RIP

TWO HIT WONDER
Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts, 'Summer Breeze' fame dies

Jim Seals of soft-rock duo Seals and Crofts died Monday at the age of 80. 

File Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers Records

June 7 (UPI) -- Singer and songwriter Jim Seals of the 1970s duo Seals and Crofts, which produced soft-rock hits "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl," has died, his family announced. He was 80.

Family members confirmed his Monday death on social media.

"I just learned that James 'Jimmy' Seals has passed," said his cousin, Brady Seals of the country band Little Texas. "My heart just breaks for his wife Ruby and their children. Please keep them in your prayers. What an incredible legacy he leaves behind."

No other details or cause of death were given.

Jim Seals was the lead vocalist of the harmonizing duo with mandolinist Darrell "Dash" Crofts. The Texas natives met in local bands during the 1950s. Together they formed Seals and Crofts in 1969 and converted to the Bahai Faith five years before their first big hit.

"It was the only thing I'd heard that made sense to me, so I responded to it," Jim Seals recalled in a 1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "That began to spawn some ideas to write songs that might help people to understand, or help ones who maybe couldn't feel anything or were cynical or cold. Lyrically, I think music can convey things that are hard sometimes for people to say to each other."

Seals and Crofts released their hit song "Summer Breeze" in September 1972, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Seals and Crofts' second big hit, "Diamond Girl," followed a year later also landing at No. 6. The pair also found success with their exotic instrumentation in "We Will Never Pass This Way," "I'll Play for You" and "Hummingbird."

"I think our music is a combination of the Eastern part of the world and the Western," Jim Seals said in 1971. "We've had people from Greece, Israel, England and France, China, everywhere, listen to our music and say, 'Oh, it's music from the old country.'"

Seals and Crofts toured and recorded throughout the 1970s, but the pair never bested its two pop-single chart-toppers. In all, Seals and Crofts had four gold and two platinum albums before they broke up in 1980.

The duo attempted to reunite in 1991 and again in 2004 for a new album Traces, which included remakes of their classics. Jim Seals retired from music to Nashville before having a stroke in 2017.

Jim Seals, who was born in 1941 in Sidney, Texas, came from a musical family. His younger brother was Dan Seals of England Dan & John Ford Coley. Dan Seals died in 2009 from cancer.

On Tuesday, John Ford Coley shared his thoughts on Jim Seals' death in a lengthy Facebook post.

"He was Dan's older brother and it was Jimmy that gave Dan and me our stage name," Coley wrote. "You and Dan finally get reunited again."

Britain starts trial of four-day week with thousands of workers


A worker in a face mask cleans a cafe in London, Britain, on October 1, 2020. 

File Photo by Neil Hall/EPA-EFE

June 6 (UPI) -- More than 3,300 workers at more than 70 companies in Britain are participating in a six-month pilot to research the benefits of a four-day work week.

The program is organized by not-for-profit group 4 Day Week Global with the thinktank Autonomy and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.

Researchers will measure the productivity and well-being of the participating employees throughout the study, including their sleep and levels of stress and burnout.

Juliet Schor, a professor of sociology at Boston College, said that Monday marked a "historic day for worktime reduction."

"Perfect post-Jubilee timing. Very excited to be part of this effort," she said in a tweet.

When asked whether participating workers would still be completing 40 hours each week, Schor responded that employees "must have a significant reduction in worktime with no loss of pay" in order to participate.

The trial is based on a 100:80:100 model, The Guardian reported, meaning that workers receive 100% of pay for 80% of the time while promising to maintain 100% productivity.

"As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognizing that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that reduced-hour, output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge," Joe O'Connor, CEO of 4 Day Week Global, told the Independent.

"The impact of the 'great resignation' is now proving that workers from a diverse range of industries can produce better outcomes while working shorter and smarter."

The pilot comes as the Institute of Employment Rights, another British think tank, said it is also due to release the findings of a study on reducing worktime without reducing pay.

Four-day week trials will also begin later this year in Spain and Scotland.

"We have long been a champion of flexible working, but the pandemic really moved the goalposts in this regard. For Charity Bank, the move to a four-day week seems a natural next step," said Ed Siegel, the bank's CEO, in comments to the Independent.

"The 20th Century concept of a five-day working week is no longer the best fit for 21st Century business. We firmly believe that a four-day week with no change to salary or benefits will create a happier workforce and will have an equally positive impact on business productivity, customer experience and our social mission."

