If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor‚ Josh Shapiro‚ announced last week that‚ in an effort to address perceived “threats” to electoral procedures‚ the state is launching an initiative in partnership with various state and federal agencies. These partners include the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and‚ notably‚ the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)‚ an organization long accused of aiding online censorship to impede freewheeling online speech. The revelation about Pennsylvania’s collaboration with DHS and CISA surfaced after The Federalist pressed the Pennsylvania State Department for more information about the new initiative. This program‚ named the Pennsylvania Election Threats Task Force‚ is expected to bring forth measures for the protection of the electoral system‚ safeguard voters from any form of intimidation‚ and provide accessible and trustworthy information about the election. Al Schmidt‚ Secretary of the Commonwealth‚ stated that the task force would focus on addressing lies and baseless “conspiracy theories” aiming to delegitimize the electoral process. Accusations have been levied against CISA for serving as the epicenter of the federal government’s efforts to censor speech‚ which is seen as an assault on civil liberties and First Amendment rights. Documents acquired by America First Legal uncovered that CISA‚ despite being aware of the risks associated with unsupervised mail-in voting in the 2020 election‚ dismissed social media posts voicing similar concerns as “disinformation.” The post Pennsylvania Collaborates With DHS and CISA To Monitor Online Election-Related Speech appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Religious Freedom Is Dead in Minnesota

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Moonlight can spell disaster or triumph in the animal kingdom‚ helping those species with limited eyesight catch prey more easily‚ while also giving those who might be the prey fewer places to hide away in the dark. Now‚ new research has investigated which species might benefit from or avoid moonlight‚ with the help of some camera traps in the rainforest.The team – who have put their results on the preprint server bioRxiv‚ having not yet undergone peer review – studied camera trap data on 88 mammal species‚ in 17 protected tropical forests across three continents. The floors of tropical forests are some of the darkest places that land-based mammals live and the team wanted to establish how different species respond to changes in the lunar cycle.The species that actively avoided or significantly reduced their activity levels on the brightest moonlit nights were deemed to have “lunar phobia”. This characteristic was found in 14 of the 88 species; it was most common in rodents‚ which accounted for 11 of the group‚ though only 25 percent of the total number of species.Species in the lunar phobic category were also likely to be more nocturnal‚ though they were less active in both the night and the day when the nights were moonlit. During moonlit nights‚ 11 of the 14 lunar phobic species reduced not just their nighttime activity‚ but also their overall activity levels.Those animals that had a greater probability of being active during the night were also more likely to be active during a new moon‚ but less likely to be active at a full moon.Of the 88 species‚ 20 of them were categorized as nocturnal‚ while nine were diurnal‚ meaning active during the day.  Only one species was in the crepuscular bracket – most active at dawn and dusk. This was the common tapeti (Sylvilagus brasiliensis)‚ which was also found to be lunar philic‚ alongside the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and the four-toed elephant shrew (Petrodromus tetradactylus).The study also found that 70 of the 88 species did not respond to changes in the lunar cycle. The team suggests that this was for one of two reasons: either their activity at night was not found to change based on the brightness of the Moon‚ or their data was not able to be classified because of a high noise-to-signal ratio.  A total of 14 species were categorized as data sparse because they had less than 50 observations during the night. Some suggested explanations for the three lunar philic species include that peccaries are large mammals that live in groups‚ which could counter the Moon's brightness potentially making it easier for predators to spot them. The authors also report that the two other lunar philic species have also been seen to change their behavior on nights with a full moon in other studies. On the other hand‚ lunar phobic species such as armadillos and pacas need to avoid both natural predators and hunting by rural and indigenous communities. Overall‚ the researchers conclude that more research is needed to further explain shifts in patterns of activity in response to changes in the Moon's light. Looking at the canopy of a tropical forest could be of particular interest‚ as changes in the lunar cycle could potentially have a more pronounced effect on the species that live there. The preprint is available on BioRxiv.

