Law Enforcement Moves in on UCLA Anti-Israel Protest in Pre-Dawn Raid

Baltimore's Marilyn Mosby Wants a Presidential Pardon. Seriously&;#63;

Biden (Finally) Speaks: The State of the Antisemitic State

Bird flu seems to be perennially in the news at the moment‚ and with more and more species succumbing to the virus‚ concern around it is rife. While the infection normally spreads in avian species‚ it can also spill over into other animals‚ including humans‚ which has sparked fears of a global animal pandemic. What exactly is going on&;#63;The latest developmentsThe current outbreak – which involves the H5N1 variant – began in 2020 and has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of poultry‚ as well as wild birds across the globe. In recent months‚ we have seen an increasing number of reports of infections in mammals – cows‚ goats‚ cats‚ and even a polar bear and a bottlenose dolphin have all tested positive for bird flu. Then‚ last month‚ it was reported that a person in Texas had contracted the virus after coming into contact with dairy cattle presumed to be infected. This was only the second person ever confirmed to have tested positive for H5N1 bird flu in the US.As of Tuesday‚ nine US states had reported outbreaks in dairy cattle‚ per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)‚ and milk has tested positive for H5N1 virus fragments. In the latest twist in the tale‚ the US government has announced it is testing ground beef in nine states for traces of the virus.So‚ how worried should we be&;#63; Here’s what the experts have to say.How is bird flu spreading&;#63;In birds‚ H5N1 is spread via saliva‚ nasal secretions‚ and fecal matter – gross‚ we know – but quite how it’s made its way to mammals we’re not entirely sure.“We don’t know how the virus passes from birds to mammals‚” Dr James Lowe‚ a professor of veterinary clinical medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign‚ told News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates in a recent interview. “The theory is that the infected cows were exposed to infected birds and their feces. That’s the most likely explanation.”And that should offer some reassurance to us: “In most cases worldwide‚ transmission to mammals is likely the result of scavenging by the mammal populations on infected dead birds‚ and represent minimal risk of further spread‚” Rowland Kao‚ Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Data Science at the University of Edinburgh‚ told the Science Media Centre in January.How does it affect different species&;#63;A lot of very different species have been infected‚ as detailed above‚ and all are affected differently. According to Lowe‚ the H5N1 virus is able to do this by interacting with sialic acid (SA) receptors on the surfaces of cells. “Those receptors may be more prevalent in different parts of the body in different groups of animals‚” Lowe added.“In marine mammals and some carnivorous mammals‚ the virus migrates to the brain to bind to SA receptors there‚ causing dangerous disease. In humans‚ the affected receptors are most abundant deep in the lungs. That’s why H5N1 infection sometimes causes pneumonia in humans.”How concerned should we be&;#63;It sounds scary‚ but‚ according to the experts‚ we should avoid panicking. The CDC states that “the current public health risk is low”‚ although it will continue to monitor the situation closely.While vulnerable people may experience more severe symptoms‚ Lowe reassures that for most people with healthy immune systems‚ “infection with the H5N1 virus may be associated with mild respiratory problems‚ conjunctivitis‚ gastrointestinal problems or no symptoms at all.”“To date‚ human mortality as a result of bird flu infection is extremely low.”There is also no evidence yet that H5N1 is spreading between humans‚ which is comforting.It’s one thing for a virus to infect a new species‚ but quite another for it to spread‚ as Dr Ed Hutchinson from the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research told Science Media Centre.“Importantly‚ there is a difference between isolated infections of a new species and a virus spreading efficiently within that species. It requires a lot of changes for a bird virus to become a mammalian virus‚ and at the current time there is no sign that this H5N1 virus has changed from being a dangerous virus of birds to a virus that can spread easily within any mammal species.”As for whether this has the potential to develop into a pandemic‚ Lowe says “there’s no indication at present that this will happen.”On May 1‚ the FDA issued an update on the results of a national commercial milk sampling study that &;quot;reaffirm our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe.