How the Delta Variant Spreads So Quickly

Trouble viewing? View in your browser. View all Scientific American publications.

    

July 23, 2021

Public Health How the Delta Variant Spreads So Quickly Viral load is roughly 1,000 times higher in people infected with the Delta variant than those infected with the original coronavirus strain, according to a study in China By Sara Reardon,Nature magazine

Space Massive Machines Are Bringing Giant Exoplanets Down to Earth Scientists are using football-field-sized lasers, warehouse-sized electromagnets and other immense facilities to reveal the deep secrets of planetary interiors By Adam Frank

Biology Play Is Serious Business for Elephants Young dogs, apes and other animals develop skills needed to survive and reproduce By Caitlin O'Connell

Climate Drought Threatens to Close California Hydropower Plant for First Time Shutting down the plant, which has run continuously since 1967, would squeeze already tight electricity supplies By Anne C. Mulkern,E&E News

Medicine How Designer DNA Is Changing Medicine A genomic revolution is poised to cure sickle cell and other genetic diseases By Carolyn Barber

Biology The Idea That Trees Talk to Cooperate Is Misleading It's a romantic notion, but pretending they're like humans could actually harm the cause of conservation By Kathryn Flinn

Public Health People with COVID Often Infect Their Pets New unpublished studies show that dogs and cats with COVID-positive owners frequently have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies By Frank Schubert

Behavior & Society How to Raise Kids Who Don't Grow Up to Be Jerks (or Worse) A new book gives science-based advice for parenting kids to be generous, kind antiracists By Clara Moskowitz

Biology Behold the 'Borg': Massive DNA Structures Perplex Scientists Researchers say they have discovered unique and exciting DNA strands in the mud; others are not sure of their novelty By Amber Dance,Nature magazine

Public Health Should Children Get COVID Vaccines? What the Science Says With vaccination campaigns underway in some countries while others weigh the options, Nature looks at the evidence for vaccinating younger people By Heidi Ledford,Nature magazine

Evolution These Dinosaurs Had a Complicated Air Conditioner in Their Skull Cooling 5,000-pound, armor-plated giants was no small feat. By Aaron Martin

Natural Disasters Today's Wildfires Are Taking Us into Uncharted Territory Data on 2,000 years of Rocky Mountain forest fires shows skyrocketing damage By Rebecca Dzombak

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 30, Issue 3s

ADVERTISEMENT

BRING SCIENCE HOME Measure Up with a Homemade Thermometer Is you home heating up this season? Cooling down? You can track temperature differences inside and out with a thermometer you build yourself! Credit: George Retseck Are you sometimes eager to understand how things work? Or excited about making useful objects and instruments yourself? Did you ever imagine you could build your own liquid thermometer? You'll be able to use it to track how temperatures vary with location—indoors or outdoors. What will turn out to be the hottest spot in your home? What about the coolest? Your very own homemade thermometer will be able to tell you!

LATEST ISSUES

Questions?   Comments?

Download the Scientific American App

To view this email as a web page, go here. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. Unsubscribe     Manage Email Preferences     Privacy Policy     Contact Us