In the lowlands of southwestern Madagascar there is‚ and sometimes isn't‚ a lizard known as Labord's chameleon (Furcifer labordi) with an unusual life cycle. The chameleons‚ as pointed out by UK fun fact podcast No Such Thing As A Fish‚ are functionally extinct for several months of the year‚ with no adults alive (as far as we are aware).Labord's chameleons begin their life hatching in synchronicity at the beginning of the rainy season in November."Early life of this chameleon is characterized by fast growth‚ resulting in sexual maturity at less than two months of age‚" a 2017 paper on the lizards explains. "After mating‚ senescent decline becomes apparent‚ and by the end of the rainy season in March‚ a population wide die-off of both sexes occurs."For the females‚ this happens shortly after they have buried their eggs to keep them safe during the dry season from April til October."The females put all their energy into producing eggs that need to get through the long drought while underground‚" Valeria Fabbri-Kennedy and Chris Raxworthy‚ a herpetologist at the American Museum of Natural History‚ told Live Science. "They die within just a few hours of having laid them‚ as they have few resources left."Before they die though‚ the females can put on a spectacular color-changing display.              Their unusual lifespan allows them to survive the hot season‚ essentially by skipping it‚ spending that time as an egg."With an incubation period of 8–9 month‚ F. labordi spend the majority of their lifetime as a developing embryo in the egg‚ probably as an adaption to the highly seasonal climate‚" the paper added.The timings of the die-off vary by region in Madagascar‚ and by how long the wet season is. In warmer wet seasons‚ adults may live a little longer. After one unusually long wet season‚ one female has even been found to survive to see another breeding season‚ and researchers have kept males alive too by keeping them in cages under favorable conditions. But since the animals die after reproducing‚ and spend several months incubating‚ for several months a year the species is essentially extinct‚ with no adult specimens in the wild‚ only eggs. [H/T: No Such Thing As A Fish]

Let’s hope for clear evenings ahead of us this month‚ because there are many celestial happenings in the March sky. The equinox will be at 3:06 am UTC on March 20 (10:06 pm ET on March 19)‚ with the Northern hemisphere entering spring and the Southern hemisphere entering autumn.This month is the best time to see the smallest planet in the Solar System. Mercury is going to be at its brightest and at its most distant from the Sun‚ and the two are not happening on the same date. You don't need to pick a specific date‚ though. From March 9‚ Mercury will be bright and above the horizon after sunset. Its brightness peaks about a week later‚ but it will continue to elongate away from the Sun. It reaches its maximum distance from the Sun on March 24‚ although it will be dimmer than in mid-March. If you are unlucky with weather and do not have a single clear evening or a clear Western horizon‚ Mercury will reach its greatest elongation first on September 5‚ and then again on December 25.Jupiter is going to be nice and visible across the Western sky too‚ and if you have a telescope you can see the planet Uranus as well. The two will meet in the sky in mid-April and throughout late March we will see Uranus‚ Jupiter‚ and Mercury all in a single line.  Let’s keep going with stuff to do at sunset. You have a chance to see the false dusk – the evening counterpart of the false dawn – before March 21. What you will be seeing is zodiacal light‚ a triangular glow in the west after the Sun has set. It is produced by dust in the plane of the Solar System and it is brightest on the zodiacal band‚ the pathway of the Sun and the Moon across the sky.  Due to the orientation of the Earth’s axis during the Northern hemisphere's spring‚ it is easier to see after dusk. In the fall‚ you'll be able to see it before dawn. For the Southern hemisphere‚ it’s the other way round‚ so you need to look east before dawn to spot this false dawn. For the zodiacal light‚ you need a clear view of the horizon with a dark sky and no light in the direction (west or east) that you are looking at.If all of this is not enough‚ we have one more exciting thing for the end of the month: a partial lunar eclipse. During the night between March 24 and March 25‚ the Moon will pass through the Earth’s penumbra – our planet's half-shadow. This type of eclipse doesn’t tinge the Moon red‚ but it ends up making it appear significantly dimmer than your usual full Moon.It will be visible from Western Europe all the way to Eastern Asia and Australia‚ with the best view (and easiest hours) in the Americas. The whole affair of dimming and rebrightening lasts over four hours. And if you are in North America and this gives you eclipse fever‚ don’t forget that two weeks later‚ there will be a total solar eclipse crossing the continent from Mexico to Canada.