&;quot; They also state that &;quot;pasteurization is effective in inactivating [Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza] HPAI‚&;quot; preliminary testing didn't detect any &;quot;live‚ infectious virus‚&;quot; and samples of powdered milk products and infant formula didn't contain virus or viral fragments.What precautions can we take&;#63;Efforts are already underway to develop vaccines and therapies‚ but in the meantime‚ the CDC recommends avoiding direct contact with wild birds‚ and also other animals that may be infected‚ particularly those that appear sick or have died.Those who work with potentially infected cattle should be especially careful and should avoid unprotected direct physical contact or close exposure to cattle and materials associated with them.There may also be a benefit in getting a seasonal flu shot. “There’s some evidence that human exposure to other influenza viruses or flu vaccines allow the adult immune system to better recognize the threat‚ so there may be some cross protection there‚” Lowe explained.The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice‚ diagnosis‚ or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

Ancient Mars is believed to have been a wet world. Possibly it was a cold world‚ with frosts and floods‚ rather than a tropical paradise. It might have had a denser carbon dioxide atmosphere too‚ and the composition of that atmosphere is now being called into question. That's because chemical elements suggest that it could have been more Earth-like than was ever thought possible.The findings come from NASA’s Curiosity‚ which is investigating Gale Crater‚ the site of an ancient lake. Researchers reported a higher-than-expected level of manganese oxide in the sediment rocks. All scenarios investigated by the team require a strong oxidizing environment. Was the primitive atmosphere of Mars richer in oxygen&;#63; And if so‚ how&;#63;&;quot;It is difficult for manganese oxide to form on the surface of Mars‚ so we didn't expect to find it in such high concentrations in a shoreline deposit‚&;quot; lead author Patrick Gasda‚ of Los Alamos National Laboratory's Space Science and Applications group‚ said in a statement. &;quot;On Earth‚ these types of deposits happen all the time because of the high oxygen in our atmosphere produced by photosynthetic life‚ and from microbes that help catalyze those manganese oxidation reactions.&;quot;&;quot;On Mars‚ we don't have evidence for life‚ and the mechanism to produce oxygen in Mars's ancient atmosphere is unclear‚ so how the manganese oxide was formed and concentrated here is really puzzling. These findings point to larger processes occurring in the Martian atmosphere or surface water and shows that more work needs to be done to understand oxidation on Mars‚&;quot; Gasda added.Obviously‚ we can’t assume it was life that produced the oxygen‚ and that the oxygen created this chemical compound and then disappeared over eons. But something must have oxidized the manganese and the iron found by Curiosity‚ so a process must have existed. Even if no life form was involved in it.The compounds might have simply formed on the lake shore from lake water. It might have formed from groundwater moving through the sands‚ or it might have been altered by groundwater after it was already in place. But there’s still a need to oxidize those metals. Observations from Curiosity’s ChemCam tell us as much.&;quot;The Gale lake environment‚ as revealed by these ancient rocks‚ gives us a window into a habitable environment that looks surprisingly similar to places on Earth today‚&;quot; said Nina Lanza‚ principal investigator for the ChemCam instrument. &;quot;Manganese minerals are common in the shallow‚ oxic waters found on lake shores on Earth‚ and it's remarkable to find such recognizable features on ancient Mars.&;quot;The study is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Animal smarts can be pretty impressive. From the frankly terrifying hunting strategies of orcas‚ to cats clever enough to solve cognitive puzzles‚ and even fish able to count‚ the creatures of planet Earth can surely give some humans a run for their money. But which species has the biggest brain – and is a big brain related to a high IQ&;#63;The undisputed winner of the biggest brain of any animal species is the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)‚ with a brain weighing up to around 9 kilograms (20 pounds). Having such a big brain doesn’t necessarily come with a high level of intelligence‚ though a 2021 study did find that in the early days of whale hunting‚ the success rate of whale harpooning dropped by almost 60 percent. This suggests that perhaps either the whales were learning how to avoid the hunters‚ or that they were able to pass information across to their friends‚ crediting them more communication skills and intelligence than was first thought. We should also consider the makeup of the brain itself. The cerebellum is a structure responsible for movement‚ balance‚ tracking‚ and some memory.  