If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Despite the serious controversies arising from Big Tech/government “coordination” (lawsuits in the US say‚ it’s actually “collusion”)‚ this concept seems to be taken as normal behavior in the UK. Currently‚ Home Secretary James Cleverly (whose department is in charge of the police) is in Silicon Valley for talks with representatives of Google‚ Meta‚ and Apple. And in New York City‚ he will be meeting those from X. Reports are saying that the purpose of Cleverly’s US trip is to “discuss how the UK government and tech players can work together to tackle a number of challenges facing democracies in the digital age.” The rush to normalize such behavior has to do with the UK’s general election later in 2024. This does give credence to those who believe Big Tech’s de facto status in the world can be described as being that of a semi-governmental player‚ that various governments talk to and collaborate with – as they would with each other. What those governments are asking from Big Tech is to control messages and narratives via censorship and bans. The way they present it is as something quite opposite – “safeguarding” societies from things like misinformation‚ etc.‚ and‚ “malign influence.” But one could say that there’s plenty of reasons to describe policies like the UN’s Global Digital Impact as a malign influence on any society‚ specifically on any democracy. But it’s not beyond the realm of probability that Cleverly could be discussing this scheme‚ too. After all‚ the UK has been very active in working with the UN on this‚ and the “newspeak” definition of Global Digital Impact is‚ ensuring digital technologies “are used responsibly for the public’s benefit.” But few things scream‚ “public benefit” less than what the initiative in reality aims to achieve: summed up‚ it’s introduction of digital ID‚ linked to user bank accounts. Both for democracy and free speech advocates‚ and repressively-acting governments‚ the 2022 trucker protest in Canada was an excellent showcase of how legitimate dissent can be stifled by cutting people off from their money. And digital ID and all its tentacles would make that process more efficient and “streamlined‚” critics fear. Back to UK’s mission to get Big Tech (even more) on side around election environment control‚ Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy Saqib Bhatti had this to say: “I’m confident we can come up with a mechanism to help mitigate the risk of misinformation in elections. I think everyone will have a role to play in that.” The post UK Collaborates With UN for Big Tech Inclusion in Project Linking Digital ID To Bank Accounts appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

BBC Chastises Presenter for Saying Trans-Women Are Male

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Have you ever wondered why that rich red-looking steak you bought a day or two ago has now turned grey in your fridge? For those who eat meat‚ you may think the color of the product is a surefire way of assessing its freshness and its quality – the redder the better‚ right? Well‚ color is not always a trustworthy indicator‚ as supermarkets have tricks to superficially enhance its color. So is grey streak automatically bad for you?Where does the red in “red meat” come from? Red meat‚ sometimes known as “dark meat”‚ gets its color from myoglobin‚ a protein that binds to oxygen in muscle cells.On its own‚ myoglobin has a purplish-brown color‚ so freshly butchered meat can look a duller color. But when myoglobin is exposed to oxygen‚ it forms the compound oxymyoglobin which is lighter and turns the meat into the richer‚ redder color we would associate with a healthy product – though that is simply an “association”.So contrary to what you may believe‚ when you order a rare steak to the table‚ the red fluid on your plate is not blood but water and myoglobin.Over time‚ the presence of oxygen eventually turns the meat to a greyish-brown color. This is due to the continued oxidation of the myoglobin‚ which becomes metmyoglobin. The New South Wales Food Authority explains that a larger surface area means minced meat is more likely to turn gray than whole cuts. Despite what you may think‚ this alone does not mean the meat is inedible or spoilt (though you should still be cautious).If your refrigerated steak has just turned grey‚ this may be a result of oxygen in the fridge‚ rather than a sign of it starting to rot. However‚ as this process usually takes a few days to occur‚ it is still worth checking the meat before you cook it (especially if it smells and/or is slimy)‚ as the USDA states that it may be a sign of meat starting to spoil if all of it is gray or brown.When you buy steak from a store‚ you may find it is purplish and darker while in the wrappings. This is because the meat needs oxygen to turn red and the vacuum-sealed package prevents this oxidation from occurring.This may make you wonder why some store-bought meat is still richly red even though it is sealed in plastic. This is usually because supermarkets often use specially designed plastic that is slightly porous. Although the holes in the plastic are too small to let fluids escape‚ they nevertheless allow air to get in and out.

