The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Donald Trump on Monday to keep a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission away from her post for now, temporarily pausing a judicial order that required the reinstatement of the commissioner who the Republican president has sought to oust.
The court’s action, known as an administrative stay, gives the justices additional time to consider Trump’s formal request to let him fire Rebecca Slaughter from the consumer protection and antitrust agency prior to her term expiring.
The stay was issued by Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles emergency filings arising in Washington, D.C. Roberts asked Slaughter to file a response by next Monday.
The Justice Department made the request on Thursday after Washington-based U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan blocked Trump’s firing of Slaughter. AliKhan ruled in July that Trump’s attempt to remove Slaughter did not comply with removal protections in federal law. Congress put such tenure protections in place to give certain regulatory agencies a degree of independence from presidential control.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on September 2 in a 2-1 decision upheld the judge’s ruling, prompting the administration’s request to the Supreme Court.
Slaughter said she intends to “see this case through to the end.”
“In the week I was back at the FTC it became even more clear to me that we desperately need the transparency and accountability Congress intended to have at bipartisan independent agencies,” Slaughter said.
An FTC spokesperson declined to comment.
The lower courts ruled that the statutory protections shielding FTC members from being removed without cause conform with the U.S. Constitution in light of a 1935 Supreme Court precedent in a case called Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.
In that case, the court ruled that a president lacks unfettered power to remove FTC commissioners, faulting then-President Franklin Roosevelt’s firing of an FTC commissioner for policy differences.
The administration in its Supreme Court filing argued that “the modern FTC exercises far more substantial powers than the 1935 FTC,” and thus its members can be fired at will by the president.
The court in a similar ruling in May said the Constitution gives the president wide latitude to fire government officials who wield executive power on his behalf.
The administration has repeatedly asked the justices this year to allow implementation of Trump policies impeded by lower courts. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has sided with the administration in almost every case that it has been called upon to review since Trump returned to the presidency in January.
Slaughter was one of two Democratic commissioners who Trump moved to fire in March. No more than three of the five commissioners can come from the same party, and the FTC has operated since April with three Republicans at the helm.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has pursued conservative political goals at the agency, including holding a workshop on what it called the dangers of gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, saying the agency would investigate whether employers coordinated diversity, equity and inclusion goals, and telling Google that filtering Republican fundraising emails as spam could be unlawful.
The FTC has also sought to investigate media watchdogs accused by Elon Musk of helping orchestrate advertiser boycotts of his social media platform X, and cleared Omnicom’s $13.5 billion acquisition of rival Interpublic after the companies agreed not to steer advertising spend based on political factors.
Ferguson, who was appointed as a commissioner by Democratic former President Joe Biden last year, often dissented from actions taken by then-FTC Chair Lina Khan, who carried out a liberal political agenda aimed at checking corporate power.
John Kruzel and Jody Godoy, Reuters
For more than 150 years, horse-drawn carriages have been a fixture in Manhattans Central Park. Now, a growing online movement is trying to push them out.
Pure joythe feeling I have when I ruin the sale of a horse carriage guy, Kristina Papilion, who posts under the handle @spare_time_gurl, said in a video posted last month. The horse guys hate to see me coming, she added in another.
@kristinapap Despite a horse collapsing and dying last week blocks from Central Park – & it being NINETY DEGREES in NYC TODAY – the Central Park horse carriages were still operating. Speak up and help save the horses!!!#centralpark #nyc #newyork #fyp #horse #horses original sound – spare_time_gurl
Papilion never intended to become a horsefluencer, as she calls her now-viral series. A New York City local who visits the park almost daily, she felt compelled to speak out after a carriage horse named Lady collapsed and died last month.
@kristinapap Another horse died in Central Park today!!! RIP Lady @Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AlexandriaOcasio-Cortez @Zohran Mamdani #centralpark #nyc original sound – spare_time_gurl
At the end of July, I was in California when I recorded a video about how the industry needs to end, Papilion tells Fast Company. I decided to wait and re-record when I got back to New York, thinking it would carry more weight. But before I even could, Lady collapsed and died on 11th Avenue. Thats when I postedthe same day she died.
Ladys death has revived a long-running debate over an industry some see as a tourist draw and others as animal abuse. (Fast Company has reached out to the Transport Workers Union for comment.)
Since then, Papilion has made it her mission to educate tourists about carriage horses and push back against handlers who, she says, work them during periods of extreme heat. While the drivers may resent her, many commenters cheer her on. Girl, thank you for what youre doing, one wrote. Youre literally my hero, added another.
