Science
The dominant variant of the coronavirus in California has acquired dangerous mutations
By Benjamin Mateus, 25 February 2021
A new variant of the coronavirus was discovered in California, dubbed CAL.20C. The mutation, L452R, appears to make the virus more contagious.
Perseverance rover returns videos from its descent to the Martian surface
By Bryan Dyne, 24 February 2021
The rover also returned the first audio recorded on Mars.
Global vaccination at the mercy of competing national interests
By Jean Shaoul, 24 February 2021
Control over vaccine distribution strengthens the major powers’ political and economic influence—their “soft power”—over allies and enemies alike
The Mars rover and the Texas catastrophe: Scientific possibility vs capitalist reality
By Bryan Dyne, 20 February 2021
If society operated on the principle of rationality and human need, not the insatiable greed of the rich, the scientific advancements that made possible the Mars rover would be used to end the many ills that plague humanity.
The Lancet reveals impact of COVID-19 on health care workers
By Kevin Martinez, 20 February 2021
The British medical journal describes how frontline workers have had to face higher than average rates of burnout, anxiety, depression and isolation during the global pandemic.
Perseverance rover begins three-year mission on Mars
By Bryan Dyne, 19 February 2021
Alongside seven primary instruments to study Mars, Perseverance brought along a small helicopter, which will attempt the first powered flight on another world, and will leave behind sealed samples of Martian rocks and soil as the first step for future attempts to return samples of Mars to Earth.
Third data release from Gaia spacecraft maps 1.8 billion stars in the Milky Way
By Bryan Dyne, 17 February 2021
The spacecraft has provided a trove of data that will be studied for years as well numerous jumping off points for further research.
California study highlights dangers of COVID-19 pandemic to the working class
By Bryan Dyne, 13 February 2021
Essential workers, whom the research defined as those in the “food/agriculture, transportation/logistics, facilities, and manufacturing sectors,” experienced a 22 percent higher mortality rate than they did in the four years before the pandemic.
The dominance of the UK variant of the coronavirus threatens a massive surge in cases in the United States
By Benjamin Mateus, 12 February 2021
The UK variant is expected to become the dominant form of coronavirus by mid-March. Epidemiologists are raising the alarm that this new, more contagious form will see cases rapidly rise again, leading to an even more massive surge than last month.
Why do US health care workers continue to refuse vaccination against COVID-19?
By Katy Kinner, 12 February 2021
Haunted by the inadequate, criminal, chaotic and disorganized response by the ruling class to the coronavirus pandemic, some health care workers turn away from a safe and efficacious vaccine.
Air pollution crisis in South Asia causing massive loss of pregnancies
By Vijith Samarasinghe, 12 February 2021
The ruling elites of South Asia have no interest in allocating the urgently necessary resources to implement air pollution abatement measures to save millions of lives, including the unborn.
UAE and Chinese spacecraft safely enter Martian orbit
By Bryan Dyne, 11 February 2021
The orbital insertion is an important stage in the process of solar system exploration.
Recent developments in Manaus, Brazil raise many issues about the future course of the COVID-19 pandemic
By Benjamin Mateus, 8 February 2021
After premature and unjustified claims of reaching “herd immunity,” the Brazilian city has been ravaged by a second wave of coronavirus that has overwhelmed local health care resources.
UK Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee members discuss: Are schools safe?
By Helen Clarke and Tania Kent, 3 February 2021
Helen Clarke is a member of the UK Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee and a primary school teacher. She has been researching deaths of educators from COVID-19 in the face of official concealment and obstruction. She submitted the article published below to the Committee, which is responded to by its secretary Tania Kent.
The Biden climate plan, Part 2: Preparation for war
By Jonathan Burleigh, 28 January 2021
Elevating longtime defender of US imperialism John Kerry as his international “climate envoy,” Biden proposes to “rally the world” to fight climate change by isolating China and conducting military exercises on Russia’s newly-melted Arctic Ocean coast.
