Scientists Simulated Runaway Greenhouse Effect and It's Horrifying

Victor Tangermann
Wed, December 20, 2023 

FALL OF THE Greenhouse of Usher

For the first time, a team of researchers has simulated what would happen if trapped greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere trigger a snowball effect, causing a dramatic rise in the planet's temperature.

And the results are ugly: "an almost-unstoppable and very complicated to reverse runaway greenhouse effect," according to a statement, which would quickly make our home "as inhospitable as Venus," with temperatures shooting up by hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of a few hundred years.
Hell Hole

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) studied what would happen if the greenhouse effect were trapped inside the Earth's atmosphere as if under an emergency thermal blanket.


If the effect were to rise too much, the amount of water vapor from evaporating oceans could be lethal.

"There is a critical threshold for this amount of water vapor, beyond which the planet cannot cool down anymore," said main author and UNIGE postdoctoral researcher Guillaume Chaverot in the statement. "From there, everything gets carried away until the oceans end up getting fully evaporated and the temperature reaches several hundred degrees."

The researchers took the concept of a runaway greenhouse effect to its natural — and hellish — conclusion.

"It is the first time a team has studied the transition itself with a 3D global climate model, and has checked how the climate and the atmosphere evolve during that process," said coauthor and CNRS researcher Martin Turbet.

According to Chaverot, the "structure of the atmosphere is deeply altered," with "very dense clouds developing in the high atmosphere."

Besides painting an alarming picture of our planet's future, the researchers say their study could also shed light on how to hunt for alien life in exoplanetary systems. For instance, their observed "fingerprint" of cloud patterns could be detectable in observations of exoplanets with atmospheres.

As far as the Earth is concerned, however, the situation looks dire. If 33 feet of the ocean's surface would evaporate, the researchers calculate that the atmospheric pressure would increase by 1 bar at ground level.

"In just a few hundred years, we would reach a ground temperature of over [932 degrees Fahrenheit]," Chaverot explained in the statement. "Later, we would even reach 273 bars of surface pressure and over [2732 degrees Fahrenheit], when all of the oceans would end up totally evaporated."

More on global warming: Billions in Funding Pouring Into Facilities for Sucking Carbon From Atmosphere


How the runaway greenhouse gas effect can destroy a planet's habitability — including Earth's

Robert Lea
Tue, December 19, 2023

An illustration of the Earth in space connected to its inhospitable alter-ego.

Using advanced computer simulations, scientists have shown how easily a runaway greenhouse effect can rapidly transform a habitable planet into a hellish world inhospitable to life.

Not only does this research have implications for our understanding of extrasolar planets, or "exoplanets," but it also offers insight into the human-driven climate crisis on Earth.

The team of astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and CNRS laboratories of Paris and Bordeaux saw that after initial stages of a planet's climate transformation, the planet's atmosphere, structure and cloud coverage get significantly altered, such that a difficult-to-halt runaway effect starts to commence. Alarmingly, this process could be initiated here on Earth with just a slight change in solar luminosity or by a global average temperature rise of just a few tens of degrees. Even those minor changes could lead to our planet becoming totally inhospitable.

Thus, the research offers a stark climate change warning.

"Until now, other key studies in climatology have focused solely on either the temperate state before the runaway or either the inhabitable state post-runaway," Martin Turbet, CNRS scientist and team member, said in a statement. "It is the first time a team has studied the transition itself with a 3D global climate model, and has checked how the climate and the atmosphere evolve during that process."

Related: Tiny 14-inch satellite studies ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanets evaporating into space
A critical greenhouse effect

The runaway greenhouse effect in the team's simulation can see a planet change from having a temperate, Earth-like hospitable state to one that exhibits a hellscape with surface temperatures of around 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius). That is hot enough to melt lead. These are temperatures even higher than those at the surface of Earth's famously hellish neighbor, Venus.

The cause of this runaway greenhouse effect is something very familiar: Water vapor — a major greenhouse gas. Though water vapor may not be the first greenhouse gas we think of when it comes to climate change on Earth, like more familiar greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, water vapor stops solar radiation absorbed by a planet's surface from escaping back to space. This traps heat around the world like a thermal blanket. Scientists call it the greenhouse effect.

In small doses, the greenhouse effect is useful; for instance, it stops Earth from exhibiting a temperature below the freezing point of water. But too much greenhouse-induced warming can force oceans to evaporate, putting much water vapor in the atmosphere. As you might imagine, that can cause even more greenhouse warming. It's like a feedback loop. Aha, the "runaway" greenhouse gas effect.

Venus actually provides a stark example of what can happen when a runaway greenhouse effect is kickstarted.

"There is a critical threshold for this amount of water vapor, beyond which the planet cannot cool down anymore," research leader and former University of Geneva Department of Astronomy scientist Guillaume Chaverot said. From there, everything gets carried away until the oceans end up getting fully evaporated and the temperature reaches several hundred degrees."
Warning clouds

One of the most important and surprising aspects coming out of the team's simulation was the development of an odd cloud pattern. This pattern didn’t just increase the runaway greenhouse effect but also made it irreversible.

"From the start of the transition, we can observe some very dense clouds developing in the high atmosphere," Chaverot said. "Actually, the latter does not display anymore the temperature inversion characteristic of the Earth's atmosphere and separates its two main layers: The troposphere and the stratosphere. The structure of the atmosphere is deeply altered."

As for what this means for us, with the results of the simulation in hand, the team calculated that it would take only a small increase in solar radiation and a rise in Earth's temperature of tens of degrees to trigger an apocalyptic runaway effect. If that happened, Earth would eventually become as hostile to life as its neighbor Venus presently is.

The news comes as countries attempt to limit human-driven greenhouse gases to cap Earth's overall warming to a quantity of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, showing how vital this effort really is.

The team isn't yet sure of the effect the release of greenhouse gases alone could have on the runaway process and whether that process can really just go "away" at the same temperatures. They also are yet to find whether an increase in solar luminosity could continue to drive the process.