During the Cold War‚ when messing around with nuclear energy was all the rage‚ the US military left a legacy of radioactive debris at a few different sites around the world. Much of the fallout was kept at bay or contained – well‚ depending on who you ask – but climate change is now threatening to reawaken these radioactive boogeymen once again. A new report by the US Government Accountability Office has highlighted three regions across the world where US-made radioactive contamination could be disturbed by climate change. Despite being the result of US actions‚ none of the three troublesome sites are found in the US; they are found in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific‚ the Spanish town of Palomares‚ and the site of a former Arctic military scientific research base in Greenland.In light of this dramatic shift to the environment‚ the report argues that the US might have to rethink the way it manages some of these sites.Nuclear Waste On IceBetween 1959 and 1967‚ the US military ran a scientific research base in Greenland called Camp Century. It was the home of Project Iceworm‚ a supervillain-esque plan to install a network of nuclear missile launch sites hidden amid the Arctic Ice Sheet. They were also looking into the feasibility of operating a base under the ice in Greenland.While both schemes ultimately didn't work out‚ the camp was powered by a small nuclear reactor‚ which has left its own radioactive footprint. The site and its waste were abandoned in 1967 with the hope it would be buried by perpetual snowfall.A recent review found that the liquid wastes were buried at a depth of 32 meters (104 feet) in 2017‚ deeper than it was in 1964‚ meaning the plan to entomb the radiation in ice and snow had worked – but conditions in Greenland are starting to radically change. Given the rate of warming temperatures and thawing ice‚ another study reported that contamination likely would remain immobile until 2100. After that‚ things could get messy. Even if the debris isn’t totally exposed to the elements‚ warming temperatures are likely to increase meltwater leakage and up risk of radiation seeping into the surrounding environment.   Other studies have come to more worrying conclusions. In 2016‚ scientists found that the ice sheet at Camp Century could effectively collapse within 75 years under a business-as-usual scenario in greenhouse gas emissions. If that happens‚ the reports‚ it would “guarantee the eventual remobilization of physical‚ chemical‚ biological‚ and radiological wastes abandoned at the site.”It’s particularly worrying as neither the US‚ Greenland‚ nor Denmark (which controls Greenland) have suggested any plans for cleaning up the contamination beneath Camp Century.“The possibility to influence the environment is there‚ which could further affect the food chain and further affect the people living in the area as well‚” Hjalmar Dahl‚ president of Inuit Circumpolar Council Greenland‚ told Grist in light of the new report.“I think it is important that the Greenland and US governments have to communicate on this worrying issue and prepare what to do about it‚” said Dahl.Trouble In The PacificThe Marshall Islands is arguably the best-known of the sites. This atoll in the Pacific Ocean was a punching bag for the US nuclear tests during the Cold War‚ witnessing at least 67 nuclear bomb explosions between 1946 to 1958. A mushroom cloud from a nuclear weapon test by the US at Bikini Atoll‚ Micronesia‚ on July 25 1946Image credit: United States Department of Defense (Public Domain)Towards the end of the 1970s‚ the resulting mess of irradiated soil and debris from six different islands (along with tons of contaminated soil from Nevada) was transported to a giant pit on Runit Island‚ where it was mixed with concrete and entombed in a dome. For many years‚ the problem appeared to have been successfully swept under the rug. However‚ the nuclear tomb is threatening to crack open as a result of rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. Some of the atolls are still uninhabitable to this day. In areas that are inhabited‚ residents have repeatedly raised concerns that the radioactive legacy of the nuclear tests is harming their health‚ specifically regarding local cancer rates. The US denies this and maintains that the Marshall Islands are safe‚ claiming that the cancers are hereditary. The report does