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Tom Terzin has been fascinated by beetles since he was a child.

“They behave like tiny natural robots,” Terzin said in a Jan. 30 University of Alberta news release. “They crawl around obeying simple rules. If there’s an obstacle in their way they usually go around it, which is generally how a robot would behave.”

That’s why the researcher and biology professor participated in two expeditions to the Philippines to search for beetles and collect samples, he told McClatchy News in a Feb. 2 email.

While sifting through the specimens he collected from Northern Negros National Park on Negros Island, Terzin spotted something unusual, according to the university. It was a short-nosed weevil known as Metapocyrtus (Orthocyrtus) bifoveatus, which was thought to be extinct.

The “colorful” species had not been seen on the island in 100 years. Researchers believed it was killed off after its habitat in the rainforest’s lowlands was “wiped out by deforestation.”

“In the world of insects, it’s almost like discovering a dodo bird,” Terzin said.

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The specimen Terzin found is the first female of the species recorded, according to a study published Dec. 8 in the journal Topola Poplar.

The species is “large to medium sized,” Terzin and his co-author, Bangoy Shirley, said in the study. The female beetle measured about 0.5 inches.

Metapocyrtus (Orthocyrtus) bifoveatus have “metallic green and blue scales” on their head beneath oval-shaped eyes, the researchers said. The upper half of their body is “shiny, smooth” and “rusty brown” with a collar covered by “metallic green and blue scales.”

The lower half of the species’ body is “smooth” and “reddish-brown to black.” It is covered in “round metallic mixed green and blue scales,” and it has two “shiny brown spots” on its sides that lack scales.

Photos show the brightly colored new species.

Terzin found the Metapocyrtus (Orthocyrtus) bifoveatus specimen in a rainforest at about 4,600 feet above sea level, according to the study.

“Somehow this species has managed to survive in higher altitudes of over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet), which shows a struggle for life, that they refused to become extinct from deforestation,” he said in the university’s release.

A new species of weevil

Terzin spotted another strange specimen while sorting through his collection from the park: a black bug that didn’t have the same “metallic sheen” as similar weevils.

It was a new species.

“This guy was a bit strange, some sort of rebel in refusing to mimic the species,” Terzin said.

Identified as Metapocyrtus (Trachycyrtus) augustanae, the new species is small, and the single female specimen measured about 0.26 inches, according to the study.

The “small-sized” weevil has a gray-black body with “several prominent yellow” bristle-like protrusions, researchers said. The lower half of its body is “rough,” and its “oval” eyes are black.

Scientists named the new species after the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus, where Terzin works.

The female specimen was found in a rainforest habitat about 4,600 feet above sea level.

Terzin said the discovery of the new species is exciting.

“It could mean there’s a redirection of the habits of these species, evolutionarily speaking, and being only known from a single specimen, for now, indicates it’s probably a rare species,” he said.

‘They’re like asteroids’

Continuing to learn about weevils is necessary because they can possibly become pests, according to Terzin.

“They’re like asteroids that cross the Earth’s orbit,” he said. “Some of them can be dangerous, but they’re even more dangerous if we don’t know about them. So it’s important to monitor their population — and that means we first need to discover them.”

Terzin also encountered a third type of “rare” weevil while visiting Kanlaon National Park in the Philippines, he said in his email.

Known as Eumacrocyrtus canlaonensis, the “large sized” creatures have a “shiny rusty brown” upper body with “dense semi-metallic gray-bluish scales” on their sides, according to the study. Their lower bodies are “dark brown or black, smooth” and “covered in round semi-metallic gray-bluish scales.”

When Terzin was in the park in 2016, the previously dormant Kanlaon Volcano erupted. Since then, the area where Eumacrocyrtus canlaonensis specimens were collected has been closed, according to Terzin.

“My brief encounter with E. canlaonensis may be the last one,” he said.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tourists have barely started trickling back into the Mexican resort of Acapulco after deadly storm damage last year, but the gangland killings on the beaches have already returned.

Late Friday, the government of the Pacific coast state of Guerrero said it was deploying 60 gun-toting detectives to patrol the beaches “in light of the violent events that have occurred recently.”

