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Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sloths The Size of Elephants Roamed America, Before Abruptly Vanishing
Massive Megatherium sloths once stood as large as Asian elephants, ripping foliage off treetops with prehensile tongues like today's giraffes. "They looked like grizzly bears but five times larger," says paleontologist Rachel Narducci from the Florida Museum of Natural History. Megatherium were among a dazzling assortment of more than a hundred different sloth species that once roamed the Americas. Their ancient DNA now tells the likely story of why only six sloth species remain. Analyzing the DNA of 403 sloth fossils from museum collections, alongside weight estimates and environmental information, a new study has created a detailed sloth family tree. This 35 million years of evolutionary history revealed these once-diverse animals' sizes matched up neatly with the environmental conditions they experienced. The endearingly dopey mammals we know and love today are so suited to their arboreal environment that they've developed an incredibly strong upper body, have guts designed to hang upside-down, and risk their lives when they descend to poop. "Living sloths are extremely slow and that's because they have a very low metabolic rate," University of Buenos Aires paleontologist Alberto Boscaini told Helen Briggs from the BBC. "This is their strategy to survive." But many ancient species were too heavy for tree branches to bear, and stuck to the ground, like Megatherium and Lestodon. Unlike today's sloths, these species were well suited to moving with agility over the earth and had much faster metabolisms. "Some ground sloths also had little pebble-like osteoderms embedded in their skin," notes Narducci, explaining these rocky bumps were a ground-defense trait they shared with one of their closest relatives, armadillos. There was even an aquatic sloth, Thalassocnus, that survived life on the arid strip between the Andes and Pacific by foraging in the ocean. "They developed adaptations similar to those of manatees," says Narducci. "They had dense ribs to help with buoyancy and longer snouts for eating seagrass." Gigantism evolved several times in sloths and likely contributed to their survival into the Pleistocene ice ages, when they reached their greatest sizes. But about 15,000 years ago many of these species abruptly vanished. "[This] does not track with shifts in palaeotemperature, reinforcing the idea that human impacts played a more prominent role in the extinction of ground sloths than climatic change," the researchers conclude. The bulk that kept giant sloths warm and saved them from local predators made them a target of Earth's most voracious predator: us. Their numbers dropped off massively once humans arrived in North America. In contrast, the sluggish tree-climbers we know today seemed to have had more luck staying out of our reach, at least until more recently. Two of the six species still alive today are now on the IUCN endangered species lists. Boscaini and team's findings echo an increasingly recognized global story: the rapid extinction of megafauna following the arrival of humans – a scenario that's still continuing today. This research was published in Science. This Giant Snail Lays Eggs Out of Its Neck… Yes, Seriously Cephalopods Passed a Cognitive Test Designed For Human Children Study Reveals How Your Cat Remembers Who You Are
France 24
23-05-2025
- Business
- France 24
Distrusting Argentines loath to bank their 'mattress dollars'
"I wouldn't even think of putting my savings in the bank," the former lawyer told AFP at her modest apartment in Buenos Aires. She asked to use a fake name to shield herself from thieves. Lopez is not alone. The government estimates there are about $200 billion so-called "mattress dollars" out there -- five times the reserves of the Central Bank. On Thursday, President Javier Milei's government launched a plan to encourage Argentines to bank these dollars, also commonly stashed under floor boards, in safety deposit boxes or offshore accounts. Under the initiative, anyone can make a deposit of up to 100 million pesos (about $90,000) without having to declare the provenance. The goal is to boost foreign reserves, stimulate the formal economy and bolster the peso. But Lopez remains skeptical. "The one who kept his savings (in the bank) was my father, he always lost, it always went bad for him," she said. One of the worst moments, said Lopez, was in 2001 when the then-government put in place so-called "corralito" (corraling) measures to limit cash withdrawals and freeze bank accounts. That move, intended to limit capital flight in the midst of a prolonged recession, was widely considered draconian and the spark for protests that left 39 people dead and toppled a president. Trafficking, corruption, smuggling? Argentina has faced 16 economic crises since 1860. Lopez has lived through seven of them in the last 50 years. Countless people lost life savings as the system collapsed over and over, inflation spiraled out of control, and governments imposed currency controls. Their fingers burnt, many Argentines took to trading their battered pesos for whatever greenbacks they could lay their hands on, and hoarding them at home. In cash. Now Milei wants that money to enter the system, saying in an interview Monday: "I don't care in the slightest where the dollars come from." His is not the first Argentine government to try this. As long as the dollars are not in the system, explained economist Julian