Dr. Oz Says He'll 'Never Understand' Hoarding Toilet Paper amid Coronavirus Pandemic: 'Stay Calm'

Dr. Mehmet Oz is speaking out about those who have been hoarding toilet paper amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The health expert went shopping on Saturday evening and came across a scene that has become all too common in stores across the United States: empty shelves that were once stocked with toilet paper.

“I went shopping today and there was no toilet paper. (Much to my chagrin there was plenty of soap.) Why we buy out toilet paper is something I’ll never understand,” he wrote on Facebook alongside a photo of empty store shelves. “Humans are hearty bunch. We’ve fixed problems far under the sea and on the face of the moon…yet we panic buy more toilet paper than we can possibly fit in our carts and cars.”

The physician added, “(1) Don’t panic — keep your distance from people, and if you feel sick, stay home. (2) Buy the essentials for two weeks, no more. Leave supples [sic] for everyone else. (3) Trust in the fact that if you somehow run out of toilet paper, a friendly neighbor would find a way to safely deliver you some.”

Oz also reminded his fans and followers to “stay calm” amid the global pandemic.

“And if it really came to it, our ancestors survived without TP. This is my way of telling you to stay calm and keep your head down. We’ve faced plenty of challenges before, and we’ll figure this one out too,” he concluded.

RELATED: Secretary of Health and Human Services Jokes About Toilet Paper Shortage Amid Coronavirus Pandemic  

© Provided by People Dr. Oz/Facebook; Getty Images

Around the country, stores are struggling to keep their toilet paper in stock. The New York Times reported that a Whole Foods supermarket in Somerville, Massachusetts, limited shoppers to two packages of toilet paper each, a move that is being adopted by more stores around the nation.

Psychologist Mary Alvord, who is also an associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine, told TIME that this panic buying can be explained by people’s desire for a sense of comfort amid the chaos.

“There is comfort in knowing that it’s there,” Alvord said. “We all eat and we all sleep and we all poop. It’s a basic need to take care of ourselves.”

RELATED: House Passes Trump-Backed Coronavirus Relief Bill, Senate Expected to Vote Monday  

© Provided by People Covid March 14th, Coronavirus

Another health expert, Dr. Steven Taylor, author of The Psychology of Pandemics, also told The Independent that “sensitivity to disgust increases” during a pandemic.

“They are more likely to experience the emotion of disgust and are motivated to avoid that,” he told the outlet. “Disgust is like an alarm mechanism that warns you to avoid some contamination. So if I see a hand railing covered in saliva I’m not gonna touch it, I’m gonna feel disgust. And that keeps us safe.”

“So there is a very tight connection between fear of getting infected and disgust,” Taylor said. “And what better tool for eliminating disgusting material than toilet paper. I think this is how it became a conditioned symbol of safety.”

RELATED: Donald Trump Declares National Emergency — ‘Two Very Big Words’ — Over Coronavirus Pandemic

Similarly, the panic appears to come from the worry of having to be confined to one’s home and not being able to readily stock up on supplies, according to Dr. Jay Zagorsky who told The Boston Globe: “Bulk buying toilet paper eliminates the small risk of running out if quarantined. People might not be able to eliminate the risk of catching coronavirus but they can eliminate the risk of running out of toilet paper, which makes most people feel they have control in this very uncertain situation.”

The New York Times reported that manufacturers and paper industry executives are raising production to meet the demand.

Government and health officials also urge Americans to follow protocols outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to help contain the spread. This includes washing your hands often and social distancing for the time being.

Coronavirus Health Crisis: What It Is, How to Stay Safe and What's Next
As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments and visit our coronavirus hub.

Lesbian officers sue Michigan corrections department for discrimination

Michelle Wood worked for the Michigan Department of Corrections for 26 years, and she had hoped to make it an even 30. But Wood, 52, said she was forced to leave her job as a prison guard in October 2018 after being subjected to discrimination and harassment because of her sexual orientation. 

© Courtesy Loretta Smith and Michelle Wood Loretta Smith and Michelle Wood.

"The job in and of itself is extremely dangerous and stressful," Wood told NBC News. "It just made it to the point where there was no joy in going in there anymore."

Wood worked at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Michigan, with her girlfriend, Loretta Smith, 53, who was transferred to the facility in 2015. Wood said she was frequently targeted by co-workers, who she said called her derogatory terms for being a lesbian.

The harassment was more than just verbal, Wood recalled. "When I would leave the computer, people would go over and change my screensaver when I wasn't looking," she said. "It just got ridiculous."