At least three people were shot dead on beaches in Acapulco last week, one by gunmen who arrived — and escaped — aboard a boat.

The violence continues despite the presence of thousands of soldiers and National Guard officers deployed to the city after Category 5 Hurricane Otis in late October.

The storm killed 52 people and left 32 missing. It also caused severe damage to almost all Acapulco’s hotels. Only a fraction of the city’s hotel rooms — about 5,000 — have been repaired.

The government has pledged to build about three dozen barracks for the quasi-military National Guard in Acapulco. But even with throngs of troops now on the streets, the gang violence that has beset the resort for almost two decades appears to have continued.

In January, the main Acapulco chamber of commerce reported that gang threats and attacks caused about 90% of the city’s passenger vans to stop running, affecting the resort’s main form of transport.

Acapulco has been bloodied by turf battles between gangs since at least 2006. The gangs are fighting over drug sales and income from extorting protection payments from businesses, bars, bus and taxi drivers.

Also Friday, the government of the northern border state of Sonora issued a video-taped warning to local youths who they said were being recruited by drug cartels on social media.

The state prosecutors office said that young people in Sonora had been lured by acquaintances or social media sites with offers of jobs out of state in industries like agriculture, only to find they would be forced to work for a drug cartel.

“These youths have left their hometowns and gone to other states, where they have found out that these offers were deceptive and aimed at forcing them to work in crime gangs,” the office said in a statement.

The office added that some of the youths targeted were under 18.

Drug cartels in Mexico have resorted to force and deception in the past to recruit foot soldiers, and there is increasing evidence they use minors to fill out the ranks of gunmen.

At the same time, the expansion of the cartels into seemingly legitimate businesses in Mexico sometimes makes it hard to determine if a job offer is linked to the gangs.

For example, in 2023, eight young workers were killed in the western state of Guadalajara after they apparently tried to quit jobs at a call center operated by a violent drug cartel that targeted Americans in a real estate scam.

TOPEKA (KSNT) – Bobby Parkhurst had cause to celebrate in 2023 after he broke a nearly 60-year-old Kansas state fishing record dubbed a “catch-of-a-lifetime”. That is, he did until his catch was taken off the record list by wildlife officials.

What happened to Parkhurst’s supposed record? KSNT 27 News investigated this question by reaching out to Parkhurst and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) to get to the bottom of this fishy situation.

A New State Fishing Record?

KSNT 27 News spoke with Parkhurst shortly after he landed the record-breaking white crappie in April, 2023. He caught the fish on March 5, 2023 at Pottawatomie State Fishing Lake No. 2 on a rod and reel, according to the KDWP. The fish measured 18 inches in length and 14 inches in girth and weighed 4.07 pounds.

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The record beaten by Parkhurst last year measured 17.5 inches in length and weighed 4.02 pounds. This fish was caught by Frank Miller of Eureka on March 30, 1964. It is once again the current state fishing record for white crappie.

At the time, Parkhurst said he was ready to throw the fish back in without checking to see if it was a record. After being prodded by his family and friends, he decided to submit the crappie to the KDWP to check for its record status.

“I didn’t think I had it beat,” Parkhurst said in April, 2023.

He shared his plans with KSNT 27 News to get the fish mounted as a gift for one of his children. All was well for the next several days, but this changed on April 20, 2023 when Parkhurst said law enforcement visited his home.

Fish Seizure

Parkhurst said game wardens came to his home and took the fish he had caught under a search warrant. KDWP spokeswoman Nadia Marji confirms law enforcement seized the frozen fish in connection to a “formal investigation.”

“They didn’t tell me anything,” Parkhurst said. “I don’t understand why they’re doing this to me.”

Kansas man breaks nearly 30-year-old state fishing record with trophy catch

Claiming to be confused in the aftermath of the seizure, Parkhurst said he tried to get answers from the KDWP. However, he has yet to get his fish back.