"Assuming this runaway process would be started on Earth, an evaporation of only 10 meters of the oceans' surface would lead to a 1 bar increase of the atmospheric pressure at ground level," Chaverot said. "In just a few hundred years, we would reach a ground temperature of over 500 degrees Celsius. Later, we would even reach 273 bars of surface pressure and over 1,500 degrees Celsius, when all of the oceans would end up totally evaporated."

The research is also deeply important as humanity becomes increasingly adept at spotting and studying planets around other stars, a scientific discipline that will eventually lead to us hunting for life outside the solar system.

"By studying the climate on other planets, one of our strongest motivations is to determine their potential to host life," team member and director of the University of Geneva Life in the Universe Center (LUC) Émeline Bolmont said. "After the previous studies, we suspected already the existence of a water vapor threshold, but the appearance of this cloud pattern is a real surprise!"

The team’s research was published on Dec. 18 the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Drilling under Pennsylvania's 'Gasland' town has been banned since 2010. 

It's coming back.


MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Tue, December 19, 2023




Gas Drilling-Water Pollution
Dimock, Pa., resident Victoria Switzer speaks with members of the media during a news conference at the Susquehanna County District Courthouse in Montrose, Pa., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. A year after pleading no contest to criminal charges, Coterra Energy Inc., one of Pennsylvania’s biggest natural gas companies, is poised to drill and frack in the rural community where it was banned for a dozen years over accusations it polluted the water supply. 

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

A year after pleading no contest to criminal charges, one of Pennsylvania’s leading natural gas companies is poised to drill and frack in the rural community where it was banned for a dozen years for polluting the water supply.

Coterra Energy Inc. has won permission from state environmental regulators to drill 11 gas wells underneath Dimock Township, in the state’s northeastern corner — the sweet spot of the largest natural gas field in the United States, according to well permit records reviewed by The Associated Press. Billions of dollars worth of natural gas, now locked in shale rock deep underground, await Coterra's drilling rigs.

Some landowners, long shut out of royalties because of the state’s lengthy moratorium, can't wait for the Houston-based drilling giant to resume production in Dimock. Other residents dread the industry's return. They worry about truck traffic, noise and the threat of new contamination.

Coterra has not set a date for the resumption of drilling. A company spokesperson, George Stark, said “Coterra is committed to safe and responsible operations wherever we work.” Under its deal with the state, the driller agreed to monitor drinking water supplies within 3,000 feet of the new gas wells and take other steps designed to mitigate risk.

Dimock, a tiny crossroads 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of the New York state line in northeastern Pennsylvania, became ground zero in a national debate over fracking — the extraction technique that spurred a boom in U.S. oil and gas drilling — after residents began reporting that methane and drilling chemicals in the water were making them sick.

A state investigation concluded that faulty gas wells drilled by Coterra’s corporate predecessor, Cabot Oil & Gas, had allowed methane to leak uncontrolled into the community’s aquifer. Cabot was banned from Dimock in 2010 after regulators accused the company of failing to keep its promise to restore or replace the water supply. An Emmy Award-winning documentary, “Gasland,” showed residents lighting their tap water on fire.

After years of litigation and a grand jury probe that resulted in criminal charges, the company pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor count Nov. 29, 2022. Under a plea agreement, Coterra agreed to foot the bill for a $16 million public water system to supply 20 homes whose water wells had been damaged, and to pay for temporary treatment systems for those who want them.

But for some of the residents, elation about the water line turned to anger when they learned the Department of Environmental Protection had quietly lifted its long-term moratorium on gas production in Dimock. State officials have denied that Coterra pleaded no contest in exchange for being allowed to drill, but residents like Victoria Switzer said they felt deceived.

“I have seen how justice played out here, and it’s not justice,” said Switzer, whose well was among those found to be contaminated, and who has not had a drink from her kitchen faucet since 2009.

Coterra remains prohibited from drilling inside the 9-square-mile (23-square-kilometer) moratorium area itself. The company plans to start the wells outside of Dimock and drill horizontally underneath the community. Some of the planned wells will be nearly 5 miles (8 kilometers) long and well over a mile deep, snaking under the land of more than 80 individual property owners, according to permit records.

The landowners are sitting on a gas gusher. Dimock’s natural gas could be worth $2.5 billion to $3.8 billion, according to Terry Engelder, a retired Penn State geologist whose 2008 calculation of enormous reserves in the vast Marcellus Shale natural gas field helped spur a drilling frenzy in Pennsylvania.

The area’s state representative, Jonathan Fritz, said an overwhelming number of his constituents favor natural gas drilling, an important economic engine in a county where farming, logging and bluestone quarrying were primary industries. A Coterra subsidiary is the No. 1 employer in Susquehanna County, a mountainous region with a population of 38,000.

“Natural gas development has been a godsend,” Fritz said. The residents of Dimock, he said, “were harmed, they did realize a hardship, but I believe they have been made whole.”

Ron Teel, a township supervisor, once had to draw water from a large plastic tank in his yard because his water pipes were clogged with sediment from Cabot’s nearby drilling operation. But Teel, who will have at least three new wells running under his land, said he’s satisfied it will be done safely this time.

“It’s doing a good thing for the country to supply the energy we need so we don’t have to get it from overseas,” he said. “These people who hate us for this, they should be thanking us when they turn on their heat and stove.”

The public water system Coterra agreed to pay for is still years away from being operational, and Pennsylvania American Water Co. – which agreed to build and operate the water line – faces numerous obstacles as it tries to meet a 2027 deadline.

It’s seeking a place away from the region’s dense network of gas wells, pipelines and other infrastructure, no easy task in Susquehanna County, which has over 2,000 gas wells, more than anywhere else in Pennsylvania. Then the utility needs to coax property owners to allow site access. The utility says it’s identified three potential locations for a new public water well.

“We are confident that a water system is feasible in this area and will move ahead addressing the challenges and completing this project,” said Susan Turcmanovich, a spokesperson for Pennsylvania American.

Switzer has her doubts, calling the planned water line “imaginary” and “pretend.”

The retired schoolteacher had been at Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s side when — as the state's attorney general — he traveled to Susquehanna County to announce the Coterra plea deal and water line. Shapiro praised the agreement with Coterra as a good outcome for residents who were unable to use their well water. Switzer followed Shapiro to the podium and praised him as “the people's lawyer.”

