Week in Science: Why disasters like hurricanes unleash so much misinformation

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October 11—This week, Hurricane Milton batters Florida and triggers tornadoes and misinformation, humans may have reached an upper longevity limit, and Rwanda is running an aggressive containment plan for a deadly Marburg virus outbreak. All that and more below! --Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

Top Stories

Hurricane Milton Slams into Florida, the Second Disastrous Storm in Two Weeks Hurricane Milton hit Florida as a major storm, bringing devastating storm surge and rainfall to the state Meghan Bartels

Why Disasters Like Hurricanes Milton and Helene Unleash So Much Misinformation Falsehoods spread when uncertainties—and emotions—are high after hurricanes Ben Guarino

Human Longevity May Have Reached its Upper Limit New research dispels the notion that human beings can continue to radically extend their lifespan Rachel Nuwer

A custom publication sponsored by Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative The Path Bill Gates Sees to Overcoming Alzheimer's Biggest Remaining Challenges From diagnostics to data sharing, Bill Gates's fight against Alzheimer's is far-reaching—and personal.

How Rwanda Is Containing a Deadly Marburg Virus Outbreak Rwanda's health minister says authorities are tracing every potential contact of the index case in the country's outbreak of Marburg virus disease to reduce the risk of wider spread Paul Adepoju

Cannibalized Captain of Doomed Arctic Expedition Identified by DNA Analysis Scientists reveal the identity of a cannibalized captain from the doomed Northwest Passage expedition of 1845 to 1848 Soumya Sagar; LiveScience

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A Century-Old Question Is Still Revealing Answers in Fundamental Math Mathematicians have made lots of recent progress on a question called the Mordell conjecture, which was posed a century ago Rachel Crowell

I Wasn't Prepared to Be a Climate Refugee A climate advocate learns firsthand on the price of climate change in our lives, and calls for voters to head off future disasters Melissa Hanson, expert writer

Challenging Big Oil's Big Lie about Plastic Recycling California's lawsuit against Exxon is about ending the lie that most plastic is recyclable Judith Enck

Can Overpriced Peaches Convince Us That Fukushima Is Safe? Years after a nuclear disaster wiped out Fukushima's agriculture, peach growers are banking on Harrods to sell the area's recovery story Kate Graham-Shaw

Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded for Breakthroughs in Machine Learning The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was given to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for development of techniques that laid the foundation for revolutionary advances in artificial intelligence Lee Billings

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Awarded for Discovery of MicroRNA Gene Regulation The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of an important gene-manipulating mechanism in cells Tanya Lewis

2024 Chemistry Nobel Awarded for Cracking the Secret Code of Proteins The Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to biochemist David Baker, and Google DeepMind scientists Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, for predicting protein shapes and functions— and for creating entirely new ones that can improve health and the environment Josh Fischman

Comb Jelly with Two Butts Is Actually Two Individuals Fused Together Two injured sea creatures merged to form a "Franken-jelly" Elizabeth Anne Brown

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