1933

Solid Power revs up pilot production of new EV battery for BMW, Ford


Solid Power begins pilot production on new solid-state battery cells for BMW and Ford that will provide longer range and shorter recharges for less cost. Photo courtesy of Solid Power.

June 6 (UPI) -- Battery start-up Solid Power has begun pilot production of a new solid-state battery cell for BMW and Ford Motor to give electric vehicle drivers shorter recharge times and longer range at less cost.

Solid Power has started building a small number of solid-state batteries to undergo internal testing. The Colorado-based company hopes to deliver the batteries to the two car manufacturers later this year for further testing and have the batteries in vehicles and on the market by 2024.

While other companies such as QuantumScape and Samsung SDI already have started developing solid-state battery cells in new factories, Solid Power said it can build its "new breed of battery" at less cost by reusing the tooling and production at existing lithium-ion battery plants.

Solid-state batteries are considered "next-generation products," which experts point out are safer and more powerful than conventional lithium-ion batteries. The batteries do not require the gel electrolyte, found in lithium-ion batteries currently on the market, which means a lower risk of fires.

RELATED Samsung SDI to roll out next-generation batteries in 2023

Solid-state batteries also need shorter recharge times and offer more range.

"The mileage of EVs is still not so far. For EVs to become mainstream in the car industry, they need to have similar mileage as cars with internal combustion engines," Daelim University automotive professor Kim Pil-soo told UPI News Korea

As solid-state batteries have higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries, they can substantially increase the EV mileage. But the related technology has been elusive to develop, which means many battery makers struggled to make advances in the field," he said.

RELATED Chrysler parent Stellantis to build EV battery plant in Indiana

Solid Power said BMW and Ford could start testing its solid-state battery cells in prototype vehicles by the end of this year, according to CEO Doug Campbell, who called it a key step in the "validation" process needed to supply batteries to automakers.

If all goes well, the automakers could sign off on Solid Power's battery design in early 2024, Campbell told CNBC.

Solid Power said it plans to hand off its final design to an existing battery manufacturer for mass production.

Virgin Atlantic allows flight attendants to show tattoo

Two Virgin Atlantic flight attendants show off their tattoos last week as part of a new policy change by the carrier. Photo courtesy of Virgin Atlantic

June 6 (UPI) -- Virgin Atlantic announced it has changed its policy toward flight attendants displaying tattoos while on duty with the carrier.

The airliner said last week that flight attendants, who previously were required to hide their tattoos while in uniform, will be allowed to make their tattoos visible in a nod to self-expression. Virgin Atlantic said it is the first British-based airline to make such a change.

"At Virgin Atlantic, we want everyone to be themselves and know that they belong," Estelle Hollingsworth, chief people officer at Virgin Atlantic said in a statement last week. "Many people use tattoos to express their unique identities and our customer-facing and uniformed colleagues should not be excluded from doing so if they choose.

"That's why, in line with our focus on inclusion and championing individuality, we're relaxing our tattoo restrictions for all our people. We're proud to be the airline that sees the world differently and allows our people to truly be themselves."

RELATED Federal gov't sides with California flight attendants in lawsuit vs. Virgin America

Virgin Atlantic posted photos on social media last week with some of their flight attendants showing off their tattoos in recognition of International Flight Attendants Day.

"Today we're championing the dazzling collection of individuals who are our wonderful cabin crew," Virgin Atlantic said on Twitter. "We've always encouraged our people to be themselves, so from today, they can now show their tattoos with pride."

Virgin Atlantic said the uniform change tied into their latest ad campaign, "See the world differently," with uniforms created by Vivienne Westwood, the British designer who is credited with bringing punk designs into the mainstream.

"So, it's only fitting that Virgin Atlantic team members can express themselves with their unique tattoos, wearing the red uniforms designed by the godmother of punk," Virgin Atlantic said.

Diabetes drug shows promise for treating obesity

By Denise Mann, HealthDay News
JUNE 6, 2022

A new trial of tirzepatide focused on people who are obese but didn't have diabetes. It found they lost even more weight than what was seen in the diabetes studies that led to the drug's approval for this indication in May. Photo by Tiago Zr/Shutterstock

A newly approved drug for Type 2 diabetes may be a game-changer for treating obesity, too.

Given as a shot once a week, tirzepatide works on two naturally occurring hormones that help tell the brain that you are full. It may be as effective as weight-loss surgery.