@kristinapap Saturday, August 16 @ 11:30am | Everyones favorite coachman being the horse lover that he is this morning #nyc #centralpark original sound – spare_time_gurl
My hope is that the more people see how outdated and cruel this practice is, the harder it becomes to ignore, Papilion tells Fast Company. If the videos push things in the right direction, its worth every aggressive run-in.
Papilion is not the only influencer using their platform to speak up about the practice. This is the type of shit that pisses me the fuck off, TikToker Dylan Kevitch remarked in a video posted last month as he biked through Central Park. Just give me five seconds.
@dylan.kevitch Save a horse and ride a cowboy! #fyp original sound – msjacksonn89
A few seconds later, he rode past a carriage pulled by a white horse. Put the fucking horse back in the fucking barn, he shouted at the handler. The clip has since gained 2.6 million views.
I go to Central Park almost every day to ride a bike, and it kills me to see these adorable horses in the beating sun, Kevitch tells Fast Company. I wanted to take advantage of my platform and use my voice.
Ladys death comes three years after another high-profile death of a carriage horse named Ryder. The horses death spurred Ryders Law, a bill introduced in 2022 to phase out and ban horse-drawn carriages in the city by 2026.
For the first time, the Central Park Conservancy has thrown its support behind the bill,
Confidence in finding a new job is at an all-time low among workers, while job huggingthe trend where “workers hold onto their jobs for dear life”is at an all-time high, according to a new survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released on Monday.
The New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations for August found respondents believed they had only a 44.9% of finding another job after losing their current onethe lowest in the surveys history since June 2013. That’s 5.8% lower than in July, the previous month.
The findings are in line with a July report, which found the majority of employees plan to stay in their current job for at least the next six months, with Gen Z workers reporting the highest desire to stay put.
Another interesting finding: 39.1% of those surveyed expect the unemployment rate will be higher a year from now, up 1.7% from July, and a point above the 12-month average.
Additionally, respondents expect inflation to go up in the short term, but remain unchanged in the medium-to-long term. They also believe their spending and household income growth will remain the same.
The survey results reflect Americans’ general feelings of overall economic uncertainty in the face of higher prices, Trump tariffs, inflation, and the increasing cost of living.
The news comes at the same time as August’s weak jobs report. As Fast Company previously reported, last month U.S. employers added only 22,000 jobs. That was as unemployment hit 4.3%, the highest rate since 2021 during the pandemic. Setting aside the pandemic period, it was the largest share of unemployed Americans since September 2017, with over 25% going over six months without a job.
Its a whole new world?
Shares of Eightco Holdings, a relatively unknown company that runs an inventory-management platform among other things, increased by more than 4,000% on Monday after it announced a $250 million private placement to adopt a buying strategy to purchase Worldcoin.
It is the latest small publicly traded company to pivot to a digital-asset treasury in the hopes that the value of the tokens increases over time. Here’s what to know about the news.
What is Worldcoin?
Worldcoin is the native crypto token for the World blockchain, launched by OpenAI’s Sam Altman. Eightco also announced Dan Ives, an analyst who previously worked at Wedbush Securities, as its new chairman.
Eightcos offering, per its release, is expected to close by the end of the week. It also announced plans to change its ticker from “OCTO” to ORBS. The change is pending approval by the Nasdaq exchange, where shares of Eightco are traded.
How has Eightco Holdings stock reacted?
The news sent Eightcos stock price skyrocketing. After closing at $1.45 a share on Friday, the stock peaked at $83.23 in midday trading on Monday.
As of roughly 1:30 pm ET, shares were trading for around $64, about a 4,334% increase.
What does Eightco actually do?
The Florida-based company was spun off from Vinco Ventures in 2022 and was previously called Cryptyde.
According to its most recent annual financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Eightco initially comprised three core business units: Web3, Bitcoin mining hardware, and corrugated packaging.
In 2022, it acquired Forever 8, which offers funding for e-commerce businesses that sell on Amazon and other platforms.
What else is there to know?
Digital asset treasuries have become increasingly common this year, although the extent to which they will pay off remains as speculative as the broader crypto market. Notably, Trump Media, parent company of the president’s Truth Social platform, announced plans in May to build a vast Bitcoin reserve with $2.5 billion from institutional investors.
In addition to its Worldcoin treasury strategy, Eightco Holdings also announced on Monday a $20 million strategic investment from BitMine Immersion.
