlin, Germany on August 3, 2023. Tesla had reported a jump in second-quarter profits on July 19 as a series of price cuts translated into sharply higher car sales. Elon Musk's electric vehicle company reported profits of USD 2.7 billion, up 20 percent on the year-ago level.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The EEOC, which is charged with protecting the civil rights of Americans in the workplace, said it investigated Tesla after Chair Charlotte Burrows filed a commissioner’s charge alleging that Tesla violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by subjecting Black employees to an unlawful hostile work environment and retaliating against employees for opposing harassment.

Tesla revealed in April 2022 that it was being investigated by the EEOC.

A separate lawsuit brought by California’s civil rights agency also accuses the company of ignoring pervasive racism against Black workers in Fremont and in other facilities.

In April, a federal jury in San Francisco ordered Tesla to pay about $3.2 million to a Black former employee after he won a racial harassment lawsuit. The award was far less than the $15 million he rejected when he asked for a new trial last year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tesla sued for harassment of Black workers at California plant

Tesla sued for 'widespread and ongoing' racial harassment at California plant


Ronald D. White
Thu, September 28, 2023 

Tesla's factory in Fremont, Calif. The automaker faces several racial discrimination lawsuits. (Noah Berger / Associated Press)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Tesla Inc. for "widespread and ongoing" racial harassment of its Black employees and for retaliating against workers who spoke out about the problem, the federal agency announced Thursday.

Since at least 2015, "Black employees at Tesla’s Fremont, California, manufacturing facilities have routinely endured racial abuse, pervasive stereotyping, and hostility as well as epithets," the commission said in a statement.

The EEOC added: "Black employees regularly encountered graffiti, including variations of the N-word, swastikas, threats, and nooses, on desks and other equipment, in bathroom stalls, within elevators, and even on new vehicles rolling off the production line."

The lawsuit was brought by the EEOC’s San Francisco District Office, which has jurisdiction over Northern California, northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

EEOC officials said the lawsuit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages "and back pay for the affected workers, as well as injunctive relief designed to reform Tesla’s employment practices to prevent such discrimination in the future."

EEOC Chairperson Charlotte A. Burrows said the lawsuit "makes clear that no company is above the law."

"The EEOC will vigorously enforce federal civil rights protections to help ensure American workplaces are free from unlawful harassment and retaliation," she said.

Attempts to reach officials at Tesla for comment were unsuccessful.

Read more: Black Tesla employees describe a culture of racism: 'I was at my breaking point'

Tesla, the world's most valuable car company, faces similar action on several other fronts.

In February, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit on behalf of more than 4,000 current and former Black Tesla workers — the largest racial discrimination suit ever brought by the state based on number of workers affected.

In that suit, three former employees alleged that racist slurs in English and Spanish were often aimed at Black employees by co-workers and supervisors. They said Tesla segregated Black workers into separate areas, gave them the hardest tasks and routinely denied them promotions. And they alleged that when they informed the company about racist treatment, their complaints went ignored or they were fired.

Tesla disputed the former employees' accounts, stating that the three workers did not complain to the company about racism and that any discipline they received was the result of their own workplace behavior.

"Race plays no role in any of Tesla's work assignments, promotions, pay or discipline," attorneys for the company said in a statement at the time. "Tesla prohibits discrimination, in any form."

Thursday's lawsuit puts a different kind of pressure on Tesla, said attorney Clifton W. Albright, founding partner and president of Albright, Yee & Schmit, a labor and employment law firm in downtown Los Angeles.

"The EEOC's preference is to resolve issues quietly.... They don't have a dog in this fight," he said, unlike lawsuits filed by private firms or civil rights organizations.

"For the EEOC to come out so strongly, they must think there is significant evidence that the employer refuses or fails to recognize or address."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Federal agency sues Tesla for racial discrimination of Black workers

Rebecca Bellan
Thu, September 28, 2023

Image Credits: David Butow/Corbis / Getty Images

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against Tesla on Thursday, accusing the automaker of violating federal law by tolerating widespread and ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees and subjecting some workers to retaliation for opposing harassment.

The lawsuit from the federal agency responsible for enforcing civil rights laws against workplace discrimination is one of several against Tesla for racial bias. The California Civil Rights Department sued Tesla in 2022 over similar allegations. And in April a jury ordered Tesla to pay a Black former worker, Owen Diaz, $3.2 million in damages after Tesla was found to have allowed severe racial harassment at its Fremont assembly plant.

In April 2022, Tesla revealed in a financial filing that the EEOC had an "open investigation" into the company. Tesla had engaged in a mandatory conciliation process with the agency. That process was not successful, which led to the lawsuit filed Thursday.

The EEOC alleges that since at least 2015 until present day, Black employees at that same factory have endured "severe or pervasive racial harassment" and "a hostile work environment."

