February 12, 2024: On the anniversary of President Lincoln's birthday, we bring you stories about penguins, post-quantum cryptography and the history of efforts to withhold lifesaving health care from transgender people.
—Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | | A deadly strain of H5N1 avian influenza is currently causing big outbreaks on islands around the southern tip of South America, about 1,000 miles from the Antarctic Peninsula. The virus has led to clusters of illness in Gentoo Penguins on the Falkland Islands in January and in fur seals, elephant seals and other animals on the island of South Georgia last December, reports Scientific American's Meghan Bartels. Scientists fear it will just require a short jump for the virus to hit the Antarctic Peninsula and spread into the rest of the continent. At the very least, researchers hope that the flu strain does not reach Antarctica before this year's penguin chicks disperse for the season.
Why this matters: By late 2022 and into 2023, the strain in South America had killed at least 600,000 birds and 50,000 mammals, scientists say—unprecedented losses in the Southern Hemisphere.
What the experts say: "Entire populations may disappear. This would be a catastrophe," says Michelle Wille, a viral ecologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia. | | | Credit: David Merron Photography/Getty Images | | | As soon as April 14, 2030, per some prognosticators, more advanced quantum computers could break the standard types of "public-key cryptography" currently used to maintain the security of your cellphone software, online shopping and other digital correspondence. To address that threat, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected a handful of algorithms that could be used to develop "post-quantum cryptography," codes that could not be cracked by quantum computers. NIST is now working with researchers to standardize these algorithms "so programmers can start laying the foundations of quantum-proof secret-keeping," reports mathematician and journalist Kelsy Houston-Edwards. The full transition to post-quantum cryptography likely will take many years. Until then, the risk of encrypted-yet-readable messages looms, and researchers still have some thorny "post-quantum" problems to solve.
A problem: Some of the NIST-selected algorithms are based on the mathematics of lattices. These are very hard problems to solve, but there is no guarantee that a future breakthrough could not crack them.
A solution: NIST has extended the standardization process to study algorithms that are not based on the mathematics of lattices. | | | A future quantum computer, far more powerful than this one, will be able to break the cryptographic codes that secure our communications. Credit: Christopher Payne/Esto | | | • Embattled climate scientist Michael Mann wins $1 million in his defamation lawsuit. | 2 min read | | | • A private moon lander, nicknamed Odie, is set to launch as soon as February 14 en route to what could be the first U.S. soft landing on the moon since 1972. | 5 min read | | | • A cybercrime security gap leaves people who aren't proficient in English poorly protected. | 4 min read | | | • The U.S. Centers for Disease Control laboratories are attempting a comeback that would overcome weaknesses exposed early in the COVID pandemic. | 5 min read | | | • The crackdown on transgender health care in the U.S., which most recently gained prominence in 2021, is one of three waves of such opposition in the past century, writes G. Samantha Rosenthal, a historian at Roanoke College. Each of these harmful campaigns has been rooted in pseudoscience. But puberty blockers, hormone therapies and anatomical surgeries have been safely administered to cisgender, transgender and intersex adults and childrens for decades, Rosenthal writes. The earlier crackdowns started in 1933 soon after the Nazis gained power in Germany and in 1979 when a biased study was used to usher in a backlash to trans medicine. Like anti-trans activists in the 1970s, today's crusaders frame gender-affirming care as a debate, Rosenthal writes. The truth is that all major U.S. medical associations agree that these practices are medically necessary and lifesaving.
| | | Whether you relished, loathed or ignored last night's Super Bowl, this spoof of sports commentators, featuring Scientific American's Kelso Harper and Carin Leong, might put a smile on your face. (If you don't have the TikTok app, you can watch by loading the url in a browser.) And for some heartwarming news to kick off the work week, check out this story about people who adopt senior pets. | —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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