"About nine of 10 people in the study lost weight, and the average weight loss for the highest dose was 22.5%, which is something we have never seen before," said study co-author Dr. Ania Jastreboff. She is an associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine and co-director of the Yale Center for Weight Management, in New Haven, Conn.

"These results are an important step forward in potentially expanding effective therapeutic options for people with obesity," Jastreboff said.

RELATED Losing weight may boost fertility for obese men

The new trial focused on people who are obese but didn't have diabetes. It found they lost even more weight than what was seen in the diabetes studies that led to the drug's approval for this indication in May.

Drug maker Eli Lilly sponsored the new study.

For the 72-week study, more than 2,500 overweight or obese adults received either 5, 10 or 15 mg of the new drug or placebo each week. The average weight reduction for the highest dose was about 52 pounds, the study showed. People who took the 10 mg dose lost about 49 pounds, on average, and those in the 5 mg group shed about 35 pounds. By contrast, people given a placebo injection lost slightly more than 5 pounds. Study volunteers were also counseled on healthy eating and exercise.

RELATED Stigma leads many overweight, obese patients to avoid cancer screenings

Nearly everyone on the drug saw an improvement in blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, the study found.

The most common side effects were nausea, diarrhea and constipation, and they were generally mild to moderate, Jastreboff said.

Study participants kept the weight off for the full 72-week study period. "Obesity is a chronic treatable disease. We should treat obesity as we treat any chronic disease -- with effective and safe approaches which target underlying disease mechanisms, and these results underscore that tirzepatide may be doing just that," she said.

RELATED Study: Dementia risk factors, such as obesity, now more common among adults

People may need to stay on the medication indefinitely. "If we think of obesity as a chronic disease, then why would we treat a chronic disease for only 72 weeks?" Jastreboff said.

Individuals who developed prediabetes were not included in the new analysis. They will be followed for two years to see how they fare on the new drug. People with prediabetes have higher-than-normal blood sugar levels, but do not have full-blown diabetes yet.

The study was presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association, in New Orleans, and simultaneously published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"This study is a big deal," said Dr. Scott Kahan, director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness in Washington, D.C. "Tirzepatide is the first medication of a new class of medications that will likely become the preeminent medications for both diabetes and obesity treatment," said Kahan, who has no ties to the study.

"We currently have quite good medications available for weight management -- but the magnitude of weight loss far exceeds all other medications," he said. Moreover, it "approaches the amount of weight loss with the most common bariatric surgical procedures," he added.

Also, nearly everyone treated with the medication lost at least a modest amount of weight, if not much more, Kahan said.

So how does this new shot compare to other prescription weight-loss drugs? Kahan said that it looks like a winner.

An obesity treatment approved last year called semaglutide (Wegovy) produces about 15% weight loss. It targets human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), but the new drug targets GLP-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), which may be why it appears even more effective.

"Other medications approved in the last decade lead to an average of between 10% and nearly 15% weight loss. The most frequently prescribed weight loss drug in the United States -- phentermine (Adipex-P, Lomaira), which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1959 -- typically leads to just 5% to 7% weight loss," Kahan said.

If and when this drug is approved for weight loss, cost will be a consideration, he said.

For diabetes, it is estimated to cost around $800 per month, but it will likely be covered by insurance. "Weight medications are traditionally different because they tend not to be covered by insurance so people have to pay out of pocket," Kahan noted. It's too early to predict the cost of tirzepatide for obesity.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about medications that treat obesity.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Google Doodle honors espresso machine inventor Angelo Moriondo

Monday's Google Doodle is a tribute to Italian inventor Angelo Moriondo on his 171st birthday.
Photo courtesy of Google Doodle

June 6 (UPI) -- Monday's Google Doodle is a tribute to Italian inventor Angelo Moriondo on his 171st birthday.

Because Moriondo is credited with patenting the earliest known espresso machine, Google chose sepia-toned animated images of complicated-looking machines dripping coffee and filling cups for the top of its web page.

Moriondo was born in 1851 into a family of entrepreneurs in Turin.

"Following in his family's footsteps, Moriondo purchased two establishments: the Grand-Hotel Ligure in the city-center Piazza Carlo Felice and the American Bar in the Galleria Nazionale of Via Roma," Google noted.