More than a year later, she denounces Shapiro and said she would never have agreed to speak in support of the deal if she had known about the DEP's decision to allow Coterra to resume drilling.

“I was played a fool,” said Switzer, who will have a gas well running under her land. “This was the most egregious betrayal I’ve experienced in all of the gas wars I’ve been in.”

The attorney general’s office said last year it plays no role in DEP’s regulatory decisions, nor does it share confidential information about criminal investigations with the environmental agency.

But Democratic State Sen. Carolyn Comitta, who recently visited Dimock in her capacity as minority chair of the Senate environmental committee, said she was “shocked and dismayed” when regulators gave permission for Coterra to return to Dimock.

“I’m not sure the moratorium should have been lifted at all,” she said. “There needs to be some leverage to make sure that clean water is is provided to the people who have been suffering all of these years.”

On Tuesday, the governor's spokesperson, Manuel Bonder, said Shapiro “will never forget the people of Dimock,” and is working to get the public water line built “as quickly as possible.”

Shapiro, as attorney general, “secured a historic settlement for Pennsylvanians living in Dimock," Bonder said. “The governor and his administration have been working aggressively to make good on these commitments.”

Hubble Telescope captures a galaxy's 'forbidden' light in stunning new image

Samantha Mathewson
Tue, December 19, 2023 

The spiral galaxy MCG-01-24-014 is located 275 million light-years from Earth. Seen face-on, the galaxy has two prominent, well-defined spiral arms and an energetic glowing core known as an active galactic nucleus. .

The "forbidden" light of a distant spiral galaxy shines brightly in a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Located about 275 million light-years from Earth, the galaxy, called MCG-01-24-014, has two prominent, well-defined spiral arms and an energetic glowing core known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The galaxy is seen face-on with its arms creating a nearly perfect circular shape.

MCG-01-24-014 is classified as a Type-2 Seyfert galaxy, which is one of the two largest groups of active galaxies scientists know of, along with quasars. Seyfert galaxies exhibit a characteristic bright core, but are less detectable when compared to quasars — whose incredibly luminous AGNs can outshine the entire host galaxies within which they reside, according to a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA).

Related: The best Hubble Space Telescope images of all time!

Seyfert galaxies can also be further categorized based on the intensity of light being emitted from their active cores. Depending on the wavelengths of light, or spectra, Seyfert galaxies are classified as either Type-1 or Type-2. The latter emit spectral lines associated with so-called "forbidden" emissions, given they should not exist according to certain rules of quantum physics.

"To understand why emitted light from a galaxy could be considered forbidden, it helps to understand why spectra exist in the first place," ESA officials said in the statement. "Spectra look the way they do because certain atoms and molecules will absorb and emit light very reliably at very specific wavelengths."

Electrons — the tiny particles that orbit the nuclei of atoms — lose or gain specific amounts of energy, which correspond to certain light wavelengths being absorbed or emitted. However, certain spectral emission lines are considered to be "forbidden" because they are observed in space but do not occur under normal conditions on Earth.

— This Hubble Telescope view of a chalky spiral galaxy is a sight to behold (photo)

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"Quantum physics is complex, and some of the rules used to predict it use assumptions that suit laboratory conditions here on Earth," ESA officials said in the statement. "Under those rules, this emission is 'forbidden' — so improbable that it’s disregarded. But in space, in the midst of an incredibly energetic galactic core, those assumptions don’t hold anymore, and the ‘forbidden’ light gets a chance to shine out towards us."

Indeed, the bright light from MCG-01-24-014 shines radiantly in the new Hubble photo, which was taken using the telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The spiral galaxy appears in the center of the image, with two large bright stars in the foreground, one blue and one red, positioned directly above the galaxy itself. Several more distant galaxies are scattered across the otherwise pitch black backdrop of space. ESA released the new Hubble photo online on Dec. 18.

DNA sleuths solve mystery of the 2,000-year old corpse

Pallab Ghosh - BBC Science correspondent
Tue, December 19, 2023 

DNA analysis showed that this young man travelled to Cambridgeshire from the furthest reaches of the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago


How did a young man born 2,000 years ago near what is now southern Russia, end up in the English countryside?

DNA sleuths have retraced his steps while shedding light on a key episode in the history of Roman Britain.

Research shows that the skeleton found in Cambridgeshire is of a man from a nomadic group known as Sarmatians.

It is the first biological proof that these people came to Britain from the furthest reaches of the Roman empire and that some lived in the countryside.

The remains were discovered during excavations to improve the A14 road between Cambridge and Huntingdon.

The scientific techniques used will help reveal the usually untold stories of ordinary people behind great historical events.

They include reading the genetic code in fossilised bone fragments that are hundreds of thousands of years old, which shows an individual's ethnic origin.

Gold coin proves 'fake' Roman emperor was real

Dr Marina Silva extracted the ancient DNA and then made sense of its genetic code

Archaeologists discovered a complete, well-preserved skeleton of a man, they named Offord Cluny 203645 - a combination of the Cambridgeshire village he was found in and his specimen number. He was buried by himself without any personal possessions in a ditch, so there was little to go on to establish his identity.

Dr Marina Silva of the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute, in London, extracted and decoded Offord's ancient DNA from a tiny bone taken from his inner ear, which was the best preserved part of the entire skeleton.

"This is not like testing the DNA of someone who is alive," she explained.

"The DNA is very fragmented and damaged. However, we were able to (decode) enough of it.

"The first thing we saw was that genetically he was very different to the other Romano-British individuals studied so far."

The latest ancient DNA analysis methods are now able to flesh out the human stories behind events that, until recently, have been reconstructed only by documents and archaeological evidence.

These largely tell the tales of the wealthy and powerful.

Map of the Roman Empire at the start of the 3rd century AD and the areas of in the Middle East inhabited by the Sarmatians

The latest research is a detective story which uses cutting edge forensic science to unravel the mystery of an ordinary person - a young man buried in a ditch in Cambridgeshire between 126 and 228 AD, during the Roman occupation of Britain.