Zicari of the University of Buenos Aires, they "do not contribute to (foreign) reserves nor generate lending capacity for banks." Self-declared anarcho-capitalist Milei has imposed strict budget-cutting measures on the South American country since taking office in December 2023, resulting in inflation dropping from 211 percent to 118 percent last year. Maintaining a stable exchange rate is one of his chief goals. Last year, a tax amnesty brought in billions of dollars in deposits and, in April, Argentina received a first tranche of $12 billion from a new $20 billion dollar loan agreed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Some fear the "mattress dollar" concessions will abet money laundering, though the government has denied this. "By not requiring justification of origin... the possibility is enabled for funds from drug trafficking, human trafficking, public corruption or smuggling to be incorporated into the formal system," economist Pablo Tigani wrote in the Ambito newspaper. In effect, he argued, it amounts to "an amnesty for those who did not pay taxes, without any distinction between tax evasion, illicit enrichment, or even money laundering." Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni insisted Thursday that those with undeclared funds "are not criminals, they are the vast majority of Argentines who have been abused by excessive taxes and controls." Either way, Lopez insists nothing can get her to part with her pea can. "One day the government tells you one thing and then another government comes in and does something else. I don't trust them. I wouldn't put my money in the bank," she said.
Int'l Business Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Distrusting Argentines Loath To Bank Their 'Mattress Dollars'
Argentine "Rita Lopez," 84, keeps her US dollars hidden in an empty pea can in the kitchen. Since childhood, she has steered clear of banks in a country that has veered from one economic crisis to another. "I wouldn't even think of putting my savings in the bank," the former lawyer told AFP at her modest apartment in Buenos Aires. She asked to use a fake name to shield herself from thieves. Lopez is not alone. The government estimates there are about $200 billion so-called "mattress dollars" out there -- five times the reserves of the Central Bank. On Thursday, President Javier Milei's government launched a plan to encourage Argentines to bank these dollars, also commonly stashed under floor boards, in safety deposit boxes or offshore accounts. Under the initiative, anyone can make a deposit of up to 100 million pesos (about $90,000) without having to declare the provenance. The goal is to boost foreign reserves, stimulate the formal economy and bolster the peso. But Lopez remains skeptical. "The one who kept his savings (in the bank) was my father, he always lost, it always went bad for him," she said. One of the worst moments, said Lopez, was in 2001 when the then-government put in place so-called "corralito" (corraling) measures to limit cash withdrawals and freeze bank accounts. That move, intended to limit capital flight in the midst of a prolonged recession, was widely considered draconian and the spark for protests that left 39 people dead and toppled a president. Argentina has faced 16 economic crises since 1860. Lopez has lived through seven of them in the last 50 years. Countless people lost life savings as the system collapsed over and over, inflation spiraled out of control, and governments imposed currency controls. Their fingers burnt, many Argentines took to trading their battered pesos for whatever greenbacks they could lay their hands on, and hoarding them at home. In cash. Now Milei wants that money to enter the system, saying in an interview Monday: "I don't care in the slightest where the dollars come from." His is not the first Argentine government to try this. As long as the dollars are not in the system, explained economist Julian Zicari of the University of Buenos Aires, they "do not contribute to (foreign) reserves nor generate lending capacity for banks." Self-declared anarcho-capitalist Milei has imposed strict budget-cutting measures on the South American country since taking office in December 2023, resulting in inflation dropping from 211 percent to 118 percent last year. Maintaining a stable exchange rate is one of his chief goals. Last year, a tax amnesty brought in billions of dollars in deposits and, in April, Argentina received a first tranche of $12 billion from a new $20 billion dollar loan agreed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Some fear the "mattress dollar" concessions will abet money laundering, though the government has denied this. "By not requiring justification of origin... the possibility is enabled for funds from drug trafficking, human trafficking, public corruption or smuggling to be incorporated into the formal system," economist Pablo Tigani wrote in the Ambito newspaper. In effect, he argued, it amounts to "an amnesty for those who did not pay taxes, without any distinction between tax evasion, illicit enrichment, or even money laundering." Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni insisted Thursday that those with undeclared funds "are not criminals, they are the vast majority of Argentines who have been abused by excessive taxes and controls." Either way, Lopez insists nothing can get her to part with her pea can. "One day the government tells you one thing and then another government comes in and does something else. I don't trust them. I wouldn't put my money in the bank," she said.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Argentina's black market for dollars falters as currency controls are eased
