species

Elon Musk fired 6,000 employees two weeks ago. Now the US faces the massive entry of invasive species

by

Elon Musk had several weeks ago that his efficiency department (Doge) has an advantage over the rest: they work 120 hours a week. Incredible that their words are, the facts seem to be proved, because the strenuous working days have led more than an alarming calculation error between mass dismissals and dismantling key programs. Latest: release To so many people that the country’s health controls have weakened. Administrative errors. It Wired counted in a report where he took stock since the creation of the Doge office. In just a few weeks, their actions had included the publication of classified information by accidentthe desperate dismissal and recontraction of Nuclear Safety Expertsor the erroneous inflation of governmental “savings” In 7,992 million dollars. For the medium, the failures They reflect a combination of technological arrogance and absolute ignorance of the government’s functioning, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Risks in food safety. Doge has implemented an unprecedented purge within several government agencies, but few dismissals reflect the climate of chaos such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) such an excessive scissors that has triggered a Crisis in Food Safety and trade, leaving the country vulnerable to invasive species and the increase in food. The reason? With the elimination of 6,000 jobs in Februarythe USDA lost a significant part of its highly trained personnel, including inspectors, biologists and coaches of detector dogs that protected American agriculture of pest and zoonotic diseases. In fact, Derek Copeland, former National Dog Detection Training Center coach, warned that the reduction Personnel affects the ability to detect threats such as the giant African snail or the Asian beetle of long horns, which could have devastating consequences for local crops and ecosystems. Blow to inspection and biosafety. There are more. The protection and quarantine units have been of the most affectedwith the loss of hundreds of inspectors, which has significantly reduced controls on agricultural imports. According to experts, this lack of personnel has converted inspections into A chaotic and disorganized processespecially in key ports such as Los Angeles and Miami, who have seen 35% reductions in their quarantine staff and up to 60% in their smuggling detection team. This, in turn, has generated delays in merchandise processing, which could translate into a price increase in supermarkets and a massive waste of foods that are spoiled while waiting to be inspected. Impact on economy and commerce. The damage is not limited to agricultural security. Mike Lahar, regulatory affairs manager at the Deringer customs broken National Security. It’s not A trivial theme. A single error in the detection of a plague I could tithe whole cropswhich would affect not only farmers but the entire food supply chain. In addition, the accumulation of containers without inspection is affecting other industrial sectors, as shipments are being stranded, reducing the availability of essential goods and raising costs for consumers and companies. Legal uncertainty. Trump’s government has defended cuts as An efficiency measurebut the repercussions have generated alarm. Republican senators, like Joni Ernst, previously They supported the program Of pest detection with dogs, but they have avoided ruling on the dismissals. Two federal judges have ordered reinstallation Of dismissed employees, but the White House has described these decisions as “absurd and unconstitutional,” leaving thousands of workers in uncertainty. Meanwhile, the USDA has announced a 45 -day break in the dismissals, but without guarantees of rectation for those affected. Collapse in agri -food security. If the crisis persists, experts warn about a possible scenario similar to that of pandemic, with a shortage of certain products and a Food inflation driven by lack of control in the ports. In this regard, Joe Hudicka, veteran of the supply chain industry, anticipates that large cities and supermarkets can better absorb the impact, but rural communities and small businesses will be the most affected. For his part, Kit Johnson, director of Commercial Compliance at John S. James, warns that the reduction of inspections could lead to An agricultural catastrophe If invasive species manage to establish themselves without being detected. Undecatization? Wired counted that experts slide two hypotheses to try to explain the disaster caused by Doge. The first is that the initiative never intended to make the government more efficient, but simply dismantle agencies to pave the path to privatization and obtain access to sensitive government data. Under this logic, the elimination of regulations and administrative chaos would favor the intervention of private companies in key sectors such as defense, agriculture and security. The second hypothesis is that Musk and his team really believe in their mission, but they completely lack the skills to execute it, replicating that arrogance that is presupposed to Silicon Valley by assuming that the ability to build software translates into competition to handle the government apparatus. In other words: Musk can be a genius in certain areas, but his performance as a “de facto CEO” of the government is increasingly close to a failure. Consequences. Thus, the destruction caused by Doge not only affects government efficiency, but can have economic and geopolitical implications In the long term. The purge of thousands of employees has triggered unemployment and generated instability in key sectors, which could have recessive effects on the economy. The decision to dismantle critical areas such as those of the USDA have weakened key plots such as Food security and agricultural protection of the nation at a time when the supply chain already faces challenges such as The aviar flu and the Commercial disputes with China. Meanwhile, as ports begin to feel the effects of the lack of inspections, concern grows between farmers, merchants and consumers. If the situation is not reversed, the country could face an unprecedented agricultural crisis. Image | Gage Skidmore, US Department In Xataka | In his eagerness to attack the public sector, Elon Musk has crossed a line: distorting the story of Hitler and Stalin In Xataka | Elon Musk has revealed the formula of his team’s success. The problem is that they barely have time to sleep and … Read more

