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Scientists and sailors say orcas, also known as killer whales, are stepping up “attacks” on yachts along Europe’s Iberian coast, with one skipper who’s been pursued by the marine mammals on two separate occasions suggesting that their tactics are becoming more stealthy.

Delivery skipper Dan Kriz, who had to be towed into port after orcas destroyed the rudder on a boat he was on in 2020, had an almost identical experience in April.

“My first reaction was, ‘Please! Not again,'” Kriz told Newsweek.

Unlike last time, the orcas made a stealthier approach without the characteristic squeaks they normally use to communicate, he says. They made quick work of the two rudders on the catamaran Kriz was delivering. “Looks like they knew exactly what they are doing. They didn’t touch anything else,” he said.

 

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Most marine scientists have characterized hundreds of encounters between boats and orcas that have sunk at least three vessels and damaged dozens of others over the years as a “fad,” implying that the animals will eventually lose interest and resort to more typical behavior.

But if that’s the case, there are few signs this behavior is going out of style anytime soon. According to a June 2022 study published in the journal Marine Mammal Science, orcas have stepped up the frequency of their interactions with sailing vessels in and around the Strait of Gibraltar, the busy waterway that links the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.

Some researchers think it’s merely playful behavior

As NPR first reported last August, many scientists who study orca behavior believe these incidents — in which often one or more of the marine mammals knock off large chunks of a sailboat’s rudder — are not meant as attacks, but merely represent playful behavior.

One hypothesis put forward by Renaud de Stephanis, president and coordinator at CIRCE Conservación Information and Research, a research group based in Spain, is that orcas like the feel of a boat’s rudder.

“What we think is that they’re asking to have the propeller in the face,” de Stephanis told NPR last year. “So, when they encounter a sailboat that isn’t running its engine, they get kind of frustrated and that’s why they break the rudder.”

In another recent encounter, Werner Schaufelberger told the German publication Yacht that his vessel, Champagne, was approached by “two smaller and one larger orca” off Gibraltar.

“The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side,” he said.

The Spanish coast guard rescued Schaufelberger and his crew, towing Champagne to the Spanish port of Barbate, but the vessel sank before reaching safety.

The encounters could be a response to past trauma

Since 2020, there have been more than 500 encounters between yachts and orcas in the area, according to one of the study’s co-authors, Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal and a representative of the Grupo de Trabajo Orca Atlántica, or Atlantic Orca Working Group.

López Fernandez believes that a female known as White Gladis, who leads the group of around 40 animals, may have had a traumatizing encounter with a boat or a fishing net. In an act of revenge, she is teaching her pod-mates how to carry out revenge attacks with her encouragement, researchers believe.

“The orcas are doing this on purpose, of course, we don’t know the origin or the motivation, but defensive behavior based on trauma, as the origin of all this, gains more strength for us every day,” López Fernandez told Live Science.

It’s an intriguing possibility, says Monika Wieland Shields, director of the Orca Behavior Institute.

“I definitely think orcas are capable of complex emotions like revenge,” she says. “I don’t think we can completely rule it out.”

However, Shields is not ready to sign on to the “revenge” hypothesis just yet. She says that despite humans having “given a lot of opportunities for orcas to respond to us in an aggressive manner,” there are no other examples of them doing so.

Deborah Giles, the science and research director at Wild Orca, a conservation group based in Washington state, is also skeptical of the hypothesis. She points out that killer whale populations in waters off Washington “were highly targeted” in the past as a source for aquariums. She says seal bombs, small charges that fishers throw into the water in an effort to scare sea lions away from their nets, were dropped in their path while helicopters and boats herded them into coves.

“The pod never attacked boats after that,” she says. “It just doesn’t ring true to me.”

Shields says it’s important to remember that whatever the motive is for the behavior of the orcas off the Iberian coast, it isn’t being transmitted to pods in other parts of the world.

“We’ve had folks here in Washington [asking] ‘is it safe to go out in the water here with these orcas?'” she says. “While this is kind of an ongoing situation in that specific place, I don’t think there’s any reason to think it’s going to start spreading to other populations of orcas.”

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You might just think of the dollar as the money in your wallet, the cash you use to buy your morning coffee.

But the dollar is much, much bigger than that.

The dollar is the world’s currency: It dominates global business.

Economists call it the “global reserve currency,” a fancy title the dollar got about 80 years ago that has brought some pretty serious perks to the U.S. economy.