Years of sample collection on the Hungarian steppe recently revealed four brand new species of fungi‚ including one that scientists say bears a striking resemblance to an infamous sci-fi monster. Its worm-like body and sandy dwelling place led the team to dub the new species Tulostoma shaihuludii‚ after the Shai-Hulud sandworms that feature in Frank Herbert’s Dune novels and the movie adaptations.All four of the new species belong to the genus Tulostoma‚ more commonly known by their decidedly non-threatening name of stalked puffballs. This moniker comes from the spherical fruiting bodies that they produce on the end of a stalk‚ from which their spores are released when disturbed by the wind or trampled by an animal.In the case of T. shaihuludii‚ you can seek why the researchers made the connection with Herbert’s monstrous worms – but you needn’t go as far as Arrakis to find such unusual lifeforms.You can see the resemblance.Image credit: Péter Finy; illustration by Dániel G. Knapp (CC BY 4.0)The vast Pannonian steppe in southern Hungary‚ close to the borders with Romania and Serbia‚ is known to be a hotspot for stalked puffballs. The sandy soil peppered with grassy thickets provides the perfect habitat for gasteroid fungi such as these‚ but conditions can be tough. The region sees little rainfall‚ and in summer and autumn the sand temperatures can soar‚ so Tulostoma species have had to evolve resilience.The identifications‚ published in the journal MycoKeys‚ are based on samples collected in the area over 25 years.“In Hungary‚ so far 19 species have been recorded‚ including the four new species proposed in this study‚” the authors write‚ hinting that the land is yet to reveal all its secrets: “our ongoing studies indicate the presence of many more undescribed species of Tulostoma in Central Europe.”Along with the new finds‚ the team’s comprehensive taxonomic research is an important addition to our understanding of this group of organisms. Sadly‚ as the authors point out‚ Tulostoma species are rare‚ with the majority being red-listed by the European Council for the Conservation of Fungi. Knowing the best ways to protect them starts with learning as much as we can about their diversity and habitat. Incredibly‚ T. shaihuludii is not the only Shai-Hulud doppelganger to come to light recently – and the other one has the teeth to boot.Research 15 years in the making has led to new insights into the anatomy of the elusive Kalahari dwarf worm lizard (Zygaspis quadrifrons). A species of amphisbaenian‚ these weeny worm-like critters live their lives under the cover of sand and soil‚ so observing them has proven tricky.The worm-like wonder that is Zygaspis quadrifrons.Image credit: Johan MaraisIn one of two new papers on these animals in The Anatomical Record‚ University of Texas at Austin researcher Christopher J. Bell and colleagues describe the micro-CT scans they performed on 15 amphisbaenian specimens‚ culminating in a model of every cranial anatomical feature of Z. quadrifrons. "You could fit three skulls of the Zygaspis quadrifrons on the nail of my pinky. We can now look at these really small vertebrate organisms in a measure of detail that we never had before‚" Bell said in a statement. The second paper revealed another peculiar feature of the amphisbaenian skull. Like many reptiles‚ they're born with an egg tooth that lets them break out of their shell. These are usually temporary‚ but in Z. quadrifrons‚ they stick around.The large nasal cavities and prominent central tooth stand out in this scan image.Image credit: scans courtesy of the Jackson School of Geosciences CT lab‚ coloring and rendering by Sam Houston State UniversityErupting puffball fungi and legless lizards with a penchant for hide-and-go-seek: who knows what other mythical monsters could be lurking just beneath the sand?An earlier version of this article was published in December 2023.