settle these disagreements between Marshall Islands officials and the US. If anything‚ it leans on the side of suggesting that the extent of nuclear contamination has been overstated. However‚ it does suggest the US Department of Energy should improve the Marshallese people's access to clear information on the contamination. A Radioactive Crash Over SpainThere is also the little-known site of Palomares‚ a fishing town in Spain that became showered in radioactive contamination in 1966 when an American bomber plane had a mid-air collision with aerial refueling tanker aircraft.In total‚ 9 kilograms (20 pounds) of oxidized isotopes of plutonium‚ uranium‚ and americium across 2.3 square kilometers (0.9 square miles) of the Spanish coast. Fortunately‚ no local residents or animals were reportedly harmed. The US and Spain attempted to clear the radioactive debris that was scattered in and around the town. Part of this clean-up effort involved shipping tons of soil and vegetation debris back to the US where it was buried in Aiken‚ South Carolina.However‚ some contamination remains to this day. In the 1990s‚ it was found that radioactive contamination around Palomares was still exceeding European Union standards. The US and Spain have since signed a statement of intent to address the problem at Palomares‚ but little real progress has been made.

Forget vapes – there’s a new nicotine product on the block‚ and it’s safe to say it’s been getting people a bit riled up recently. Nicotine pouches‚ sold under brand names like Zyn and Velo‚ have been both lambasted and lauded by politicians‚ influencers‚ and parents when it comes to their supposed health effects. But what does science have to say? What are nicotine pouches?Nicotine pouches are just that – small‚ teabag-like pouches containing varying amounts of nicotine. They’re usually also filled with food-grade fillers‚ sweeteners‚ and a whole host of different flavorings – like their vape cousins – but they don’t have any tobacco.The pouches are designed to be placed between the upper lip or cheek and the gums. There‚ the nicotine within is released and absorbed by the gums‚ and once empty‚ or after a certain amount of time‚ the pouch is removed.Why are people talking about them?In late January‚ US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission to investigate the marketing and health effects of Zyn‚ saying that nicotine pouches pose a danger to young people‚ with social media influencers touting their alleged benefits.Though some agreed it was important to find out more about the effects of the products‚ others were unhappy‚ to say the least. “Zyn is not a sin‚” said political commentator Tucker Carlson‚ claiming that the pouches enhance “male vitality and mental acuity”.Are nicotine pouches safe?We can’t comment on the nature of nicotine pouches and sin‚ but what we can do is look at the science. When it comes to mental acuity‚ nicotine does have some known short-term effects. For example‚ the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) states that “nicotine also temporarily boosts aspects of cognition‚ such as the ability to sustain attention and hold information in memory.” It can also give a brief feeling of euphoria thanks to an increase in dopamine in the brain’s reward circuits.The key word there is “temporarily”. There’s one thing about nicotine that’s clear no matter how it’s dished up – it’s addictive. Whilst it might give a little boost to your brain and mood‚ NIDA also explains that “people in withdrawal from nicotine experience neurocognitive deficits such as problems with attention or memory.”Other unpleasant side effects of using nicotine pouches might include a sore mouth or throat‚ nausea‚ gum irritation‚ or mouth ulcers.But in spite of both proponents and opponents making some pretty bold claims‚ the actual long-term health impacts of nicotine pouches‚ and nicotine in general‚ are unknown. Some researchers think it could have lasting impacts on cardiovascular health‚ cancer risk‚ and brain development‚ but there’s a lack of substantial evidence either way. If you’re hoping for some guaranteed “male vitality”‚ it’s probably better to look elsewhere.All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text‚ images‚ and links may be edited‚ removed‚ or added to at a later date to keep information current. 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.