At first, archaeologists thought Offord to be an unremarkable discovery of a local man. But DNA analysis at Dr Silva's lab showed that he was from the furthest reaches of the Roman Empire, an area that is currently southern Russia, Armenia, and Ukraine.

The analysis showed him to be a Sarmatian, who are Iranian-speaking people, renowned for their horse-riding skills.

So how did he end up in a sleepy backwater of the empire so far from home?

To find the answers, a team from the archaeology department of Durham University used another exciting analysis technique to examine his fossilised teeth, which have chemical traces of what he ate.

Analysis of his teeth showed that his diet had gradually changed since the age of five

Teeth develop over time, so just like tree rings, each layer records a snapshot of the chemicals that surrounded them at that moment in time.

The analysis showed that until the age of six he ate millets and sorghum grains, known scientifically as C4 crops, which are plentiful in the region where Sarmatians were known to have lived.

But over time, analysis showed a gradual decrease in his consumption of these grains and more wheat, found in western Europe, according to Prof Janet Montgomery.

"The (analysis) tells us that he, and not his ancestors, made the journey to Britain. As he grew up, he migrated west, and these plants disappeared from his diet."

A scene depicting the defeat of the Sarmatian army by Roman forces in 175 AD

Historical records indicate that Offord could have been a cavalry man's son, or possibly his slave. They show that around the time he lived, a unit of the Sarmatian cavalry incorporated into the Roman army was posted to Britain.

The DNA evidence confirms this picture, according to Dr Alex Smith of MOLA Headland Infrastructure, the company that led the excavation.

"This is the first biological evidence," he told BBC News.

"The availability of these DNA and chemical analysis techniques means that we can now ask different questions and look at how societies formed, their make-up and how they evolved in the Roman period.

"It suggests that there was much greater movement, not just in the cities but also the countryside."

The remains were discovered as part of excavations undertaken as part of the A14 road improvement scheme between Cambridge and Huntingdon

Dr Pontus Skoglund, who heads the ancient genomics laboratory at the Crick, told BBC News that the new technology is transforming our understanding of the past.

"The main impact of ancient DNA to date has been improving our understanding of the Stone and Bronze Ages, but with better techniques, we are also starting to transform our understanding of the Roman and later periods."

The details have been published in the journal, Current Biology.

Follow Pallab on X, formally known as Twitter.

World's oldest known fort was constructed by hunter-gatherers 8,000 years ago in Siberia

Jennifer Nalewicki
Tue, December 19, 2023 

An aerial view of the remnants of a fort in Siberia. .

Hunter-gatherers built the oldest known fort in the world about 8,000 years ago in Siberia, a new study finds.

Archaeologists have long associated fortresses with permanent agricultural settlements. However, this cluster of fortified structures reveals that prehistoric groups were constructing protective edifices much earlier than originally thought.

The new research rewrites our understanding of early human societies, according to the study, published Dec. 1 in the journal Antiquity.

These hunter-gatherers "defy conventional stereotypes that depict such societies as basic and nomadic, unveiling their capacity to construct intricate structures," study co-author Tanja Schreiber, an archaeologist at Free University of Berlin, told Live Science in an email.

Located along the Amnya River in western Siberia, remains of the Amnya fort include roughly 20 pit-house depressions scattered across the site, which is divided into two sections: Amnya I and Amnya II. Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the settlement was first inhabited during the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, according to the study.

When constructed, each pit house would have been protected by earthen walls and wooden palisades — two construction elements that suggest "advanced agricultural and defensive capabilities" by the inhabitants, the archaeologists said in a statement.

Related: Prehistoric population once lived in Siberia but mysteriously vanished, genetic study finds

"One of the Amnya fort's most astonishing aspects is the discovery that approximately 8,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers in the Siberian Taiga built intricate defense structures," Schreiber said. "This challenges traditional assumptions that monumental constructions were solely the work of agricultural communities."

It's unknown what triggered the need for these fortified structures in the first place, but the strategic location overlooking the river would have not only been an ideal lookout point for potential threats but also allowed hunter-gatherers to keep tabs on their fishing and hunting grounds, the researchers noted.

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It's also a mystery who ordered the fort's construction.

"It remains uncertain whether these constructions were commissioned by those in authority or if the entire community collaborated in constructing them for the purpose of protecting people or valuables," Schreiber said. "Ethnohistorical records offer a nuanced comprehension of these forts, disclosing various potential reasons for fortifying residences."

Ancient forts were built for a number of reasons, according to these records, "such as securing possessions or individuals, handling armed conflicts, addressing imbalances in attacker-defender ratios, thwarting raids and functioning as elaborate signals by influential chiefs," Schreiber said.

Researchers Test 2,400-Year-Old Leather and Realize It's Made of Human Skin

Isaac Schultz
Wed, December 20, 2023 

Leather samples, including human skin, from Scythian sites in Ukraine.


Scythians in modern-day Ukraine made leather out of human skin, a team of researchers has determined, likely as a macabre trophy item. The discovery affirms a claim by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote extensively on the Scythian way of life.

In their work, the researchers use paleoproteomics to establish the sources of leather found on 14 different Scythian sites in southern Ukraine. The manifold sources—sheep, goat, cattle, horse, and yes, human—suggest that the equestrian steppe groups had a sophisticated knowledge of leatherworking. The team’s research was published last week in PLOS One.

Their weapon of choice on foot was the battle-ax, Herodotus added, and archaeological evidence suggests that the Scythians adored their horses. As the researchers noted, Herodotus detailed stories of Scythians drinking the blood of the defeated, using severed heads as a bargaining token for booty, and sewing together scalps to make clothing. Importantly for this line of research, Herodotus also said that “Many too take off the skin, nails and all, from their dead enemies’ right hands, and make coverings for their quivers.”


A silver bowl and golden cone from Scythian burials depicting leather garments.

The fur samples were identified as red fox and animals in the cat and squirrel families. The team could not get a taxonomic ID on 26% of the samples they identified, but the majority of the identified samples were likely goat (C. hircus.) The runner-up was sheep leather (~19%), while the other leather sources were roughly evenly represented in the samples. Two of the leather samples were from horse, and two—probably the reason you’re here—were human skin.