But could the dollar get knocked off the top spot? There are challengers emerging, and history shows that countries whose currency dominated the globe can fall from that top spot pretty fast … even over the course of a few days.

How it started: timing + muscle + lots of gold

The U.S. dollar did not luck its way into the top spot.

It was a carefully engineered plan that unfolded in the mountains of New Hampshire nearly 80 years ago. At the time the British Pound Sterling was the international currency. A title it had held for decades.

The dollar’s rise happened pretty suddenly at the Bretton Woods International Monetary Conference in 1944. Bretton Woods was a gathering of world leaders at the end of World War II. They came together to try and establish an international system for trade and finance, to help bind the world together and increase prosperity for all.

Everyone agreed that in order to ease international trade, there needed to be a common currency, a standard everyone could use.

At the time of the conference, the British economy in shambles. The costs of fighting a war on its own soil had been enormous. It was clear that the British Pound Sterling could not be the currency everyone counted on.

So the British pushed for a new currency that would solely be used for inter-country trades: Economist John Maynard Keynes, who was at Bretton Woods on behalf of the British, proposed the “Bancor” (a mix of the French work for bank, ‘banc’ and the French word for gold ‘or) but also suggested “Orb” and even … “Unicorn.”

But the U.S. dollar left the Bancor, the Orb and the Unicorn in its dust. The U.S. was economically quite strong. It also had lots of gold in its vaults, which made people feel like its wealth was backed up.

It used these advantages to help muscle the dollar in as the official currency of international business at the conference.

The perks of being the world’s currency

Being the world’s reserve currency essentially means the U.S. dollar is at the center of most of the business on Earth.

Example: If you’re a clothing designer in Chile and you order cotton from Egypt for some shirts you plan to make, you will pay for that cotton in U.S. dollars. Not Chilean pesos and not Egyptian pounds.

To be clear, the U.S. isn’t involved in that deal at all, but the U.S. dollar is. When international deals happen, they usually happen in dollars.

This is a big boost to the U.S. in all kinds of way: For example, it means domestic businesses have a home court (home currency) advantage when they do business overseas.

But as the Bretton Woods conference demonstrated, that top spot can slip away pretty fast

“We have an important advantage, which may whittle away slowly if we’re not careful,” says economist Michael Boskin, a former White House advisor.

The challenges to the dollar

There are a couple reasons why the dollar’s status is suddenly being talked about as at risk.

Earlier this year, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and even Brazil started making trades in other currencies: The Chinese Yuan and the Russian ruble. This was a very direct challenge to the U.S. dollar’s central position.

China has long been pushing to have its currency replace the dollar, but it’s getting momentum now for a couple of possible reasons:

First: the debt ceiling. Being the currency everyone counts on to do business means people have to believe that your currency is reliable. That recent debt ceiling drama made the U.S. (and, by extension, the dollar) look potentially risky and unstable.

Using the dollar as an economic weapon

The debt ceiling is not at the heart of the recent spate of non-dollar trades, says Benn Steil, an economist with the Council on Foreign relations.

“The real issue is the U.S. government’s increasing use of the dollar as a tool for financial sanctions,” he says.

The dollar is so powerful, if you can’t use it, you are essentially iced out of being able to do most business anywhere in the world.

The U.S. has used this as a nonviolent way to put pressure on countries: North Korea, Iran and most recently Russia. After the invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. said, ‘No dollar for you!’

Steil says the economic impacts of those sanctions have been massive and other countries have noticed.

“Sanctions are an effective tool, but we have to be careful,” he says. “It’s like over-prescribing an effective antibiotic. It encourages the development of new strains of bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotic.”

If you are a country that has a complicated relationship with the U.S., watching the effect of American financial sanctions on Russia is scary. It’s been enough to push China, Saudi Arabia and others to make deals that get around the dollar, trying to chip away at its power

“This is not nearly as efficient as using the dollar,” Steil says of these deals. “That can lead to a massive fragmentation in the global economy and a much less efficient and less productive global economy.”

It’s still all about the Benjamins… for now

Right now, the dollar has a lot of momentum and is not at any immediate risk of losing its top spot, says economist Michael Boskin.

Still, he says momentum can change fast.

“Other countries in previous times have been the reserve currency and they fritter that away,” he says. “We need to be very careful.”

And right now, with so much global turmoil, China and others have started to see a possible opening to grab that top spot – or at least start to chip away at the U.S. dollar’s dominance.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

MIDLAND, Texas — America’s oil industry is booming — in a surprising way.

