DAVIS, Calif. — UC Davis is in possession of hundreds of photos of monkey test subjects — graphic images of at least a dozen macaques that were “poisoned, maimed, and ultimately killed” — but neither the university nor billionaire Elon Musk wants the public to see them, according to an investigative report from tech news outlet Wired that published Wednesday, Oct. 4.

The macaques, which

came from UC Davis’

Primate Center, were part of a research program in partnership with Musk’s company Neuralink.

The university and Neuralink are defendants in a lawsuit filed by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which alleges that the Neuralink program violated the Animal Welfare Act.

The partnership between UC Davis and Neuralink ended in 2020.

Neuralink did not respond to request for comment by deadline.

In response to previous allegations of animal cruelty, the company released a statement in which it said, “At Neuralink, we are absolutely committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical way possible.”

Andy Fell, a spokesman for UC Davis, said in a statement to The Sacramento Bee that the university “has fully complied with the California Public Records Act and we have supplied the vast majority of records requested by (the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine). Some requested items were not provided because they are exempt from disclosure under the law for various reasons set out in court filings.”

Among those requested items, according to Wired, are photos of monkeys with holes “roughly the size of a US dime” drilled into their skulls. Others show with electrodes placed inside their brains and titanium plates screwed to their skulls. One researcher told Wired that the photos are “particularly gruesome.”

In at least one instance, later documented as an Animal Welfare Act violation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a 7-year-old monkey seized and vomited as it was observed by university staff, and “sometimes she would wake and scratch at her throat, retching and gasping for air, before collapsing again, exhausted,” according to Wired.

Despite the animal’s apparent suffering, it was not euthanized until one day later, at Neuralink’s request.

According to Wired, the USDA declined to punish the university because it had proactively reported the violation.

UC Davis argued in legal filings that the photos, some of which allegedly depict monkeys with severe neurological damage, would not be in the public’s interest to view, according to the Wired report.

Wired reports that UC Davis has fought the release of the photos for more than a year.

According to court filings reviewed by Wired, UC Davis has argued that the rationale for withholding the photographs is that the public is incapable of distinguishing between legitimate scientific research and “senseless butchery,” and that releasing the photos to the public would endanger university researchers.

As the lawsuit, filed in Yolo County, proceeds, Neuralink is moving ahead with its research. The company announced in September that it is moving ahead with trials on human subjects.

Biden administration resumes border wall construction

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security has resumed Trump-era border wall construction in Texas, despite the Biden administration’s policy stated in January 2021 declaring the end of the national emergency at the border.

The agency said in a notice that it is using authorities provided under a 1996 immigration law, citing the attempted entry of over 245,000 migrants in the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector during the last fiscal year. DHS said the move is consistent with President Joe Biden’s 2021 proclamation since it needs to spend remaining funds from a $1.375 billion fiscal 2019 appropriation.

“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas” pursuant to the 1996 law, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote in the notice, published Thursday in the Federal Register.

Mayorkas listed roughly two dozen federal laws that would be waived in the process, including the landmark National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act.

The Associated Press, which first reported the notice, said wall construction would cover a 20-mile stretch.

Biden’s January 2021 proclamation ending the national emergency put a stop to the diversion of border wall funds from other previously appropriated spending.

President Donald Trump had begun the diversion of funds for the border wall after a 34-day government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019.

Trump at the time had been fighting Democrats in Congress over his request for new border wall appropriations, but ended up only with the same amount provided in the previous fiscal year. However, Trump’s emergency declaration, made at the same time he agreed to sign a continuing resolution to reopen the government, freed up additional funds.

Biden’s proclamation, signed the day he took office, said “building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution. It is a waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security.”

SpaceX hits 50th Space Coast launch this year

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX knocked out its 50th Space Coast launch of the year with another Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early Thursday, Oct. 5.

A Falcon 9 carrying 22 of the company’s Starlink satellites lifted off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:36 a.m. after several delays.

The booster on this flight made its eighth flight with another recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.

This was SpaceX’s 70th orbital launch of the year across all of its launch pads in Florida and California. It’s the 40th from Cape Canaveral with the other 10 Space Coast launches coming from Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX has managed 50 of the 53 total Space Coast launches this year with two so far from United Launch Alliance and one from Relativity Space making up the rest. The majority of SpaceX launches have been for Starlink, which has sent up more than 5,000 satellites since the first launch in 2019 for its growing megaconstellation.