Wood took three months of medical leave for stress in 2018 after she was allegedly stalked by a co-worker known to make derogatory statements about gay men. Wood said she was scheduled to make an early morning trip to Flint to get emergency medical care for an inmate when she realized she was being followed.

"It was pretty dark, and he was creeping around between the vehicles," she said of the co-worker. "When my partner was trying to back up, he just jumped right there and scared both of us."

After taking early retirement later that same year, Wood filed a lawsuit in the Wayne County Circuit Court last Monday, in which she alleged that the Michigan Department of Corrections knew about the mistreatment she had been facing and failed to intervene. She said she had reported the incidents to the warden, who declined to get involved, and then eventually escalated her complaints to Heidi Washington, director of the Michigan Department of Corrections.

According to Wood, nothing was done and reporting the harassment only spurred retaliation. She said she started being written up for minor infractions, such as carrying an eyeglass case that her superiors claimed was against regulations, and she was investigated for an alleged sexual relationship with a male prisoner.

"They knew that I was lesbian," she said. "I've been in a committed relationship for 17 years. It was just an onslaught of anxiety and stress."

Wood's attorney, Jonathan Marko, said he has handled approximately 30 cases against the Michigan Department of Corrections and claimed his client's case is the "most heinous, shameful and downright wrong harassment" he's ever seen.

"I represent a lot of people within the prison system," he said. "A common theme in every case is if you're a minority, if you're gay or lesbian, or if you're different, you're not going to be treated the same way as everybody else. Clients referred to it as a 'good old boy' system. It's a macho, white-male-dominated environment."

Marko is also representing Wood's partner, who the attorney said also experienced discrimination and retaliation at Thumb Correctional Facility. After Wood began complaining about mistreatment, Smith was abruptly moved to the "graveyard shift."

"It's the unwanted shift," Marko said. "It's the island of undesirables. Nobody wants to have to work overnight. You have to sleep during the day and go to work at night."

Wood said the abuse they both suffered took an extreme toll on their mental health and their relationship. "Our household has suffered greatly," she said. "It's very difficult to turn that on and turn off when you get home."

The Michigan Department of Corrections, which potentially faces six charges of workplace discrimination over the alleged mistreatment Wood and Smith experienced, has declined to comment on the case. However, a representative of the department told local news outlet Michigan Live that harassment and retaliation are "not tolerated in this department."

"The MDOC takes allegations of discrimination in the workplace, no matter what type — race, sex, orientation, identity — seriously and investigates such claims as soon as they become known to the department," spokesman Chris Gautz told the outlet.

While the couple is seeking damages, Wood said her goal in filing the lawsuit is to help push for fully inclusive nondiscrimination protections in Michigan. The state is one of 29 in the U.S. that has yet to pass a comprehensive state law explicitly banning bias in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank.

However, last year, the state's newly elected attorney general, Dana Nessel, who is gay, stated that it is her opinion that Michigan's 44-year-old civil rights law, the Elliott-Larsen Act, does include sexual orientation and gender identity in its definition of sex discrimination. This case is likely to test Nessel's interpretation of the law, which her predecessor as attorney general, Bill Schuette, had claimed did not protect LGBTQ people.

Wood hopes that her case helps set a precedent to ensure that she and her partner have the same rights as all other Michigan residents.

"We're people, we're human beings," Wood said. "We just happen to be in a lesbian relationship. We have the same feelings and the same emotions as everyone else. I just would like to see them extend the law to cover us as a protected group."

Cash handouts are gaining support in Congress as best virus fix

Cash handouts to all American households are gaining support in Congress as the best way to shore up an economy brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney gave his backing to the idea on Monday, proposing to immediately send $1,000 checks to every adult American, and Republican Senator Tom Cotton also said he is working on legislation that would provide cash stipends. Several House Democrats also back sending checks as the best way to help households.

Among economists, the idea of across-the-board cash handouts as a response to the epidemic has been rapidly gaining support. That’s mainly because the scale of the shock has become much clearer, as swaths of the economy -- from air travel to bars and restaurants -- essentially shut down.

As a result, analysts worry that some of the virus-relief proposals already in the pipeline will be too narrow.

A bill to expand paid sick leave, for example, is now awaiting a vote in the Senate, but many service-industry employees will be stuck at home because their workplace is closed, not because they’re ill. And people in temporary work may be excluded.

Sending checks to all Americans would also help households keep current with bills, from rent to payments due on various kinds of loans, while the economy powers down. It’s a way of ensuring that people don’t lose their homes or see their credit scores tumble because of a severe but temporary downturn caused by an epidemic.

