Heavily Mutated Omicron Variant Puts Scientists on Alert

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November 29, 2021

Epidemiology Heavily Mutated Omicron Variant Puts Scientists on Alert Researchers are racing to determine whether a fast-spreading coronavirus variant poses a threat to COVID vaccines' effectiveness By Ewen Callaway,Nature magazine

Animals The Surprising Architecture in Bees' Honeycombs The insects' hives are more complicated than researchers thought By Saugat Bolakhe

Climate Change Seeking Certainty on Climate Change: How Much Is Enough? Two physicists object to a Scientific American essay calling for an end to one climate report. A science historian counters that the report has done its job By Sabine Hossenfelder,Tim Palmer,Naomi Oreskes

Sex & Gender Why We Didn't Know That Female Birds Sing Science and science communication are better when they're inclusive By Matt Wilkins,Lauryn Benedict

Evolution Physical Activity Could Be an Evolutionary Adaptation for Grandparenting It may force energy shifts to repair and maintenance, which could slow aging and make us more available to care for younger generations By Emily Willingham

Animals Albatross 'Divorce' Rate Rises as the Ocean Warms Monogamous black-browed albatross may split up from the stress of less food availability By Jack Tamisiea

Evolution Redo of a Famous Experiment on the Origins of Life Reveals Critical Detail Missed for Decades The Miller-Urey experiment showed that the conditions of early Earth could be simulated in a glass flask. New research finds the flask itself played an under appreciated, though outsized role. By Sarah Vitak | 05:35

Astronomy When Did Life Start in the Universe? Interstellar xenia, or the welcoming of cosmic strangers, could solve this mystery By Avi Loeb

Extraterrestrial Life Life Is Complicated--Literally, Astrobiologists Say A new theory suggests that searches for molecular complexity could uncover convincing evidence of extraterrestrial life—and do so soon By Natalie Elliot

Diversity Lost Women of Science, Episode 4: Breakfast in the Snow In our final episode, we explore Dorothy Andersen's legacy—what she left behind and how her work has lived on since her death. Describing her mentor's influence on her life and career, Dr. Celia Ores gives us a rare look into what Dr. Andersen was really like. We then turn to researchers, doctors, and patients, who fill us in on the progress that has grown from Dr. Andersen's initial work. These major developments include the discovery of the cystic fibrosis gene, the tremendous impact of the drug Trikafta, and the potential of lifesaving gene editing techniques. By Katie Hafner,The Lost Women of Science Initiative

Epidemiology Do Childhood Colds Help the Body Respond to COVID? A mechanism known as "original antigenic sin" protects some people from flu. Whether it helps immune reactions to coronaviruses is still unclear By Rachel Brazil,Nature magazine

Medicine A Graphical Guide to Ischemic Heart Disease Globally, nine million people die each year from ischemic heart disease. Despite falling rates of heart disease, tackling it is still a stubborn challenge By Benjamin Plackett

Astrophysics Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts Are Finally Coming into Focus Twenty years after their initial detection, enigmatic blasts from the sky are starting to deliver tentative answers, as well as plenty of science By Adam Mann

Vaccines New COVID Antivirals Do Not Replace the Need to Vaccinate With the advent of new COVID drugs comes the fear that people will opt out of vaccination altogether By Amesh Adalja

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Health & Medicine, Volume 3, Issue 6

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QUOTE OF THE DAY "There's a lot we don't understand about this variant. The mutation profile gives us concern, but now we need to do the work to understand the significance of this variant and what it means for the response to the pandemic." Richard Lessells, infectious-diseases physician at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Nature

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