BitMine, a blockchain mining and hosting company, is also publicly traded and has seen its share prices increase by almost 683% over the past six months. The investment appears to be a bet on the long-term viability of Ethereumand the crypto space as a wholeaccording to company leadership.
BitMine wants to support and back innovative projects that create value for the Ethereum network. As an ERC-20 native token, World is aligned with Ethereum,” said Tom Lee, BitMines chairman, in a statement.
The value of Worldcoin itself likewise saw a pump today, jumping from roughly $1 as of 9 p.m. ET Sunday night to more than $1.50 as of midday Monday.
This story is developing. . .
FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is set to reopen next month. According to a statement from the Department of Education, the online form for the 2026 to 2027 year will be available on Oct. 1.
The timing of the application’s opening is notably different from recent years. While in 2016, the application began opening to students in October, major technical issues in recent years have set the schedule back. In 2023, the application for the 2024 to 2025 year didn’t launch until December, meaning students had less time to apply for aid. The issues came about after a 2020 law mandated the form be revised and simplified.
The new application is also still in its beta testing stage. “The second phase of testing is now open and runs through September 2025,” the Department of Education’s announcement explains. “Anyone can request to participate, and well invite participants throughout this phase.” The announcement also noted that if students apply for aid during the beta testing period, they won’t need to resubmit the application later.
The department says the new application is simplified in a number of ways. For starters, it now has a real-time account verification tool which allows students to use their Social Security Number to avoid a waiting period. It also has a tool which allows students filling out the application to allow another person, like a parent, to collaborate in filling out the form.In terms of loan limits, the new application comes with a few changes from previous years after the passing of Trump’s budget cuts on July 4. For undergrad applicants, new borrowers will have a lifetime limit of $257,500. For the Parent PLUS loan program, parents will only be able to borrow $20,000 per dependent each year or a total of $65,000 per dependent. However, if students are already receiving loans (prior to July 1, 2026) they will be able to continue without the new Parent PLUS caps through the end of their child’s college years.Schools can now enforce specific loan limits for certain programs.All students looking to receive federal aid must complete the form by June 30, 2026. However, colleges and universities all have their own deadlines which students need to be aware of. “Many schools FAFSA due dates have priority deadlines, which means you need to submit your FAFSA form by that date to receive the best aid package,” according to the Department of Education. “These schools typically publish this date on their financial aid web pages. If you cant find the deadline, call the schools financial aid office.”
Borrowers can request access to the application here.
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As unsold completed new-build inventory piles up and builders see their pricing power decreasedparticularly in Sun Belt markets like Austin, Tampa, and Jacksonvillemore homebuilders are turning to layoffs to avoid a larger margin compression. Many builders are trimming corporate staff headcounts a little and scaling back on spec construction in areas where months of supply has gotten too high for their liking.
Look no further than a recent John Burns Research and Consulting survey, which found that 63% of U.S. homebuilders said their local peers had recently conducted layoffs, while only 14% reported no recent layoffs among peers.
The numbers were even more striking in key Sun Belt markets: 87% of Texas builders and 79% of Florida builders said their peers had recently cut workers.
By contrast, homebuilders in the Midwest and Northeast reported the lowest levels of layoff activity.
Unlike some other subsectors of residential real estatesuch as mortgage lending or the agent side of the businesshomebuilding employment had remained relatively resilient following the 2022 rate shock. Bigger incentives, like forward-commitment mortgage rate buydowns, helped many builders maintain sales volume and avoid a sharper pullback.
But with the housing market softening further over the past year and multifamily completions now rolling overafter a wave of projects completed that were financed during the ultra-low-rate pandemic yearsmore builders are cutting staff to adjust to the current environment.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, residential building construction employment has fallen by 3,800 jobs (-0.4%) from its cycle high in March 2025, while residential specialty trade contractor employment is down 44,000 jobs (-1.8%) from its September 2024 peak.
So far, thats not a big pullbackbut it certainly marks a softer residential labor market.
Given the recent softening in the residential construction labor market, its no surprise that during the latest earnings season, homebuilders emphasized that labor availability and labor costs arent major concerns right now. Heading into 2025, there were fears that a sharp slowdown in undocumented immigration at the border and an uptick in deportations could quickly tighten the residential construction labor pool and drive up labor costs. So far, broader conditions in homebuilding have outweighed those concerns.