Looking at a fairy lantern‚ you might not realise it’s a plant. These ghostly white botanical specimens haunt the forest floor putting on spooky bioluminescent displays‚ and now we’ve got a whole new genus to add to the list.A genus is a taxonomic category that groups together species. It represents a whole group‚ rather than an individual‚ so finding a new genus of anything is pretty big news. In fact‚ nobody’s found a new genus of plants in Japan in almost 100 years‚ which makes the discovery of a new group of fairy lanterns very exciting indeed.Part of the reason fairy lanterns look so alien is because‚ unlike a lot of plants‚ they don’t photosynthesize. That means they lack that classic‚ jolly chlorophyll green‚ instead looking like a blob of pickled asparagus. They can get away with being so ghostly pale because they get their energy from feeding on fungal mycelia in the soil. This is why they’re most commonly found lurking under fallen leaves‚ spending most of their time hardly visible at all as their flowers only briefly poke up surface-side.It's easy to see why these plants would be hard to find.Image credit: TAGANE ShuichiroFairy lanterns are known as Thismiaceae‚ but the Japanese name for one of the major groups in the family is “Tanuki-no-shokudai‚” roughly translating to “raccoon dog’s candleholder”. Despite their name‚ raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) are most closely related to foxes‚ and as for their candle habits? Never you mind.These plants’ elusive lifestyle means finding them is very rare as they’re so difficult to spot‚ but now we have a whole new genus to add to the list of known fairy lanterns. Its discovery came about thanks to a hobby botanist who found a fairy lantern that a local expert suspected might be a new genus of Tanuki-no-shokudai.“At present‚ approximately 100 species within the family have been identified‚ nearly half of which are known only from their first discovery‚ sometimes from a single specimen‚” explained Kobe University botanist Suetsugu Kenji‚ an internationally renowned expert on non-photosynthetic plants‚ in a statement. “The dedication of Japanese amateur researchers to revealing the hidden flora of these regions has been crucial in identifying species unknown to science.”After receiving the specimen in the post‚ it was evident it had unique features that set it apart from the other genera‚ so the researchers went in search of a living specimen. They travelled to Kimotsuki in Kagoshima Prefecture‚ where the discovery had been made‚ but the first year had no luck. A second trip proved to be more successful‚ as they discovered four more plants in the same narrow strip as the original discovery. The ghostly white of fairy lanterns comes from their lack of chlorophyll.Image credit: TAGANE ShuichiroThe new genus is believed to have diverged at an earlier stage in the evolution of Thismiaceae and has been named “Mujina-no-shokudai‚” or “badger’s candleholder”. Its Latin name is Relictithismia kimotsukiensis‚ which can be translated as “Thismia relict of Kimotsuki.”“Japan is one of the regions in the world where botanical surveys are most advanced‚ making the discovery of new plant species extremely rare‚ and the discovery of a new genus even more so‚” added Suetsugu. “This research might suggest that many other new species may be hiding in regions previously thought to be well-studied and underscores the critical need for ongoing exploration and investigation of the planet’s flora both abroad and at home.”The study is published in the Journal Of Plant Research.

Last September‚ NASA’s OSIRIS-REx brought back to Earth the biggest haul of asteroid material in the history of humanity. And among that‚ there are the largest physical fragments of an asteroid: pebbles and other small rocks from the surface of asteroid Bennu. By contrast‚ the Hayabusa probes that collected samples from Itokawa and Ryugu‚ respectively‚ brought back only grains from the two space rocks.OSIRIS-REx managed to collect so much more both in terms of mass and size. The total amount of material is 121.6 grams (4.29 ounces)‚ double the mission goal. Roughly 70.3 grams (2.48 ounces) were accessed very soon after the capsule landed. For the remaining material‚ a problem with the fasteners of the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM)‚ meant some delays and creative solutions to get them budging.“Once we got TAGSAM fully open we saw the glorious 121.6 grams. It's an interesting number. It's more than twice what we are required to bring back‚ but it's less than half of what I thought we had. It's exciting because it's more than we promised‚ but also a little bit like ‘oh‚ I thought I had more’‚” Professor Dante Lauretta‚ the principal investigator for OSIRIS-REX‚ told IFLScience. He then jokingly added: “I try not to be greedy!”"Huge achievement" is almost an understatement for this endeavor. The collection from Hayabusa-2 of about 5.4 grams (less than 1 ounce) has been already revolutionary‚ delivering phenomenal discoveries such as the presence of amino acids and water-bearing minerals. Of the accessible 70 grams from Bennu‚ 1 gram has been distributed to research centers across the US and internationally. From that preliminary analysis alone‚ 58 presentations with findings will happen at the upcoming Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. And there is much more to come.