On Nov. 14, 2023, the KDWP updated its original press release issued on Parkhurst’s record crappie catch. A statement added to the top of the release states that, after further review by wildlife officials, the crappie caught by Parkhurst could not be confirmed. The previous record was restored with Parkhurst’s catch removed from the state fishing records website.

Why Was The Fish Taken?

Marji provided some answers regarding why the fish was taken and Parkhurst’s name removed from the list of state fishing records. She pointed to a clause listed at the bottom of all fish record applications in Kansas.

“There was not an error in the verification process,” Marji said. “Rather, information supplied to the Department by the angler via his written application form was not ‘true and correct.’”

The KDWP received a “tip” following the announcement of the new record status of Parkhurst’s catch in April last year. This prompted wildlife officials to launch an investigation into the supposed record-breaking fish and, following this review process, made the decision to reinstate the old record.

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When asked what went wrong with Parkhurst’s application, Marji said the issue came from the listed weight of the white crappie on the form.

“The fish appeared normal and healthy, and was accurately identified by staff; However, had the application been filled out accurately by the angler, it would have not qualified as a state record,” Marji said.

Parkhurst insists he filled out his application form correctly and says he wants his catch to be returned.

“I did it the whole way they wanted me to do it,” Parkhurst said. “I went through the procedures, I wrote down what I caught it on, I did everything they wanted me to do by the book. I did everything I was supposed to do. Their biologists looked at it more than once.”

What fish are safe to eat in Kansas?

Marji said additional information on the investigation is on hold because it’s still an active case. We’ll keep you informed on any updates as this progresses.

For more Kansas Outdoors, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. To download our Storm Track Weather App, click here.

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.

A New York professor notoriously caught on camera holding a machete to a reporter’s neck last year has reportedly been fired from her latest teaching gig after espousing anti-Israel views.

Shellyne Rodriguez, who was terminated last year from her position at New York City’s Hunter College, was fired again – this time from her most recent role at Cooper Union in Manhattan.

“Cooper Union has fired me because of a social media post I made about ‘Zionists’… effective immediately,” Rodriguez, 47, wrote in a Jan. 23 email to students, according to the New York Post. Cooper Union Students for Justice in Palestine shared the email on Instagram the next day.

“This is fascism. Ya’ll are learning about it in real time,” Rodriguez wrote. “Stay strong, [stay] brave, stay defiant, don’t bite your tongue, and drink plenty of water! Pa-lante!”

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“This firing represents an intense escalation of McCarthyist repression meant to intimidate and punish those in support of a Free Palestine, and must be resisted to prevent its further normalization and the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the student group wrote, calling on followers to email the art school dean.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Reached by Fox News Digital about Rodriguez’s reported termination, a spokesperson for Cooper Union said, “We don’t provide comment on personnel matters.”

The Post noted how Rodriguez is no longer listed as an adjunct on Cooper Union’s faculty page.

The reasoning for her latest termination was not immediately clear but came after Rodriguez participated earlier last month in a CUNY for Palestine virtual panel in which she spoke about the possibility of a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement rent strike in New York involving not making rent payments to Jewish landlords or landlords who support Israel.

Her remarks, widely condemned online as antisemitic, also included Rodriguez explaining, “the idea that we could be a Trojan horse, that we are inside empire, and you’re here to upend it.” Of others supporting Israel, she told those on the panel, “You probably wait tables where they go to brunch. Find them, go to their offices, don’t let them sleep.”

According to the Post, Rodriguez also torched former Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. as a “roach” and “Zionist lapdog” in one post on her own Instagram account.

“Jewish students at Cooper Union are very relieved that they fired her,” Jeffrey Lax, a CUNY law professor and co-founder of Students and Faculty for Equality at CUNY, which advocates for Jewish students on campus, told the Post. “Her comments were really despicable.”

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“Normally, I would say I commend the university for taking action against this professor but in this case, how can I possibly say that she did something far worse before they hired her? I mean, she held a knife to a reporter’s neck,” Lax told the outlet. “They’re not to be commended, they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Last May, Rodriguez, an adjunct professor at Hunter College at the time, was caught on camera cursing at students who set up a pro-life table, claiming they were “triggering” others.