The checks could also help prevent loan defaults, which can ripple through the financial system and cause further losses as happened during the 2008 crisis.

© Bloomberg A "Closed" sign is displayed outside of a business in New Rochelle, New York on March 16.

The White House is interested in the idea. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who brokered the most recent coronavirus bill with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has said the administration might be open to such payments in the form of a refundable tax credit, noting on Fox News Sunday,: “That has certain advantages of we can inject money really quickly.”

Democratic Representatives Tim Ryan of Ohio and Ro Khanna of California are proposing to send checks to Americans who earn less than $65,000, which would mean approximately two-thirds of households would qualify. Those checks would range from $1,000 to $6,000 depending on income.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Monday he will propose a $750 billion package that would would “mainline money into economy and directly into the hands of families that need it most.”

The proposals are an alternative to a payroll tax cut, which President Donald Trump has advocated for in recent weeks. Proponents say it is more effective because it gets the money into taxpayers hands more quickly and doesn’t require someone to be employed to get the benefit.

High-profile economists backing stimulus checks as a response include Gregory Mankiw, an economic adviser to President George W. Bush, and his Harvard colleague Jason Furman, who played the same role for the Obama administration.

Mankiw wrote in a blog post last week that many Americans don’t have any savings, and it’s hard to identify “the truly needy,” so blanket handouts make sense in the current crisis. “Sending every American a $1000 check asap would be a good start,” he wrote.

Read more: Why Central Banks Can’t Fight a Virus Slowdown Alone: QuickTake

Furman made a similar proposal in a March 5 article in the Wall Street Journal, calling for payments of $1,000 per adult and $500 for each child. He said sending out checks is a better fix than payroll-tax cuts, which Furman said would be “too slow and dispersed.”

However, taxpayers may not see cash in their bank accounts immediately, said Mattie Duppler, a senior fellow at the National Taxpayers Union, said. Stimulus checks sent out in 2009 as a response to the financial crisis took more than two months to reach taxpayers -- President Barack Obama signed it into law in February and checks hit the mail in May.

”Seventy days is a long time right now,” Duppler said.

There's an unlikely beneficiary of coronavirus:

 The planet

By Rebecca Wright, CNN








china pollution

Factories were shuttered and streets were cleared across China's Hubei province as authorities ordered residents to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

It seems the lockdown had an unintended benefit -- blue skies.

The average number of "good quality air days" increased 21.5% in February, compared to the same period last year, according to China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

And Hubei wasn't alone.

Satellite images released by NASA and the European Space Agency show a dramatic reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions -- those released by vehicles, power plants and industrial facilities -- in major Chinese cities between January and February. The visible cloud of toxic gas hanging over industrial powerhouses almost disappeared.


"This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event," says Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "I am not surprised because many cities nationwide have taken measures to minimize the spread of the virus."

A similar pattern has emerged with carbon dioxide (CO2) -- released by burning fossil fuels such as coal.

From February 3 to March 1, CO2 emissions were down by at least 25% because of the measures to contain the coronavirus, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an air pollution research organization.

As the world's biggest polluter, China contributes 30% of the world's CO2 emissions annually, so the impact of this kind of drop is huge, even over a short period. CREA estimates it is equivalent to 200 million tons of carbon dioxide -- more than half the entire annual emissions output of the UK.

"As a measure that took place effectively overnight, this is more dramatic than anything else that I've seen in terms of the impact on emissions," said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at CREA.

But while lockdown measures designed to stem the spread of the virus have caused a momentary uptick in China's pollution levels, experts warn that when the county starts to reboot its economy the toxic chemicals could up to higher levels than before the epidemic hit.

Coal consumption falls

A fall in oil and steel production, and a 70% reduction in domestic flights, contributed to the fall in emissions, according to the CREA. But the biggest driver was the sharp decline in China's coal usage.

China is the world's biggest producer and consumer of coal, using this resource for 59% of its energy in 2018. As well as running power plants and other heavy industries, coal is also the sole heat source for millions of homes in the vast rural areas of the country.

The country's major coal-fired power stations saw a 36% drop in consumption from February 3 to March 1 compared to the same period last year, according to CREA analysis of WIND data service statistics.

"The largest consumers of coal -- coal-fired power plants -- have been affected a lot because electricity demand is down," said Myllyvirta. "I think it's clear that this effect will continue for the next weeks and months, because there has also been a major impact on the demand side of the economy."

In 2017, President Xi Jinping promised to make combating pollution one of China's "three battles," and the following year the Ministry of Ecology and Environment was created.