Scrutiny of the human leather made the team conclude that the skin bits were crafted on the top parts of their respective quivers; the rest of the quivers were made from animal leather. But even the animal leather quivers used a combination of different skins in their creation; the team posits that “each archer made their own quiver using the materials available at the moment.”

Scythians’ prowess on battlefields didn’t get in the way of a good time: the British Museum notes that various Greek authors documented a heavy drinking culture among the Scythians, and Herodotus even detailed a sort of ancient hot box (until now I didn’t know the word ‘weed’ shows up on the British Museum website).

New research continues to reshape the modern image of Scythians. They were much more than fearsome nomadic warriors. In 2021, a different team studied isotopes in tooth enamel from sites across Ukraine to understand the diet and range of ancient people. Those scientists concluded that only a small subset of people that lived in Scythian times were leading heavily nomadic lifestyles.

Even if only a few of these ancient warriors used human skin for their quivers, the work substantiates one of Herodotus’ more metal claims about the Scythians. Whether any of the rumored clothing sewn from scalps will ever be recovered is another matter.

A Staggering Excavation Has Rewritten the Fall of the Roman Empire
Tim Newcomb
Tue, December 19, 2023 

This ‘Backwater’ Roman Town Outlived the Empire

Silvia Otte - Getty Images

A 13-year archeological excavation has shown that what was once believed a backwater town for the Roman Empire lasted far longer than originally believed.

Interamna Lirenas was a thriving town well into the 3rd century AD.

A geophysical survey has allowed researchers to build a highly detailed image of the town’s layout, with an impressive list of urban features.

Interamna Lirenas has turned out to be far more than a “backwater town” of the Roman Empire. According to a published study in Roman Urbanism in Italy, this central Italian town thrived well beyond previous belief, using its impressive urban features and forward-thinking design to stave off the effects of the empire’s collapse well into the 3rd century AD.

“We started with a site so unpromising that no one had ever tried to excavate it,” Alessandro Launaro, the study’s author and Interamna Lirenas Project lead at the University of Cambridge’s Classics Faculty, said in a statement. “That’s very rare in Italy.”

The team was astonished by what they found. From a roofed theater and market locations to warehouses and a river port, the discovery tossed aside assumptions previously held about the area and the decline of Roman Italy. It turns out that Interamna Lirenas survived for around 300 years longer than previously believed, and was a flourishing town to boot.

“There was nothing on the surface, no visible evidence of buildings, just bits of broken pottery,” Launaro said. “But what we discovered wasn’t a backwater, far from it. We found a thriving town adapting to every challenge thrown at it for 900 years.”

The team of archaeologists used magnetic and ground-penetrating radar to survey roughly 60 acres of mostly open fields. They then launched a series of targeted excavations to unearth the history. “We’re not saying that this town was special, it’s far more exciting than that,” Launaro sadi. “We think many other average Roman towns in Italy were just as resilient. It’s just that archaeologists have only recently begun to apply the right techniques and approaches to see this.”

The team believes that the proof is in the pottery. By focusing on common ware pottery used for cooking—and not the imported pottery that often shows evidence of high-status living—the team could better map the location and dates of citizen movement in the region. This evidence showed that instead of the town’s size peaking in the late 2nd or early 1st centuries BC, as previously believed, the town staved off decline until the later part of the 3rd century AD.

“Based on the relative lack of imported pottery,” Launaro said, “archeologists have assumed that Interamna Lirenas was a declining backwater. We now know that wasn’t the case.” Instead of favoring imported pottery, the town—which was likely home to about 2,000 residents—was busy making their own way.

Thanks to a found inscription, researchers also believe that the town was likely visited by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, likely because Intermana Lirenas was part of a regional urban network and ideally situated between a river and major road.

“This town continually played its cards right,” Launaro said, “it was always forging relations with communities between Rome and southern Italy while thriving as a trading hub.” Of course, the River Liri may have helped in that department—the town may have served as a river port. Archeologists also found evidence of warehouse measuring 131 feet by 39 feet, which was likely used to hold goods for widespread trade. There was also a temple and bath complex—one of three in the town—near the port.

“River ports didn’t just need warehouses,” Launaro said. “People spent a lot of time working and resting in the vicinity, so they needed all kinds of amenities, just like the ones we found here.”

Interamna Lirenas wasn’t just a port, though. Archaeologists also found a roofed theater, roughly 147 feet by 85 feet in size and large enough to seat 1,500 visitors. “The fact that this town went for a roofed theater, such a refined building, does not fit with a backwater in decline,” Launaro said. “This theater was a major status symbol. It displayed the town’s wealth, power, and ambition.”

The theater was in a state of growth, not decline. The team found evidence of a wealthy donor backing what was likely an improvement to the structure. And combined with other evidence, that shows that the theater was in full use throughout the life of the town.

Three bath complexes—with evidence of continued use and upkeep beyond Roman Italy’s decline—and housing that showed no signs of zoning or separation by social status further contributed to the town’s apparently thriving status. Throughout the 60 acres of their survey, the team identified 19 courtyard buildings that they believe could have been markets, guild houses, warehouses, or apartments. The archaeologists believe they found a sheep and cattle market, which would have been key to the region’s thriving wool trade.

As there was no layer of ash or evidence of a violent end to the town, Launaro believes that it was eventually abandoned as residents grew fearful of marauding armies. The end of Interamna Lirenas wasn’t as sudden or as soon as previously believed, which has now opened a new world of understanding.

Poll: Texas abortion case is a warning sign for Republicans

Andrew Romano
·West Coast Correspondent
Updated Wed, December 20, 2023 

Abortion rights demonstrators attend a rally at the Texas state Capitol in Austin, May 14, 2022. 

(Eric Gay/AP)

Just 26% of Americans would favor “a national abortion ban like the one in Texas” that led Kate Cox, a Dallas-area woman whose fetus had a fatal disorder, to travel out of state to terminate her pregnancy earlier this month, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. A majority (56%) would oppose such a ban.

After reading a brief description of the case, a full 68% of Americans say Cox should have been allowed to have an abortion in Texas. Just 13% say an abortion should not have been allowed.