“You’re not educating s—. This is f—ing propaganda,” Rodriguez said in the video shared online by Students for Life of America. “What are you going to do like anti-trans next?”

When a New York Post reporter arrived at her apartment seeking comment about the incident, she was caught on video again – this time holding a blade to the reporter’s neck.

She pleaded guilty to harassment and menacing in connection to the attack on the reporter, the Post reported, citing the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. If she completes a therapy program, she would be permitted to withdraw the misdemeanor plea under the terms of her plea agreement and would be sentenced on the violation to a conditional discharge.

Rodriguez was sentenced in October to 13 months of behavioral therapy for menacing.

Her termination from Cooper Union also comes months after pro-Palestinian protesters there banged on the windows of the school library while Jewish students were inside.

Rodriguez also notably organized “f— police” demonstrations in 2020 after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Original article source: New York professor caught on video holding machete to reporter’s neck reportedly fired after anti-Israel rants

LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – An excavation crew made an unusual discovery at a construction site in Lorain County, that tells the story of Northeast Ohio’s prehistoric past.

The crew was digging sanitary sewer lines for a new housing development along Indian Hollow Road outside Elyria on Friday, when they hit something large under a couple of feet of soil.

“It amazed me and I’ve been working here 10 years,” said Robert Woods of DiGioia Suburban Excavating.

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As Woods kept digging with his excavator, he discovered that what he hit was a boulder that was deposited in Northeast Ohio by a glacier thousands of years ago.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before. I mean, it’s the biggest rock we’ve dug up,” he said.

The outdoor experiences manager for the Lorain County Metro Parks suspects the boulder was swept here 12,000 to 14,000 years ago by glaciers formed in Canada, that carved out the landscape of Ohio and formed Lake Erie and other large bodies of water.

“There is some granite cliff or mountain top in Canada that is missing some rocks,” said Bev Walborn with a chuckle.

She told us the large stone is known as a glacial erratic, and she suspects it is a form of granite.

“We mostly have sedimentary rock like shale and sandstone here, but up in Canada, granite is the rock that’s found up there. So, those big, huge mountains of ice pulled that rock along with them and as the glaciers started to melt and started dropping items and off it went,” she said.

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Supervisors for the construction company have not yet decided if the ancient boulder will be kept as a centerpiece of the new neighborhood or will be moved off-site.

Students of geology say what Woods dug up on Friday was more than just a big rock.

“It’s a great find and I think it reminds us of the history and our place on this planet and what happened in the course of time before we even stepped foot here,” said Walborn.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.

WASHINGTON — In the hours before the United States carried out strikes against Iran-backed militants on Friday, the U.S. hit Iran with more familiar weapons: sanctions and criminal charges.

The Biden administration imposed sanctions on officers and officials of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the country’s premier military force, for threatening the integrity of water utilities and for helping manufacture Iranian drones. And it unsealed charges against nine people for selling oil to finance the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

The timing seemed designed to pressure the Revolutionary Guard and its most elite unit, Iran’s Quds Force, at a moment of extraordinary tension in the Middle East. Although the sanctions have been brewing for some time and the charges were filed earlier under seal, the region has been in turmoil for months.

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The actions are part of a coordinated governmentwide effort to disrupt Iran’s efforts to use illicit oil sales to fund terrorism, and to push back on the country’s increasingly capable offensive cyberoperations. In the 15 years since the United States mounted a major cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the country has trained a generation of hackers and struck back at Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States, among others.

Two U.S. officials said the United States conducted cyberoperations against Iranian targets Friday but declined to provide details.

The effects of sanctions and indictments are hard to measure. Few Iranian officers or officials keep assets in Western banks or travel to the United States, meaning the sanctions may have little practical effect. Although the indictments and sanctions have a psychological element — demonstrating to Iranians and their business associates around the world that Western intelligence agencies are often tracking their movements and their transactions — actual arrests and trials are infrequent.

