The Daily Populous

Sunday March 19th, 2023 day edition

image for Sharkgate: Scientists Claim 'Rare Shark' in Photo Is Actually Just a Plastic Toy

An exciting scientific record of a rare species in a new place might actually just be a photo of a plastic toy.

Last year, scientists published a paper in which they documented a supposed juvenile goblin shark specimen, found dead and washed up on a beach in Greece.

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Yet no one had ever published evidence of a goblin shark in the Mediterranean Sea, until this study.

“I think it’s very possible that it could be [a] degraded plastic toy,” Joana Sipe, a plastic degradation researcher at Duke University, told Gizmodo in a phone call.

Greg Merrill, a Duke University graduate student who studies plastic pollution in marine mammals, also believed the photographed “animal” was a plastic model.

“I am not a shark expert; I study whales and plastic,” he wrote to Gizmodo in an email. »

Japan, South Korea renew ties at Tokyo summit

Authored by apnews.com

TOKYO (AP) — Japan and South Korea agreed to resume regular visits between their leaders and take steps to resolve a trade dispute during a long-awaited summit Thursday.

Hours before the summit began, South Korean Trade Minister Lee Chang-yang said that Japan had agreed to lift export controls on South Korea following talks this week, and that South Korea will withdraw its complaint to the World Trade Organization once the curbs are removed.

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. »

Nearly 8 in 10 Voters Support Sanders Bill to Raise Minimum Teacher Pay to $60k

Authored by truthout.org

This includes nearly half of respondents, or 45 percent, who said that they “strongly” support the idea.

It would raise the salaries of 43 percent of public school teachers across the country and would work toward solving problems of low teacher morale and teacher shortages.

“It is time to end the international embarrassment of America ranking 29th out of 30 countries in pay for middle school teachers,” Sanders said. »