By Leila Miller BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - On the streets of downtown Buenos Aires, where years of tough currency controls fermented a thriving black market for dollars, an army of illegal money traders are finding times hard under the economic reforms of Argentine President Javier Milei. Milei tore down most currency controls last month, easing access for Argentines to official currency markets after six years of restrictions. That is not good news for the street traders, known locally as "arbolitos" (literally, little trees), but has been welcomed by locals and companies who can now exchange pesos for dollars at greater amounts and with more ease than before. Part of a wider set of economic reforms Milei has enacted since taking office in late 2023, the easing of currency controls is a bold attempt to shake the economy out of years of crisis that had made the South American country a pariah of global markets. Investors had called for the end of capital controls to boost trade and erase distortions caused by huge gaps between the official exchange rate and the black market. In recent weeks, the dueling FX rates converged for the first time since 2019, when the government had imposed capital controls to defend a crashing peso currency. Everyday Argentines no longer need to resort to the black market to get their money's worth, while companies are able to access dollars to pay for imports without having to abide by a previous waiting-period. "It brings back confidence to the financial system," said Ariel Coremberg, an economist at the University of Buenos Aires and an adviser to Milei, adding that the measure will increase taxable flows as fewer people seek black market dollars. "Us arbolitos here are going through a crisis," said Francisco, 50, a black market trader in front of a flower stand on a busy street in downtown Buenos Aires last week, who asked to only be identified by his first name. Nearby, another money trader who gave his name as Leo said: "Our legs are being cut from under us." GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO LURE INVESTORS The winding down of currency controls was part of a larger macroeconomic shift that was key to the country sealing a new $20 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund last month and starting to lure investors it needs to boost the economy. Companies will be able to send new profits abroad without facing the restrictions they did previously. Foreign investors "all reacted well" to the lifting of the currency controls, said Fausto Spotorno, an economist at the OJF consultancy in Buenos Aires. "The question is where this money will be invested." To be sure, Argentina has become more expensive relative to its neighbors under Milei, cutting off a source of dollars as would-be tourists have baulked at the higher prices. Inbound tourism dropped by a quarter in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, official data show. And there will still be demand for the black market from the country's large informal workforce, said Federico Filippini, chief economist at financial consultancy Adcap in Buenos Aires. Both informal workers and business owners with undeclared income use the black market for exchange to avoid attention from the tax authorities. Many Argentines have also traditionally converted part of their peso income into dollars as a bulwark against volatility. But, said Guadalupe Calvano, a high school teacher in Buenos Aires, the reality was that many now did not have enough spare cash to convert it into dollars - on the black market or otherwise. "People lost their capacity to save," said Calvano. She said she used to put aside 10% of her salary to buy dollars but has stopped doing so because her salary has not increased to match a recent uptick in the cost of goods and the price of her utility bills. Inflation has cooled under Milei, but the income of state workers like teachers has dwindled in real terms. "I can't think about buying dollars while I'm not sure if I will make it until the end of the month or not," said Calvano. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Newsweek
05-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Javier Milei Has Been a Disaster for Argentina
Just over a year into President Javier Milei's radical experiment in Argentina, his government boasts of an economic miracle: a record fiscal surplus, a stronger currency, and surging market optimism. But behind these numbers lies a brutal truth. Milei's program—one of the most austere in history and cheered on by figures of the global far right—is tearing apart Argentina's social fabric and democratic institutions, leaving millions in deepening poverty and despair. The cost of this "miracle" is paid by children who go to underfunded schools, pensioners who can't afford medication, and women escaping domestic violence only to find state-run shelters closed. The government's much-celebrated fiscal achievements are funded by gutting institutions meant to sustain human life. Today, more than half of Argentina's population lives below the poverty line, according to the Catholic University of Argentina. This is a direct result of Milei's devaluation of the Peso and cuts to government funding. Over the past year, tens of thousands of government workers have been dismissed. Food assistance to tens of thousands of families has been cut off. The Ministry of Women, Genders, and Diversity