“The reason that we bring these cases is we know that the money Iran obtains from the illicit sale of oil is used to fund its malign activities around the world,” Matthew Olsen, who heads the national security division of the Justice Department, said Friday. “The threats posed by Iran and the destabilizing effects of its actions have only come into sharper relief since the attacks of Oct. 7,” the day of the Hamas attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people.

There has been a spate of action against Iran in the past week, culminating with Friday’s strikes on Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq. The airstrikes were in retaliation for a drone attack Sunday that killed three U.S. service members at a base in Jordan.

On Monday, the Justice Department unsealed charges in Minnesota against an Iranian man accused of hiring a member of the Hells Angels to kill Iranian dissidents living in Maryland. On Wednesday, four Chinese citizens were indicted in Washington, accused of trying to smuggle and export technology used in military equipment and weapons for groups associated with the Revolutionary Guard, part of a constant effort to evade the West’s many prohibitions on selling technology that could be used in weapons systems or surveillance.

The sanctions related to the water utilities involved hacks on what are called “logic controllers,” which are made by an Israeli company, Unitronics, and run the pumps and valves in the water systems. Getting at the controllers is a way of reminding the United States and other countries that their critical infrastructure is vulnerable.

“The United States, in coordination with the private sector and other affected countries, quickly remediated the incidents with minimal impacts,” the Treasury Department said. But it was hardly the only attack of that kind to come from Iran: Ransomware attacks have emanated from Iranian hackers, including one against Boston Children’s Hospital three years ago and against even a major Las Vegas casino.

The sanctions were against a series of officials of the Revolutionary Guard’s “electronic warfare and cyber defense organization,” including its leader, Hamid Reza Lashgarian.

Another set of sanctions, issued by the State Department, focused on four companies that the United States said were supplying materials and technology to Iran’s drone and missile programs. The drones have been of particular concern because Russia is using them in large numbers against Ukraine.

The most sweeping move came from the Justice Department, which unsealed charges against nine people from Iran, Turkey, China and Oman related to efforts to smuggle and sell Iranian oil in violation of U.S. laws.

The legal action came as tensions between the United States and Iran deepen. Attacks such as the one that killed three Americans are funded by illicit Iranian oil sales, officials said. And the intensity has increased since Oct. 7, with more than 160 attacks against U.S. military forces in Iraq, Syria and Jordan by Iran-backed militias.

“Today’s cases are part of the department’s ongoing efforts to cut off the flow of black-market Iranian oil that funds the regime’s malign activity, threatening the United States and our interests around the world,” Olsen said.

c.2024 The New York Times Company

By Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Ariba Shahid

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Khan were sentenced to seven years in prison and fined on Saturday by a court that ruled their 2018 marriage broke the law, his party said.

It was the third ruling against Khan this week and comes ahead of national elections on Thursday that he is barred from contesting.

Khan, 71, has in recent days been sentenced to 10 years for leaking state secrets and 14 years along with this wife for illegally selling state gifts. His representatives say he will launch appeals in all three cases.

It was not immediately clear if his various sentences would run concurrently.

Khan is in prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, while his wife will serve her sentence at their hilltop mansion in nearby Islamabad. He already faces a 10-year disqualification from holding public office.

“After hours of rushed hearings at court, no cross examination of witnesses, and no due process – a mockery of the law,” Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a statement.

“With the way these trials are being conducted, there will be a huge question mark on the February 8th elections. This is a test case for Pakistan’s higher judiciary.”

The couple were each fined 500,000 rupees ($1,800), ARY News reported.

Bushra was accused of not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called “Iddat”, after divorcing her previous husband and marrying Khan.

The Khans signed their marriage contract, or “Nikkah”, in January 2018 in a secret ceremony seven months before the former cricket superstar became prime minister for the first time.

There was controversy over whether they had wed before the period was complete. After initial denials of the marriage, PTI confirmed it weeks later.

The Khans both denied wrongdoing.

“Can say I’m a witness in the Nikkah and it’s a categorically yet another fake case,” Khan’s media advisor Zulfi Bukhari told Reuters. “From witnesses to the evidence to the procedure.”

CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

Bushra’s ex-husband, Khawar Maneka, to whom she was married for about 30 years, brought a criminal complaint against the Khans, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Khan has often called Bushra his spiritual leader. She is known for her devotion to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam.

