The world now faces the threat of a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks. Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor-in-chief, and Slavea Chankova, our health-care correspondent, answer your questions.
The world now faces the threat of a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks. Zanny Minton Beddoes, The Economist’s editor-in-chief, and Slavea Chankova, our health-care correspondent, answer your questions.
From Scientific American (June 23, 2020):
In fact, research on actual cases, as well as models of the pandemic, indicate that between 10 and 20 percent of infected people are responsible for 80 percent of the coronavirus’s spread.
Researchers have identified several factors that make it easier for superspreading to happen. Some of them are environmental.
In the past few weeks, best seller lists and streaming platforms have been full of books, shows, and songs about racism in America. Demand for this type of content is growing, streaming companies are featuring more prominently and it could have a lasting impact.
NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including whether younger voters will turn out this fall to support presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, President Trump’s unfounded claims of fraud with mail-in voting and what to watch in a key primary race in Kentucky this week.
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Amazon is essential, but vulnerable; (10:35) pandemic politics in Britain; (18:15) and the United Nations after 75 years.
Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including major Supreme Court decisions on LGBTQ employment protections and DACA, the claims from John Bolton’s new book about President Trump’s interactions with foreign leaders and whether Joe Biden will pick a woman of color as his running mate.


Senior Correspondent Jeffrey Mervis joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how universities are dealing with the financial crunch brought on by the coronavirus. Jeff discusses how big research universities are balancing their budgets as federal grants continue to flow, but endowments are down and so is the promise of state funding.
Mosquito-borne infections like Zika, dengue, malaria, and chikungunya cause millions of deaths each year. Nicole Culbert and colleges write this week in Science Robotics about a new way to deal with deadly mosquitoes—using drones. The drones are designed to drop hundreds of thousands of sterile male mosquitoes in areas with high risk of mosquito-borne illness. The idea is that sterile male mosquitoes will mate with females and the females then lay infertile eggs, which causes the population to decline. They found this drone-based approach is cheaper and more efficient than other methods of releasing sterile mosquitoes and does not have the problems associated with pesticide-based eradication efforts such as resistance and off-target effects.
This week, researchers make diamonds tough, and evidence of incest in a 5,000 year old tomb.In this episode:
00:51 Tough versus hard
Diamonds are famed for their hardness, but they are not so resistant to fracture. Now, researchers have toughened up diamonds, which could open up new industrial applications. Research Article: Yue et al.
06:07 Research Highlights
A spacecraft helps physicists work out the lifespan of a neutron, and the icy hideaway of an endangered whale. Research Highlight: The vanishing-neutron mystery might be cracked by a robot in outer space; Research Highlight: A secluded icy fortress shelters rare whales
08:33 Ancient inbreeding
Analysis of the genomes of humans buried in an ancient Irish tomb has uncovered many surprises, including evidence of incest amongst the elite. Research Article: Cassidy et al.; News and Views: Incest uncovered at the elite prehistoric Newgrange monument in Ireland
21:13 #ShutdownSTEM
Nature reporter Nidhi Subbaraman joins us to talk about the #ShutdownSTEM movement, and anti-black racism in academia. Editorial: Note from the editors: Nature joins #ShutDownSTEM; News: Grieving and frustrated: Black scientists call out racism in the wake of police killings; News: Thousands of scientists worldwide to go on strike for Black lives; News: How #BlackInTheIvory put a spotlight on racism in academia
NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including pressure on President Trump to respond to nationwide protests over American police violence, the public health concerns and political implications of Trump’s upcoming Tulsa rally and whether presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is suffering for lack of publicity.