How the Omicron Variant Got So Many Scary Mutations So Quickly

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December 06, 2021

Epidemiology How the Omicron Variant Got So Many Scary Mutations So Quickly The numerous changes in the coronavirus's spike protein could have arisen in an isolated population or an immunocompromised person—or animals By Sarah Wild

Archaeology Pompeii's Ruins to Be Reconstructed by Robot An ambitious project is under way to develop a robot with enough smarts, strength and sensitivity to restore fragmented archaeological remains By Jen Pinkowski

Animals The Ups and Downs of a Great Vertical Migration Research is shedding light on why many water dwellers, from plankton to large fish, commute daily from the depths to the surface By Hannah Seo,Knowable Magazine

Epidemiology COVID Quickly, Episode 20: The Omicron Scare, and Anti-COVID Pills Are Coming Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American's senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between. You can listen to all past episodes here. By Josh Fischman,Tanya Lewis,Jeffery DelViscio | 06:47

Climate Change As Arctic Sea Ice Melts, Killer Whales Are Moving In Underwater recorders have picked up the sounds of orcas in places they haven't previously been detected By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Aerospace Sustainable Aviation Fuel Aces Helicopter and Plane Flight Tests The biofuel, made from used cooking oil, could help the aviation industry cut climate-threatening carbon emissions By Dhananjay Khadilkar

Medicine Women's Heart Health Is Not Just about Hormones Heart disease risk increases as women get older, but explanations that center on changes after menopause don't tell the full story By Jumana Saleh

Medicine Cells or Drugs? The Race to Regenerate the Heart Researchers are debating how to convince the heart to heal itself instead of laying down scar tissue after a heart attack By Benjamin Plackett

Vaccines The Benefits of Vaccinating Kids against COVID Far Outweigh the Risks of Myocarditis Vaccination is likely to prevent many more COVID cases than it is to cause a rare and nonfatal heart side effect in five- to 11-year-olds By Tanya Lewis

Politics Conservative Justices Seem Poised to Overturn Roe's Abortion Rights Justices heard arguments on Wednesday in a case over a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy By Julie Rovner,Kaiser Health News

Psychology Peace Is More Than War's Absence, and New Research Explains How to Build It A new project measures ways to promote positive social relations among groups By Peter T. Coleman,Allegra Chen-Carrel,Vincent Hans Michael Stueber

Inequality Lost Women of Science Podcast: Season One, The Pathologist in the Basement Lost Women of Science digs deep to uncover stories of scientists that have long been overlooked By Katie Hafner,The Lost Women of Science Initiative

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 30, Issue 4s

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FROM THE ARCHIVE COVID Vaccine Makers Prepare for a Variant Worse Than Delta Companies are updating vaccines and testing them on people to prepare for whatever comes next in the pandemic By Emily Waltz,Nature magazine | October 2021

QUOTE OF THE DAY "The main variants that have caused concern so far--in terms of Alpha to Delta, basically--have emerged from uncontrolled outbreaks in unvaccinated populations." Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University

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