Born Bushra Riaz Watto, she changed her name to Khan after her marriage. Her husband and followers commonly refer to her as Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, titles that denote respect in Urdu.

It was not clear when or how Khan met Bushra, but former aide Aun Chaudhry said Khan was impressed with her spirituality.

Khan, who had acquired a playboy image in the 1990s as his cricket career took off, has said he is keenly interested in Sufism.

Khan’s two previous marriages – to Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of tycoon James Goldsmith, and television journalist Reham Nayyar Khan – ended in divorce.

Khan has been fighting dozens of cases since he was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022. He says his removal was backed by the powerful military with whom he fell out while in office.

He and his party say they have been subjected to a military-backed crackdown, including arrests of hundreds of supporters, party members and key aides.

The military, which has for decades held sway over Pakistan’s politics, denies the claims.

NAB, the anti-graft agency that put Khan on trial, has at various times investigated, tried and jailed all prime ministers to have served since 2008, including Nawaz Sharif, whose party is considered the frontrunner in next week’s election.

(Reporting by Ariba Shahid and Gibran Peshimam; Editing by William Mallard and Giles Elgood)

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On February 4, celebrated singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, 80, will be performing at the 2024 Grammy Awards ceremony for the first time in her more than 50-year career, the Grammys announced in a news release.

In addition to performing at the award show, Joni is also nominated for a Grammy in the Best Folk Album Category for her 2023 album, Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live]. The nine-time Grammy Award winner’s nominated album is a recording of her set from the 2022 Newport Folk Festival —a surprise performance and her first time taking the stage after suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015, per NPR.

In a 2017 biography, Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe, Joni revealed that she was battling a mysterious illness called Morgellons disease. “I have this weird, incurable disease that seems like it’s from outer space,” she said in the book.

With her historic performance approaching, you might be wondering what exactly Morgellons disease is and what Joni has had to deal with over the years. Ahead, here’s everything to know about Morgellons.

What is Morgellons disease?

There’s not much information available about the condition, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls it an “unexplained dermatopathy” or skin disease, per the Mayo Clinic.

The disease involves the “belief that parasites or fibers are emerging from the skin,” making it feel like something is crawling, biting, or pinching the skin, and creating an intense itching feeling, the Mayo Clinic explains.

Doctors don’t agree on the origin of the disease. Some medical experts think Morgellons is a physical illness, while others believe it to be a type of psychosis that they call “delusional parasitosis,” (a.k.a. the person thinks parasites have infected their skin), per WebMD.

What are the symptoms of Morgellons disease?

According to the Mayo Clinic, people suffering from Morgellons may experience the following symptoms:

• Skin rashes or sores that create an intense itching feeling

• Crawling sensations on or under the skin

• Some will have the belief that fibers, threads, or black stringy materials are present on or under the skin

• Inability to concentrate

• Depression

• Muscle and joint pain

In a 2012 study, CDC researchers were unable to find “a common underlying medical condition or infectious agent” in people experiencing Morgellons symptoms, per Medical News Today.

And while some skin samples from participants in a 2015 Morgellons study uncovered some “fiber-like materials,” upon further evaluation, researchers concluded that the fibers were actually from naturally occurring hair follicles, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

What causes Morgellons?

Unfortunately, the cause isn’t clear, but the condition could potentially be related to Lyme disease. In the same 2015 study mentioned above, researchers found Lyme disease present in 24 out of the 25 Morgellons patients being studied.

“The scientific community is divided between those who believe it is a purely psychological disorder and those who believe it may be due to a pathogen,” Medical News Today reports.

What is the treatment for Morgellons disease?

Once diagnosed with Morgellons, treatment plans vary depending on what the doctor pinpoints as the cause. Blood tests and skin samples are usually taken, and a treatment plan is created once results come back.

Some doctors may suggest using antibiotics if they suspect a bacterial infection or a tick-borne illness. Treatment may also be provided if there are any opened or long-lasting skin lesions, according to Medical News Today.