It doesn’t look much like the booms of the past, when companies would scramble to pump as much oil as possible and the region would attract so many workers it became impossible to find housing and free hotel rooms.

Instead, a sector infamous for its booms and busts is finally learning how to embrace the one thing they’ve never been known for: moderation.

This shift is doing a lot of good in the Permian, America’s most prolific oil basin. Oil companies are raking in profits, and the steadier work has also been good for workers across the region.

But the economic, geopolitical and climate implications are more complicated.

Here are five things to know about this shift, and what it means.

Oil prices are volatile — but still very profitable

Last year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent crude prices soaring well past $100 a barrel, and that meant producers were making money hand over fist.

Prices have since fallen, but they remain at or above their pre-pandemic levels. Significantly, they’ve consistently been high enough for most producers to drill new wells at a profit.

The most recent survey from the Dallas Federal Reserve found that the average Permian producer can break even on a new well when WTI (a key reference price for oil prices) is trading at $61 a barrel. And currently, prices are well above that level.

The result: Big profits for companies and higher employment and wages for workers in the Permian Basin.

… but something unexpected is happening

Before the pandemic, the U.S. oil industry followed a predictable pattern.

“When there was an increase in prices, the U.S. shale players would rush in and increase production to try to capture that price increase,” says Angie Gildea, the head of U.S. energy for global accounting firm KPMG.

In previous boom times, more than 500 drilling rigs were operating simultaneously across the Permian as oil companies chased high oil prices.

All those wells contributed to a huge growth in oil supply, which then led to a huge oversupply, which then inevitably led to … huge price crashes and a resulting collapse in drilling activity. Boom, bust. Boom, bust.

But last year, despite prices topping $100 a barrel, rig counts stayed in the mid-300s. They held there as prices dropped. And that’s where they remain today, more or less leveling off.

There are multiple factors keeping companies from drilling even more — supply chain shortages, trouble hiring workers, or for some companies, a lack of good sites to drill.

But a huge factor in this shift towards moderation is pressure from investors who want oil companies to share their profits with them, rather than funneling the earnings back into the ground to make more oil.

“Investors are actually demanding … more discipline from these shale producers,” says Gildea. “They want return of dividends and cash back to shareholders versus prioritizing just growing production.”

The result: Production in the Permian is still growing, but it’s growing more gradually. And it’s been growing steadily even as prices swing around.

That’s good for producers, including OPEC+

More restrained investment means oil companies are less likely to suffer the busts that used to roil the industry.

And while oil prices are high, companies are paying down debt, merging with rivals to strengthen their positions and churning out cash. That has positive economic impacts for individual companies, for oil-producing regions like the Permian and for a major segment of the American economy.

More discipline from American oil companies is also good for the global cartel known as OPEC+.

The shale revolution has reshaped global oil politics, turning the U.S. into the world’s top’s producer and an OPEC+ rival instead of just a customer.

That means that any time OPEC+ considers cutting production, it has to weigh whether U.S. producers will jump in to pump more crude, seizing more market share from the cartel.

That’s much less of a concern today. With shale producers keeping their growth in check, OPEC and its allies can cut output, pushing up prices, without risking a shale bonanza.

In fact, Saudi Arabia announced yet another voluntary cut in production over the weekend, while some other members of OPEC+ extended their own voluntary cuts.

“They believe, over the medium term, that they are in a very strong position in the market, that shale companies do have to respond to shareholders who do ask for capital discipline,” says Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, who was in Vienna for the OPEC+ meeting.

The impact on markets will play out for years, Croft predicts.

And it’s not great for consumers

As usual, good news for oil companies is bad news for oil consumers – even if it’s not currently visible from prices at the pump.

Gasoline prices in the U.S. currently average a little over $3.50 nationally, more than a dollar lower than last year. For the next few weeks and months, gasoline analysts aren’t predicting anything close to last year’s sky-high prices.

But in the medium- and long-term, less investment in oil production means less supply, which drives prices up.

To be clear, U.S. oil production is still increasing, but it’s not increasing as quickly as it once would have.

The big wild card is whether a global recession materializes. But if it doesn’t, analysts think supply will continue to lag demand, given the restrained production from U.S. and OPEC+ producers.

A forecast released this week by Enverus, an energy data analytics company, predicts Brent, the global crude benchmark, will top $100 a barrel again later this year.

