Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Researcher accused of being “bought” by Fauci

Updated April 3, 2023, Published March 22, 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Anthony Fauci and Kristian Andersen.

Early on during the covid crisis, researcher Kristian Andersen stuck his neck out when he pointed out that the coronavirus did not seem to be of natural origin – but rather gave the impression of being artificially created.

However, after talks with the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, the scientist quickly came out and condemned speculation about human involvement as "conspiracy theories", leading Andersen to be accused of being "bought out" – partly because government funding for his research increased after he changed his mind on the issue.

Kristian Andersen, a researcher and professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, emailed US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Anthony Fauci on the 31st of January 2020, warning that there were many indications that the virus did not come from any animal at all.

"You have to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) appear to be engineered... Eddie (Holmes), Bob (Garry), Mike (Ferguson) and myself all believe that the genome is inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory," he wrote at the time.

The next day, Fauci organized a conference call with 11 virologists from across the world – including Kristian Andersen, who less than 24 hours earlier had sent the email stating that the virus appeared to be engineered. However, Fauci's boss, health department head Robert Kadlec, was not invited to the conference.

It is not known what was said during the conversation, but four days after the conference took place, Mr Andersen suddenly made a 180-degree turn and went public to warn against conspiracy theories about man-made covid – despite the fact that he himself had just warned about the same thing.

"The main conspiracy theories circulating at the moment are that the virus is somehow engineered ... and that is demonstrably false," Mr Andersen declared at the time.

In four days, Andersen changed his mind about the origin of the virus. Photo: Prachatai/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Financial motives?

A few weeks later, Kristian Andersen and three other participants from the video conference with Fauci authored a scientific article published in Nature Medicine, claiming, among other things, that "our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory product". According to The Federalist, Andersen also offered Fauci to edit the article before publication.

In their 2021 article, The Federalist points out that the information from Fauci's email indicates that he was aware of scientists' concerns about man-made covid as early as 1 February 2020. Yet he chose to keep this information secret from his superiors and the American people, people who speculated that the virus had leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan were dismissed as conspiracy theorists and were subjected to character assassination.

In an interview with the New York Times, Mr Andersen explains his reversal by saying that his internal warnings to Mr Fauci were based on "limited data" and "preliminary analyses" – which he soon revised as more information became available.

However, a report by researcher and epidemiologist Andrew G Huff – former vice-president of the EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based group that has worked closely with the notorious Wuhan lab – suggests that it may have been purely financial motives that caused Andersen to change his mind on the issue.

"Kristian Andersen, who in late January wrote to Fauci expressing his concern that SARS-Co-V-2 contained sequences that appeared to be man-made, led a group that published an article in Nature on 17 March 2020, supporting the theory that the virus is transmitted from animals to humans. Following this, Andersen received a generous grant from the National Institutes of Health. "At this point, we have no way of knowing whether this was a form of quid pro quo, but it can at least be concluded that this does not pass the 'smell test'", he writes.

He emphasizes that the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research in the US, "dramatically increased" its funding for Andersen's research after he changed his mind on the origin of COVID-19 and started arguing for a natural origin instead of an artificial one.

Kristian Andersen's funding, according to Huff.

Renewed attention

Huff's report was released in September 2022 – but the issue of whether there may have been financial incentives for scientists to revise their position on the origin of the virus has been widely publicised again. This is due to the fact that an account belonging to the Libertarian Party in the US has drawn attention to the issue and refers to documents that support the theory.

The man on the left is Kristian Andersen, a British scientist who emailed Fauci 1/31/20, saying the virus looks lab-made. The man on the right is Kristian Andersen, the guy who Fauci called on 2/1/20 and ordered to publicly say it wasn’t lab-made, which he did. Fauci then gave… https://t.co/UDzIhNb37k pic.twitter.com/LY7ttS23kJ

— Mises Caucus (@LPMisesCaucus) March 1, 2023

Many interpret these findings as an example of the fact that researchers are primarily loyal to their financiers - and that Fauci's behaviour is a further indication that the US was directly involved in the development of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. At the same time, Huff's compilation is also questioned as sloppy, pointing out that Andersen is presented as a British researcher – even though he is Danish, and that it cannot currently be proven that his change of opinion is a result of increased funding.

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Study: Testosterone does not control men’s economic risk-taking

Published October 25, 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The researchers tested nine different economic behaviors – from risk-taking to generosity – but found no difference between the groups.