The policies have resulted in a significant impact, with overall pollution levels 10% lower across Chinese cities between 2017 and 2018, according to a report released last year by Greenpeace and AirVisual.











Slide 1 of 49: WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - MARCH 17: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to media at a press conference following a COVID-19 financial response package announcement at Parliament on March 17, 2020 in Wellington, New Zealand. The New Zealand finance minister Grant Robertson has announced a $12.1 billion package in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The package contains an initial $500 million for health services, $8.7 billion in support for businesses and jobs and $2.8 billion for income support and boosting consumer spending.
1/49 SLIDES © Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
The world is battling an outbreak of a new coronavirus called COVID-19, which started in the city of Wuhan, China, and has been spreading since. The virus has claimed more than 5,000 lives and infected more than 100,000 people around the world. The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic on March 11.
Slideshow by photo services


Climate activists say the crisis could provide a window to ramp up these promised reforms.

"We would very much advocate for China to foster this opportunity to transform its economy, to break apart from the old," said Li Shuo, a senior climate policy adviser for Greenpeace East Asia. 

"Revenge pollution"

The concern, Li said, is that once the coronavirus threat has passed, China will be solely focused on restarting its economy, which was already hurting in the wake of the US-China trade war. That could come at the expense of the environment.

"There might be a round of economic stimulus which would inject cheap credits to heavy industries in China, and as a result of that we might see increasing pollutants and also carbon emissions in the second half of this year," Li added.


This bounce-back effect -- which can sometimes reverse any overall drop in emissions -- is something Li calls "revenge pollution." And in China it has precedent.


In 2009, the Chinese government launched a giant $586 billion stimulus package in response to the global financial crisis -- the majority of which went to large-scale infrastructure projects.

But the resulting explosion in pollution in the following years -- particularly in the "airpocalypse" winter of 2012-2013 -- led to a public outcry which ushered in the Chinese government's first national air pollution action plan in September 2013.

President Xi has made clear that workers and factories need to ramp up activity as soon as possible if the country is to avoid a steeper economic downturn.

Myllyvirta hopes China has learned lessons from the past.

"It was really those previous episodes where it boiled over," says Myllyvirta, who also warns of a public backlash if the skies turn gray again.

"The reduction in air pollution has been very clear so if the pollution does come back, because of stimulus measures, because of heavy industry going into overdrive to make up for lost time, there could be a counter reaction."
Hong Kong pollution falls

In neighboring Hong Kong, air quality has also improved since the city entered partial shutdown mode to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Key air pollutants dropped by nearly a third from January to February, according to data from Hong Kong University School of Public Health, which was analyzed by environmental organization Clean Air Network.

Monitoring of stations in the busiest areas of Hong Kong, including Central, Causeway Bay and Mongkok, revealed that the fine particle pollutant PM2.5 decreased by 32%, while the larger particle pollutant PM10 fell by up to 29%, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was reduced by up to 22%.

Pollution in the city is mostly caused by motor vehicles, marine vessels, and power plants in Hong Kong and around the Pearl River Delta, the government says.

The declines in harmful pollutants came in direct correlation with the Hong Kong government's introduction of measures including working from home procedures, the closure of some public facilities, and a partial closure of the border with China. A drop in pollution in mainland China during this period also resulted in less regional smog from the industrial powerhouse cities in the southern province of Guangdong.

"There are lots of people who work from home, and that has reduced the traffic and the traffic congestion," said Patrick Fung, chairman of the Clean Air Network. Hong Kong's measures were nowhere near as drastic as those in mainland China, but there was still a significant impact.

Fung has been campaigning about the long-term health impact of the air pollution in Hong Kong, which he says causes on average 1,500 premature deaths per year in the city.

"For the last decade, Hong Kong's air pollution has been double the World Health Organization's recommended safe level," Fung says. "Especially at the roadside, where a lot of pedestrians and commuters are exposed to that kind of toxic and carcinogenic air pollutants."

Hong Kong's government did introduce a raft of green policies in its recent budget, including a roadmap on cleaner public transport vehicles. Fung says the announcement was a good "first step," but much more needs to be done.

Now, Fung believes this brief period of cleaner air should send a message for people to push for longer-term changes. "If we want the children, the elderly, who could live healthily in Hong Kong, then we should think how to make business as usual change," Fung says. 

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Ecosystems the size of Amazon 'can collapse within decades'

Jonathan Watts Global environment editor

The research reveals that once a tipping point has been passed, breakdowns do not occur gradually like an unravelling thread, but rapidly like a stack of Jenga bricks after a keystone piece has been dislodged.

