If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Sign Up To Keep Reading This post is for Reclaim The Net supporters. Gain access to the entire archive of features and supporters-only content. Help protect free speech‚ freedom from surveillance‚ and digital civil liberties. Join Already a supporter? Login here The post The Biden Administration‚ an Alliance With the Censorship-Driven German Government‚ and the “Media Literacy” Programs Pushed in Schools appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

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An animation of an asteroid's close approach to Earth has attracted a lot of views over the last few days‚ largely because of just how close it appears. The animation‚ shared by Facebook page Cosmoknowledge on Sunday‚ shows asteroid 99942 Apophis's path‚ culminating in its closest approach on April 13‚ 2029. To be clear‚ there is nothing to fear from this asteroid‚ which is predicted by NASA not to hit Earth in 2029‚ nor in another close approach in 2036. However‚ the animation is still what is known as a nailbiter.        IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.In April 2029‚ Apophis is predicted by NASA to come within 32‚000 kilometers (20‚000 miles) of the Earth's surface. Closer than some satellites‚ it should be visible from the Eastern Hemisphere without the aid of a telescope or binoculars.It may sound close (in terms of space that is‚ not in terms of a jaunt) but astronomers are not concerned. In 2021‚ Apophis made a flyby of Earth‚ at which point astronomers made powerful radar observations in order to better define its orbit. Before that‚ NASA believed that it had a chance of impact later in the century‚ but the observations ruled that out.“A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore‚" Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies said of the asteroid‚ "and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years."Other animations‚ a little closer and from a different angle‚ are more reassuring. NASA's Eyes On Asteroids website also provides more detailed views of this and other asteroids‚ for anyone who has a bit of free time and fancies feeling at the mercy of random space rocks.    NASA is going to use the 2029 flyby to take a better look at the asteroid‚ named for the Egyptian serpent deity that wanted to devour the Sun‚ using the spacecraft that returned samples from asteroid Bennu. A little science cherry on top of the main treat? That we aren't going to be hit by a big rock from space.

It’s almost four years since COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic. Although the state of emergency has now passed‚ and vaccines and treatment advances have helped turn the tide‚ the virus is very much still out there. The latest variant‚ JN.1‚ has brought with it some unexpected new symptoms – but how worried should we be?JN.1 is a descendent of the “Pirola” variant‚ BA.2.86‚ that began to spread in late Summer 2023. In fact‚ it was only a single change in the virus’s spike protein that gave rise to JN.1. It’s now the dominant variant in the UK‚ responsible for around 60 percent of new COVID cases‚ as well as in the US according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. The fact that JN.1 has become so dominant has been taken as evidence that it is either more transmissible than previous variants‚ or better at evading the immune system. The latest UK figures at the time of writing‚ for the seven days up to and including January 3‚ 2024‚ show cases are up by 8.6 percent. At first glance‚ a variant that gets around the immune protection conferred by vaccines or prior infections sounds like bad news‚ but the number of people catching COVID is only part of the story. It’s also important to look at how sick they’re getting.There‚ at least‚ there may be some cause for cautious optimism. Paul Hunter‚ a professor at the University of East Anglia‚ took a look at the figures and told New Scientist that this wave of the pandemic is resulting in far fewer serious illness cases than before. “On average‚ someone catching COVID-19 in this wave is less likely to be admitted to hospital‚” Hunter said. “I think immunity is probably playing a big role‚ but it may be that the latest variant is also less virulent.”That’s not to say that the number of people being hospitalized with the virus is no longer an issue at all. In the US‚ admissions to hospital for COVID-19 saw increases for nine consecutive weeks up to the first week of January‚ predominantly in the 65 and over age group.As we’ve learned‚ hospitalization is not the only factor that should be taken seriously with COVID-19. Even mild infections carry with them the risk of long-lasting symptoms that can be very debilitating.  So‚ should we be worried?While the numbers of deaths from COVID-19 no longer make as disturbing a reading as they did at the height of the pandemic‚ the virus still has the potential to put enormous pressure on healthcare systems – which in the Northern Hemisphere are already trying to cope with the usual winter illnesses like flu and respiratory syncytial virus. On an individual level‚ people are still dying or developing life-altering complications.At a recent briefing‚ Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus‚ Director-General of the World Health Organization‚ encouraged world leaders not to take their foot off the gas when it comes to COVID-19 surveillance.    IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.Vaccination‚ for those able to access it‚ remains key when it comes to protecting yourself. A study published just this week in The Lancet concluded that over 7‚000 hospitalizations and deaths in the UK during the summer of 2022 could have been avoided with better vaccine coverage.Ever-controversial mask mandates are also making a comeback in some quarters‚ and we can all do our part to try and limit the spread by doing our best to keep our distance from others when we're sick. While for many people‚ infection with JN.1 is likely to be mild and self-limiting‚ if the last four years have taught us one thing‚ it’s that you can never completely write off COVID-19 as a potential threat. So far‚ the data do not seem to suggest that we need to be especially worried about this variant. However‚ they do underline the importance of continuing to keep a close watch on this disease – it could still surprise us.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. 