Testosterone has no effect on men's economic decisions, according to the largest study to date in this field. One thousand Canadian men who received testosterone made the same decisions as those who received a placebo – a result that challenges previous research.

In the study, published in the scientific journal PNAS, 1,000 Canadian men aged 18 to 45 participated. The men were randomly assigned to receive either an 11-milligram dose of testosterone or a placebo in a double-blind study. Once the hormone began to take effect, the men participated in various experiments to measure risk-taking, generosity, competitiveness, and fairness preferences.

A total of nine different outcomes were measured, and the results showed that both groups behaved on average in the same way, regardless of whether they received testosterone or placebo – across all outcomes.

Our results provide strong evidence that short-term increases in testosterone have no meaningful impact on men's economic decisions, says Anna Dreber Almenberg, professor at the Department of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden, in a press release.

Largest study in the field

Previous studies have suggested that testosterone can influence the propensity to take risks or compete in economic situations, but this study shows that this is not necessarily the case. This study is also the largest of its kind in the field, with ten to twenty times more men participating than in previous studies.

However, the researchers emphasize that they only tested one dose and one time perspective in the men, which means that other possible effects could occur at different doses or time perspectives. Women were also not included in the trial.

The study is important because it directly challenges the idea that short-term fluctuations in testosterone levels explain why some people take greater economic risks, reject unfair offers, or act more competitively in life, says Justin M. Carré, professor at the Faculty of Arts and Science at Nipissing University in Canada.

Record-breaking dinosaur trackway unearthed in England

Published October 16, 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Replica of a Cetiosaurus skeleton. Hundreds of footprints were discovered during the excavation in Oxfordshire, England.

British researchers have unearthed a 220-meter-long dinosaur trackway and evidence that dozens of individuals moved as a herd. It is the longest footprint trail ever found from a dinosaur in Europe.

It was last year that researchers discovered a new paleontological site full of dinosaur footprints. At the location, situated at Dewars Farm quarry near Bicester in Oxfordshire, England, footprints were found from, among others, the nine-meter-long carnivore Megalosaurus.

This year, researchers from the University of Birmingham and Oxford University Museum of Natural History returned to the "Jurassic Highway", as the site is called, to investigate it further. They then discovered hundreds of new footprints from sauropods, commonly known as "long-necks".

Largest trackway site

This site in Oxfordshire is the largest dinosaur track site in the UK, and arguably now the largest mapped dinosaur track site in the world when we consider finds dating back to the 1990s on the same surface nearby, says Kirsty Edgar, professor at the University of Birmingham, to Sci News.

Sauropods are a group of herbivorous dinosaurs and were the largest animals that ever walked on land. The researchers believe the footprints came from a cetiosaurus, a sauropod that can reach approximately 20 meters in length.

In total, four different trackways were discovered that the dinosaurs had walked, dated to 166 million years old. One of these trackways was 220 meters long – making it the longest footprint trail found from a dinosaur in Europe.

What is most exciting about this site is the sheer size and number of footprints. We now have evidence of tens of individuals moving through this area at around the same time, perhaps as a herd, says Dr Duncan Murdock at Oxford University Museum of Natural History in a press release.

Two meters per second

The footprints were up to one meter long, and researchers have analyzed the dinosaurs' direction and pace, calculating that they could move at approximately two meters per second.

The other three trackways are not yet fully exposed, which means they may prove to be even longer. Additionally, smaller finds of marine invertebrates, plant material, and a crocodile jaw have been discovered.

Richard Butler, professor at the University of Birmingham, believes that footprints can provide important information about how dinosaurs lived.

Most of what we know about dinosaurs comes from their skeletons, but footprints and the sediments that they are in can provide valuable additional information about how these organisms lived and what their environment looked like over 166 million years ago, he tells Sci News.

Vultures collect archaeological finds

Published October 15, 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The bearded vulture is an endangered species that lives in mountainous regions of Asia, Africa and southern Europe.

Researchers have discovered hundreds of years old human artifacts in vulture nests – including shoes, crossbow arrows, and a spear.

Many bird species have a habit of collecting various artificial objects, such as plastic pieces, strings, or debris, to bring to their nests. Often this is about building nests and these materials are simply readily available to the birds.

Bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchidae), found primarily in Australia and New Guinea, also have a habit of decorating their homes with advanced methods to impress females. They build structures and collect colorful items such as shells, flowers, stones, and also plastic objects.