The authors of the study, published on Tuesday in the Nature Communications journal, said the results should warn policymakers they had less time than they realised to deal with the multiple climate and biodiversity crises facing the world.

To examine the relationship between an ecosystem’s size and the speed of its collapse, the authors looked at 42 previous cases of “regime shift”. This is the term used to describe a change from one state to another – for example, the collapse of fisheries in Newfoundland, the death of vegetation in the Sahel, desertification of agricultural lands in Niger, bleaching of coral reefs in Jamaica, and the eutrophication of Lake Erhai in China.

© Getty amazon rainforest, ecuador. 

(Photo by: Prisma by Dukas/UIG via Getty Images)

They found that bigger and more complex biomes were initially more resilient than small, biologically simpler systems. However, once the former hit a tipping point, they collapse relatively faster because failures repeat throughout their modular structure. As a result, the bigger the ecosystem, the harder it is likely to fall.


Based on their statistical analysis, the authors estimate an ecosystem the size of the Amazon (approximately 5.5m km2) could collapse in approximately 50 years once a tipping point had been reached. For a system the size of the Caribbean coral reefs (about 20,000 km2), collapse could occur in 15 years once triggered.

The paper concludes: “We must prepare for regime shifts in any natural system to occur over the ‘human’ timescales of years and decades, rather than multigenerational timescales of centuries and millennia.

“Humanity now needs to prepare for changes in ecosystems that are faster than we previously envisaged through our traditional linear view of the world, including across Earth’s largest and most iconic ecosystems, and the social-ecological systems that they support.”

The paper says this could be the case in Australia where the recent Australian bushfires followed protracted periods of drought and may indicate a shift to a drier ecosystem.

© Getty Bush fire near Charter Towers in Queensland, Northern Australia. (Photo by: David Tipling/UIG via Getty Images)

Scientists were already aware that systems tended to decline much faster than they grew but the new study quantifies and explains this trend.

“What is new is that we are showing this is part of a wider story. The larger the system, the greater the fragility and the proportionately quicker collapses,” John Dearing, professor in physical geography at the University of Southampton and lead author of the study, said.

“What we are saying is don’t be taken in by the longevity of these systems just because they may have been around for thousands, if not millions, of years – they will collapse much more rapidly than we think.”

Dearing said he was concerned that one of the possible implications of the study was that complete destruction of the Amazon could occur within his grandchildren’s lifetimes.

© Reuters Indigenous people from the Mura tribe show a deforested area in unmarked indigenous lands, inside the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas State, Brazil August 20, 2019. Picture taken August 20, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

“This is a paper that is satisfying from a scientific point of view, but worrying from a personal point of view. You’d rather not come up with such a set of results,” he said.

A separate study last week warned the Amazon could shift within the next decade into a source of carbon emissions rather than a sink, because of damage caused by loggers, farmers and global heating.

Experts said the new findings should be a spur to action.

“I think the combination of theory, modelling and observations is especially persuasive in this paper, and should alert us to risks from human activities that perturb the large and apparently stable ecosystems upon which we depend,” said Georgina Mace, professor of biodiversity and ecosystems at University College London, who was not involved in the studies.

Gallery: 50 endangered species that only live in the Amazon


“There are effective actions that we can take now, such as protecting the existing forest, managing it to maintain diversity, and reducing the direct pressures from logging, burning, clearance and climate change.”

These views were echoed by Ima Vieira, an ecologist at Museu Emílio Goeldi in Belém, Brazil. “This is a very important paper. For Brazil to avoid the ecosystem collapse modelled in this study, we need to strengthen governance associated to imposing heavy fines on companies with dirty supply chains, divestment strategies targeting key violators and enforcement of existing laws related to environmental crimes. And we have to be quick.”

However, the methodology was not universally accepted. Erika Berenguer, a senior research associate at the University of Oxford and Lancaster University, said the regime shifts paper relied too much on data from lakes and oceans to be useful as an indicator of what would happen to rainforests.

“While there is no doubt the Amazon is at great risk and that a tipping point is likely, such inflated claims do not help either science or policy making,” she said.

The authors said their study was not a forecast about a specific region but a guide to the speed at which change could occur.

Mysterious bone circles made from the remains of mammoths reveal clues about Ice Age

by University of Exeter

The majority of the bones found at the site investigated, in the Russian Plains, are from mammoths. A total of 51 lower jaws and 64 individual mammoth skulls were used to construct the walls of the 30ft by 30ft structure and scattered across its interior. Credit: Alex Pryor

Mysterious bone circles made from the remains of dozens of mammoths have revealed clues about how ancient communities survived Europe's ice age.