On D.R. Horton’s July 22 earnings call, CEO Paul Romanowski said:
From labor availability, it’s plentiful. We have the labor that we need. Our trades are looking for work. And that’s why you’ve seen sequential and year-over-year reduction in our cycle time. Because we have the support we need to get our homes built. And, you know, given those efficiencies, reductions in stick and brick [costs] over time. Some of that is from design. And efficiency of the product that we’re putting in the field. And some of that is just from the efficiency of our operations.
On builder PulteGroup’s July 22 earnings call, CEO Ryan Marshall said:
Labors available. We havent seen any change there. We continue to be an employer of choice. Weve got consistent, predictable work. We pay on time. We pay well and fairly. So I think well continue to be a place that will attract available labor. You know, in terms of our cost assumptions, really no change from what we rolled out at the beginning of the year on the labor front.
We have always and continue to verify the labor thats on our job site to be able to work legally in the country. Thats always been the case. We continue to make that a priority. You know, there certainly is, I think, disruptions within the broader labor force, not just in construction related to kind of ICE enforcement, and, you know, thats something that I think the country is going to have to grapple with. And, you know, as that impacts the total available labor force, I dont think itll be specifically just a construction challenge depending on what level of enforcement and deportation ultimately happens.
And on builder Meritage Homes’ July 24 earnings call, CFO Hilla Sferruzza said:
“Labor also seems to be more available in our markets potentially stemming from slower multifamily construction and reduced starts in the industry.”
Historically, residential construction employment tends to roll over before most traditional recessions (i.e., those not driven by sudden shocks like the COVID-19 downturn in 2020). As a leading indicator, combined with signs of softening in the broader labor market, its something to keep an eye on right now.
Hypothetically, IF the U.S. unemployment rate were to spike and the economy weakened, financial markets could respond with a flight to safetydriving up demand for Treasuries, pushing bond prices higher, and sending yields (including mortgage rates) lower. For now, however, the labo market appears to be softening rather than experiencing an outright break. If that changes, well cover it.
A TikTok comedian has sparked debate after riffing on the viral term clanker, which in recent months has surfaced as an insult for robots, AI systems, and those who rely on them.
The term, originally from Star Wars, spiked in searches in early June, according to Google Trends. As it spreads online, people are questioning whether its just a harmless joke or an insensitive slur.
Comedian and TikTok star Stanzi Potenza fueled the discussion in late August with a skit roleplaying a Southern waitress. The caption of the now-viral video reads: POV: youre a clanker in 2050.
Well, well, well, look what the Roomba dragged in, Potenza says in a southern drawl. Didnt you see the sign outside? We dont serve clankers here.
She goes on to call the robots wirebacks (a term many say is uncomfortably close to a slur used against Mexicans in the U.S.) and adds: We dont have none of your oil or microchips or whatever it is you rust buckets eat.
The video, which has been viewed nearly a million times, struck many as echoing real racial slurs and stereotypes. It feels out of touch, taking actual slurs and turning them into silly robot slurs is notgreat,” one commenter wrote.
The skit was also reposted to X, where one user wrote: roleplaying actual 50s racism with fucking robots is egregious in so so many ways.
Others defended Potenza, arguing critics were being too woke and that the video actually makes fun of racism.
Potenza isnt alone in riffing on clanker. Another TikTok comedian, Samuel Jacob, posted a similar video days later with the caption: If the 2050s become like the 1950s (but instead its Robophobia).
His skit features human-robot segregated bathrooms, a schoolyard bully, a thug provoking street violence, and a cop arresting a clanker named George Droid. Always taking it too far, one commenter wrote.
Fast Company has reached out to Potenza and Jacob for comment.
Argentina’s markets tumbled on Monday, with the peso currency at a historic low, after a heavy defeat for President Javier Milei’s party at the hands of the Peronist opposition at local elections stoked worries about the government’s ability to implement its economic reform agenda.
The peso was last down almost 5% against the dollar at 1,434 per greenback while the benchmark stock index fell 10.5%, and an index of Argentine stocks traded on U.S. exchanges lost more than 15%. Some of the country’s international bonds saw their biggest falls since they began trading in 2020 after a $65 billion restructuring deal.
The resounding victory for the Peronists signaled a tough battle for Milei in national midterm elections on October 26, where his party is aiming to secure enough seats to avoid overrides to presidential vetoes.