Specifically, the filing details the stereotyping and hostility, such as being called "lazy," "smelly" and "always late." They also claim to have endured slurs and epithets such as variations of the N-word, "monkey," "boy," and "black bitch." The lawsuit alleges that these slurs were used casually and in high-traffic areas and worker hubs.

"I saw KKK epithets, a swastika, and the N-Word all over the bathroom," one Black worker was quoted as saying in the lawsuit. "It was so gross and racist I don't want to discuss it. It would say 'kill black people,' 'kill N-Words,' 'hang black people,' 'hang N-Words.'"

The Black workers who spoke to EEOC said such graffiti, which also included images of nooses, could be found on a variety of surfaces, including on desks, in elevators, and on equipment, including vehicles rolling off production lines.

"Supervisors and managers witnessed racially offensive conduct but failed or refused to intercede," reads the lawsuit. "Black employees reported the slurs, insults, graffiti and misconduct to Tesla's human resources, employee relations, and managerial personnel . . . Tesla failed and refused to take steps to address the behavior."

Furthermore, Tesla allegedly fired Black employees within weeks of them reporting or opposing racial harassment.

"After I voiced my unhappiness [about the harassment], I started getting written up for every little thing that was acceptable before like listening to music while working," recounts one Black worker.

The lawsuit accuses Tesla of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, amended in 1991, which calls on employers to correct unlawful practices based on race and to provide appropriate relief to aggrieved individuals.

“When you let a standard slip, you’ve set a new standard. Determining that prolific racial slurs do not merit serious discipline and failing to correct harassing conduct sends an entirely wrong message to employees," said Nancy Sienko, the EEOC's San Francisco district office director, in a statement. "It also violates an employer’s legal responsibility to act swiftly and effectively to stop race-based harassment.”

Tesla disbanded its press department in 2020 and could not be reached for comment.

The EEOC requests a jury trial and asks that the court order Tesla to pay damages to the aggrieved individuals, as well as fines for breaking the law. The agency also requests the court to grant a permanent injunction to Tesla management that engaged in and allowed racism to flourish and to order Tesla to institute and carry out policies to remedy the situation and protect Black workers in the future.

The lawsuit -- EEOC v Tesla, Inc., Case No 4:23-cv-04984 -- was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

United Pilots Approve 40% Pay Hike In the Largest Contract In US Airline History

By 

BILL MCCOLL

 

Published September 29, 2023

Justin Sullivan / Staff / Getty Images

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• United Airlines pilots voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new contract valued at $10.2 billion, the largest ever for any U.S. airline.
• The four-year agreement increases total compensation by as much as 40.2%.
• United joined American Airlines and Delta Air Lines in striking a deal with their pilots, leaving Southwest as the last of the four biggest U.S. carriers without one.

United Airlines (UAL) pilots have approved a new contract valued at $10.2 billion, the largest for any U.S. airline in history.1

The four-year deal provides for a cumulative rise in total compensation as high as 40.2%. The Airline Pilots Association, International union (ALPA) explained that 82% of United’s 16,000 pilots voted in favor, with 97% casting ballots.2

ALPA indicated the agreement includes “an industry-leading increase” in pay, as well as “quality of work-life and work rule improvements, sick leave and vacation improvements, and an increase in retirement benefits.”

It went into effect Friday and runs through Sept. 30, 2027.

United joined rivals American Airlines (AAL) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) in inking new contracts with its pilots this year, leaving Southwest Airlines (LUV) as the last of the four biggest U.S. carriers to come to an agreement.34

Shares of United Airlines Holdings were little changed.

United Airlines pilots ratified a new contract that their union says is worth more than $10 billion

AP Finance
Fri, September 29, 2023

 Pilots at United Airlines are in line to get big pay raises over the next 18 months. Pilots at United Airlines have ratified a new four-year contract. Their union said Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, the deal will raise pay and improve benefits, and is worth more than $10 billion.

CHICAGO (AP) — Pilots for United Airlines have ratified a new four-year contract that their union says is worth more than $10 billion.

The union previously said the deal would raise pay by up to 40% over four years.

The Air Line Pilots Association said Friday that 82% of pilots who took part in the voting favored the agreement.

Garth Thompson, leader of the union's United group, called it an industry-leading contract that “brings substantial benefits to our pilots.”

United joins Delta Air Lines and American Airlines in nailing down new contract pilots that remove a source of friction with a key labor group but will add significantly to the carriers' costs. Pilots at Southwest Airlines, who are represented by a separate union, are still in negotiations, as are flight attendants at several airlines.

The pilots' union said the United contract includes industry-leading increases and improvements in work rules, sick leave, vacation time and retirement benefits. United has about 16,000 pilots.

The contract will run through Sept. 30, 2027.

United Airlines' pilots accept new labor contract

Reuters
Fri, September 29, 2023 

United Airlines pilots protest for a new contract in downtown Chicago

(Reuters) - United Airlines' pilots have ratified a new four-year contract that includes a significant pay increase and other benefits, the union representing the pilots said on Friday.