We have been studying the oldest remains of a human in Atapuerca for more than two years. And we still know what species belonged to

by

In the summer of 2022, those responsible for the Atapuerca site, in Burgos, made known An important find. It was about what seemed to be the face of the oldest hominid found throughout Europe and lived more than a million years ago in the north of the Peninsula. Almost three years later, we know new details about this primitive human. Pink Details such as the name with which they have baptized the individual to whom these bones belonged: Pink. The study has corroborated the initial estimates of the team responsible for the finding, which at the time already indicated that we are facing The oldest human in Europe of which we have record. The new estimates date the remains in a period that goes Between 1.4 and 1.1 million years ago In time. This implies that the fossil is several hundred thousand years before the oldest remains of the deposit (belonging to a Homo antecessor), dated about 860,000 years ago. Homo affinis erectus. An important fact that still remains to be elucidated about the species belonged to this individual. The new work confirms that the individual did not belong to the species Homo antecessoras the remains found in the Great Dolina. The specimen would have belonged to an old Homo erectus. That is why the remains have been classified in a “provisional” way as a member of the species Homo affinis erectus. “Homo antecessorShare with Homo sapiens a more modern -looking face and the projection of the bones of the nose, while Pink’s face configuration is more primitive, with features that remember Homo erectusespecially in its nasal, flat and poorly developed structure ”, explained in a press release María Martinón-Torres, director of CENIEH. June 2022. The fragment was found by Edgar TéllezMember of the Atapuerca research team, in June 2022. cataloged as ATE7-1, the remains were found in the stratum TE7 of the elephant’s chasm. After more than two years of analysis, the details of their study have been published in the form of Article in the magazine Nature. Clues about a way of life.The TE7 level can give us important clues about the environment in which Pink developed. It has recovered stone tools and animal remains with cuts of cuts, which would have been used by these presumable human inhabitants of Atapuerca and Europe. As explained by the team responsible for the study, these brands indicate that the inhabitants of Atapuerca in the lower Pleistocene not only knew the resources available in their environment, they were also able to take advantage of them “systematically”. A piece of a huge puzzle. The finding is just one more piece in the huge puzzle of human evolution and the dissemination of gender species Homo throughout our planet. We know that various waves of several species left their original continent, Africa, towards Eurasia, but the routes that followed have been hidden over time. Another important clue in this regard is precisely on a very different access route: Caucasus. A fossil gurpo found in Georgia They were so far the only track of the adventures of the H. erectus out of Africa. The oldest hominile fossils found outside the African continent were five skulls with around 1.8 million years old. These fossils were classified as H. erectusbut there are also certain doubts about this classification due to some important differences in their characteristics. This will suggest, Ann Gibbons explains In an article in the magazine Sciencethat more than one species HomoI could have left Africa in this era. The Atapuerca fossil would not belong to this species strictly, and now it gives us a new clue with which to advance in the resolution of the enigma complex. In Xataka | We just found the lost link of human evolution: the first bone toolbox Image | Iphes