In a sperm whale‚ the cerebellum makes up around 7 percent of the total brain mass‚ whereas for a killer whale‚ it's around double‚ at 14 percent. For a human‚ the cerebellum makes up around 10 percent of the total mass of the average human brain‚ which weighs roughly 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds).The total body size of the animal should also be considered when thinking of the biggest brain. A tiny ant takes the top spot with the largest brain-to-body size ratio; a 2009 study revealed that the brain of the ant genus Brachymyrmex makes up 12 percent of its 0.049 milligrams total body mass.This fits in with something called Haller’s Rule: the larger the animal is in total size‚ the smaller the brain-to-body ratio will be. &;quot;Because brain size scales relative to body size‚ the smallest animals have relatively the largest brains‚&;quot; Wulfila Gronenberg‚ a professor of neurobiology at the University of Arizona‚ told Live Science.A dataset of 1‚400 mammal species (including some fossils) compared their brain and body sizes and revealed some surprising results. The research found that the California sea lion‚ though famous for the tricks it can perform‚ has a small brain compared to body mass. Humans and dolphins‚ on the other hand‚ have smaller bodies but large brains in comparison. In gorillas and orangutans‚ despite their comparable size to humans‚ their brains are around one-third of the size. Then there’s the interesting phenomenon of domestication syndrome‚ where domesticated species have smaller brain sizes than their wild counterparts. Bullfighting breeds of cows‚ for example‚ had brains nearly as large as those of the wild cattle extinct cattle species‚ aurochs (Bos primigenius); beef and dairy cattle that had regular interactions with humans have the smallest brains. As for land dwellers‚ elephants have the largest brains of all terrestrial mammals and exhibit high levels of social and emotional intelligence and memory. Let's not forget the birds either; corvids are notoriously clever. A study by researchers at Lund University suggests that ravens are just as clever as chimpanzees despite the difference in brain size. &;quot;Absolute brain size is not the whole story. We found that corvid birds performed as well as great apes‚ despite having much smaller brains‚&;quot; said study author Can Kabadayi in a  statement. Not such a bird brain after all&;#63;Image credit: Marcin Perkowski/Shutterstock.comLike with much of the animal world‚ there is just about every scope and size possible for animals and their brains‚ with multiple studies exploring the relationship between brain size and intelligence. Brain space may be taken up with visual processing power for flying‚ allocated to social relationships‚ or advanced cognitive skills. Regardless‚ the sperm whales come out on top‚ having the most grey matter of any species ever to exist. 

In the latest turn of a political rollercoaster over the protection of gray wolves‚ the US House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to pass a bill that would see the animals removed from the Endangered Species Act (ESA).The bill‚ dubbed the “Trust the Science Act”‚ was passed by a vote of 209-205. Introduced by Republican representative Lauren Boebert from Colorado‚ the bill aims to delist and thus remove protections for gray wolves‚ which are currently classed as endangered in 44 states.Many of the bill’s supporters have argued that gray wolves are no longer in need of protection and are causing harm to the people they represent.“The science is clear; the gray wolf has met and exceeded recovery goals‚” said bill co-sponsor and Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany in a statement. “Today's House passage represents an important first step towards restoring local control over the skyrocketing gray wolf population in Wisconsin. I will continue to fight to get this legislation through the U.S. Senate to protect livestock and pets from brutal wolf attacks.&;quot;Its opponents aren’t so sure. “Passing this bill would simply call the wolves recovered‚ but that does not make it so‚” California Democrat Congressman Jared Huffman told AP.According to the Wolf Conservation Center‚ there are just over 8‚100 gray wolves present in the 48 conterminous states‚ of which the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates around 2‚797 are found within the Western US.Gray wolves were first listed as endangered on the Endangered Species Act in 1978‚ after hunting throughout the early 1900s nearly led to their extinction in most of the lower 48 states. That federal protection was removed in 2020 under the Trump administration – and then reversed by a California judge less than two years later‚ in all but four of the original 48 states.If the current bill were to be enacted into law‚ at least in its current format‚ it would prevent such judicial review and reversals from taking place in the future.The next step for the proposed law is the US Senate‚ though if a statement released by the Biden administration the day before the House vote is anything to go by‚ there are doubts it’ll get any further. “[T]he Administration strongly opposes this bill‚” the statement reads.“The transparent and science-based process prescribed by the ESA‚ with public input‚ is the best path for adding or removing species from the ESA. If enacted‚ [the Trust the Science Act] would undermine America’s proud wildlife conservation traditions and the implementation of one of our nation’s bedrock environmental laws.”