Often, those in the medical field who label the condition as delusion or a mental illness will treat it with antidepressants, antipsychotic drugs, and cognitive behavioral therapy, per Mayo Clinic.

Is it curable?

Since Morgellons disease is poorly understood, there is no cure for it.

How common is Morgellons?

Over 14,000 people have been affected by the disease, according to Medical News Today.

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• Rick Grossman, 70, has struggled with loneliness for most of his life.

• That changed when he joined a “senior village,” a community that connected him with virtual and in-person resources.

• He’s found lasting friendships from the village, and he hopes for a greater focus on loneliness among older adults.

Rick Grossman, 70, thought it was absurd that at the start of the pandemic, he kept getting emails advising him not to isolate.

“I thought that was just about as helpful as saying, ‘don’t grow a tail,'” Grossman told Business Insider. “It’s advice without much more behind it.”

Grossman described himself as having “12 second acts,” holding jobs as a school teacher, computer tech support, business sales, corporate communications, and a toy store owner — and each of those employment opportunities has brought him to Pennsylvania, Texas, California, New Jersey, and now Seattle, where he currently lives.

All the moving around has made it difficult for him to maintain relationships. Additionally, growing up as a gay man on the autistic spectrum, Grossman said it was harder for him to find a community he felt he could belong to.

“A lot of gay people at my age had major issues with their families growing up and have completely separated, whether their families threw them out or whether they couldn’t accept them,” Grossman said. “Things are different in the future, but there are a lot of single people in the LGBTQIA community who don’t have the support and friendships that they need.”

That all changed about three years ago. Grossman was struggling to find friends in Seattle, and while he tried to join groups to meet new people, nothing seemed to stick. But when someone mentioned a “senior village” in Seattle to him, he decided to give it a shot. Since then, he’s found a community and formed close friendships.

Senior villages are a nationwide network of community-based nonprofits that connect older adults to others in their area through resources and activities. There are over 400 senior villages in the US, and they’re unique in that in contrast to a retirement community, these villages allow older adults to live where they choose while still having access to virtual and in-person resources that the village offers.

“There’s suddenly a lot of opportunities and activities that I can rely upon and be with people, and there are people who know me and care about me,” Grossman. said. “And if I were to sign up for something and didn’t go, someone would call me and say, ‘what happened?'”

A network of sponsors funds senior villages, and members of the villages can pay from $150 to $425 a year, depending on their level of involvement. For Grossman, the cost is well worth it.

“There are a lot of times when I would’ve just stayed home alone, and now I will do some of the things I wanted to do before, like go to the movies or to dinner,” Grossman said. “It’s like a family.”

‘We need to be more concerned about other people’

Loneliness is something that’s hit Americans of all ages especially hard over the past few years. In May, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy described the issue as an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” and it could have detrimental effects on a person’s physical and mental health if it goes unresolved.

Some Gen Zers have spent money on a range of activities in an attempt to meet new people and form friendships, but seniors tend to have fewer options. A University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging January survey found that one-in-three adults aged 50 to 80 reported feeling isolated.

Grossman said it needs to be talked about more.

“When COVID hit and everyone isolated, that’s when I became more aware that I really needed something,” he said.

“What if I were to fall down and get hurt in here? Who would know, and how long would it take? And if I go out and buy something on sale and get too much of it at the grocery store, I would like to be able to share that with people,” Grossman continued. “So just all of those things helped me realize that living as a single was very isolating.”

Senior villages are one way older adults can become involved in a community to meet others. The Village to Village Network has a resource that allows those interested to search for villages in their area they could join.

Meanwhile, other older adults are working on innovative ways to form connections later in life. BI previously spoke to Joe Lamy, a 75-year-old retiree who started biweekly groups at a senior center where people can simply sit in a room and talk to each other at no cost.

Grossman said he’s hopeful that the government will take more steps to address the loneliness epidemic and pay more attention to the challenges older adults are facing.

“It’s just about being a human being, and we need to be more concerned about other people,” Grossman said. “We can’t just abandon people when they age.”

Have you found a solution to loneliness? Reach out to this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

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