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Got TP? The psychology behind why toilet paper is the latest coronavirus panic buy

Link: https://fox4kc.com/news/got-tp-the-psychology-behind-why-toilet-paper-is-the-latest-coronavirus-panic-buy/

People resort to extremes when they hear conflicting messages

“On the one hand, [the response is] understandable, but on the other hand it’s excessive,” Taylor, a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of British Columbia, told CNN. “We can prepare without panicking.”

The novel coronavirus scares people because it’s new, and there’s a lot about it that’s still unknown. When people hear conflicting messages about the risk it poses and how seriously they should prepare for it, they tend to resort to the extreme, Taylor said.

“When people are told something dangerous is coming, but all you need to do is wash your hands, the action doesn’t seem proportionate to the threat,” he said. “Special danger needs special precautions.”

It allows some to feel a sense of control

The people who are stocking up on supplies are thinking about themselves and their family and what they need to do to prepare, Taylor said — not healthcare workers, sick people or even regular folks who might run out of toilet paper sometime soon.

“It’s all due to this wave of anticipatory anxiety,” Taylor said. “People become anxious ahead of the actual infection. They haven’t thought about the bigger picture, like what are the consequences of stockpiling toilet paper.”

Elon Musk told Tesla employees they are more likely to die in a car accident than from the Coronavirus. Link: https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21179291/elon-musk-coronavirus-tesla-memo-car-accident-deaths-comparison

This Is How Many People Die From the Flu Each Year, According to the CDC

Link: https://www.health.com/condition/cold-flu-sinus/how-many-people-die-of-the-flu-every-year

While everyone is in a panic about the coronavirus (officially renamed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization), there's an even deadlier virus many people are forgetting about: the flu.

Flu season is hitting its stride right now in the US. So far, the CDC has estimated (based on weekly influenza surveillance data) that at least 12,000 people have died from influenza between Oct. 1, 2019 through Feb. 1, 2020, and the number of deaths may be as high as 30,000.

The CDC also estimates that up to 31 million Americans have caught the flu this season, with 210,000 to 370,000 flu sufferers hospitalized because of the virus.

Planet 9 discovery gets closer as astronomers discover 139 'minor planets' past Neptune

Link: https://www.foxnews.com/science/planet-9-discovery-gets-closer-as-astronomers-discover-139-minor-planets-past-neptune

Astronomers are getting closer to discovering the elusive and mysterious Planet Nine after 139 "minor planets" were discovered past Neptune's orbit.

These objects, ones "that were not previously published," are not officially planets or comets, but rather space objects that orbit the Sun. In total, the discovery is five percent of the trans-Neptunian object (TNO) population, bringing the number to approximately 3,000, according to a statement accompanying the study.

"Pluto, the best-known TNO, is 40 times farther away from the sun than Earth is, and the TNOs found using the [Dark Energy Survey] data range from 30 to 90 times Earth’s distance from the sun," the statement reads. "Some of these objects are on extremely long-distance orbits that will carry them far beyond Pluto."

The researchers used data from the DES between 2013 and 2017, which uses a 520-megapixel Dark Energy Camera. It is on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

There were 7 billion DES-detected dots that the researchers started with, a list that was condensed to 22 million "transient" objects and then eventually, approximately 400 objects that were observed over six separate nights.

SpaceX...