The impact on climate is less clear

Climate scientists say the world needs to rapidly reduce its use of oil and natural gas and implement other emissions cuts to limit the devastating impacts caused by climate change. And that’s doable, they say, thanks to cheaper renewable energy and other alternatives.

So is a slower-growing Permian in line with a transition away from oil?

Gildea argues that this restraint from producers could free up money and bandwidth for companies to focus on cleaner energy and emissions reduction, positioning themselves to continue to profit as the world shifts away from oil.

But so far, oil and gas companies are sending the bulk of their cash back to investors in the form of dividends and share buybacks, rather than dedicating it to new, greener ventures.

And the sheer profitability of oil means that companies have very little incentive to invest in anything else — in fact, they can be punished by the market if they try.

Oil companies are also unconvinced that the world actually will transition away from oil, at least at anything approaching the speed necessary to stop climate change.

The oil industry is talking (and advertising) about climate change now, but companies are openly skeptical about the actual speed of a transition away from oil. That’s true for big companies — and small ones.

The U.S. oil patch may have discovered restraint. But there’s no indication that it’s on the road to reinvention.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Egg prices soared in recent months, driving up grocery bills for many Americans, but buyers can see the sunny side now that the cost of a dozen eggs is dropping in stores across the country.

The spike in egg prices was caused by a number of factors, including an avian flu outbreak that affected tens of millions of birds across the country.

But the bird flu outbreak has eased, inflation has loosened its grip on the economy, and whipping up an omelet has suddenly become more affordable.

The USDA’s most recent report on national egg prices puts the typical wholesale price of a dozen eggs somewhere between $0.99 and $1.39.

It’s a far cry from the wholesale price of $5 for a dozen eggs in many places across the country earlier this year, according to department figures.

The most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the average consumers would pay for a dozen eggs in April was around $3.27, the lowest it had been since September.

Phil Lempert, editor of the website SupermarketGuru.com, said that not only have egg prices fallen, but stores are no longer running out of the protein-rich commodity, as they had been in recent months.

“The good news is, if you go into a grocery store, you’re going to see eggs. versus just a couple months ago when you weren’t going to see eggs,” Lempert told NPR, “and if you were, they were $5, $6, $7 a dozen.”

Likely the main reason egg prices are coming back down is that the poultry industry is recovering from the bird flu outbreak.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 58 million birds have been affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the most recent outbreak, including commercial poultry as well as backyard chickens.

Lempert said it takes months for newly born hens, unaffected by the highly contagious and lethal bird flu, to be able to lay eggs that can then be sold to consumers.

Grocery prices can also be tied to inflation, which remained high in April but decreased slightly. Consumer prices increased 4.9% over the same period a year ago, but they dipped compared to prior months.

Egg prices may not fully return to previous levels anytime soon though, Lempert said, since egg producers will want to make up for lost earnings and other supply chain issues, such as labor shortages and trucking industry woes.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

AI experts issued a dire warning on Tuesday: Artificial intelligence models could soon be smarter and more powerful than us and it is time to impose limits to ensure they don’t take control over humans or destroy the world.

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” a group of scientists and tech industry leaders said in a statement that was posted on the Center for AI Safety’s website.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed AI research lab that is behind ChatGPT, and the so-called godfather of AI who recently left Google, Geoffrey Hinton, were among the hundreds of leading figures who signed the we’re-on-the-brink-of-crisis statement.

The call for guardrails on AI systems has intensified in recent months as public and profit-driven enterprises are embracing new generations of programs.

In a separate statement published in March and now signed by more than 30,000 people, tech executives and researchers called for a six-month pause on training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, the latest version of the ChatGPT chatbot.

An open letter warned: “Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources.”

In a recent interview with NPR, Hinton, who was instrumental in AI’s development, said AI programs are on track to outperform their creators sooner than anyone anticipated.

“I thought for a long time that we were, like, 30 to 50 years away from that. … Now, I think we may be much closer, maybe only five years away from that,” he estimated.

Dan Hendrycks, director of the Center for AI Safety, noted in a Twitter thread that in the immediate future, AI poses urgent risks of “systemic bias, misinformation, malicious use, cyberattacks, and weaponization.”

He added that society should endeavor to address all of the risks posed by AI simultaneously. “Societies can manage multiple risks at once; it’s not ‘either/or’ but ‘yes/and.’ ” he said. “From a risk management perspective, just as it would be reckless to exclusively prioritize present harms, it would also be reckless to ignore them as well.”

NPR’s Bobby Allyn contributed to this story.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.