Covid, RSV and the flu: A case of viral interference?
By Amber Dance The ‘tripledemic’ unfolding this winter is one of several odd trends among respiratory virus infections these last years. Viruses, it turns out, can block one another and take turns to dominate. Read more
How heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
By Chris Baraniuk Innovative thinking has done away with problems that long dogged the electric devices — and both scientists and environmentalists are excited about the possibilities Read more
Can playing video games make you smarter?
By Richard E. Mayer OPINION: Research highlights six key principles for better learning Read more
From the archives
The new year has brought a number of reflections on the sharp turn the world took three years ago, when a new virus emerged in China, and the many course changes since. While many of the pandemic’s trajectories were predictable, others were surprising. Read what 23 experts didn’t expect in Helen Branswell’s piece in STAT, and peruse all our pandemic-related coverage in the coronavirus-focused Reset collection.
Reset: The Science of Crisis & Recovery
An ongoing series exploring how the world is navigating the coronavirus pandemic, its consequences and the way forward. Read more
What we are reading
A weighty matter
Carrying a lot of extra weight can raise the risk for a slew of health conditions, and researchers have long looked for drugs that might help people shed extra pounds. Now a new class of hormone-mimicking meds has some researchers very excited. But there are also concerns, McKenzie Prillaman writes for Nature. The drugs will likely be inaccessible to many — they are expensive and people may need to take them for years. And while a drug that helps with weight loss underscores that obesity has a biological basis, researchers say, some question whether better health will be what drives demand for the meds — or cultural pressures around body image.
Nice ice
Lab-grown diamonds have entered the mainstream, writes Nina Notman in a far-ranging look at modern diamond synthesis in Chemistry World. These jewel-quality gems have crystal structures identical to their natural counterparts — but with a microscope you can spot the manufacturer’s label. As bling fabrication has advanced, so have applications: Diamond wafers, films, grit and more are put to use in saw blades, semiconductors, water purifiers — and increasingly as good old-fashioned glam. Check out red-hot snapshots of gems being grown before cutting.
Sato’s sight
For years, Japanese whalers have encountered the occasional small, dark-colored whale. Called karasu (for crow or raven), the whales looked like a known species of beaked whale except the size and color were wrong. Now science has caught up with karasu, or Sato’s beaked whale, and you can too, in a delightful comic by Rozi Hathaway for Hakai Magazine. The story dives into the efforts of a determined researcher, Hal Sato, who drew scientists’ attention to the elusive animal.
Art & science
CREDIT: E. WILLARD / PICTURE OF NATIONS; OR PERSPECTIVE SKETCH OF THE COURSE OF EMPIRE (1836)
Educating an empire
Emma Willard is best known as a 19th century champion of education for girls and women. But she also was an innovator in what’s known today as “data viz.” Many of her graphics merged history and maps, conveying time’s forward march in striking, creative narratives.
Shown above is Willard’s Picture of Nations; or Perspective Sketch of the Course of Empire, published in 1836. Meant to help students visualize the progress of humankind over millennia, the “map” depicts historical events as flowing rivers of time. This graphic interpretation of history would help students learn, Willard thought. More recent events literally loomed larger with more detail than the historical events that recede in space.
Willard’s graphics, which stood out in America’s competitive textbook market, are also imbued with her convictions and worldview — her map flows forth from the biblical creation; China is an isolated tributary. Now, more than 160 years after Willard created her last visual aid, it’s interesting to wonder how she might have depicted events that led up to the present.
You can find more of Willard’s graphics, and what they intentionally emphasized or ignored, in historian Susan Schulten’s article for the Public Domain Review and in a catalog of Willard’s maps, edited by Schulten.