"Despite coffee's popularity in Italy, the time spent waiting for coffee to brew inconvenienced customers. Moriondo figured that making multiple cups of coffee at once would allow him to serve more customers at a faster pace, giving him an edge over his competitors."

His invention won a bronze medal at the General Expo of Turin in 1884. He died in 1914.

Maine looks to grow space economy, for students, research and business

bluShift Aerospace on February 4, 2021, launched Stardust 1.0 rocket from Maine, their first launch as they look to bring small satellite launches to the Pine Tree State. 

Photo courtesy of bluShift Aerospace/Twitter

BANGOR, Maine, June 7 (UPI) -- Leaders and policy makers in Maine have long been searching for ways to keep more of their in-state high school and college graduates from leaving. But lobstering and forestry, two stalwarts of the Maine economy, aren't what they used to be.

Enter the new space economy.

"There's something sexy about space," Terry Shehata, executive director of the Maine Space Grant Consortium, a NASA-funded nonprofit, told UPI.

Maine -- and its plethora of acreage, far from the light pollution of the Eastern Seaboard's major metropolises -- has always been a great place to gaze at the stars, but not necessarily to launch rockets.

RELATED Space Force studies idea of national spaceport authority

The miniaturization of satellites and the rockets needed to put them into orbit, however, has changed the calculus. The barrier to entry is now low enough that space, or at least low-Earth orbit, is no longer the exclusive playground of national space agencies and giant defense companies.

Now, states not traditionally associated with the aerospace industry -- Maine and Michigan, for example -- want in on the game.

Build it and they will come

In April, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed bill LD 1923 into law, establishing the Maine Space Corporation, a public-private partnership tasked with growing the state's aerospace industry.

When law goes into effect in August, the corp will get to work filling leadership roles and codifying their goals and governance. Then they'll begin crafting a strategic plan for the construction of the Maine Space Complex, which will feature launch sites, an innovation hub and a data analytics center.

Last year, a Maine-based startup company, bluShift Aerospace, launched the state's first rocket. Though the rocket didn't quite reach space, it successfully showcased the capabilities of the company's "bio-derived" solid fuel.

bluShift, which hopes to begin launching small satellites using its carbon-neutral rockets, is one of several companies that Maine officials reached out to as they considered strategies for capturing a slice of the new space economy.

"We've been thinking about how to take the state to the next level for some time now," Shehata said.

More than a spaceport

Before pushing ahead with LD 1923 and the Maine Space Corporation, Shehata and the consortium worked with members of the legislature to ensure Maine had built-in interest from businesses, researchers and community leaders.

"We knew that one of the critical assets that Maine has is geography in terms of being on the eastern seaboard and one of the positions to launch small satellites into polar orbits," Shehata said.

"But our primary concern has been whether we can capitalize on this new space economy in a way that utilizes our unique assets, spurs economic growth and workforce development, and do so in a way that would allow us to keep our students here in the state."

Surveys and market research revealed a healthy dose of local demand, but they also confirmed the suspicions of Shehata and others that a spaceport wasn't enough.

"What we're doing is more than a spaceport," Shehata said. "In addition to spaceport, we decided we needed to have this innovation center and data analytics hub to make sure we have a more complete complex."

All three units will collect fees and will be able to survive financially on their own, according to Shehata, but the three hubs will operate collectively, as a coordinated, cohesive entity.

Building a more complete complex was key to ensuring the state developed infrastructure that could be used by a diversity of groups, according State Senator Mattie Daughtry, the bill's lead sponsor, from communication providers to student engineers.

Stakeholder diversity

"This is not about putting out an open for business sign or attracting Elon Musk- and Jeff Bezos-style launches," Daughtry told UPI, speaking of the bill. "It's about creating a leadership council that ensures all the different parties and stakeholders are working together."

For states without a long history of aerospace activity, a multi-faceted approach is essential, according to Dylan Taylor, a major investor in the new space economy and CEO of Voyager, a space exploration firm.

"The best strategies are integrated approaches where education, technology development, infrastructure, capital availability and the political support all dovetail around the industry," Taylor told UPI in an email. "Multi-stakeholder coordination is the key to success."

Global data, Maine applications

In addition to engaging Maine's students, Shehata and Daughtry both cited the importance of bridging connections between the Maine Space Corporation and Maine's industries on the ground.

Ali Abedi, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Maine, who testified in support of LD 1923 earlier this year, is currently working to design and build small satellites outfitted with microspectral cameras.