The survey of 1,533 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Dec. 14 to 18, highlights the political risks facing anti-abortion Republicans ahead of the 2024 election if they continue to push for hard-line Texas-style bans. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, 14 states have banned abortion entirely, while another seven have banned the procedure at an earlier stage of pregnancy — ranging from six to 18 weeks — than previously allowed under Roe.

Political analysts say Republican candidates have repeatedly lost otherwise winnable races as a result.

In Texas, abortion is now outlawed after six weeks of pregnancy. Six-week bans — which come into effect before many women are aware that they are pregnant — were already unpopular prior to the Cox case; in general, just 34% of Americans favor them, according to the new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. And even among those who approve of six-week bans, nearly two-thirds say they want an exception “for when the pregnancy seriously threatens the health of the mother” — meaning just 6% of Americans favor a six-week ban without such an exception.

In theory, Texas is supposed to have just that: an exception that permits abortion after six weeks if “the female” is “at risk of death” or “serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function.” In practice, however, the Cox case demonstrated how narrow — bordering on nonexistent — the Texas loophole is.

After diagnosing Cox’s fetus with trisomy 18 — a severe genetic disorder that nearly always results in miscarriage, stillbirth or the infant’s death within a year — her doctor determined that carrying the pregnancy to term would risk her health and jeopardize her future fertility. But when Cox sought a court order allowing her to receive an abortion in Texas, the state attorney general and Supreme Court declared that she did not qualify for an abortion “based on the medical-necessity exception” — meaning her doctor could be prosecuted for a first-degree felony for performing the procedure. Cox, a mother of two, left the state to terminate her pregnancy.

Few Americans of any political stripe agree with that outcome. In fact, roughly six in 10 Republicans (57%) and independents (63%) say Cox should have been allowed to have an abortion in her state; just 21% and 14%, respectively, say the opposite.

Likewise, nearly four out of five Americans say that doctors (79%) rather than courts (6%) “should have more say in whether a pregnancy poses enough of a threat to the mother’s health to justify an abortion.” The numbers among Republicans (79% and 4%) and independents (74% and 7%) are equally stark.

And on the question of whether they would want a national abortion ban like Texas’s, independents are opposed by a more than two-to-one margin (55% to 24%) — while even Republicans are evenly split (40% in favor, 39% opposed).

Overall, just a quarter of Americans (26%) say they're likely to vote for “a candidate for major office who wants to ban most abortions that were legal under Roe v. Wade.” High-profile cases like Cox’s — which show voters how strict abortion bans affect real-life mothers — will do little to shift those numbers in Republicans’ favor ahead of Election Day.

____________

The Yahoo News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,533 U.S. adults interviewed online from Dec. 14 to 18, 2023. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to Nov. 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 27% Republican). Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. adults. The margin of error is approximately 2.8%.

Danish union begins action against Tesla in support of Swedish strike

COPENHAGEN, Dec 20 (Reuters) — Danish dockworkers and lorry drivers have stopped unloading and transporting Tesla cars destined for Sweden as Danish labour union 3F on Wednesday joined Swedish mechanics in their strike action against Tesla.

Tesla is facing a backlash from unions and some pension funds in the Nordic region as the U.S. carmaker refuses to accept a demand from Swedish mechanics for collective bargaining rights covering wages and other conditions.
T
"We can't allow one man or one company to come and say, I want to do this in another way, you need to change your system. If you want to be here, you're very welcome, but you have to follow the rules," said Jan Villadsen, chairman of 3F Transport.

3F announced the sympathy action on Dec. 5, addressing speculation that Tesla had started shipping cars to Sweden through Danish ports following Swedish dockworkers joining the dispute.

"We know that some cars have come through Denmark, we don't know how many but some, we know also that from today there is not one coming," Villadsen said.

Workers at the port of Malmo, Sweden blocked the loading of Tesla vehicles on November 7.

 (JOHAN NILSSON/ TT News Agency/ AFP via Getty Images) 

Villadsen thinks the conflict with the Nordic unions will last until an agreement is reached with Tesla, he told Reuters, adding:

"I've been in this game for more than 25 years, and I've never seen a strike that didn’t end with an agreement. All strikes end with an agreement".

The sympathy action will only affect Tesla cars meant for Sweden. The transport of Tesla cars for Danish customers will remain unaffected, Villadsen told Reuters.

(Reporting by Johannes Birkebaek and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Tesla skips employees' yearly merit-based stock compensations - Bloomberg News

Reuters
Tue, December 19, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: Tesla electric vehicle dealership in Durango


(Reuters) -Tesla is not offering its employees yearly merit-based stock awards, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The news comes after United Auto Workers union said in November it is launching a first-of-its-kind push to publicly organize the entire nonunion auto sector in the U.S., including Tesla, after winning new contracts with the Detroit Three automakers.

The company's managers delivered the news to salaried employees, the report stated, adding that four employees from different departments told Bloomberg News they believe the move was widespread.

Workers were still given modest cost-of-living increases and adjustments to their base salaries, according to the report.

Some Tesla employees who reached the end of their four-year vesting cycle were given stock "refreshers", in order to keep their total compensation competitive, the report added.

(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Rashmi Aich)

Tesla to raise Nevada Gigafactory workers' pay amid union push: report

Eric Revell
Tue, December 19, 2023 at 4:35 PM MST·4 min read

Electric vehicle maker Tesla is planning to give hourly workers at its Nevada Gigafactory a roughly 10% raise in January, according to a report from CNBC.

According to internal documents reviewed by the outlet, Tesla will raise the pay for hourly workers from $20 to $22 an hour on the low end of the pay scale and up to $34.50 an hour from $30.65 on the high end.

The CNBC report added that the raise can add anywhere from $2 to $8.30 an hour to the hourly workers’ pay, while Tesla is also streamlining its employment levels so that workers currently making between $26.20 and $30.65 an hour will be paid $34.50 an hour after the raise takes effect.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla is reportedly providing raises to its hourly workers at the Nevada Gigafactory.

The report about Tesla providing raises to workers at its Gigafactory in Nevada, which is located near Reno and manufactures batteries for Tesla EVs, comes as the company faces a unionization push from the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.