About 70 of these structures are known to exist in Ukraine and the west Russian Plain.

New analysis shows the bones at one site are more than 20,000 years old, making it the oldest such circular structure built by humans discovered in the region. The bones were likely sourced from animal graveyards, and the circle was then hidden by sediment and is now a foot below current surface level.

The majority of the bones found at the site investigated, in the Russian Plains, are from mammoths. A total of 51 lower jaws and 64 individual mammoth skulls were used to construct the walls of the 30ft by 30ft structure and scattered across its interior. Small numbers of reindeer, horse, bear, wolf, red fox and arctic fox bones were also found.

Archaeologists from the University of Exeter have also found for the first time the remains of charred wood and other soft non-woody plant remains within the circular structure, situated just outside the modern village of Kostenki, about 500km south of Moscow. This shows people were burning wood as well as bones for fuel, and the communities who lived there had learned where to forage for edible plants during the Ice Age. The plants could also have been used for poisons, medicines, string or fabric. More than 50 small charred seeds were also found—the remains of plants growing locally or possibly food remains from cooking and eating.

The majority of the bones found at the site investigated, in the Russian Plains, are from mammoths. A total of 51 lower jaws and 64 individual mammoth skulls were used to construct the walls of the 30ft by 30ft structure and scattered across its interior. Credit: Alex Pryor

Dr. Alexander Pryor, who led the study, said: "Kostenki 11 represents a rare example of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers living on in this harsh environment. What might have brought ancient hunter gatherers to this site? One possibility is that the mammoths and humans could have come to the area on masse because it had a natural spring that would have provided unfrozen liquid water throughout the winter—rare in this period of extreme cold.

"These finds shed new light on the purpose of these mysterious sites. Archaeology is showing us more about how our ancestors survived in this desperately cold and hostile environment at the climax of the last ice age. Most other places at similar latitudes in Europe had been abandoned by this time, but these groups had managed to adapt to find food, shelter and water."


The last ice age, which swept northern Europe between 75-18,000 years ago, reached its coldest and most severe stage at around 23-18,000 years ago, just as the site at Kostenki 11 was being built. Climate reconstructions indicate at the time summers were short and cool and winters were long and cold, with temperatures around -20 degrees Celsius or colder. Most communities left the region, likely because of lack of prey to hunt and plant resources they depended upon for survival. Eventually the bone circles were also abandoned as the climate continued to get colder and more inhospitable.

Previously archaeologists have assumed that the circular mammoth bone structures were used as dwellings, occupied for many months at a time. The new study suggests this may not always have been the case as the intensity of activity at Kostenki 11 appears less than would be expected from a long term base camp site.

The majority of the bones found at the site investigated, in the Russian Plains, are from mammoths. A total of 51 lower jaws and 64 individual mammoth skulls were used to construct the walls of the 30ft by 30ft structure and scattered across its interior. Credit: Alex Pryor

Other finds include more than 300 tiny stone and flint chips just a few millimetres in size, debris left behind the site's inhabitants as they knapped stone nodules into sharp tools with distinctive shapes used for tasks such as butchering animals and scraping hides.

The research, conducted by academics from the University of Exeter, University of Cambridge, Kostenki State Museum Preserve, University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Southampton, is published in the journal Antiquity.

Discovery of rare Roman cattle bones sheds new light on ancient farming

The potential of lucid dreaming and virtual reality to treat combat-related PTSD

by Ingrid Fadelli , Medical Xpress

Credit: Shahzin Shajid, Unsplash.

In recent years, experts in the field of transcultural psychiatry have been trying to identify alternative approaches for treating mental health disorders that could enhance traditional Western psychotherapeutic practices. One of these alternative techniques is lucid dreaming, which entails teaching individuals to become aware that they are dreaming and potentially gain control over a dream's narrative.

Some science fiction movies, such as "Avatar" and "Inception," introduced imaginative examples of how lucid dreaming or entering virtual realities could help to treat a particular segment of the population: soldiers affected by post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The high-tech and imaginary realities portrayed in these movies inspired independent researcher Susan Smith to write a paper focusing on the potential use of lucid dreaming for treating post-combat PTSD, which was published in SAGE's Transcultural Psychiatry journal.

"My initial academic interest started with looking at disability and the wounded war hero in science fiction, which then led my research to the medical humanities and psychiatry," Smith told MedicalXpress. "In my recent study, I take on a critical medical humanities approach with the main objective of raising awareness about the healing potential of transcultural psychiatry for treating PTSD, while critiquing the inherent bias of war underpinned by military-funded medicine in Western society."

