Will COVID controls keep controlling us?
In January 2022 I came down with mild symptoms of something or other. I was already triple-vaxxed, with a French vaccine passport (“pass vaccinal”) on my iPhone to prove it, and like a true pioneer I had already suffered through a bout of COVID-19 long before, in March 2020.
More than one million Americans were killed by Covid-19 in just over two years, the CDC reports. But the disease has hit some segments of the U.S. population far more than others. Photo illustration: Todd Johnson
New Scientist Magazine, May 14, 2022
First up, Contributing Correspondent Gretchen Vogel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss what scientists have learned from scanning sewage for COVID-19 RNA. And now that so many wastewater monitoring stations are in place—what else can we do with them?
Next, we have researcher Katia Koelle, an associate professor of biology at Emory University. She wrote a review on the evolving epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2: What have been the most important questions from epidemiologists over the course of the pandemic, and how can they help us navigate future pandemic threats?
Check out the full COVID-19 retrospective issue on lessons learned from the pandemic.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: Stephan Schmitz/Folio Art; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: partially constructed bridge over water filled with giant SARS-CoV-2 viral particles]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Gretchen Vogel
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adb1867
As the war in Ukraine intensifies, Vladimir Putin raised Russia’s nuclear readiness level. The team discusses what this means about the likelihood of nuclear war. They also explore the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the country.
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is out, and it focuses on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. We hear from Swenja Surminski, head of adaptation research at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
New studies into the start of the coronavirus pandemic are confirming what we’ve long suspected – that the virus originated at the Huanan food market in Wuhan. The team discusses the latest findings.
Moles – the animals that make holes in your lawn – are non-binary. Just one of a number of amazing facts to come out of the new book ‘BITCH: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution & the Female Animal’. Hear from the author Lucy Cooke, who is challenging the sexist basis of much of the thinking about female animals.
Stonehenge may have been built as a giant calendar. Though the claim itself isn’t new, the team explores a new theory from the archaeologist Tim Darvill which explains how it would’ve worked.
After backing Russia’s grievances against NATO, China now finds itself treading a very fine line on Ukraine.
There are often reasons to be suspicious of a country’s covid-death tally; we examine research showing how fraud can be spotted mathematically. And why women are less likely than men to be corrupt.
New high-tech Covid-19 tests promise better and earlier detection of the virus—similar to a PCR test. WSJ’s Joanna Stern (and her mannequin clone) tried out the Detect Covid-19 Test and Cue Health Monitoring System to see how they compare with rapid antigen tests. Photo illustration: Ryan Trefes/ WSJ
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, how to talk to Mr Putin, the rise of performative work (9:45) and the lingering effects of covid-19 on elite footballers (15:00).
Boomers Daily 