An interview with Dr. Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics at New York University, on the COVID-19 pandemic
By Benjamin Mateus, 27 January 2021
Dr. Arthur Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics at NYU’s Langone Medical Center and the founding director of the Division of Medical Ethics.
The science of the pandemic supports teachers’ concerns over the dangers of school reopening—Part one
By Benjamin Mateus, 20 January 2021
Science validates teachers’ concerns that in-person education during the pandemic is a dangerous proposition. This article reviews some of the more recent scientific findings.
Patients die of asphyxiation as hospitals in Manaus run out of oxygen
By Tomas Castanheira, 16 January 2021
An entire wing of University Hospital patients died on Thursday night due to a lack of oxygen.
Before it begins, COVID-19 vaccination in Turkey already a fiasco
By Barış Demir, 13 January 2021
The Turkish government’s murderous ruling class “herd immunity” policy continues with a chaotic and incompetent roll-out of the vaccine.
Nebraska governor says undocumented meatpacking workers will not receive vaccine
By Alex Findijs, 7 January 2021
Governor Ricketts said during a press conference that undocumented immigrants in the meat processing industry will not receive the COVID-19 vaccine and his spokesman said its distribution will be prioritized by citizenship status.
The COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the US are proving to be a massive debacle
By Benjamin Mateus, 5 January 2021
Despite the media hype that has accompanied the release of the COVID-19 vaccines, barely three million of the 20 million doses were administered by the end of the year.
COVID-19: Global vaccination stymied by nationalism and profit gouging
By Jean Shaoul, 4 January 2021
The race to procure vaccines against a fast-spreading virus that travels unimpeded by border controls has set in motion a ferocious national competition that threatens to prolong and intensify the pandemic.
Vaccine distribution fiasco continues in the United States
By Bryan Dyne, 31 December 2020
Less than one-fifth of the vaccine doses distributed in the United States have been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
US-China tensions at center of fight over Philippine vaccine procurement
By John Malvar, 31 December 2020
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte stated on December 26 that he would terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) unless the US provided the Philippines with vaccines.
French testing system missed 9 of 10 COVID-19 cases after first lock-down
By Samuel Tissot, 30 December 2020
A recent study exposes the inadequacy of the testing system the Macron government introduced after the first lock-down, leading to thousands of preventable deaths.
California hospitals overwhelmed as COVID-19 cases hit 2 million
By Kevin Martinez, 30 December 2020
The state is now the epicenter of the pandemic in the US, with zero percent ICU capacity at many of its regions’ hospitals.
Australia: Victorian Hotel Quarantine Inquiry finds “failure of governance”
By Martin Scott, 30 December 2020
Predictably, the report is a whitewash with the recommendations calling for little more than further investigation “as to the lines of accountability and responsibility between Departmental heads and Ministers.”
Coronavirus accelerates as new strain detected across Europe
By Will Morrow, 29 December 2020
The spread of the new strain of the virus intersects with the European governments’ criminal refusal of measures to stop the pandemic that would cut corporate profits.
The new UK variant of coronavirus raises urgent questions about pandemic policy
By Benjamin Mateus, 23 December 2020
The new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the UK highlights the importance of bringing the pandemic under strict control.
Britain’s dangerous new COVID-19 strain: A warning to take urgent action now!
By Robert Stevens, 21 December 2020
With hospitals already overwhelmed throughout the world, scientists are sounding the alarm about a new, more transmissible variant of COVID-19 that has emerged in Britain and is leading to a major surge in infections.
Spectacular Native American rock art newly discovered in the Colombian Amazon
By Philip Guelpa, 15 December 2020
The extensive rock face murals made by Native American groups are truly impressive and have the potential to contribute much to our knowledge of these cultures, but some claims about their age and content may be premature.
The collapse of the Arecibo radio telescope
By Don Barrett, 15 December 2020
Far from being an unforeseeable disaster, the loss of Arecibo directly flows from decades of impoverishment of all activities that do not most directly channel the riches of labor into the overflowing coffers of the ruling class.
“Human Nature”: Documentary explores CRISPR, the groundbreaking development in genetics
By James Hohmann, 9 December 2020
The program explores the implications of simple mass-produced genetic editing and raises the question: Is society ready for the changes that this new horizon makes possible?