A committee represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) reported 82% of the airline's pilots voted in favor of a new comprehensive working agreement that adds more than $10 billion of value to the existing contract.

About 97% of eligible pilots participated in the ballot.

The pilots will get a cumulative 34.5% to 40.2% increase in pay in the new four-year contract, as well as better work-life quality, sick leave, work rule and vacation improvements, and an increase to retirement benefits for United's 16,000 pilots.

The Chicago-based carrier's shares were up 1.5% in morning trade.

Pilot shortages in the United States have been persistent and are expected to last for years after many aviators left the industry during the pandemic. Analysts at Jefferies estimate the United States has a shortage of about 10,000 pilots.

As travel rebounds, airlines are now rushing to staff up, increasing pilots' bargaining power. ALPA last year rebuffed an offer from United, forcing the airline to improve its terms.

Earlier this year, Delta Air Lines' pilots ratified a new contract that includes over $7 billion in cumulative increases in wages and benefits over four years.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain and Shivansh Tiwary; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

Homeowner perplexed after discovering ‘alien species’ growing on their home: ‘You need Men in Black’

Jeremiah Budin
Fri, September 29, 2023 

Owning a home can involve all kinds of unexpected and weird tasks and problems. In some cases, apparently, that means discovering an entirely new species growing on the outside of your house.

One such homeowner recently posted some images to the r/whatsthisplant subreddit of their unnerving discovery in hopes of figuring out what they were dealing with.


Photo Credit: u/familiarshapes / Reddit

“North Eastern United States. This looks like some alien species I’ve never seen before. There are a couple I noticed growing near my window sill. Thank you for the help,” they wrote.

The alien species in question nearly defies description. It is red, it is oozing some sort of liquid, and it is pretty upsetting to look at.

Luckily, several plant-loving Redditors were quick to jump in with knowledge about what category this life-form belongs in.

“Slime mold species,” wrote one. “Slime molds are strange and diverse. Not a fungus, plant, animal, or bacteria.. they are in the Kingdom Protista.”

“You know, I’m a horticulturalist. And I love mycology and entomology too; I’m not easily creeped out. But slime molds? HATE. I HATE them with a deep, mammalian paranoia. I want to like them, but I can’t. My lower-brain forbids it,” another commenter wrote.

The specific type of slime mold, according to a few other commenters, is Stemonitis, which the Encyclopedia Britannica somewhat controversially describes as having “some of the most beautiful fruiting bodies among the myxomycetes.”

The good news for this homeowner is that despite how scary it looks, slime molds are not harmful. “Despite their threatening appearance, slime molds are not infectious and will not result in anything more than temporary cosmetic damage. Slime molds will not harm humans, pets, or livestock,” one Purdue University professor of plant pathology wrote.

Meanwhile, the Redditors of the r/whatsthisplant subreddit had some helpful advice for this Stemonitis-owning homeowner.

“You need Men in Black,” wrote one.

“Get a jar and some wood and you can have it as a pet,” wrote another.

‘Dwarf’-like forest creature found inside hotel in Burundi turns out to be new species

Aspen Pflughoeft
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Inside an urban hotel in Burundi, a “dwarf”-like forest creature went about its day. The scaly animal had a yellow underside and a patterned throat. It caught the attention of passing scientists — and turned out to be a new species.

After capturing the hotel’s reptilian intruder, researchers ventured into the central African country’s nearby mountain forests, according to a study published Sept. 23 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Once again, researchers found several small lizards with patterned throats, the study said. They captured 12 of these lizards between 2008 and 2011. Taking a closer look, researchers realized they’d discovered a new species: Lygodactylus kibera, or the forest dwarf gecko.

The forest dwarf gecko is considered “large,” reaching about 3.1 inches in size, the study said. Its body is “slender” and “relatively robust.” On the underside of its throat, the gecko has “three black ∩-shaped chevrons,” researchers said.

Photos show the forest dwarf gecko. Its body is tannish with a smattering of dark brown, light brown and cream spots. Below its patterned throat, the gecko’s belly and groin area are yellow, a photo shows.


Researchers said they named the new species “kibera” after the Kinubi word for “forest,” the gecko’s “main habitat.” Kinubi is a “Sudanese Arabic-based creole language spoken in some regions of Burundi, Kenya, and Uganda,” the study said.

Forest dwarf geckos are considered tree-dwellers and are most active during the day, researchers said. The geckos were found in mountain forests but also human-occupied areas such as banana fields and a hotel.


The new species has been found in three spots in Burundi’s Albertine Rift and one spot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the study said. The neighboring locations are within about 110 miles from each other.

Burundi borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Rwanda to the north and Tanzania to the east and south.

The “cryptic” new species was mainly identified by its throat pattern, size and other “subtle” physical features, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had between about 6% and about 15% genetic divergence from other dwarf geckos.