After the controversies with the wolf, farmers and hunters begin to have a problem with another protected species: the lynx

by

The return of the Iberian lynx (Lynx Pardinus) is seen by many as one of the great successes achieved by conservation policies. The species has passed in the last decades of touching the extinction to its recent recthtelogation by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN): these felines were no longer considered as a species “in danger” but as “vulnerable.” End of idyll. The reintroduction of this animal could also be seen as a success in marketingwhich turned a stretched and disdain animal on the Iberian Fauna icon. Now that image seems to be blurring. At least among farmers and hunters, as Ramón Pérez de Ayala, responsible for the WWF species program, recently explained, in statements collected by eldiario.es. Frustrated reintroductions. The misgivings from the agricultural sector are not exactly new, but in recent months their complaints seem to have won some battles. The most recent, in Catalonia, where last month the Government ended the plans to reintroduce to the cat. It was not the first battle that lost the lynx in recent months. In October, Ministry of Environment, Housing and Planning of the Territory of the Board of Castilla y León approved the reintroduction of the lynx In Palencia But he left the Zamoran Duero’s cannons outside the project, according to The local press explained at the time. In this province, the rejection by the agricultural sector had become evident months ago. What’s happening. The obstacles to this animal could be striking but respond to the complexity of integrating the feline reintroduction plans with the agricultural system in the new habitats designated for the species. The problem does not have so much to do with the lynx but with one of its prey: rabbits. The rabbit is a central part of the lynx diet. So much so that Fear of farmers and hunters is in the possibility that the plans for reintroduction of the lynx will be accompanied by protection measures for rabbits. Different sectors, different perspectives. For hunters the problem is double: first because they must compete for dams With these animals; second to the possibility that the protection measures of lynx and rabbits prevent the hunting of the latter. For farmers the problem is with the possibility that the measures trigger the population of rabbits. These herbivores, They have denounced Sometimes from the agricultural sector, they suppose a threat to crops, which unleashes the misgivings of the sector to the plans to reintroduce to its predator. The furtivism, another threat. The problems for the lynx and their lace in Spanish ecosystems do not stay there. Last year for example He denounced the illegal hunting of these cats in Murcia, and the impact of this on the probabilities of success of reintroduction efforts. In recent decades, problems with the attacks of these carnivores to farm animals have also been occasionally recorded. A study Published in 2013, he pointed out that in the previous six years 40 lynx attacks were counted that were charged with the lives of hundreds of farm animals. The problem He has persisted In the last decade. Not just the lynx. Problems with carnivorous reintroductions such as lynx, wolf or bear in Spain have become a almost constant confrontation focus between environmentalists and the agricultural and hunting sectors. The problem is not exclusive to the country even of the Peninsula. So much so that from Europe the possibility of lowering the protection of the wolf seems aimed at materializing in a matter of weeks. In Xataka | We have lost track of one of the few mammals that put eggs. Now we have rediscovered it Image | Konrads Bilderwerkstatt

The coipú, one of the 100 most harmful invasive species in the world, is at the gates of Barcelona

by

You can remember the Castor or the musk, but Coipú is something else. Coming from South America, this rodent is “similar to a large rat of small ears, with the end of the snout and white cheeks.” It has the “robust and arched” body, the fur “of brown” and can exceed 60 cm long and 6 and a half kilos of weight. In addition, in Spain, it is an invasive species. An invasive species that does not stop growing. What does a mouse like you in a place like this? To Catalonia, According to the Ecological Research Center and Forest Applicationsthey were first introduced at the beginning of the 20th century with the intention of raising them to take advantage of their skin. And, although there are documented farm leaks since the 70s, only since 2000 (when a new source of coipús appeared: France) began to expand from Empordá. The problem is that they have now detected in the Congost river. That is, they are at the gates of the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona and everything suggests that they will end up arriving. Because? Because “Coipú has a high fertility, so when it reaches areas with a climate favorable and with food, as it has found in Catalonia, its expansion is unlikely,” Marc Riera explainsCREAF researcher. Moreover, Barcelona would only be the beginning. “This situation causes coipu to extend through the Catalan coast” and reach “to the Valencian Community.” And what exactly is the problem? That is what many people ask. After all, we talk about a harmless rodent. However, its impact on the environment is very documented: “Coipú is having a serious impact on the wet areas of all the countries to which it has reached.” And it is not only that it competes with the rest of species for resources such as food, it “causes impacts on the plant species of the places where it lives and in the nearby crops, since it feeds on the base of the stems of the plants and excavates to also reach the roots. “ In fact, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has included it in the list of 100 more harmful exotic species in the world. Spain in front of Coipú. The real problem, as explained from CreafIt is that “unfortunately, once an exotic species becomes an invader in a territory, its total eradication is practically impossible.” Above all, because we must be clear that the coipú will not be the last species that reaches our territory and threatens to put all ups up. In a context in The illegal introductions of animals are the order of the day It seems clear that we must reflect on how we are managing exotic species and what means we are putting to control the new world scenario. Image | Peleg | Exocat In Xataka | Franco introduced an exotic sheep in the Teide to content the hunters. Now it is ending its ecosystem