"We can use those cameras to study the concentrations of phytoplankton in the water, so that could be useful to Maine's aquaculture industry," Abedi told UPI. "We can also use data from these cameras to study urban heat island effects."

"The third application is monitoring different forests. By studying the colors in different parts of forests we can see where diseases might be spreading and harming the forest canopies."

Small satellites launched in Maine could be used to study forest, fields, cities and water bodies all over the globe, while also helping researchers monitor the Pine Tree State's own natural resources.

"We have to make sure that the value of the space complex comes back to the various sectors in Maine's economy," said Shehata.

The world economy is increasingly data driven. If companies in Maine can find a way to collect valuable information from low-Earth orbit, it won't be difficult to find customers willing to pay for it -- at least, according to Taylor's logic.

Data, Taylor said, is the draw.

"Now that we have a re-usable, reliable and relatively inexpensive launch, there has been a flourishing of launching hardware into space," Taylor said in an email. "This in turn is generating a treasure trove of spaced-based data."

"With this data, entire new business models are being created. The capabilities are extraordinary as evidenced by some of the space-based data that came out of the Ukraine conflict from the private sector."

Much of the data collected by small satellites launched from the Maine Space Complex won't be for sale -- it will be free, available to students at Maine's universities for all sorts of research purposes.

A green space economy yields broad benefits

Non-space industries will also benefit from work being done at the complex's innovation hub, supporters of LD 1923 said.

"We already have companies right here in Maine that are pushing for climate neutral launches and climate-friendly fuels," Daughtry said.

The work could aid broader efforts to reduce the United States' carbon footprint, she said.

For many in the new space economy, miniaturization is essential. Efforts to squeeze more tech into smaller confines require electronics and instruments to be as efficient as possible.

"Efforts to build more power efficient circuitry or low power radio communication systems with greater data efficiency can benefit other areas of technology," Abedi said.

Financing and the future

It will cost somewhere between $50 million to $250 million to construct the Maine Space Complex, according to Shehata, but the Maine Space Corporation won't be starting from scratch.

Officials expect to utilize some relevant infrastructure that's already there, including a pair of military facilities no longer in use -- Brunswick Naval Air Station in Southern Maine and Loring Air Force Base farther north, near the Canadian border.

It's not clear yet how the Maine Space Complex will be funded, but Shehata said the public-private partnership is likely to pursue federal grants, seek out commercial partners and perhaps even issue bonds.

The grant consortium that Shehata oversees will help the corporation get organized and provide some initial seed funding.

"We are going to basically provide back office services to the corporation with additional funds that we are securing from the federal government to build up the infrastructure, and then in a few years we will step aside and establish a strategic partnership with the corporation," he said.

It's about the kids

Supporters of LD 1923 and the Maine Space Complex expect the project to be financially sustainable without direct support from the state treasury and Maine taxpayers, but both Shehata and Daughtry said that facilitating collaboration is the primary goal.

"The goal is to be having a statewide effort on this," Daughtry said. "The thing that I am really excited about are the links between the space complex, space companies and academics."

"I'm really interested to see how high school students use some of these low cost devices."

Shehata suggests the Maine Space Complex could bring more than 5,500 high-paying jobs to the state by 2042.

If a high school student gets a chance to study the state's resources using data captured by a satellite launched from Maine, maybe that engagement motivates them to pursue an engineering degree at the University of Maine.

And if the Maine Space Corporation is successful at capturing a slice of the new space economy -- expected to be worth $1.5 trillion by 2040 -- maybe, just maybe, upon graduation, that student won't have to look outside the state for a job in the aerospace industry.

Kamala Harris says overturning Roe vs. Wade could impact other privacy rights


Vice President Kamala Harris warned of the potential dangers of overturning Roe vs. Wade during a meeting with faith leaders at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor on Monday. 

Photo by David Swanson/UPI | License Photo

June 6 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday warned that the Supreme Court's pending decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade could threaten other privacy rights.

Harris stressed the importance of upholding the abortion protections provided by the landmark Supreme Court case in a meeting with faith leaders on reproductive rights and some of the other "most urgent challenges facing our communities" at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor on Monday.

"I do believe that when we look at the challenge that we will face when that decision comes down, a part of it will be that it will directly, if not indirectly, impact other privacy rights, including the right to have access to contraception and the right to marry the person you love," she said before the meeting.