Fresh off securing record contracts from Detroit’s "Big Three" automakers — Ford, GM and Stellantis — the UAW views Tesla and other non-union automakers like Honda and Toyota as targets for potential unionization efforts.

After those contracts were secured and a six-week strike this fall was brought to a conclusion, UAW President Shawn Fain signaled the union would "pull out all the stops" to organize workers at Tesla, Toyota, Honda and other non-union automakers.

COURT RULES TESLA CAN BLOCK FACTORY WORKERS FROM WEARING UNION T-SHIRTS

Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that if the EV maker ends up unionized "it'll be because we deserve it and failed in some way."

Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Subaru raised workers’ wages following the UAW’s deal with the Big Three, which prompted Fain to say that Toyota had previously hiked wages "because the company knows we’re coming for ‘em."

"To all the auto workers out there working without the benefits of a union, now it’s your turn," Fain said in a video message posted late last month. "The money is there. The time is right. You don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay your rent or feed your family while the company makes billions. A better life is out there."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked about the UAW’s unionization push last month at the New York Times DealBook Summit and said, "I disagree with the idea of unions." He added that if Tesla is eventually unionized "it’ll be because we deserve it and failed in some way."

UAW President Shawn Fain has set his sights on unionization pushes at non-union automakers such as Tesla.

Musk has previously pointed to the company’s stock options provided to workers as a lucrative benefit that could dissuade workers from unionizing. Musk posted on X, formerly, before the UAW strike began to tout Tesla’s work environment and the income potential provided by those stock options.

"Tesla and SpaceX factories have a great vibe. We encourage playing music and having some fun. Very important for people to look forward to coming to work! We pay more than the UAW btw, but performance expectations are also higher. Quite a few of our factory techs who work on the line have become millionaires over the years from company stock grants," Musk wrote.

The UAW previously attempted to unionize Tesla’s workforce in 2017 and 2018 during a period of labor unrest at the company’s factory in California. During that standoff, Musk wrote in a social media post, "Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?"

Though that unionization effort proved unsuccessful, it set off a legal battle in which the National Labor Relations Board held that Musk violated labor law in part through statements about hourly workers losing stock options if they unionized, which an appellate court panel believed was an "implied threat to end stock options as retaliation for unionization."

Tesla has appealed that ruling and has disputed any wrongdoing, and the case is under review by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Reuters contributed to this report.

ANOTHER GLASS CEILING BROKEN

Celine Berthon made France's first woman spy agency chief

Paris (AFP) – France appointed its first woman domestic intelligence chief Wednesday, with top police officer Celine Berthon stepping up to head the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).


Issued on: 21/12/2023 - 

The logo of the French internal security service, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) 

© STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / POOL/AFP

The 5,000-strong organisation plays a key role in counter-espionage, fighting terrorism and cybercrime.

The rise of Berthon, 47, has been meteoric.

She became number two of France's national police only in April after being the first woman -- and the youngest person -- ever to lead its frontline operations in 2021.

Berthon had previously headed the police commissioners' union.
'The Bureau'

The policewoman replaces Nicolas Lerner, who is taking over France's DGSE foreign espionage service made famous by the fictional hit series "The Bureau".

Intelligence chief: Celine Berthon 

© MATTHIEU ALEXANDRE / AFP/File

His appointment is also historic -- the first time that a former head of the DGSI has become chief of France's foreign intelligence agency.

Lerner, a 45-year-old civil servant, graduated from the elite graduate school ENA.

He has spent all his career within the interior ministry, essentially working on national security, becoming head of the DGSI in 2018.

He replaces Bernard Emie, a diplomat who had been French ambassador to Lebanon, Turkey, Britain, Algeria and Jordan before being appointed to head the DGSE in 2017.

Emie launched reforms within the DGSE and saw the agency's budget increase.

But many have criticised the DGSE under him for failing to foresee the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and a string of military coups in former French colonies Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Lerner's appointment as head of an agency of some 7,000 people comes at a time of war in Ukraine and Gaza and tensions between the West and Iran.

Nicolas Lerner, 45, attended the same elite graduate school as the French president and is said to be close to him 

© Ludovic MARIN / AFP/File

Lerner will also have to contend with France's receding influence in West Africa after the military coups there.

And even with new concerns, the DGSE will have to keep up intelligence gathering abroad to prevent domestic incidents like the deadly 2015 and 2016 attacks in France claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.

It will have to anticipate new dangers but "without creating any blind spots", said French security analyst Alexandre Papaemmanuel.

Lerner will have to oversee the agency's move to a space twice as big as the old offices portrayed in "The Bureau" to ones in Vincennes just outside Paris.

Fictional series "The Bureau" was a huge international hit for French producer Canal+, sold to more than 100 countries and praised even by the DGSE for its realism.

© 2023 AFP

'Vampire’ drone: Ukraine’s heavy-hitting night bomber

Issued on: 20/12/2023 
It started life spraying fertilizer as an agricultural drone, but after a revamp by Ukrainian military engineers it has become one of the most powerful drones in the country’s arsenal. Dubbed the "Vampire" because it is flown only under cover of darkness, its operators say it is capable of carrying heavy explosives that can be used to target tanks and other armoured vehicles.

THIS IS A DRONE WAR

Ukraine's 'Vampire' drone in operation near Bakhmut on December 16, 2023. 

© Reuters Video by: Sam BALL

02:31

WW3.0
China warns Philippines must 'act with caution' after clashes in South China Sea

China has warned the Philippines that it "must act with caution", Beijing's foreign ministry said, following a string of incidents in the disputed South China Sea as Manila increasingly stands up to Chinese assertiveness in the region.


Issued on: 21/12/2023 -

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the State Department in Washington, US, October 27, 2023. 

© Elizabeth Frantz, Reuters

By: NEWS WIRES

Videos released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed Chinese ships blasting water cannon at Philippine boats this month and there was also a collision between vessels from the two countries during tense clashes at flashpoint reefs.

Wang Yi, China's top diplomat, said on a call with Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo on Wednesday the two countries were "facing serious difficulties", blaming Manila for changing its policies, according to a readout.