New study finds young adults vulnerable to developing debilitating long-term complications from COVID-19
By Dominic Gustavo, 9 December 2020
The symptoms reported most frequently by the young adults were impaired concentration, headaches, rhinitis, exercise intolerance, dyspnea, sleep impairment, brain fog, appetite loss, fatigue, and chest pain.
UK COVID-19 vaccination programme will not halt pandemic deaths due to end of lockdown
By Robert Stevens, 9 December 2020
Despite the immense significance for mankind of the availability of the drug—and promising developments with other vaccines coming on stream—its ability to save lives given its 90 to 95 percent effectivity rate against COVID-19, is being undermined by Britain’s ruling elite in their drive to keep the economy open and make profits.
COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the US
By Benjamin Mateus, 7 December 2020
COVID-19 is inundating hospitals across the US. The case fatality rate is already seeing an upturn, which means that hundreds of patients who will die in the next few weeks would have survived had they been infected just a month ago.
Hundreds evacuated in the face of fast-moving Southern California wildfire
By Rafael Azul, 4 December 2020
That the continuing fire season has caught California with insufficient resources with which to combat the record spate of wildfires is an indictment of the capitalist profit system.
The science behind COVID-19 vaccines
By Benjamin Mateus, 3 December 2020
Both Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant, and the start-up firm Moderna have used essentially the same biochemical process, involving messenger RNA (mRNA) to develop a new vaccine against coronavirus.
Why are millions of Americans traveling for Thanksgiving as the pandemic rages?
By Niles Niemuth, 24 November 2020
Even as travel this week is expected to decline from last year, with many citing concerns over COVID-19 as a reason to stay home, the movement of tens of millions across the country threatens to massively accelerate the spread of COVID-19.
Number of children diagnosed with COVID-19 in the US surpasses one million
By Alex Findijs, 19 November 2020
Most of the infections have come after the reopening of schools, highlighting the dangers of in-person instruction during the pandemic.
British Medical Journal accuses UK government of the “suppression of science”
By Thomas Scripps, 18 November 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic and the British ruling class’ criminal “herd immunity” response has created a humanitarian disaster.
Second major hurricane hits Central America in two weeks
By Andrea Lobo, 17 November 2020
Combined with the pandemic and the effects of storm Eta, Category 5 Hurricane Iota is expected to greatly deepen an ongoing humanitarian crisis and mass migration.
Long-COVID post-viral syndrome: Lessons from the Russian Flu of 1889 for the COVID pandemic
By Benjamin Mateus, 10 November 2020
The post-viral syndrome associated with COVID-19 infection has been recognized in the SARS and MERS pandemic. The scope of this disease will have lasting impact on health care systems.
Climate change and human evolution
By Philip Guelpa, 7 November 2020
Significant environmental change in East Africa between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago prompted a major step in human evolution.
“Zero was never a realistic expectation”
Official academics downplay the risks of school reopenings as pandemic rages across the US
By Benjamin Mateus, 5 November 2020
The official bourgeois academics and health experts, as evidenced by the likes of Emily Oster, Ashish Jha and Scott Atlas, place the profit interests of the ruling class above the safety and lives of the working class.
The approach of the World Socialist Web Site to science
By Bryan Dyne, 3 November 2020
The WSWS was the only publication to warn very early on the dangers the working class faced if the coronavirus became a pandemic.
The explosion of new cases of COVID in the Northern Hemisphere will fuel massive social unrest
By Benjamin Mateus, 30 October 2020
There were more than 500,000 cases of COVID-19 reported globally, with the number of deaths keeping apace.
As COVID-19 surges in Europe, governments protect profits over lives
By Johannes Stern and Alex Lantier, 29 October 2020
If the resurgence of COVID-19 across Europe is not halted, it is a matter of only a few weeks before hospitals are overrun and masses of people cut off from treatment.