Smith's recent study stems out of her past work focusing on disability, rehabilitation and military medicine, as well as on their relatable representation in science fiction stories. In her considerations, she combines theoretical constructs and ideas rooted in different disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry and media studies.

"Popular science fiction movies "Avatar' and "Inception' provide a cultural register for imagining how alternate treatments like lucid dreaming or virtual worlds have the potential to empower soldiers to manage and cope with long-term combat related mental health conditions," Smith explained.

Over the past decade or so, a number of media articles claimed that the United States military is experimenting with technologies and techniques depicted in popular science fiction movies, including "Avatar" and "Inception," assessing their potential in helping war veterans affected by PTSD to better cope with disturbing nightmares "Inception," a renowned sci-fi movie directed by Christopher Nolan and released in 2010, portrays a reality in which experts can alter people's thoughts by entering their dreams using technology that vaguely resembles virtual reality (VR). Similarly, in "Avatar," a movie directed by James Cameron and released in 2009, the consciousness of a disabled soldier is transferred into a genetically engineered body, which acts as his avatar during a war.

In her study, Smith discusses the potential of using similar techniques to assist war veterans affected by PTSD, teaching them to manipulate their unconscious and conscious mind. While her work is primarily based on theories and speculation, it highlights some of the possible benefits that these techniques could have in psychotherapeutic settings. Her considerations could pave the way for further transcultural psychiatry studies aimed at devising innovative therapeutic approaches that integrate the use of lucid dreaming, VR or other techniques resembling to those depicted in science fiction movies.

"My paper suggests that a critical engagement with rehabilitation medicine and military psychology and psychiatry is essential for confronting western society's culture of war, which continues to present the American soldier as salvageable and invincible," Smith said. "In my future work, I plan to investigate this topic further by analyzing recent media reports on the robot psychiatrist/virtual therapist currently trialled in military medicine for assessing the mental health and wellbeing of soldiers returning from active duty to civilian life.

Iron 'whiskers' found covering Itokawa asteroid samples

Scientists discovered tiny hair-like iron crystals on dust particles from Itokawa asteroid samples. Photo by Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Scientists have found iron "whiskers" on particles from the asteroid samples returned by the Japanese space agency's Hayabusa mission.

In 2005, JAXA's Hayabusa probe hunted down and landed on the near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa. Five years later, the spacecraft returned to Earth with soil samples collected from the asteroid's surface -- something that had never been done before.

Over the last decade, the Itokawa samples have been analyzed by dozens of scientists, but until recently, the presence of these tiny crystalline threads of iron went unnoticed.

The iron whiskers were first spotted by Japanese researcher Toru Matsumoto, currently a visiting scientist with the Institute of Geosciences at the Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena in Germany.

Matsumoto identified the hair-like iron crystals after capturing high-resolution images of Itokawa dust particles using a transmission electron microscope. Scientists have since located the same whiskers around particles from other Itokawa samples.

The whiskers have provided scientists with clues as to how Itokawa first formed.

"These structures are the consequence of cosmic influences on the surface of the asteroid," Falko Langenhorst, researcher with the Institute of Geosciences, said in a news release.

Itokawa is rich in the mineral troilite, which contains both iron and sulphur. The mineral is regularly bombarded with high-energy particles from solar wind.

"As a result of space weathering, the iron is released from the troilite and deposited on the surface in the form of the needles that have now been discovered," said Langenhorst.

Scientists detailed their analysis of the newly discovered asteroid whiskers this week in the journal Nature Communications. Their findings have laid the groundwork for how scientists can use evidence of space weathering to illuminate the history of celestial bodies.
In the years ahead, scientists will have a number of asteroid samples to test, including samples returned by NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe, which is poised to scoop samples from the surface of the asteroid Bennu, as well as JAXA's Hayabusa2, which is already on its way back to Earth, with samples from the near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu in tow.

Vulnerable species safest on federally protected lands

CONTRARY TO THE LIBERTARIAN RIGHT IN AMERIKA 
Scientists found habitat loss for endangered species is two times greater on private lands, colored orange, than on federal lands, coded blue. Photo by Tufts University

March 2 (UPI) -- Vulnerable species are most at risk on private lands, according to a new study. On federally protected lands, rates of habitat loss and extinction are diminished.

For the study, scientists at Tufts University and the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife surveyed three decades of earth satellite images for evidence of habitat loss. The data, detailed Monday in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, showed habitat loss for endangered species was twice as great on private lands than on federally protected lands.