The government now faces the difficult choice whether to allow the peso to depreciate ahead of next month’s midterms or spend its foreign exchange reserves to intervene in the FX market, according to Pramol Dhawan, head of EM portfolio management at Pimco.
“Opting for intervention would likely prove counterproductive, as it risks derailing the IMF [International Monetary Fund] program and diminishing the countrys prospects for future market access to refinance external debt,” Dhawan said via email. “The more resources the government allocates to defending the currency, the fewer will be available to meet obligations to bondholdersthereby increasing the risk of default.”
He said early indications that the government may double down on the current strategy “would be a strategic misstep.”
The 13-point gap in the Buenos Aires Province (PBA) election in favor of the opposition Peronists was much wider than polls anticipated and what the market had priced in. The government setback at the polls adds to recent headwinds for a market that had until recently outperformed its Latin American peers.
“We had our reservations about the market being too complacent regarding the Buenos Aires election results. The foreign exchange market will undoubtedly be under the spotlight, as any instability there can have a ripple effect on Argentine assets,” said Shamaila Khan, head of fixed income for emerging markets and Asia Pacific at UBS, in response to emailed questions.
“However, it’s important to note that simply using reserves to prop up the currency isn’t likely to provide much reassurance to the market,” she added. “The midterm elections, in my opinion, carry more weight and their outcome will significantly influence how Argentine assets perform in the coming months.”
The bond market sell-off saw the country’s 2035 issue fall 6.25 cents, on track for its largest daily drop since its post-restructuring issuance in 2020.
Based on official counts, the Peronists won 47.3% of the vote across the province, while the candidate of Milei’s party took 33.7%, with 99.98% of the votes counted.
Argentinaone of the big reform stories across emerging markets since Milei became president in December 2023has seen its markets come under heavy pressure over the last month following a corruption scandal involving Milei’s sister and political gatekeeper Karina Milei.
The government defeat also comes after the International Monetary Fund approved a $20 billion program in April, of which some $15 billion has already been disbursed. The IMF has eagerly backed the reform program of Milei’s government to the point that its director, Kristalina Georgieva, had to clarify remarks earlier this year in which she invited Argentines to stay the course with the reforms.
The IMF did not respond to questions on whether this vote result would change its relationship with the Milei administration or alter the program.
Market sell-off
Argentina’s main equity index had dropped around 20% since the government corruption scandal broke, its international government bonds have sold off, and pressure on the recently unpegged peso forced authorities to start intervening in the FX market.
“The result was much worse than the market expectedMilei took quite a big beating, so now he has to come up with something,” said Viktor Szabo, portfolio manager at Aberdeen Investments.
Morgan Stanley had warned in the run-up to the vote that the international bonds could fall up to 10 points if a Milei drubbing dented his agenda for radical reform. On Monday, the outcome saw the bank pull its “like” stance on the bonds.
Barclays analyst Ivan Stambulsky pointed to comments from Economy Minister Luis Caputo on Sunday that the country’s FX regime wont change.
“Were likely to see strong pressure on the FX and declining reserves as the Ministry of Economy intervenes,” Stambulsky said. “If FX sales persist, markets will likely start wondering what will happen if the economic team is forced to let the currency depreciate before the October midterms.”
Some analysts, however, predicted other parts of the country were unlikely to vote as strongly against Milei as in the Buenos Aires Province, given it is a traditional Peronist stronghold.
They also expected the Milei government to stick to its program of fiscal discipline despite economic woes.
“The Province of Buenos Aires midterm election delivered a very negative result for the Milei administration, casting doubt on its ability to deliver a positive outcome in Octobers national vote and risking the reform agenda in the second half of the term,” said JPMorgan in a Sunday client note.
“The policy mix adopted in the coming days and weeks to address elevated political risk will be pivotal in shaping medium-term inflation expectationsand, ultimately, the success of the stabilization program.”
By Karin Strohecker and Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by Marc Jones and Shashwat Chauhan, Reuters
Pope Leo XIV canonized the Catholic Churchs first millennial saint over the weekend, a teen computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15 and had used technology to spread his faith, earning him the nickname Gods influencer, according to The Associated Press.
Some 80,000 worshippers filled St. Peters Square in Rome on Sunday to see the canonization of Carlo Acutis, including many millennials and young children with their parents, The Washington Post reported. Pope Leo also canonized Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian who died in 1925 at age 24.
Acutis’s ascent to sainthood is being called one of the fastest in modern history, and comes at a time when many younger generations, from Gen Z to millennials, struggle to connect with the church. For some, Acutis, who was tech-savvy and reportedly loved video games, may be seen as more relatable and a good role model for the next generation of Catholics.