Australian environmental scientists face mounting censorship
By Frank Gaglioti, 27 October 2020
A report found that scientists in the government and private sectors are frequently compelled to modify their research and prevented from publicly-revealing their concerns.
COVID’s deadly toll on people with Alzheimer’s and dementia
By Benjamin Mateus, 26 October 2020
Deaths from dementia have been catastrophic as the isolation and lockdowns of nursing homes have led to cessation of vital support and treatment for this vulnerable layer of the population.
COVID-19 “long-hauler” phenomenon presents in children and teens as schools reopen against expert advice
By Katy Kinner, 26 October 2020
New data is surfacing that suggests children can be saddled with chronic and debilitating post-viral illness after even mild cases of COVID-19.
OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touches an asteroid, attempts sample collection
By Don Barrett, 23 October 2020
High drama unfolded to a worldwide audience Tuesday as the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made a safe and seemingly successful “touch and go” sample collection from its target, asteroid 101955 Bennu. It will return a sample from the asteroid to Earth in September 2023.
Record wildfires continue to expand across Colorado
By Anthony del Olmo, 23 October 2020
Colorado erupted this week as the main hotspot for wildfires in the western United States. Firefighting resources are being stretched thin as fires continue to break out late in the season.
Record-breaking Colorado wildfires prompt mass evacuations
By Eddie Haywood, 22 October 2020
The Cameron Peak fire, which ignited on August 13 near Fort Collins, has blazed through more than 200,000 acres, making it the largest wildfire in the state’s history.
Trump steps up fascist agitation, targeting Fauci
By Barry Grey, 21 October 2020
Fauci has already become a target of far-right Trump supporters. He and his wife have received death threats by email, phone and text message.
COVID-19 pandemic surges in Turkey as government continues to hide data
By Barış Demir and Ulaş Ateşçi, 19 October 2020
The government is allowing the virus to spread, citing false data to refuse any demands for lock-downs and suppress growing anger and concern within the working class.
Melting glaciers threaten catastrophic consequences for humanity
By Daniel Jakob, 19 October 2020
Global warming has already resulted in continual and worldwide loss of glacial ice, and the concurrent melting of the permafrost ground layer is approaching irreversibility.
Tesla: The cognizable, knowable scientist and visionary
By Joanne Laurier, 15 October 2020
Written and directed by Michael Almereyda, Tesla is a drama about the life of Serbian-American engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), a remarkable figure. Ethan Hawke plays Tesla.
The Great Barrington Declaration: Capitalism’s global policy of herd immunity
By Benjamin Mateus, 14 October 2020
Super spreading events are the primary mode of transmission for COVID-19 infections. The recent declaration at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, attempts to establish herd-immunity as a global policy that will have catastrophic consequences for the working class.
With more than 1 million dead, who have been the victims of the coronavirus pandemic?
Part two
By Benjamin Mateus, 10 October 2020
More than 1 million people globally have succumbed to COVID-19. The working class has faced the brunt of this pandemic, with all indications that the worst is still to come.
The California wildfires: A disaster of capitalism and climate change
By Rafael Azul and Peter Ross, 10 October 2020
Even as record-breaking fires rage across the US West Coast, the ruling class has refused neither to address the climate crisis nor protect those in the path of destruction.
Research into black holes awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics
By Bryan Dyne, 9 October 2020
Black holes are one of the most esoteric predictions of the general theory of relativity and they play a key role in galactic evolution across the Universe.
Trump administration continues assault on endangered species
By Adria French, 19 September 2020
Recent changes to the Endangered Species Act “to lower regulatory burdens” are driving several species toward extinction.
The precedents for disease eradication through international cooperation
Part two
By Frank Gaglioti, 16 September 2020
Vaccines have been successfully developed for both polio and the measles, but global elimination of the diseases lags.
New cases of COVID-19 reach a one-day high of nearly 308,000 worldwide
By Benjamin Mateus and Patrick Martin, 15 September 2020
The number of new cases of COVID-19 hit a new one-day high of nearly 308,000 worldwide, bringing the global total to almost 30 million cases and 930,000 deaths. The United States alone will reach 200,000 deaths by mid-week.