"Wang Yi said China-Philippines relations are currently facing serious difficulties," it said late on Wednesday.

"The root cause is that the Philippines has changed its longstanding policy stance, reneged on its own commitments, continued to provoke and stir trouble at sea, and undermined China's legal rights."

"China-Philippines relations are at a crossroads. Faced with the choice of where to go, the Philippines must act with caution," the readout said.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea and has ignored an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no legal basis.

It deploys boats to patrol the busy waterway and has built artificial islands that it has militarised to reinforce its claims.

Manalo described his call with Wang as "frank and candid", according to a readout released by the Philippines foreign ministry on Thursday.

"We had a frank and candid exchange and ended our call with a clearer understanding of our respective positions on a number of issues," the readout quoted Manalo as saying.

"We both noted the importance of dialogue in addressing these issues."
Envoy summoned

The Philippines summoned China's envoy on December 11 and flagged the possibility of expelling him following the latest clashes.


The videos released by the Philippines were of incidents during two separate resupply missions to fishermen at Scarborough Shoal and a tiny garrison at Second Thomas Shoal the previous weekend.

There was also a collision between Philippine and Chinese boats at Second Thomas Shoal, where a handful of Filipino troops are stationed on a grounded warship, with both countries trading blame.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos met Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in San Francisco, where the pair discussed the maritime territorial disputes.

Marcos later told a forum in Hawaii the Philippines would not give up "a single square inch of our territory".

(AFP)

PSEUDO- SECULAR QUEBEC FOLLOWS FRANCE

Muslim high school fears for future as France cuts public funding

At the Averroès high school in Lille, staff and pupils are worried about their future after French authorities announced they would end state subsidies over management problems and teaching they judged to be at odds with France's secular values.


Issued on: 13/12/2023 -

Students in class at Averroes high school in Lille, northern France, on 28 September 2023.

 © AFP / SAMEER AL-DOUMY

By: Jessica Phelan with RFI

"I was marking geography homework and asking myself: 'Why am I here? What am I doing? What's the point?' I've just heard I'm a Salafi, a convert – me, over here marking geography papers. And I said to myself, well, so that's what they're accusing me of..."

Vincent Pieterarens has been teaching history and geography at the Lycée Averroès for 15 years, exactly as long as the high school has been receiving funding from the French state.

Averroès first opened in 2003 as a private Muslim institution, originally housed within a mosque. The first establishment of its kind in mainland France, it was set up as the government cracked down on so-called "ostentatious" religious symbols in state schools and a series of expulsions made headlines – including the case of 17 Muslim girls excluded from a Lille lycée for wearing headscarves to class.

The northern city has a large Muslim population and Averroès aimed to offer students – both girls and boys – a place where they could observe their religion openly while still following the national curriculum.

From a dozen pupils it grew to several hundred, winning praise for its small class sizes, committed teachers and impressive results.

By 2008 it had entered into contract with the French state, which subsidises private schools that agree to follow national education guidelines, submit to more extensive inspections and accept students – and teachers – of all faiths.

It was around then that Pieterarens joined the lycée.

"Not only am I an atheist, originally I'm even kind of a die-hard secularist," he told RFI's Valentin Hugues. "When I saw the school being set up, I said: 'What the heck is this?'

"Then when I started working here, I soon settled in. It's a great pleasure – the pleasure of debate, of dialogue."
'French values'

But now Averroès, which regularly ranks towards the top of regional and national league tables, faces the loss of its public funding, worth around €300,000 to €500,000 each year.

In a decision made public on Monday, regional authorities have ended their contract with the high school, citing irregularities in its management and concerns that elements of its teaching did not respect French values.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, in a letter addressed to the school the local prefecture outlined "serious shortcomings" including a lack of resources on gender equality and LGBTQ+ issues, and over-representation of religious Islamic works.

It also singled out a course on Muslim ethics that it said contained aspects "contrary to the values of the French Republic".

The letter – signed by the prefect of the Nord department, Georges-François Leclerc – criticised the school's administrators for lack of transparency and financial dysfunction, Le Parisien reported.

The censure is based on the findings of a local committee, not national school inspectors, who in their 2020 report on Averroès said they saw nothing to suggest its teaching failed to respect French values.

"The school has been around for 20 years, so obviously over the years things get better, more professional," headteacher Eric Dufour told RFI.

"We are now fully committed to meeting all requirements."

Students outside the Averroes high school in Lille, northern France, on 28 September 2023. 

© AFP / SAMEER AL-DOUMY

Scrutiny

Averroès plans to challenge the prefecture's decision in court.

The school has faced wrangling over its funding before. Notably the conservative council of Lille's Hauts-de-France region has tried to refuse to pay out its subsidies for each of the past three academic years, in objection to a grant the school received in 2014 from a non-governmental organisation in Qatar.

The Lille administrative court has repeatedly ordered the regional council to pay up, most recently in early November.

The high school says that it is subjected to close scrutiny, including frequent inspections.

"After an inspection there are always things to rectify," said Dufour, who told RFI he had personally removed an Islamic text from a class reading list that he judged not to fit with the school's ethos.

But some in the school community say the authorities' attention goes beyond oversight, claiming the establishment is the target of a witch hunt. 

Outcry after French police question schools about pupils absent on Muslim holiday

Studying under a weight

Averroès has the right to continue operating privately, but without public funding it may be forced to hike fees for its pupils – who teacher Pieterarens describes as "extraordinary".

Among them are Oumaïma and Noha, two students working towards their baccalauréat. The high school's pass rate for the leaving exam hovers around 98 percent.

"Take the example that our teacher here is atheist and we're Muslim," said Noha, referring to Pieterarens. "That shows that differences, whether you're white or non-white, religious or not, they don't change anything.

"We're just here to work and get our bac. That's really the goal."

But however much they knuckle down, the now national attention their high school is getting is impossible to ignore.

"We feel there's something weighing on us," Oumaïma said. "Everything being said outside school, we feel it."

She told RFI she fears the consequences will last beyond graduation. "If we go for an interview for instance and we say we went to the Lycée Averroès, we'll still keep that label afterwards. That's what's so complicated too."