was eliminated. Education budgets have been slashed by 70 percent in real terms, threatening to shut down iconic public universities like the University of Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, Milei and other top government officials gave themselves a 48 percent salary increase last year. The government also quietly shipped several tons of gold reserves to the United Kingdom as financial collateral, sparking outrage in a country still haunted by the colonial wound of the Malvinas/Falklands. Sovereignty, it seems, is now a tradable asset. But beyond this damage lies something more insidious: democratic backsliding. Milei has ruled largely by decree, bypassing Congress to implement sweeping deregulation and privatization. His "Omnibus Law" would have granted him near-dictatorial powers over taxation, natural resources, and the press. When the bill was partially rejected, peaceful demonstrators were met with tear gas, mass arrests, and indiscriminate violence. Among the detainees: journalists, union organizers, even high school teachers. Milei denies climate change, ridicules social justice, and champions trickle-down cruelty. He insulted the late Pope Francis and whitewashed the 1976–1983 military dictatorship that forcibly disappeared 30,000 people. He publicly promoted a cryptocurrency scam that defrauded thousands of Argentinians and Americans, prompting an active judicial investigation in the U.S. These actions embody his ethos: politics as speculative casino, corruption as global digital spectacle, and contempt for accountability. This is not provocation—it is an ideology that replaces empathy with disdain and treats the state as an enemy to be dismantled. But Milei didn't emerge from a vacuum. The betrayal began with the quiet surrender of his predecessor, Alberto Fernández, whose government cloaked itself in progressive language, but failed to confront the powers that truly govern Argentina: corporate monopolies, foreign creditors, and judicial mafias. While speaking of social justice, it tiptoed around confrontation, appeased the International Monetary Fund, and left millions in poverty. That political cowardice paved the road for something far more brutal. Milei's rise was not just a reaction to the economic crisis—it was the product of cultural abandonment. Fernández's administration lost its soul when it stopped fighting for workers and the marginalized, instead governing for technocrats and PR headlines. It stands as a warning for every country where progressive leadership forgets that dignity is not a marketing strategy—it's a fight. BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - APRIL 30: President of Argentina Javier Milei (C) gestures during a walk around Villa Lugano as part of Manuel Adorni's campaign on April 30, 2025 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - APRIL 30: President of Argentina Javier Milei (C) gestures during a walk around Villa Lugano as part of Manuel Adorni's campaign on April 30, 2025 in Buenos Aires, democracy was rebuilt from the ashes of the last civic-military dictatorship. That hard-won social pact is now under siege. Human rights organizations are vilified in government-aligned media. The security minister labels protesters as "internal enemies." Intelligence agencies have returned to putting union leaders and community organizers under surveillance. It is no coincidence that Donald Trump praises Milei, Elon Musk promotes him, and Jair Bolsonaro emulates him. Behind this model lies a transnational alliance of libertarian think tanks, financial elites, and far-right agitators who see Argentina as a test case. And the contagion is already widespread. In Brazil, Bolsonarist factions are seeking revenge. In El Salvador, Nayib Bukele imprisons thousands without trial under the guise of security. In the United States, Trump is back—with a thirst for vengeance. To those in Washington who view Milei as an ally because of his anti-China rhetoric or market enthusiasm, I ask: at what cost? Ignoring authoritarianism is not only cynical, it will embolden would-be autocrats. I've worked for years in Argentina's poorest neighborhoods, alongside informal workers, evicted families, and children who rummage through trash to survive. I've witnessed priests resist forced evictions, mothers run soup kitchens in the rain, and students drop out of school because they can't afford transportation. These are not passive victims. They are the country's moral backbone. The crisis we face is structural. Land, housing, work, health care, and education are not luxuries—they are basic rights millions in Argentina lack. In response to the failed Milei model, we propose a different system: one rooted in the fair distribution of land to produce healthy food, dignified housing for every family, formal employment through the popular economy, a territorial public health system, and inclusive education. What we advocate is not charity—it's justice. It's not assistance—it's grassroots power. And it's not a dream—it's a roadmap for a nation that belongs to all its people, not just the elite. Argentina is not yet lost. But its democracy is in grave danger. The libertarian dystopia being tested in our country is one where markets rule and the vulnerable are left to die. We must say no. Juan Grabois is an Argentine lawyer, social leader, and former presidential candidate. He is the founder of the Movimiento de Trabajadores Excluidos (MTE), working across Latin America in defense of human rights and the popular economy. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
