Wild robots: Five ways scientists are using robotics to study animal behavior
By Bob Holmes Biomimetic bots can teach researchers a lot about how creatures interact in the natural world Read more
Let’s change how we pay for hospitals
By John Colmers and Sherry Glied OPINION: Many health facilities were already in fiscal straits before Covid-19 — except in Maryland. The state’s innovative and sound approach could be the answer to rescuing systems nationwide. Read more
Upcoming event
The science of viral variants: From Covid to the flu
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 | 1PM San Francisco PST | 4PM New York EST | 9PM London GMT
New variants of the coronavirus behind the Covid-19 pandemic arise constantly, with some, such as Delta, driving new waves of infections and subsequent deaths. What kinds of genetic changes make some variants of SARS-CoV-2 more dangerous and why have virologists long been concerned about coronaviruses in particular? What do studies of old foes — such as influenza, HIV and SARS — tell us about the course that SARS-CoV-2 may take and how we might prepare for the changes ahead?
Join us for a free, live conversation with virologists Edward Holmes (University of Sydney) and Lisa Gralinski (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill); moderated by Knowable’s Eva Emerson.
From the archives
In the game-fishing world, there are the prized, protected fish and the “rough” fish — the species that biologists in the early 20th century deemed useless. This mindset ignores the value of species such as the bigmouth buffalo in freshwater ecosystems and Indigenous diets, which leads to neglect by fishery management groups, reports Lela Nargi for the Counter. Fishing habits can determine more than what thrives in an ecosystem — they can shape how fish evolve, too, as our video explains.
How humans shift fish evolution
VIDEO: By targeting larger individuals, intense fishing may lead to a fishery dominated by the small Watch now
What we’re reading
Did you really wipe your hard drive?
Collectors of vintage computers are ending up with more than just old hardware. They’re also getting abandoned personal data such as tax records, medical files and letters to Mom, Matthew Hughes reports at Wired. With a pandemic-fueled surge of interest in “retrocomputing,” the community is now navigating an ethical quandary: preserving the forgotten bits of our digital lives that still rattle around on iBooks or Commodore 64s, while honoring the privacy and security of their previous owners.
The US crackdown on Chinese academics
Last year, engineering researcher Anming Hu was fired from his tenured post after federal prosecutors arrested him, alleging suspicious ties to China. Hu — now acquitted of all charges — is just one casualty of the China Initiative, a quest by the US government to root out “economic and academic espionage,” Karin Fischer reports at the Chronicle of Higher Education. The initiative has led to widespread accusations of racial profiling, and a recent survey of US-based academics shows that faculty of Chinese descent are feeling its weight, Nidhi Subbaraman reports for Nature. More than half report fear of government surveillance while more than a third have had difficulty obtaining funding because of their race or nationality — proportions far higher than their non-Chinese counterparts. “We’ve seen anecdotal evidence about the chilling effects of the China Initiative,” says one attorney. “The study makes clear that the effects are far-reaching.”
Polluted states of America
Refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities that spew cancer-causing pollutants are often clustered together. But when the US Environmental Protection Agency assesses the risks that pollutants pose to people who live nearby, it looks at individual chemicals — not the blanket risk posed by exposure to all the contaminants in the air. Now a team at ProPublica has mapped the cumulative risks and reports that more than a fifth of Americans are exposed to cancer risks higher than what the EPA deems acceptable. Regions with predominantly Black residents have an estimated cancer risk that’s more than double that of white neighborhoods; check out your own with the accompanying interactive map.
Art & science
CREDIT: LIOR PATEL / @liorpatel
Herd and seen This captivating drone footage of sheep navigating their way through an opening in a fence calls to mind the coordinated flow of starling murmurations or schooling herring. But unlike birds and fish, sheep rely on shepherds and dogs to keep their flock together. Research suggests that a sheepdog follows two simple rules: Close any gaps between the “white, fluffy things in front of it,” and then push a gap-less herd forward. Israel-based photographer Lior Patel spent several months documenting this herd’s comings and goings, compiling segments, each four to seven minutes long and shot from one position, into a soothing time-lapse. Watch the mesmerizing minute-long video at Colossal and see if you can spot the border collies at work. For more of Patel’s eye-in-the-sky footage, which includes migrating pelicans, massive container ships, and harvesting fruits and vegetables galore, check out his Instagram and website.