In May, a leaked Supreme Court opinion signaled that its six conservative justices plan to overturn the landmark 1973 decision before the high court's term ends this month and a largely symbolic proposal to safeguard legalized abortion nationwide by enshrining the practice in federal law failed in a 49-51 Senate vote.

Harris and the faith leaders "underscored the importance of ensuring that healthcare decisions are made by women without government interference" and affirmed the key role that faith leaders play in "bringing people together to move our country in the direction of justice," according to a readout of the conversation released by the White House.

"It's very important, I think, for us to agree and it's an important point to make that to support Roe vs. Wade and all it stands for does not mean giving up core beliefs," Harris said. "It is simply about agreeing that a woman should be able to make that decision with her faith leader, with her family, with her physician -- and that the government should not be making that decision for her."

During the meeting, Harris also raised the issue of gun violence amid multiple mass shootings throughout the nation in recent weeks as Congress works to agree on legislation to prevent further shootings.

The vice president also noted the threat of racially motivated violence, adding that the nation must address "how hate manifests itself in violent acts, most of which are committed with the use of guns."

"We have been experiencing in terms of what I call an 'epidemic of hate,' where we have seen so many communities who are being targeted -- individuals who are being targeted simply because of who they are," she said.

Harris added that "sensible laws" that are "rules-based with a goal of being a civil society" are necessary to combat the shootings.

5% of Americans identify differently than their birth gender


New research released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, finds 5.1% of Americans under age 30 say they identify as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. 

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

June 7 (UPI) -- More than 5% of Americans under age 30 say they identify as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth, according to a new survey published Tuesday.

Approximately 5.1% of adults under 30 are transgender or nonbinary, according to the survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

Of that figure, 2% identify as a trans man or trans woman, while 3% are nonbinary, meaning they are neither a man nor a woman.

The figures are higher in younger demographics.

In adults younger than 25, 3.1% identify as a trans man or trans woman, compared to 0.5% of those between 25 and 29.

By comparison, 1.6% of those surveyed between 30 and 49 and 0.3% of those 50 and older are trans or nonbinary.

A much higher percentage of Americans say they know someone who is trans or nonbinary. Approximately 44% say they personally know someone who is trans and 20% know someone who is nonbinary.

The percentage of adults who know someone who is transgender is up from 42% in 2021 and 37% in 2017.

Democrats and independents who lean to the left politically were more likely than Republicans and those leaning right to know a transgender person, but that number is rising.

As of June 2021, 48% of Democrats said they knew a trans person, compared with 35% of Republicans. The gap has narrowed to 6 percentage points. As of Tuesday's research, 48% of Democrats and 42% of Republicans say they know someone who is transgender.

Fact check: Four fakes about monkeypox

Was the monkeypox outbreak caused by AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine? Or did the virus come from a laboratory? DW looks at some of the most blatant monkeypox conspiracy myths.

Monkeypox is primarily found in rodents, monkeys are probably an intermediate host

Is it just fake news?

Claim: There are social media users who claim that monkeypox doesn't even exist. Photos used in reports that are old or show other diseases such as shingles are used to back up that claim. Numerous image comparisons are circulating, for example on Twitter.

DW Fact Check: False.

Monkeypox is real. The virus has been around since 1958. We've known since 1970 that it can also be transmitted to humans. There are recurrent outbreaks that have so far been limited to countries in West and Central Africa. There's an ongoing outbreak in Nigeria, that started in 2017, with over 500 registered cases.

The "old" images used to prove that reports of monkeypox are a hoax are mostly agency images of the disease that have been in the inventory of their respective providers for years. It is not uncommon for the same images to be used repeatedly for reports on medical issues because the overall selection is rather small.

Some Twitter users are juxtaposing monkeypox and shingles article images to prove that the monkeypox coverage is a fake.

In Australia, the Queensland government's explainer on shingles was indeed illustrated with the image from the tweet. In the case of an article on monkeypox that appeared on healthsite.com the situation is a bit more complicated: Since May 19, 2022, the text does not contain the image from the tweet, but a different one.

An older, archived version of the article from July 17, 2021, on the other hand, incorrectly showed the shingles image as an illustration for monkeypox. This error has since been corrected and the article revised. An editorial error on a website does not change the fact that monkeypox does indeed exist.

Monkeypox due to COVID vaccination?

Claim: AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine contains attenuated adenoviruses from chimpanzees as carriers for the DNA of the coronavirus spike protein. For some users, this suggests that monkeypox infections are a result of the vector vaccine. 