The precedents for disease eradication through international cooperation
Part one
By Frank Gaglioti, 15 September 2020
An examination of the historical record demonstrates that infectious diseases like COVID-19 can be eliminated.
Smoking in the age of COVID: Some immunological considerations
By Henry Hakamaki, 12 September 2020
Smoking and e-cigarettes are directly associated with increased risk of infection by the novel coronavirus.
The pseudoscience behind the right-wing drive to force schools to open
Part two
By Benjamin Mateus, 2 September 2020
The ruling elites and their legion of state and local officials are furiously pushing to open schools and universities. However, recent published studies have provided ample evidence that school openings will drive the pandemic toward a second, potentially larger, wave.
The pseudoscience behind the right-wing drive to force schools to open
Part one
By Benjamin Mateus, 1 September 2020
The ruling elites and their legion of state and local officials are furiously pushing to open schools and universities. However, recent published studies have provided ample evidence that school openings will drive the pandemic towards a second potentially larger wave.
Mounting evidence of COVID-19 reinfection
By Henry Hakamaki, 31 August 2020
Several recent studies suggest that survivors of the coronavirus can come down with a second case after recovering from a first infection.
The origins and evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
By Frank Gaglioti, 24 August 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is a once in a century event, a trigger event, that has exposed the deep contradictions and terminal decay in the capitalist organization of world resources.
Who is Scott Atlas, Trump’s new adviser on the COVID-19 pandemic?
By Benjamin Mateus, 18 August 2020
Dr. Scott Atlas, a former neuroradiologist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution was selected as the new presidential adviser on the pandemic to “counter” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading US epidemiologist.
The coronavirus pandemic and capitalism
Russia’s vaccine intensifies global struggle for profits and geopolitical advantage
By Barry Grey, 13 August 2020
Vladimir Putin’s announcement Tuesday that Russia has officially approved a COVID-19 vaccine has intensified the global conflict between national powers and pharmaceutical giants to be the first to mass produce and market a vaccine for the deadly virus.
Three missions to Mars are now under way
By Don Barrett, 31 July 2020
Spacecraft from China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have been successfully launched on trajectories that will take them to Mars by next February.
Antarctic ice sheet melting could accelerate rapidly, leading to catastrophic rise in sea level
By Philip Guelpa, 27 July 2020
If all the Antarctic ice were to melt, sea levels would rise by approximately an additional 60 meters (nearly 200 feet).
Canadian medical experts provide ideological justification for homicidal back-to-work drive
By Laurent Lafrance, 25 July 2020
Exploiting their professional qualifications to give their arguments credibility, the experts have fully endorsed the corporate elite’s reactionary dictum: “The cure cannot be worse than the disease.”
The nationalist hijacking of the race for a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus
By Benjamin Mateus, 24 July 2020
Vaccine nationalism is driving the fury to capitalize on being the first nation to produce a viable cure against the coronavirus.
White House in disarray as coronavirus numbers explode
By Patrick Martin, 16 July 2020
The one-day total of infections has set a new record of 71,670 and deaths are once again climbing.
The COVID-19 vaccine and the drive for profit
By Frank Gaglioti, 8 July 2020
As the pandemic rages across the planet, the struggle to develop a vaccine has become an urgent task. But the vaccines will be weaponized for geopolitical purposes, not to provide the treatments equitably on a global scale.
Scientist warns Istanbul earthquake could kill hundreds of thousands
By Ozan Özgür, 7 July 2020
Earthquake experts internationally agree that an earthquake of at least magnitude-7 is likely in the next 10 years in Istanbul.
Contact tracing and capitalism’s response to the pandemic
By Benjamin Mateus, 27 June 2020
As the globe rapidly approaches ten million cases of COVID-19, the United States continues to ignore any public health measures to contain the pandemic.