The research team included Javier Lobón-Rovira, Aaron Bauer, Pedro Vaz Pinto, Jean-Francois Trape, Werner Conradie, Chifundera Kusamba, Timóteo Júlio, Garin Cael, Edward Stanley, Daniel Hughes, Mathias Behangana, Franck Masudi, Olivier Pauwels and Eli Greenbaum.

Researchers also discovered four more new species of dwarf geckos: a gecko with a “leopard-like” pattern, a “cryptic” woodland gecko, a gecko from a “unique” habitat and a “large” forest-dwelling gecko.

Newly discovered pangolin species could aid in fight against extinction

Jenna Schnuer, CNN
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Pangolins are among the world’s most heavily poached animals. The elusive creatures are under threat, but the discovery of a mysterious species that’s new to science could help conservationists fight against their extinction, researchers say.

There are eight previously known species of pangolin — four found in Asia and four in Africa. Resembling anteaters, the solitary mammals are illegally hunted and trafficked for their meat and distinctive armorlike scales, which some people believe have medicinal value.

Scientists studying contraband scales — confiscated in Hong Kong and China’s Yunnan province between 2012 and 2019 — identified genetic markers not seen in any known pangolins. The genomic analysis revealed an unexpected ninth species, which the team has named Manis mysteria.

The researchers described their findings in a study published Monday in the journal PNAS.

“We were quite surprised because we did not expect a new species could be discovered from seized scales,” said study coauthor Jing-Yan Hu, a research assistant at the State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource at Yunnan University, in an email.

The study team did a structural analysis of 33 scale samples from several different confiscations. Five scales were attached to skin and three to claws. The remaining samples were from individual scales found to be from pangolin tails, backs, bellies or heads.
Genomics can help protect threatened species

The scales’ form initially suggested they belonged to one of four species of pangolin found in Asia. But DNA analysis showed that their “genomic data provide robust and compelling evidence that it is a new pangolin species distinct from those previously recognized,” Hu said.

Finding a new “large-bodied mammal” is not an everyday occurrence, said Dr. Aryn Wilder, a researcher specializing in conservation genetics at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Wilder was not involved in the new research.

An analysis of contraband pangolin scales revealed genetic markers not seen in known species, researchers said. The newly discovered pangolin was named Manis mysteria. - Feng Yang

One of the most recent of such finds made through genomics was the 2017 identification of an unknown species of orangutan. “Although not unheard of, discoveries like these are pretty unusual,” Wilder said, adding that the pangolin study’s results were convincing.

“I thought the methods were solid and their findings were pretty conclusive,” she said.
Expanded understanding of ‘pangolin diversity and evolution’

Little is known of Manis mysteria, but now that its existence has been established, conservationists can work to protect it.

Uncovering a ninth species is significant, Hu said. The revelation “greatly expands current knowledge of pangolin diversity and evolution,” Hu said. “The discovery also urges more conservation concerns and joint efforts to help tackle the supply and demand of pangolin trade.”

The finding is very important, Wilder said in an email. “The identification of this new species will allow conservationists to focus management efforts to prevent its extinction.”

Extinction is defined on a species level. “Once a species is extinct, its unique biodiversity is lost,” Wilder said. “With the discovery of a new pangolin species, one that is likely endangered, and with more research to learn about its range, ecology, life-history and conservation status, conservation strategies can be tailored specifically to ensure that this species survives.”

Because Manis mysteria has just a slight genetic variation from other pangolins, the species is currently described as “cryptic.”

Cryptic species aren’t easy to tell apart from others by appearance alone, so the newfound ability to identify pangolin species by testing scales is a boon for conservation scientists. “Often a rare species will be mistaken for a more common one,” Wilder said. “With advancing DNA technologies, we are getting better at identifying cryptic species.”

That means the recent revelation could just be the start. “We also expect to find other pangolin species,” Hu said.

UK wildlife ‘continues to decline and degrade’ with one in six species at risk of extinction

Stuti Mishra
Thu, September 28, 2023 



The UK’s wildlife “continues to decline and degrade” as one in six species are at risk of extinction, according to the latest State Of Nature report.

Nearly half of its bird species are threatened while almost a third of amphibians, reptiles, fungi, lichen and a quarter of land-living mammals are at risk of vanishing, said the 203-page report released on Wednesday.

It found that 16 per cent of species, or one in six, were at risk of extinction. This includes the UK’s iconic wildlife species such as the turtle dove and hazel dormouse.

More than 10,000 species and the state of the habitats vital for their survival were assessed in the report led by the RSPB and backed by over 60 research and conservation organisations.

More than half of the flowering plant species no longer grow where they used to, with the climate crisis and intensive farming being the biggest reasons why the UK has seen an average decline of all living species of 19 per cent since monitoring began in 1970.

The UK’s wildlife has been depleted by centuries of habitat destruction, unsustainable farming practices and persecution.

This means more than half of the UK’s plant, fungal and animal life has been killed off.