“We have stones up to three and a half centimeters [1.4 inches] in their longest dimension‚ and a lot of stones in the centimeter size range‚” Professor Lauretta told IFLScience. “Currently‚ what we've been doing is characterizing those stones. We are doing a lot of work in Houston‚ in the curation lab‚ to understand the nature of that material. Those are the rarer parts of the collection and are scientifically really valuable because you get the whole rock texture at a larger scale. And that's going to be important for the processes that we want to study.”One of those processes is about the origin of asteroid Bennu itself. The team is extremely excited about the possibility that Bennu might have formed from an ocean world – a much larger body that had liquid water – possibly under an icy or rocky exterior like the icy moons of Jupiter or Saturn. Enceladus is a good example‚ but this parent body would be half its size‚ so about 250 kilometers across (155 miles) across.“We still have work to do to test that hypothesis. I would say there's really three lines of evidence right now that's making me think about ocean world‚” Professor Lauretta‚ who is the director of the Arizona Astrobiology Center‚ told IFLScience.The first one is evidence of serpentinite‚ a type of rock that forms when hot igneous or metamorphic rocks meet water. On Earth‚ that happens at mid-ocean ridges and similar places. A second line of evidence is about the bulk composition. Some analyses have shown an abundance of elements soluble in water‚ such as sodium‚ potassium‚ uranium‚ thorium‚ and barium. On top of that‚ the work suggests they were shifted there by a fluid.The third piece of evidence is the presence of a phosphate crust on some of the samples that have been analyzed. Lauretta describes it as a sort of coating on the rocks and it looks like something that was left behind as water evaporated. The oceans of Enceladus are abundant in phosphates.“All those three things support the hypothesis. And I do want to emphasize it's just a hypothesis right now. We're still coming up with ideas on how to test it. But to me‚ it's the leading candidate for the geologic environment that these rocks formed in‚” Professor Lauretta told IFLScience.With barely a few months of analysis‚ the Bennu sample is already making us giddy with possibilities. It is a window into the early times of the Solar System and will provide new insights into asteroid and planetary formation. And‚ it might even help us explain how water came to our planet‚ and maybe about the building blocks of life as well.

When galaxies collide‚ the supermassive black holes at their center can move close together‚ begin orbing one another‚ and eventually merge. Such a merger has never been seen but binary supermassive black holes have been known to exist at the core of several galaxies. And astronomers have now crowned the heaviest pair yet.These two objects sit at the center of elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379. Thanks to archival data from Gemini North's Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS)‚ researchers were able to resolve the two objects separately – the first time this has been possible. This led to another first‚ they estimated that the two objects are just 24 light-years apart. Closer than the star Vega is to Earth.But these are not stellar objects we are talking about. The black holes weigh 28 billion times the mass of the Sun‚ plus or minus 8 billion solar masses. Crucial to this estimate is the ability of astronomers to measure the motions of the stars at the core of this elliptical galaxy."The excellent sensitivity of GMOS allowed us to map the stars' increasing velocities as one looks closer to the galaxy's center‚" Roger Romani‚ Stanford University physics professor and co-author of the paper‚ said in a statement. "With that‚ we were able to infer the total mass of the black holes residing there."Binary black holes tend to merge over time (as gravitational waves observations have shown) but researchers worked out that this pair has been stuck at that distance for 3 billion years. They are unlikely to merge any time soon – and their extreme mass might be the reason why.For objects such as this to merge‚ they need to lose orbital energy. Neutron star binaries or black hole binaries can do that by releasing gravitational energy as they go around each other. For these gargantuan objects that is not enough. Gas and stars orbiting around them can give them a little push by stealing some of this energy away.But it seems that this massive galaxy has run out of gas and stars at the center. Without it‚ the supermassive black holes are in a stable orbit around each other‚ and this also allowed astronomers to observe these two objects.  "Normally it seems that galaxies with lighter black hole pairs have enough stars and mass to drive the two together quickly‚" added Romani. "Since this pair is so heavy it required lots of stars and gas to get the job done. But the binary has scoured the central galaxy of such matter‚ leaving it stalled and accessible for our study."If they do merge‚ the gravitational waves released would be a hundred million times more energetic than what we have detected so far. But the team is skeptical that that is going to happen. Another merger is unlikely to take place in the future‚ but maybe there’s enough gas to eventually get them merging.“We’re looking forward to follow-up investigations of B2 0402+379’s core where we’ll look at how much gas is present‚” added lead author Tirth Surti‚ an undergraduate researcher at Stanford. “This should give us more insight into whether the supermassive black holes can eventually merge or if they will stay stranded as a binary.”The possibility‚ or maybe impossibility‚ of a binary supermassive black hole merger has been a topic of debate among astronomers for decades. It is known as the final parsec problem.The paper is published in The Astrophysical Journal.