Larger birds such as eagles, falcons, and vultures also collect items for their nests, but something unique to many of these bird species is that the same nest can be reused for generations if it's in a good location. In this way, birds continue to use the same nest, and thus also fill them, for centuries.

Reused for Hundreds of Years

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a bird species that lives in mountainous areas in Asia, Africa, and southern Europe, and this behavior of reusing nests has been documented in this species.

The endangered species often builds nests in cliff caves, mountain cliffs, or on ledges, and many of these regions are often dry, especially in European mountain ranges where the species frequently resides. Particularly in cave-like structures, conditions can become ideal for long-term preservation, and researchers have now examined this more closely.

Researchers in Spain examined twelve abandoned bearded vulture nests in an area in southern Spain where the species became extinct 70–130 years ago. In total, they found 226 human-made objects in the nest layers.

Natural Museums

Among other things, they found a slingshot, shoes, a crossbow arrow, a spear, a decorated sheepskin, and fragments of a basket that the bearded vultures used as material to build their nests. Many of the objects were made from esparto grass, a traditional fiber plant used in the Mediterranean region for thousands of years. What surprised the researchers was the age of the objects – many of them were hundreds of years old.

One shoe was dated to be 675 years old and the sheepskin was 650 years old. The basket piece was younger and dated to 150 years old. The objects were also in surprisingly good condition.

"Thanks to the solidity of Bearded Vulture nest structures and their locations in the western Mediterranean, generally in protected places such as caves and rock shelters with relatively stable temperature and low humidity conditions, they have acted as natural museums, conserving historical material in good condition", the researchers write in the study published in the journal Ecology.

Time Capsules

In addition to the artificial objects, researchers also found 2,117 bones, 86 hooves, 72 leather remains, 11 hair remains, and 43 eggshells. Bearded vultures actively collect bones and objects for their nests, and these findings provide interesting information about the species' diet since medieval times, as well as about wild animal populations and human-animal interactions in the area.

The eggshells also enable further studies on environmental toxins and pesticides and whether there may be any connection to why the species became extinct in the area. The hope is also that the objects can be used to provide important information regarding reintroduction of the species.

The study shows how old nests can function as time capsules that preserve both natural history and cultural history information. The findings provide not only insights into the bearded vulture's past, but also about people's lives in these mountain areas hundreds of years ago.

WHO sounds alarm: Common infections becoming impossible to treat

Published October 14, 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Bacteria develop resistance when antibiotics are used incorrectly or unnecessarily.

Common infections are becoming increasingly difficult – and sometimes impossible – to treat.

New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that one in six bacterial infections globally is resistant to standard antibiotics, threatening millions of lives and straining healthcare systems worldwide.

According to WHO's latest report, antibiotic resistance increased in over 40 percent of the tracked combinations of bacteria and drugs between 2018 and 2023, with average annual increases of 5 to 15 percent.

— Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide, says WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The report, based on data from over 100 countries, shows that one in three infections in WHO's South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions were resistant to antibiotics, compared to one in five in Africa.

Overuse of antibiotics

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve to resist the drugs designed to kill them.

This is primarily driven by overuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans, animals, and agriculture. Poor infection control, limited access to quality medicines, and inadequate sanitation and clean water further exacerbate the problem.

WHO estimates that bacterial AMR directly caused 1.27 million deaths in 2019 and contributed to nearly five million deaths globally. Without action, experts warn that resistant infections could cause an estimated €2.7 trillion in global GDP losses annually by 2030.

"We must innovate"

The greatest danger comes from certain disease-causing gram-negative bacteria, as their protective outer shell makes them difficult to kill and they often develop drug resistance. E. coli and K. pneumoniae, two common causes of bloodstream infections, show alarming resistance levels.

Globally, more than 40 percent of E. coli strains and 55 percent of K. pneumoniae strains were resistant to third-generation cephalosporins – the first-line treatment for many serious infections. In parts of Africa, levels exceed 70 percent.

— Our future also depends on strengthening systems to prevent, diagnose and treat infections and on innovating with next-generation antibiotics and rapid point-of-care molecular tests, declares the WHO Director-General, who as usual calls for more resources to be allocated to vaccination programs.

— We must use antibiotics responsibly, and make sure everyone has access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics, and vaccines, the statement reads.

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