Somebody on the Internet has asked a question that comes up from time to time: "How did the human race survive for thousands of years without vaccines?"Well‚ the answer‚ as has been explained to the poster in X's (formerly known as Twitter) community note feature‚ is that the human race did survive without vaccines (hence you reading this)‚ but millions upon millions of people died from diseases that could have been prevented by vaccines.          IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.The question has a small whiff of survivor bias to it. If you haven't encountered survivor bias‚ think of a person (probably on Facebook) who tells you: "My gran smoked every day of her life and she made it to 95". Or Uncle Billy‚ who says‚ "I used to pound 35 cans of Budweiser before every commute‚ and not once did I die". These are all examples of "survivor bias"‚ which goes like this: these activities look less dangerous than they are because you are in the group of survivors. There's a reason you don't hear from people with similar stories‚ such as "I used to pound 35 cans of Budweiser before driving and died instantly‚ day one" from Uncle Billy (God rest his soul)‚ and it's because Uncle Billy is dead.Though overall the human species has survived every disease thus far‚ that doesn't mean that diseases of the past (ones named things like "the Black Death") were harmless. You are just the latest in a long line of people who have procreated without being killed by said diseases. In the case of the plague‚ 30 to 50 percent of the entire population of Europe was killed‚ sometimes to be catapulted at their enemies.  The disease resurged in pockets for centuries after the initial epidemics of the 1300s. We can now treat the plague‚ which occasionally spreads to humans from animal sources‚ with antibiotics‚ but vaccines are also available.Another example of a disease that we "survived" before vaccines is smallpox. Smallpox‚ to put it lightly‚ was extremely deadly‚ with about 30 percent of people infected with the variola virus succumbing to the disease. With no vaccines to fight it‚ and no other tools against it other than deliberately infecting people with pus from pustules‚ the disease was a constant threat to life.That is until the world's first vaccine was developed by Edward Jenner in 1796‚ after he heard rumors that milkmaids were immune to smallpox following previous infections with cowpox. Thanks to a successful global vaccination program‚ the World Health Organization (WHO) was able to declare it eradicated in 1979.Another disease we survived without vaccines‚ by dying in huge numbers until a vaccine was developed.