Tyrannosaurus rex is arguably the most famous of the dinosaurs‚ renowned for its enormous teeth and gargantuan size‚ but also its comparatively teeny arms. The fearsome predator was around 12 meters (40 feet) long and yet its arms measured just 1 meter (3 feet). This ridiculous ratio wasn’t reserved solely for the king of the dinosaurs‚ however: plenty of other theropods – the clade to which T. rex belongs – had measly appendages too. But why?Why did some theropods have such tiny arms?The truth is‚ no one knows for sure. Theropods‚ along with all other non-avian dinosaurs‚ went extinct 66 million years ago‚ so we’ll never get to see for ourselves how they wielded their little limbs. Fortunately‚ palaeontologists do have some theories.A 14-meter-long (45-foot) T. rex would’ve had arms less than a meter long. That’s the equivalent of a 1.8-meter-tall (6-foot) human having arms just 13 centimeters (5 inches) long.Image credit: © IFLScience‚ Mateusz Atroszko / Bowonpat Sakaew / nale / ShutterstockOne of the first suggestions came from Henry Fairfield Osborn‚ who described and named T. rex in 1905. He proposed that the dinosaur’s stumpy arms may have been used as some kind of mating apparatus‚ which gave it an advantage during sexy times. The hypothesis is alive and well today too. In 2022‚ following the discovery of Meraxes gigas – another tiny-armed theropod – project lead Juan Canale speculated on this.“They may have used the arms for reproductive behavior such as holding the female during mating‚” Canale argued in a statement. Short arms may even have helped M. gigas‚ and other theropods‚ to attract potential mates. “Sexual selection is a powerful evolutionary force. But given that we cannot directly observe their behavior‚ it is impossible to be certain about this.”Meraxes gigas was rocking tiny arms 20 million years before T. rex even existed.Image credit: Carlos Papolio (CC BY SA)Canale also suggested that‚ despite being so puny‚ their dinky arms could have helped dinosaurs to get back up after a fall. Weighing in at around 7‚000 kilograms (15‚500 pounds) – the weight of a large African elephant – means it was likely difficult for T. rex to raise itself from the ground‚ so even the smallest of arms would have been a help."When they were rising from a crouched position‚ they could use the arms to do a tiny tyrannosaur push-up‚" Scott Persons‚ head curator of the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History‚ told BBC Future. "[But] you've got to understand that that really only helps the tyrannosaur with the first two feet [0.6 meters]. And then it's got like another 15 feet [4.5 meters] to go off the ground."Another idea is that stubby forelimbs may have helped theropods to avoid accidental amputation – which sounds like a big bonus to us.“What if several adult tyrannosaurs converged on a carcass? You have a bunch of massive skulls‚ with incredibly powerful jaws and teeth‚ ripping and chomping down flesh and bone right next to you. What if your friend there thinks you’re getting a little too close? They might warn you away by severing your arm‚" palaeontologist Kevin Padian explained in a 2022 press release.In this case‚ having arms that don’t get in the way could be the difference between getting mauled by your mate and dodging getting chomped.   Believe it or not‚ some scientists have argued that T. rex’s pathetic-looking limbs could actually have been used as weapons. According to one 2017 study‚ they may have been adapted for “vicious slashing” – although this opinion is contested‚ given how ridiculously small they are. Other theories as to why some theropods had such teeny arms have included nest-digging and grooming.Of course‚ there’s also the possibility that the arms served no purpose at all and were simply a relic left over from their earlier ancestors. Perhaps‚ faced with evolutionary pressures‚ the likes of T. rex spent less energy maintaining its arm size‚ instead funneling it into evolving longer legs or a bigger head."An animal can only devote so much of its body volume to one thing or another‚" John Hutchinson‚ a biologist at the University