The State of Nature report is a stark reminder that politicians must not let nature drop down the agenda – there is far too much at stake.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts

The report also found only one in seven (14 per cent) habitats considered important for wildlife, were in a good ecological condition – including just 7 per cent of woodlands. Due to habitat damage from fishing gear, none of the areas of seafloor around the UK were found to be in a good condition.

“The latest State of Nature Report marks a decade of missed opportunities to halt the spiralling decline of UK wildlife,” said professor Rick Stafford, chair of the British Ecological Society’s Policy Committee.

“While we are perhaps becoming inured to these declines, the statistic that none of the seabed around our island nations is in good condition still has the power to shock.”

“Continuous trawling of a seabed has parallels to the effect of an earthquake on a city – habitats are destroyed and species are displaced.”

“The good news is that, unlike terrestrial habitats, it is easy to fix; just leave it alone and it will recover. The bad news is that, on paper, the UK is already hitting its 30x30 targets for marine protection. Clearly this is not working.”

Only 25 per cent of peatland, also an important natural carbon sink, and 50 per cent of salt marshes, remain in good condition.

Prof Mathews said small mammals such as harvest mice and field voles are “disappearing before our eyes” because the habitat on which their survival depends is being destroyed, with knock-on effects for owls and other predators.

Lichens – which are a mix of fungi and algae and thrive in clean, wet, undisturbed forests – are growing in a psychedelic mix of patterns and colours on tree branches, but have recovered somewhat since the 1970s thanks to reductions in sulphur dioxide emitted by industry.

Nearly half of lichen species are, however, still declining because of ammonia, which mostly comes from muck-spreading, slurry and fertilisers used on farms.

Insects that pollinate and those that prey on pests such as ladybirds, ground beetles and wasps are also disappearing in certain areas – falling by 18 per cent and 34 per cent respectively.

“The sobering message is that the state of UK nature and the wider environment, based upon the indices that we’ve got, continues to decline and degrade,” said professor Richard Gregory, the RSPB’s head of monitoring conservation science.

“At the same time, we’ve never actually had such a good understanding of the state of nature in the United Kingdom and we’ve never had such a good understanding of how we might fix it.”

We know that creating bigger, better, more joined-up spaces for wildlife can bring practical results, including more ponds, wetlands and shrubby wild habitats

Tony Juniper, Natural England chairperson

Dr Francesca Mancini, of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, warned that these losses could damage farmers financially.

“We can think that further losses in pest control species for example could lead to economic losses for farmers and also a greater reliance on chemical pesticides, which then in turn is going to have more consequences for biodiversity,” she said.

Some species, such as dragonflies, have improved thanks to rivers being cleaner than they were in the 1970s, while conservation projects from the Cairngorms to Cambridgeshire and Lyme Bay, showed restoration can and does help plants and animals to return.

“We know that creating bigger, better, more joined-up spaces for wildlife can bring practical results, including more ponds, wetlands and shrubby wild habitats,” Natural England chairperson Tony Juniper said.

“The truth is though that on its own this will not be enough, with every sector of society needing to play a role if we are to recover species abundance and reduce the risk of extinction, as the Government has legally committed to doing,” he said.

The authors of the report called on the UK government to deliver on its promise to protect at least 30 per cent of land and sea for nature, according to a landmark treaty signed last year.

“The State of Nature report is a stark reminder that politicians must not let nature drop down the agenda – there is far too much at stake,” said Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts.

“This next parliament will be the most important in my lifetime for nature and climate action. The clock is ticking towards the 2030 deadline by which point the UK Government has committed to protect at least 30 per cent of land and sea for nature and to halve the risks posed by pesticides.”

Additional reporting by PA

Nature crisis: One in six species at risk of extinction in Great Britain

Victoria Gill and Kate Stephens - Science team, BBC News
Thu, September 28, 2023 at 1:23 AM MDT·5 min read

Numbers of the UK's most precious animals and plants are still falling, as a countrywide nature-loss crisis continues.

Loss of nature is outpacing investment and effort to tackle it, conservation organisations say.

Their State of the Nature report found 16% of 10,000 mammals, plants, insects, birds and amphibians assessed were threatened.

They include UK wildlife icons such as the turtle dove and hazel dormouse.

The government has said it is committed to "increasing the amount of habitat for nature to thrive".

But conservation organisations say more investment and a shift to much more wildlife-friendly farming and fishing are urgently needed.

The 203-page document was produced by more than 60 organisations, including wildlife conservation groups, government agencies and academics.

Its analysis of decades of research paints a grim picture - natural spaces and the wildlife that depends on them are in decline.

What is biodiversity and how can we protect it?

Nida al-Fulaij, from the People's Trust for Endangered Species, told BBC News: "The main takeaways from this report are alarming."

And she explained how thousands of studies used in the report examined the abundance or distribution of UK wildlife.
'Bleak outlook'

"Where we can, we count species year after year," Ms Fulaij said.