What does a Mongolian horse in Palencia? The introduction of species in Spain has just achieved a new milestone

by

The loss of global biodiversity is a fact against which they alert, day too, experts from around the world. At the same time, our globalized world is also winding the arrival of new animal species to ecosystems never before inhabited by their ancestors. And not, We are not talking of invasive exotic species. A very unique birth. The European Bisonte reserve located in San Cebrián de Mudá, on the Palencia mountain, has witnessed the first birth of a przewalski breeding according to advanced the Chain ser. The Przewalski horse. The Przewalski horse (Equus Ferus Przewalskii) It is a subspecies of the domestic introduced in various parts of Spain whose origin is not entirely clear. Its origin is in the steppes of Mongolia (although there are populations introduced in other parts of the globe) and is considered the last wild horse. Are relatively small horseswhich reach between 1.3 and 1.5 meters high, lengths between 2.2 and 2.6 m, and a mass of between 250 and 360 kg. They are, yes, resistant horses, capable of surviving in the harsh conditions of the Mongolian steppes or the Gobi desert. Endangered species. According to IUCN’s red list (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources), The group in charge of monitoring the state of conservation of the different species of animals, plants and fungi on our planet, the Przewalski horse is an endangered species. Estimates on the number of individuals vary, but the most optimistic They calculate that the total population does not reach 2,000 individuals. European bison reserve. The new copy was born in the European Bisonte reserve, where a population of Przewalski horses lives with one of European bison (Bison Bonasus) composed of specimens of two subspecies: Lowland and Lowland Caucasianexplains the reservation itself On its website. According to points out the BEthe father of the new foal belonged to the population of the reserve itself, while the mother was decide by the association Paleolithic alivean initiative focused “in promotion and conservation of nature.” This association manages a reserve located in Salguero de Juarros, Burgos. Uncertain origins. Przewalski horses are related to domestic horses, but it has only been during the last decade that we have been finding out little by little and studied this relationship. Genetic analyzes have estimated that domestic horses and przewalski are “distant cousins” that shared common ancestors about 500,000 years ago. In 2024, A job Posted in the magazine G3 Genes | Genomes | GeneticsHe studied in depth the genetics of this species reaching the conclusion, among others, that these animals share 99.63% of their mythogenoma with domestic horses. (Re) Introductions. Even when it is done with the aim of conserving a species, the introductions and reintroductions of animals usually come accompanied by important doubts To consider. The introduction of the European bison is an obvious example since there are serious doubts about whether this species inhabited the peninsula along with the native bison, the steppe bison (Bison Priscus). Another singular case is that of the Castores, who in recent years have thrown out in the basins of the Peninsula rivers. After this expansion, all An “bombing” initiative (Beaver Bombing). The controversy also usually accompanies the reintroduction of native species. This is a good example of the reintroductions of the wolf and the bear, protested by farmers from the areas where these animals have their new habitat. In Xataka | If the objective is to save a species in extinction, Brazil has a rupturist approach: that humans leave it alone Image | BS Thurner Hof

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.