In 2017‚ astronomers at the Pan-STARRS observatory looking for near-Earth asteroids spotted an object as it hurtled past our Sun at 38.3 kilometers per second (23.8 miles per second‚ or 85‚700 miles per hour). Soon‚ telescopes around the world pointed in the unusual object's direction‚ trying to capture as much data as they could before it moved away from the Sun. Looking at visible light reflecting off the object‚ scientists were able to determine its size and shape‚ finding it is around 400 meters (1‚300 feet) long‚ and likely shaped like a pancake.The speed and trajectory of the object‚ A/2017 U1‚ suggested that it did not come from our Solar System‚ and that it will leave our Solar System again. ‘Oumuamua‚ as it is now called‚ was our first confirmed interstellar visitor.                          Catching up with 'Oumuamua would be awesome for a whole host of reasons. When it passed through the Solar System‚ for example‚ the asteroid accelerated beyond what we would expect from gravity alone. This led some to (wildly) speculate that it could be an interstellar probe‚ or other non-natural object. Trying to explain this acceleration has been difficult. The real scientific debate is not about the acceleration itself. Comets accelerate as they heat up and outgas‚ causing thrust‚ giving them their distinctive trail or &;quot;coma&;quot;. Outgassing could similarly explain ‘Oumuamua's acceleration‚ but no coma was observed‚ and its shape is unusual for a comet. There are good explanations proposed‚ however‚ including that the object released hydrogen embedded within it as it passed through the Solar System and encountered the energy of the Sun.Despite 'Oumuamua's speed making it a tricky object to catch‚ several missions have been proposed to do just that. Some of these employ a &;quot;Solar Oberth&;quot; maneuver‚ or using the Sun's gravity to gain velocity. IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites. IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.NASA missions to the furthest reaches of the Solar System (and beyond) have used gravity assists to gain and lose speed‚ and conserve fuel. &;quot;Several robotic spacecraft have used the 'gravity assist' technique to achieve their targets 'high up' in the Sun's gravity well. Voyager 2 launched in August 1977 and flew by Jupiter for reconnaissance‚ and for a trajectory boost to Saturn‚&;quot; NASA explains. &;quot;Voyager 1 launched the following month and did the same (reaching Jupiter before Voyager 2 did). Voyager 2 then obtained an assist from Saturn and another one later from Uranus‚ climbing all the way to Neptune and beyond. Galileo took one kick from Venus and two from Earth‚ while orbiting the Sun en route to its destination‚ Jupiter. Cassini took two boosts from Venus‚ one from Earth‚ and another from Jupiter to gain enough momentum to reach Saturn.&;quot;The Oberth maneuver – named for Hermann Oberth‚ who suggested it in 1928 – essentially lets a spacecraft drop into an object's gravity well‚ before using propellent to escape it. A Solar Oberth maneuver is a little more ambitious‚ as it would require the probe to be protected from solar radiation.Other possible trajectories have been proposed that would instead use Jupiter to catch up with the probe. Either way‚ don't expect us to reach the object anytime soon‚ with mission proposals generally expecting to reach it by 2050‚ no matter how cool the missions look.