of London's Royal Veterinary College‚ told Live Science. "He can't be a jack-of-all-trades. So you either have a very generalized body where everything's equally specialized for some general ecological niche‚ or you really specialize like T. rex‚ who is super specialized to be a front-end predator."The end result is a vestigial feature‚ like theropod arms or the human tailbone.Carnotaurus sastrei taking tiny arms to the extreme.Image credit: Fred Wierum via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)But perhaps our favorite suggestion is that some dinos‚ such as Carnotaurus‚ may have used their wee arms in a bizarre arm-twirling courtship display. Phwoar.Hopefully‚ future research and fossil discoveries will help to answer some of the questions that remain about theropods’ absurd appendages. The reason behind them might be debated‚ but at least we can all agree they’re really very silly.

Just weeks after implanting a brain chip into a human for the first time‚ Elon Musk’s Neuralink has reportedly landed itself in trouble with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Inspectors from the FDA visited the company's California animal research facility in June 2023 and found numerous problems with record keeping and quality controls related to their animal experiments‚ according to an agency report exclusively seen by Reuters.Some of the issues highlighted by the inspectors concerned instruments used in experiments that had no record of having been calibrated. The lab was also accused of not properly documenting its quality control procedures. These kinds of issues are particularly important as the start-up is dealing with live animals for their experiments. The FDA also reportedly visited the Neuralink facility in Texas‚ but didn’t find any problems. The mission of Neuralink is to develop a brain-computer interface using a chip implanted in the skull. Along with the goal of allowing humans to control electronic devices using only their minds‚ the company also has the loftier ambition of connecting our consciousness directly to the ether of the internet and artificial intelligence. Like many of Musk's ventures‚ their work has generated a heap of controversy. In December 2022‚ Reuters reported that Neuralink was under federal investigation for potential animal welfare violations after staff members complained that their experiments were causing needless suffering and death. Between 2018 and 2022‚ the company’s experiments had allegedly killed around 1‚500 animals‚ including 280 sheep‚ pigs‚ and monkeys.Musk claimed on September 2023 that “no monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant‚” but an investigation by WIRED found that numerous macaque subjects had been euthanized after suffering a nasty array of complications‚ including “bloody diarrhea‚ partial paralysis‚ and cerebral edema.”Monkeys were also seen suffering from some disturbing behavioral changes after receiving implants. One monkey would reportedly press their head against the floor‚ suggesting they were distressed or sick. According to internal documents‚ monkeys were also seen shaking when they saw lab workers‚ which they described as a “stress response.” Now that Neuralink has moved onto human trials‚ the company has received criticism from the medical community for failing to meet the robust standards needed for good‚ ethical science. “Which scientists – who were not on the Neuralink payroll – decided that the research was ready to try in humans?” Arthur Caplan and Jonathan D. Moreno‚ two American experts on biomedical ethics‚ wrote in an essay for The Hastings Center‚ a bioethics research nonprofit.“When the person paying for a human experiment with a huge financial stake in the outcome is the sole source of information‚ basic ethical standards have not been met‚” they addedAmid the chaos‚ Neuralink has reported some success. Just last month‚ Musk announced that someone who had received their brain implant was able to move a computer mouse cursor using only their thoughts.They are also currently accepting applications for human clinical trials on their website. Tempted‚ anyone?