The study suggests protections offered by an endangered species listing and land use regulations are beneficial to vulnerable species.

Instead of looking at a specific species, confined region and certain king of habitat, researchers set out to measure the nationwide impacts of local land regulations and conservation policies on habitat loss for 24 endangered vertebrate species.

Scientists first mapped the ranges of the 24 species, which comprised 49 percent of the country and encompassed all major ecosystems. Then, researchers used the Google Earth Engine LandTrendr algorithm to identify habitat change across the ranges.

The species lost 3.6 percent of their habitat on federally protected lands and some 8.6 percent of their habitat on private lands without protections. Lands managed by states and lands protected by non-governmental organizations featured habitat losses measuring roughly 4.5 percent.

Because some of the species included in the study were classified as endangered during the course of the 30-year time frame, scientists were able to measure the effects of the listing on habitat loss. The data showed species lost less habitat on federal lands after the official endangered designation.

In other words, the Endangered Species Act is a boon to vulnerable species in the United States.

The data suggests federal land protections alone aren't as helpful. The combination of land-use regulations and an official endangered designation works best. Efforts to coordinate state land protections with federal land protections could further insulate vulnerable species for habitat loss, according to the new study.

"We know from research conducted by other scientists that development surrounding protected areas can reduce the effectiveness of those protections for animals," first study author Adam Eichenwald, a biology graduate student at Tufts, said in a news release.

Authors of the new study acknowledged that federal lands could be come less effective as climate change alters the ranges of vulnerable species.

"Global climate change can force species to move, which we worry may eventually result in areas designed to protect species without any of their protected occupants," Eichenwald said.

Though the new research suggests federal regulations are helpful to vulnerable species, federal lands still host small amounts of habitat loss. Researchers suggest more needs be done to curb habitat loss and protect important ecosystems.

"At a time when the planet faces a looming extinction crisis, we need every tool available to protect species and their habitats," said study co-author Jacob Malcom, director of the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders of Wildlife. "This research illustrates the critical importance of America's federal lands system for conserving wildlife habitat and the urgent need for better protections on other land ownerships. Biodiversity and the services it provides to society can be conserved through concerted effort and transformative change; protecting habitats must be an essential part of that effort."

5,000-year-old milk proteins show dairy pastoralism's effect on Eurasian steppe

Today, the people of the Eurasian steppe get more than 

half their calories from dairy during the summer months. 

Photo by Björn Reichhardt

March 2 (UPI) -- Archaeological evidence suggests dairy pastoralism originated in southwest Asia. How and when the tradition migrated eastward is less understood.

The discovery of 5,000-year-old milk proteins -- described Monday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution -- suggests populations living on the Eurasian steppe were producing and consuming milk as early as 3,000 B.C.

The Eurasian steppe's strong winds weathered away much of the evidence of the pastoral populations that occupied prehistoric Mongolia. To better understand the evolution of these early pastoralists, researchers examined a series of ritual human burial mounds.

Scientists analyzed the chemical makeup of dental calculus, or plaque, extracted from human teeth dated from the Early Bronze Age to the Mongol Period. More than three-quarters of the individuals tested revealed evidence of dairy consumption.

The extensive nature of the milk consumption suggests the practice was introduced even earlier than 3,000 B.C.

Previous genetic surveys have linked the people of prehistoric Mongolia with herder populations of the western steppe. The connection suggests populations from Russia's Atlai mountains likely brought dairy pastoralism with them as they traveled east.

"Modern Mongolians use cow, sheep, goat, yak, camel, horse and reindeer for milk today, yet when each of these species were first utilized for dairy in Mongolia remains unclear," lead study author Shevan Wilkin, researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, said in a news release. "What is clear is that the crucial renewable calories and hydration made available through the incorporation of dairying would have become essential across the arid and agriculturally challenging ancient Eastern Steppe."

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Analysis of the ancient plaque showed the earliest milk drinkers in prehistoric Mongolia sourced their dairy from ruminant species, like cattle, sheep and goats. Scientists found the chemical signatures of horse milk consumption in the plaque extracted from teeth dating to 1,200 B.C. The analysis also showed camel milk consumption was popular during the Mongol Empire, between 1,400 and 1,200 B.C.

"We are excited that through the analysis of proteins we are able to see the consumption of multiple different animal species, even sometimes in the same individual," said senior study author Jessica Hendy. "This gives us a whole new insight into ancient dairying practices."

Researchers hope further analysis will help them determine how exactly western steppe herders helped spread the tradition of dairy pastoralism through the region.