The former pope, Francis, also championed Acutis. Carlo was well aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising, and social networking can be used to lull us, to make us addicted to consumerism and buying the latest thing on the market, obsessed with our free time, caught up in negativity, Francis said in 2019, as reported by The Washington Post. Yet he knew how to use the new communications technology to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values and beauty.
The teen, who was born in London and raised in Milan by a well-known Italian Catholic family, designed a website documenting reported Eucharistic miracles around the world, which has become a teaching tool for parishes worldwide and is seen as a positive way to use technology in support of religion.
For decades, scientists believed Prochlorococcus, the smallest and most abundant phytoplankton on Earth, would thrive in a warmer world. But new research suggests the microscopic bacterium, which forms the foundation of the marine food web and helps regulate the planets climate, will decline sharply as seas heat up.
A study published Monday in the journal Nature Microbiology found Prochlorococcus populations could shrink by as much as half in tropical oceans over the next 75 years if surface waters exceed about 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27.8 Celsius). Many tropical and subtropical sea surface temperatures are already trending above average and are projected to regularly surpass 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) over that same period.
These are keystone species very important ones, said François Ribalet, a research associate professor at the University of Washingtons School of Oceanography and the studys lead author. And when a keystone species decreases in abundance, it always has consequences on ecology and biodiversity. The food web is going to change.
These tiny organisms hold a vital role in ocean life
Prochlorococcus inhabit up to 75% of Earths sunlit surface waters and produce about one-fifth of the planets oxygen through photosynthesis. More crucially, Ribalet said, they convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into food at the base of the marine ecosystem.
In the tropical ocean, nearly half of the food is produced by Prochlorococcus, he said. Hundreds of species rely on these guys.
Though other forms of phytoplankton may move in and help compensate for the loss of oxygen and food, Ribalet cautioned they are not perfect substitutes. Evolution has made this very specific interaction, he said. Obviously, this is going to have an impact on this very unique system that has been established.
The findings challenge decades of assumptions that Prochlorococcus would thrive as waters warmed. Those predictions, however, were based on limited data from lab cultures. For this study, Ribalet and his team tested water samples while traversing the Pacific over the course of a decade.
Over 100 research cruises the equivalent of six trips around the globe they counted some 800 billion individual cells taken from samples at every kilometer. In his lab at the University of Washington, Ribalet demonstrated the SeaFlow, a box filled with tubes, wires and a piercing blue laser. The custom-built device continuously pulls in seawater, which allowed the team to count the microbes in real time. We have counted more Prochlorococcus than there are stars in the Milky Way, Ribalet said.
Experts warn of big consequences
Paul Berube, a research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies Prochlorococcus but was not involved in the work, said the breadth of data is groundbreaking. And he said the results fit with what is known about the microbes streamlined genome, which makes it less adaptable to rapid environmental changes.
Theyre at the very base of the food web, and they feed everything else the fish eat the things that eat the phytoplankton and we eat the fish, he said. When changes are being made to the planet that influence these particular organisms that are essentially feeding us, thats going to have big consequences.
To test whether Prochlorococcus might evolve to withstand hotter conditions, Ribalets team modeled a hypothetical heat-tolerant strain but found that even those would not be enough to fully resist the warmest temperature if greenhouse emissions keep rising, Ribalet said.
He stressed that the studys projections are conservative and dont account for the impacts of plastic pollution or other ecological stressors. We actually tried to put forth the best-case scenario, Ribalet said. In reality, things may be worse.
Steven Biller, an associate professor at Wellesley College, said the projected declines are scary but plausible. He noted Prochlorococcus form part of the invisible forests of the ocean tiny organisms most people never think about, but are essential to human survival.
Half of all photosynthesis is happening in the oceans and Prochlorococcus is a really important part of that, Biller said. The magnitude of the potential impact is kind of striking.
Biller, Berube and Ribalet said that while other microbes may compensate somewhat, the broader risks to biodiversity and fisheries are real.
We know what drives global warming. There is no debate among the scientific community, Ribalet said. We need to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
He hopes the findings bring more attention to tropical oceans, which could serve as natural laboratories for warming adaptations and as early warning signals for ecological collapse.
For the first time, I want to be wrong. I would love to be wrong, he said. But these are data-driven results.
Annika Hammerschlag, Associated Press
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