"Another way to measure how a plant or animal is faring is to repeatedly examine a site and ask, 'Is the species here or not?'"

Plants and animals monitored since the 1970s have declined in abundance by an average 19%.

And this trend suggests a bleak outlook for much of the country's native wildlife, conservation scientists say.

This should make everyone "sit up and listen", Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) chief executive Beccy Speight said.

Restoring nature would also help to tackle the climate crisis.

"We need to move far faster as a society towards nature-friendly land and sea use," Ms Speight said.

"Otherwise, the UK's nature and wider environment will continue to decline and degrade, with huge implications for our own way of life."

Responding to these calls for action, the government said it was investing in its "30-by-30" pledge, to protect 30% of land for nature by 2030.

"At the start of this year, I published our comprehensive Environmental Improvement Plan," Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said, "setting out how we will create and restore at least 500,000 hectares [2,000 sq miles] of new wildlife habitats."

The government also highlighted investments including:

a £40m Species Survival Fund


£750m for woodland and peatland restoration

But RSPB conservation-science head Prof Richard Gregory told BBC News: "We'd need more to achieve the goal of 30 by 30.

"The task ahead of us to recover nature in the UK is large and complex - we are really talking of billions of pounds and not millions to change systems and tackle the drives of decline.

"That investment would return a huge amount for society in time and save huge future costs if we allow the environment to continue to decline and degrade."

Since 1970, the report says, of the 2,890 species in Britain's "priority group":

58% fell in number


19% increased

Also:

Almost 1,500 UK native species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction


Most of the important habitats for UK nature - including woodland, wetlands and wildflower meadows - are in poor condition


Only about 11% of UK land is within protected areas - and not all are well managed for nature and wildlife


None of the seafloor around the UK is in "good condition", because of damage from fishing gear

In the North Pennines, Nic and Paul Renison have transformed the way they farm, to create more space for nature, dividing their 400 acres (160 hectares) into small pastures and moving their cows into a new field each day.

"The idea is that it's like the buffalo on the plains - they move every day, then the pasture gets 60 days to recover," Nic said.

With the help of the Woodland Trust, they have also planted wildlife-friendly hedgerows to create wildlife "corridors" throughout their farm.

"The more you do, the more nature you attract - it gets addictive," Paul said.

All five of the UK's resident owl species can now be found on the Renisons' farm and 50 different bird species are breeding there, a recent survey revealed.

Nic and Paul Renison on their farm, in the North Pennines

In England, an estimated 70% of land is farmed.

And studies suggest nature-friendly farming can boost production.

In one large-scale study in central England, turning over land from crops to wildlife habitat increased yields, probably by boosting the abundance of insects that pollinate those crops.

But the Nature Friendly Farming Network said more investment would be needed "to support all farmers in restoring nature and acting on climate change".

But the report also found "targeted conservation", concerted efforts to restore habitats and protect species, had worked well:

The number of species in a marine protected area (MPA) in Lyme Bay, Devon, had significantly increased since trawling was banned, in 2008


600 sq km (150,000 acres) of the Cairngorms, in the Highlands, had been restored for woodland-dependent wildlife


The RSPB's Hope Farm, in Cambridgeshire, had provided a research and demonstration site, showing how crop yields could been increased along with bird numbers

Report author and University of Sussex environmental-biology professor Fiona Matthews said: "We need a lot more investment [in nature].

"There is a belief in government that things can just magically happen for free."

But while she acknowledged the great work from thousands of volunteers, funded work was needed too.

"I often see a press release for £1m for this or that - but it is a drop in the ocean for what is actually required to tackle this issue," Prof Matthews said.

Small mammals ‘disappearing before our eyes’, warns report

Emma Gatten
Thu, September 28, 2023 

Field voles are in danger of extinction in UK - David Tipling/Getty

Harvest mice and field voles are “disappearing before our eyes”, warn the authors of a new report that finds one in six UK species are at risk of extinction.

Among those at greatest risk are harvest mice and field voles, which are particularly threatened by intensive agriculture, said authors of the latest State of Nature report.

Overall, all species have declined by 19 per cent since monitoring began in 1970, according to the latest State of Nature report.

Birds are at greatest risk, with more than 40 per cent threatened with extinction, as well as around a third of amphibians and reptiles, and more than a quarter of fungi, lichen and terrestrial mammals.

The report, led by the RSPB and backed by over 60 research and conservation organisations, is an update to a 2019 study and examined more than 10,000 species and their habitats, relying on volunteer sightings.

“Small mammals that are just disappearing in front of our eyes, because at very large scales, we’ve been losing the habitats that they depend on. They’re really the cogs of the ecosystems,” said Fiona Mathews, professor of environmental biology at the University of Sussex. “Things like harvest mouse, or field voles, lots of the small furry things that nobody ever notices, but they are ecosystem engineers.”

She said the figures raised doubts over whether the Government’s legal target to halt species decline by 2030 would be met.