DW Fact Check: False.

Even though the word "monkey" may suggest a possible connection at first glance, the viruses have nothing to do with each other.

"It's called monkeypox because it was first detected in a monkey colony in 1958. But they actually come from rodents; monkeys are probably an intermediate host," explains Christine Falk, president of the German Society for Immunology.

She says that adenoviruses, including chimpanzee adenoviruses, which are the basis for vector vaccines, are a very different class of viruses than smallpox viruses — with very different characteristics.

According to Falk, these viruses can cause cold-like infections. "And there are some that have been isolated and modified from chimpanzees for use in vaccines so that our bodies don't have prior immunity, as can be the case with human adenoviruses."Falk and other experts are adamant that COVID-19 vaccines have nothing to do with the monkeypox outbreak.

Monkeypox cases have spread from parts of Africa to Europe, the US and Australia

Did the virus originate in a laboratory in Wuhan?

Claim: The Wuhan Institute of Virology is said to have experimented with monkeypox viruses. To some that's a clear indication for the origin of the current outbreak. It's reminiscent of the "laboratory theory" of the coronavirus, which is now considered unlikely among scientists, but not entirely ruled out.

DW Fact Check: Misleading.

Experiments on PCR testing of monkeypox viruses have taken place in Wuhan. This is undisputed, and a study published by the institute in February 2022 also makes this transparent. However, this study only experimented with a fragment of the virus that had less than one-third of the monkeypox genome. That fragment was perfectly safe, the study says, because any risk of becoming contagious again was eliminated. 

"There is no evidence to indicate that monkeypox escaped from a lab. This virus exists in nature among animal reservoirs in several countries in central and western Africa with small human outbreaks reported almost every year," Mark Slifka, an immunologist and professor at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, told DW.

Slifka also says that scientists can distinguish between different strains of the virus by sequencing the genome. This allows scientists to establish whether the virus is related to the West African strain or the Central African strain of monkeypox virus. "To my knowledge, none of the primary cases reported travel to China prior to being diagnosed with monkeypox," Slifka said.

The World Health Organization has also confirmed that all current cases to date have been linked to a strain of monkeypox virus that originated in West Africa. According to a paper published by the European Center for Disease Prevention, the fact that an increasing number of cases are currently occurring in Europe is probably due to so-called spreader events where the virus was passed on between men having sex with men, as monkeypox is transmitted primarily via direct mucosal contact.

Is monkeypox a 'plandemic'?

Claim: The claim that the new outbreak of monkeypox was prepared long in advance is also spreading on social media networks. A simulation game at the Munich Security Conference, which was based on a monkeypox scenario, is supposed to be proof. Others establish a direct link between Bill Gates and the outbreak of monkeypox. He is said to have repeatedly warned of such a scenario.

DW Fact Check: Misleading.

The simulation game used as evidence of an allegedly planned monkeypox pandemic at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2021 exists and even includes the scenario of a fictitious monkeypox outbreak in May 2022. The simulation was initiated by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) as part of the MSC to draw attention to gaps in global pandemic coordination.

Simulation games are used in many contexts to prepare for complex scenarios/security risks and to rehearse or review procedures. The fact that such a scenario now exists shows how realistic it is, but it does not prove causality.

While the scenario is close enough, it does not correspond with reality. For example, the real pathogen is less infectious, and the transmission routes differ from the scenario at the MSC. The NTI clarified this again in a recent statement: "The fictional scenario in our exercise involved a hypothetical engineered strain of monkeypox virus, which was more transmissible and more dangerous than natural strains of the virus, and which spread globally — eventually causing more than three billion cases and 270 million deaths over a period of 18 months."

NTI said that in the current outbreak there was no reason to believe that it "involves an engineered pathogen, as we have not seen any compelling evidence that would support such a hypothesis. We also do not believe that the current outbreak has the potential to spread as rapidly as the fictional, engineered pathogen in our scenario or to cause such a high case fatality rate."

As far as the claims go regarding Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist has long been involved in disease prevention with his foundation and has been warning for years about the dangers of bioterrorism and pandemics — including, for example, a smallpox outbreak. The possibility of such an outbreak, or a bioterrorist attack with smallpox viruses, is also being discussed in various research articles. Gates never specifically mentioned monkeypox itself in his statements.

Ines Eisele contributed to this story.

This article was originally published in German.