Pandemic’s negative impact on Australian scientific research future could last decades
By John Mackay, 19 June 2020
Research in the university sector is expected to decrease by at least $3 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The World Health Organization comes under new US attack for its relationship to China
By Benjamin Mateus, 9 June 2020
China and the WHO are useful scapegoats for the systematic neglect of the health and lives of millions of people on the part of the Trump administration and other imperialist governments
White House Coronavirus Task Force effectively ended by Trump
By Bryan Dyne, 3 June 2020
Now that all fifty states have begun reopening in some form, the pandemic is considered over by the US ruling elite even as coronavirus infections and deaths continue to climb.
Democratic Governor Whitmer lifts major COVID-19 restrictions in Michigan
By Kevin Reed, 3 June 2020
The announcement rescinds the stay-at-home order, along with a series of other restrictions even though most of the state remains in the “flattening” phase of the pandemic.
Canada’s governments ignored 2006 pandemic preparedness report
By Dylan Lubao, 3 June 2020
The 550-page “Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan for the Health Sector” is further proof that the COVID-19 pandemic was both foreseeable and foreseen.
Microsoft to replace MSN news production workers with artificial intelligence
By Mike Ingram, 3 June 2020
Dozens of workers will be replaced with artificial intelligence software that will automatically select content and manage news production.
SpaceX launch of astronauts marks new stage of the privatization of space exploration
By Bryan Dyne, 2 June 2020
The fact that the event was so heavily promoted by SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk, the American media and President Donald Trump should give the excitement around the launch pause.
Discredited policy of coronavirus “herd immunity” placed in stark relief
By Benjamin Mateus, 1 June 2020
Much of the population of the globe remains susceptible to coronavirus infection, exposing the pursuit of herd immunity as a horrifically deadly policy.
Dow Jones hits 25,000 as pandemic death toll reaches 100,000
By David North, 27 May 2020
The Wall Street surge anticipates the shutdown of all restraints on corporate operations and capitalist profiteerring.
Reports question undercounting of COVID-19 deaths in US and globally
By Bryan Dyne, 27 May 2020
There is increasing evidence that the actual fatalities caused by the pandemic are up to three times the numbers officially reported.
Executives of vaccine developer Moderna cash in, cut corners
By Benjamin Mateus, 26 May 2020
In March, while the global economy was facing an implosion, CEO Stéphane Bancel became a billionaire based on the valuation of his nine percent stake in the publicly traded company.
Hydroxychloroquine: New scientific study refutes the quack-in-chief
By Benjamin Mateus, 23 May 2020
President Trump claimed this week he had been taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure. His statements demonstrate both ignorance and hostility to science.
Capitalism vs. science: The lessons of the 36-hour Moderna vaccine frenzy
By Benjamin Mateus, 20 May 2020
It took just 36 hours for the media’s frenzied promotion of a “breakthrough” treatment for the coronavirus to collapse under its own weight.
Spike in Kawasaki-like disease linked to coronavirus in France and Italy, one child dies
By Will Morrow, 18 May 2020
This is a damning indictment of capitalist governments internationally which are reopening schools and asserting that the virus does not harm children.
Market and profits impede COVID-19 vaccine effort
By Frank Gaglioti, 18 May 2020
The discovery of the genetic structure of the virus was the first step in the drive for a vaccine. It was also the starting gun for companies fighting for the bonanza that will fall to the successful candidate vaccine.
The Trump administration vs. science
By Patrick Martin, 15 May 2020
The president’s attack on his top coronavirus advisor, Anthony Fauci, is part of an appeal to the most backward and reactionary forces to support the deadly policy of “reopening” the US economy.
Children in US and UK dying from syndrome linked to COVID-19
By Jacob Crosse, 9 May 2020
At least two children in the US and one in the UK have died from the newly identified Pediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, which is believed to be related to COVID-19.
Human challenge trials are being pushed to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus
By Benjamin Mateus, 5 May 2020
Purposefully exposing volunteers to the coronavirus after they have been given an experimental vaccine is fraught with tremendous risks to the patients themselves and the population at large.
Thirty years of the Hubble Space Telescope
By Bryan Dyne, 2 May 2020
While it has been a public relations boon for NASA, Hubble’s true importance lies in its continued and vast contributions to astronomy.
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