Earthquake in Turkey, AI that can talk to animals, new COVID antivirals, and more!

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February 10, 2023

Natural Disasters Why the Earthquake in Turkey Was So Damaging and Deadly A magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey is a rare occurrence and underscores the importance of setting and enforcing building codes By Andrea Thompson

Animals How Scientists Are Using AI to Talk to Animals Portable sensors and artificial intelligence are helping researchers decode animal communication—and begin to talk back to nonhumans By Sophie Bushwick

Medicine New COVID Antiviral Cuts Hospitalizations in Half An injection of a type of interferon drastically reduced the risk of severe COVID in a late-stage trial By Simon Makin

Defense Chinese Spy Balloon Has Unexpected Maneuverability An expert explains why it's so odd that the suspected Chinese spy balloon can change course By Sophie Bushwick

Extraterrestrial Life Scientists Try to Get Serious about Studying UFOs. Good Luck with That New dedicated observatories and crowdsourced smartphone apps will study strange sightings in the sky. But questionable data quality and a lack of shared research standards remain key challenges By Leonard David

Psychology The Psychological Benefits of Commuting Commuting creates a liminal space that allows people to transition between home and work, which remote work doesn't provide By Matthew Piszczek,Kristie McAlpine,The Conversation US

Climate Change 15 Million People Are at Risk from Bursting Glacial Lakes At least 15 million people worldwide live in the flood paths of lakes that form as mountain glaciers melt and that can abruptly burst their banks By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Public Health A Secret Weapon in Preventing the Next Pandemic: Fruit Bats New research links bat habitat destruction with the spillover of their viruses to humans By Jim Robbins,Kaiser Health News

Artificial Intelligence Coming Soon to Your Podcast Feed: Science, Quickly A new era in Scientific American audio history is about to drop starting next week—get ready for a science variety show guaranteed to quench your curiosity in under 10 minutes. By Jeffery DelViscio,Tulika Bose | 04:10

Epidemiology COVID Rebound Can Happen Even without Paxlovid Concerns about Paxlovid rebound are preventing some doctors from prescribing the lifesaving drug and some high-risk patients from taking it By Lauren Gravitz

Psychology This Change Could Reduce Police Brutality against Black Drivers like Tyre Nichols Cops—no matter their own race—are more confrontational toward Black drivers. Social psychologist Nicholas Camp describes ways to reduce police antagonism By Marla Broadfoot

Computing New Exascale Supercomputer Can Do a Quintillion Calculations a Second New "exascale" supercomputers will bring breakthroughs in science. But the technology also exists to study nuclear weapons By Sarah Scoles

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 30, Issue 4s

BRING SCIENCE HOME Be Seen in the Dark Bright at night? You know what colors are easy to see during the day--but what about at night? Test out different hues and materials and see what would make you most visible! Credit: George Retseck Being outside in the evening can be relaxing as well as exciting and fun, but it can also be dangerous—especially if you are around roads. At dawn, dusk and during the night, it is difficult for drivers to see pedestrians. But do you think the types of clothes worn could make a difference in how visible pedestrians are to drivers? You probably know that camouflage makes you blend into the background. So, would wearing regular, noncamouflage materials be enough to make you more visible at night? Or would you choose to wear bright colors, fluorescent colors—or clothes with retro-reflective strips? This science activity will help you find out!

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