Astronomers have estimated the size and activity of a supermassive black hole discovered in one of the most distant galaxies we have ever seen. Because the speed of light is finite‚ looking farther into the universe is like looking farther back in time. The light from this galaxy comes from just 400 million years after the Big Bang‚ making this the oldest known supermassive black hole found yet.At the time‚ the black hole had a mass 1.6 million times that of our Sun‚ about a third of Sagittarius A* which sits at the center of our galaxy‚ but its own galaxy‚ GN-z11‚ is a mere one-hundredth of the Milky Way. This is another example of an overmassive black hole from the early universe‚ however‚ such a large object so early is a bit of a problem. Scenarios put forward to explain supermassive black holes include that they may have formed from a "light seed" – a truly massive star going supernova‚ forming a sizable black hole that then grows supermassive – or a "heavy seed" scenario which sees a supermassive black hole form directly from gas clouds‚ 10‚000 to 100‚000 times the mass of the Sun. The latter would fit better with data from this galaxy‚ but the black hole's activity makes it less clear-cut. “It’s very early in the universe to see a black hole this massive‚ so we’ve got to consider other ways they might form‚” lead author Roberto Maiolino‚ from Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory and Kavli Institute of Cosmology‚ said in a statement sent to IFLScience. “Very early galaxies were extremely gas-rich‚ so they would have been like a buffet for black holes.”Recent data from JWST has pushed a preference towards the "heavy seed" scenario‚ but it is not clear which scenario would work best for this particular supermassive black hole‚ and that’s because of the incredible accretion of material it is undergoing. The balance between the gravitational pull of an object and the pressure from the radiation (light) created by said object is called the Eddington limit. Above this limit‚ things are broken apart‚ below they collapse.Supermassive black holes don’t emit light but the material that surrounds them does. As it spins around ready to be eaten‚ this material experiences incredible gravitational forces. It heats up‚ releasing incredible energy. Supermassive black holes are extreme objects and they can overcome the Eddington limit. In the case of the supermassive black hole at the core of GN-z11‚ the rate of accretion (and associated light) is five times the Eddington limit. The team is not convinced that this extreme feeding has been constant since its formation‚ but if it was‚ it would allow for the "light seed" scenario to be possible. The team hopes that the discovery of even more distant black holes might help disentangle the scenarios: do they start out large or do they grow really fast?A paper describing the research is published in Nature.

Some fish can walk‚ but the armored catfish goes one step further in wriggling its way across desert environments in search of resources. Wriggling is the wrong word‚ however‚ as scientists considered the mode of locomotion to be so unusual as deserving of its own word: reffling.The armored catfish reffles its way across land when it finds itself at a dead end in its present habitat. It may be that the isolated body of water it was living in has run out of food or some other resource‚ and so rather than giving in to its fate‚ it ups sticks and reffles off someplace else.These fish are loricariid catfishes‚ a highly diverse group of fishes that can be found in Central and South America. They have a highly specialized morphology that enables them to inhabit aquatic and terrestrial environments without dying – but that doesn’t mean it's easy.In National Geographic's Welcome To Earth‚ we saw an armored catfish making the perilous journey. It leaves a unique track in the sand as it reffles its way towards water. The clip states they can survive for hours at a time on land‚ but if time runs out‚ it can be fatal.    Fortunately‚ the nomadic catfish they caught on camera completes its mission‚ reffling across the sand and splashing back into more comfortable aquatic surroundings. They're able to navigate thanks to tastebuds that line their bodies and can detect compounds that indicate water's proximity and quality.The term “reffling” was coined by a 2021 study that sought to better understand the terrestrial behaviors of armored catfish‚ which were previously poorly described.“Loricariid catfishes use a novel‚ highly asymmetric form of axial appendage-based terrestrial locomotion involving their mouth‚ pectoral fins‚ pelvic fins‚ posterior axial body‚ and tail‚” wrote the authors. “As this behavior is so unlike any other described locomotor behavior‚ we have created a new word to describe it: reffling.”     The unique approach to moving across land may be the consequence of them being rather stiff for a fish‚ but their rigidity has its perks‚ too.“These species have numerous unique morphological traits that may greatly reduce body and fin flexibility‚” they continued. “Because loricariids are so inflexible‚ they may be constrained into reffling as their only means of terrestrial locomotion‚ but their stiffness may improve force transmission‚ allowing them to be among the fastest fishes on land.”Those fins weren’t made for walking‚ and that’s not what armored catfish do.