Long before governments had the power to ping citizens on their smartphones‚ the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon used conch shell trumpets to send out population-wide notifications. According to new research‚ the ancient Chacoans may even have deliberately designed their settlements to ensure that everyone was within earshot of a sea-snail toot at all times.From around 850 to 1150 CE‚ the Chaco Canyon was the cultural heartland of the Puebloan peoples who inhabited the southwestern US. Typically‚ Chacoan centers from this period consisted of enormous sandstone structures known as &;quot;great houses&;quot;‚ around which small clusters of domestic sites were scattered through the landscape.Previously‚ archaeologists excavating the canyon have discovered conch shell trumpets within elite burials‚ despite the nearest source of such shells lying around 1‚000 kilometers (620 miles) to the southwest on the Pacific coast. Providing an important if somewhat obvious insight‚ the authors of a new study explain that “these prized items would have provided their bearers‚ probably community leaders‚ with the means to create a very loud blast of sound.”Trumpets of this kind continue to be used by the present-day descendants of these ancient Puebloans during ritual practices‚ all of which suggests that the shells may have played an important role in Chacoan life. To investigate‚ the study authors digitally modeled the reach of a conch trumpet blast when blown from the great houses of five different Chacoan settlements.Their results demonstrate that the sphere of sound matches up perfectly with the distribution of domestic sites around each great house. It therefore appears that the ancient inhabitants of the Chaco Canyon deliberately arranged their villages so that the authorities could communicate with all residents at any given time simply by blowing on a sea shell.“If leaders atop great houses needed to quickly communicate with all community residents‚ a conch-shell blast would have been a more effective method than relying on community residents to look in the right direction at the right time to see‚ for example‚ smoke/mirror signals‚” write the authors.Speculating on the function of these audible notifications‚ the researchers say that trumpets may have been used to signal the start of communal activities like religious ceremonies. “This is not unlike the idea of a medieval church bell calling a community to mass”‚ explained study author Professor Ruth Van Dyke in a statement via email.More broadly‚ the researchers state that “the acoustic reach of a conch-shell trumpet could have been one way of ensuring the internal cohesion of Chacoan communities.”The study is published in the journal Antiquity.

Aurorae on Mars are a whole other affair compared to the ones we have on Earth. The Red Planet doesn’t have a magnetic field‚ so part of the solar wind just slams into the thin Martian atmosphere‚ creating an ultraviolet light show. At least that’s what NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) can see. And in February‚ it saw fireworks.The aurorae that covered the whole planet were recorded by the observatory‚ taking place on February 3 and 4‚ 7 to 10‚ and 15 and 16. The increased activity is due to the Sun approaching its maximum. During this period‚ the level of solar activity increases‚ including coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These events add more energetic particles to the solar wind‚ making a bigger splash when they hit Mars.    IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.&;quot;Mars is experiencing its greatest level of auroral activity in the past 10 years‚&;quot; Nick Schneider of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)‚ told Spaceweather.com. &;quot;In February alone‚ there were three episodes of global auroras--an 'aurora hat trick' we've never seen before.&;quot;Spaceweather.com actually predicted the events by looking at CMEs released by the Sun and matching them with the position of Mars. MAVEN has been around Mars for less than a decade‚ getting to the Red Planet just after the peak of the last solar cycle. This time around‚ it's following the effects of solar activity as things get very exciting. And what researchers learn now‚ will affect future missions on Mars.“For humans and assets on the Martian surface‚ we don’t have a solid handle on what the effect is from radiation during solar activity‚” MAVEN Principal Investigator Shannon Curry of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics said in a statement. “I’d actually love to see the ‘big one’ at Mars this year — a large event that we can study to understand solar radiation better before astronauts go to Mars.”Hopefully Curry will get her wish and we will get more brilliant views of aurorae on Mars.