Scientists have developed a new robo-surgeon that can remove cancerous tumors from extremely delicate locations that can prove challenging and risky for even the most experienced human surgeons.When removing cancerous tumors‚ a process known as resection‚ the aim is to preserve as much healthy tissue as possible while removing the cancerous cells to prevent them from returning or spreading again. This is a challenging operation at the best of times‚ but even more so when the affected area is the on the neck‚ head‚ or other delicate areas.Even for the most experienced surgeons‚ this can be a tense task‚ but add to that the mental and physical obstacles introduced by fatigue‚ burnout‚ and visual obstruction‚ and the steadiest of hands may well struggle to perform correctly.But this issue may soon become a thing of the past. That is‚ if the new ASTR – Autonomous System for Tumor Resection – has anything to do with it. ASTR was designed by a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University to perform resections in delicate places‚ like the tongue. According to its creators‚ the robot surgeon can remove tumors with accuracy that rivals “or even potentially” exceeds human surgeons.“Doing a resection that has precise margins is a super difficult task‚” Axel Krieger‚ assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering‚ said in a statement.“So much of these surgeries is hope and even some guessing. A lot of surgeons struggle with it. Our goal was to make these procedures more precise.”Precision‚ in this instance‚ is 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) of healthy tissue‚ which is the standard amount of cancerous tissue surgeons attempt to remove. This 5 millimeters of tissue – which is about as thick as a typical eraser at the end of a pencil or the thickness of a standard wedding ring – is enough to make sure that the cancerous cells are removed while limiting the damage done to the surrounding area.The challenge is made more complicated by the fact that cancerous tumors can often have very visible horizontal borders on the edge‚ but less obvious vertical ones.“The problem we heard from many of the surgeons we collaborate with is that it’s so hard to resection a tumor precisely‚” Krieger added. “Surgeons bring a little ruler in and see the 5 [millimeter] distance and mark off the edges on the sides. But how deep to go—that’s so difficult.”Even though pre-surgery preparation is extremely‚ painstakingly thorough‚ the 5-millimeter border represents a “blind zone”.“The challenge is that surgeons do not have direct access to the tumor‚ due to surrounding tissue‚” said doctoral student and team member Jiawei Ge. “They can see the surface of the tumor‚ but otherwise can only see the healthy tissue. The map is in the surgeon’s mind.”To test the ASTR‚ the researchers turned to tongues. Tongue tumors are a well-positioned case for testing this new surgical system‚ due to their surface accessibility and current use in experimental surgery. While the condition is rare‚ you may have heard of it affecting some celebrities‚ such as Michael Douglas and Eddie Van Halen – the latter of which had unsuccessful surgery.Using tissue from a pig’s tongue‚ the researchers were able to use ASTR to remove a tumor and exactly 5 millimeters of healthy tissue using its vacuum grasping and cutting tools. They carried out six consecutive resections and ASTR succeeded every time‚ not requiring any stoppage – the team was able to translate human guidance into robotic precision.“The physician can supervise the robot and give pre-surgery inputs‚ then the robot does it step by step‚” Krieger explained. “What we showed is that surgeons can get very good horizontal margins with the ruler‚ but on the depth margins our robot really shows improvement.”The new robo-surgeon was based on a technology they developed for their Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR)‚ which‚ in 2022‚ performed the first fully autonomous laparoscopic surgery – a procedure that connects two ends of an intestine.The team developed STAR’s technical workings to create ASTR’s autonomous‚ dual-arm‚ vision-guided robotic system.“We’ve sent the robot to make an incision before‚ but this is the first time we’ve done a bulk resection and taken a tumor out fully‚” said Krieger. “That’s the big novelty here.”The next step for ASTR is to operate on an internal organ‚ like a kidney. This will require different approaches and challenges to accessing the tumor. By combining ASTR’s precision with state-of-the-art imaging technologies‚ it is hoped that a new era of tumor resection may be on the horizon.“They use robots a lot already in clinical practice‚ so this isn’t a huge paradigm shift‚” Krieger concluded.The study is published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.