“It’s all very good to set targets,” she said “The challenge is to make sure that it’s not just a number picked out of the air, but it’s actually followed up with action.”

Harvest mice are 'disappearing before our eyes' - Roger Coan/South West News Service

The report came as the Government confirmed a delay to a scheme for housebuilders to offset their impact on nature that was due to start in November.

The biodiversity net gain scheme will be delayed until January, after housebuilders complained they had not been given enough clarity on how the scheme would operate.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said: “The State of Nature report is a stark reminder that politicians must not let nature drop down the agenda – there is far too much at stake.

“We desperately need better policies that properly fund nature-friendly farming, end the poisoning of lakes and rivers, and create larger wild and more natural areas – including in towns and cities.”

The report’s authors said human activity was to blame for depleting more than half of the UK’s biodiversity, and found that only one in seven wildlife habitats were in a good condition.

They called for more nature friendly farming, including a reduction in pesticide use, the reintroduction of beavers and the restoration of habitats such as peatlands.

Richard Gregory from the RSPB said reducing meat and dairy consumption would help boost biodiversity.

“Independent evidence talks about the need to reduce meat consumption and dairy consumption, because there’s strong independent evidence to show that these two things are having quite a negative impact on biodiversity locally and globally,” he said.
National parks

A new poll has found that more than 70 per cent of British people think the country’s national parks should be used to provide habitats for wildlife, rather than prioritising food production.

A majority of the public, 53 per cent, also support a reduction in grazing on national park land where it is causing a reduction in local wildlife, according to YouGov polling for Green Alliance, an environment think tank.

The Government is currently considering changes to the management of Dartmoor, which could set a precedent for the reduction in the numbers of livestock on other national parks.

Responding to the report, Thérèse Coffey, the Environment Secretary, said the Government was “committed to increasing the amount of habitat for nature to thrive”.

Giant sea lizards: fossils in Morocco reveal the astounding diversity of marine life 66 million years ago, just before the asteroid hit

Nicholas R. Longrich, Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences at the University of Bath, University of BathSee less
Wed, September 27, 2023 at 10:31 AM MDT·5 min read

Sixty-six million years ago, the Cretaceous period ended. Dinosaurs disappeared, along with around 90% of all species on Earth. The patterns and causes of this extinction have been debated since palaeontology began. Was it a slow, inevitable decline, or did the end come quickly, driven by a sudden, unpredictable disaster?

Georges Cuvier, working in the early 19th century, was one of the first palaeontologists. He believed that geological catastrophes, or “revolutions”, drove waves of sudden extinction. In part, his ideas were formed by study of a giant sea lizard, Mosasaurus, that lived and went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous

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Skull of the marine lizard Mosasaurus studied by Cuvier. Nick Longrich.

Charles Darwin saw the end of the Cretaceous rather differently. He thought extinctions happened gradually, driven by everyday processes working over many millions of years, just as sedimentation and erosion slowly reshaped the land.

The debate continued for over a century, but the idea of catastrophic extinction gained ground as palaeontologists collected more fossil species, timing species’ appearances and disappearances. Massive numbers of species disappeared near the end of the Cretaceous, rapidly, around the world, both on land and in the sea. These severe, rapid, worldwide extinctions implied a severe, worldwide, rapid cause – a catastrophe.

Finally, in 1980 physicist Luis Alvarez identified a possible driver of the extinctions – a giant asteroid impact, later traced back to an enormous crater beneath the town of Chicxulub, in Mexico. Debris shot into the upper atmosphere by the impact blocked out the sun, causing photosynthesis to stop, and temperatures to plunge.

This didn’t end the debate, however. Some have argued that other events, like volcanic eruption, contributed, or even that the dinosaurs were already on their way out. In these scenarios, the asteroid impact was one of many factors driving the extinctions, or perhaps the final blow to groups in decline.

Recently I’ve been working as part of a team of palaeontologists studying new marine reptiles from the latest Cretaceous of north Africa. We’ve found a huge number of mosasaur species, close relatives of the Mosasaurus that Cuvier studied. Our research suggests that mosasaurs remained diverse until the very end. As they were the dominant predators of the day, their evolution tells us about the evolution of the marine ecosystem as a whole, and suggests marine ecosystems remained diverse until a sudden, catastrophic collapse caused by the asteroid impact.

Cretaceous marine reptiles

Near the end of the Cretaceous, sea levels were high, submerging much of Africa underwater. The Tethys Sea, which would eventually become the Mediterranean Sea, flooded the Sahara; the Atlantic extended east across north Africa as far as Morocco’s Atlas Mountains.

Meanwhile, the trade winds drove to the east, as they do now. Wind pushed surface waters offshore, causing upwelling of nutrient-rich waters from the ocean floor along the eastern Atlantic, fertilising the seas, and driving vast plankton blooms. Phytoplankton fed zooplankton, feeding small fish and ammonites, feeding larger animals, and so on up the food chain.

And an extraordinary diversity of marine reptiles sat atop the food chain: giant sea turtles, long-necked plesiosaurs – and the mosasaurs.

When these animals died, their skeletons, along with fish bones and shark teeth, formed vast bonebeds. These beds, in what’s now Morocco, are today mined for fertiliser, in the process revealing an extraordinary marine ecosystem from the last days of the Cretaceous.

Far from declining at the end of the Cretaceous, marine reptiles – especially mosasaurs – evolved to become increasingly diverse. Mosasaurs show a range of body sizes, from a few metres long to giants over 10 metres long. They also evolved an astonishing variety of tooth shapes: hooks, spikes, cones, blades, crushing molars.

Recent years have seen a remarkable number of new species emerge, including many strange, specialised forms. Pluridens serpentis had a mouth full of small, hooked, snakelike teeth. It probably ate small, soft prey, like fish and squid.

The bizarre little Xenodens had bladelike teeth, packed edge-to-edge to create a sawlike cutting blade. This arrangement is unique among lizards, or even reptiles. It likely used its teeth to saw apart larger prey or scavenge from carcasses.

The 10-metre long Thalassotitan had massive, conical teeth like a killer whale’s. It was an apex predator, eating plesiosaurs, sea turtles – and other mosasaurs.

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Read more: 'Sea monsters' were real millions of years ago. New fossils tell about their rise and fall

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The most recently recently discovered species we named Stelladens, or “star tooth”. Most mosasaurs had a bladelike cutting edge on the front and back of each tooth. In Stelladens, a series of two to four extra ridges run down the tooth, giving the teeth a shape like a Phillips-head screw driver or a hex wrench. Nothing quite like it has been seen in a mosasaur before, or anything else. What did it eat with its odd teeth? We don’t know.

Resilience and adaptability

Mosasaurs were just one of many kinds of animals inhabiting the seas, but as predators they tell us a lot. The reason so many mosasaur species could coexist was that they specialised, targeting different prey with different hunting strategies, avoiding competition.

For the marine reptiles at the top of the food chain to be so diverse, there had to be diverse prey species on lower levels of the food chain. The diversity of mosasaurs suggests the marine ecosystem was healthy and stable in the last million years before the Cretaceous period ended. This supports the theory that the end-Cretaceous extinction was driven by a sudden catastrophic event – the asteroid – rather than resulting from a slow, gradual decline.

Seen on longer timescales, over millions of years, life shows remarkable resilience and adaptability, and a certain orderliness. Species evolve, diversify, and become better adapted. But even the most successful, well-adapted species is only one catastrophe away from extinction— one asteroid, one volcano, one ice age. That raises the unsettling possibility that our own species’ continued existence isn’t certain, either. The next catastrophe could be the one that ends our species.

And yet at the same time, the asteroid impact that wiped out marine reptiles and the dinosaurs made the world around us possible. The extinction of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs allowed the evolution of dolphins, whales and seals. The dinosaurs’ extinction drove the evolution of horses, lions, elephants, humans. One world was wiped away by catastrophe, but out of that disaster, something new, remarkable, and surprising – our world, and the species we share it with – was born.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

It was written by: Nicholas R. Longrich, University of Bath.

Read more:

• Fossil teeth reveal new facts about a mass extinction 260 million years ago

• Phosphorites: mineral-rich rocks offer insight into ancient Namibian ecosystems

• New analysis sheds important light on an ancient mass extinction event

Japanese scientists move closer to making lab-created human sperm, eggs a reality

Michelle De Pacina
Thu, September 28, 2023 



[Source]

Researchers in Japan are progressing in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), a field of biomedical research aimed at creating unlimited supplies of “artificial” eggs and sperm from any cell in the human body.

About the technique: IVG involves reprogramming cells from a person’s blood or skin into induced pluripotent stem cells, which can theoretically become any cell in the body, including egg and sperm cells. These cells could be used to enable anyone, including those who are older, infertile, single, gay or transgender, to have genetically related children.

Technical challenges: Katsuhiko Hayashi, a developmental geneticist at Osaka University in Japan, is a pioneer in the field of IVG. According to NPR, Hayashi has made significant progress in the field, particularly in mice, and believes that the technology could be applied to humans in the near future. However, there are still technical and ethical challenges to overcome.

While basic human eggs and sperm have been produced using this method, creating embryos is still a challenge. Researchers estimate that it may take another five to 10 years for a reliable proof of concept and another 10 to 20 years of testing for safety before IVG can be used in clinics.

Ethical and safety concerns: While Japan is considering allowing scientists to create IVG embryos for research, these developments raise complex ethical and societal questions that require thoughtful consideration. The ethical concerns surrounding IVG are profound, including questions about age limits for IVG baby-making, the potential for creating designer babies and issues related to the exploitation and commercialization of reproduction.

The technology could also potentially be misused to create babies without the genetic contributors’ consent, and it may challenge existing legal frameworks. Further research is still needed to navigate these complex issues.