scientificamerican--2020-11-25--What We're Thankful for at Scientific American

At a lot of Thanksgiving dinners , people go around the table and take turns talking about something they ’ re thankful for .
It ’ s nice !
This Thanksgiving season , we ’ d like to share some of the things that people at Scientific American are thankful for .
And we ’ d love to know what you ’ re thankful for .
If you share this story or tag us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , TikTok or wherever you ’ re celebrating with your virtual communities , we ’ ll highlight the responses to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the world , even in 2020 .
Happy Thanksgiving , and thank you to everyone who is trying to stop the spread of the COVID pandemic this year so it ’ ll be safe to celebrate with more people around the table next year .
Here ’ s what else we ’ re grateful for : Xanthophylls , carotenoids and anthocyanins , the pigments that give us beautiful fall foliage .
—Sophie Bushwick , technology editor .
Health care workers , essential workers , all the scientists working on COVID .
—Tanya @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For black holes and glowing nebulae and swirling galaxies that remind me that we humans are just a small part of a vast universe much more fascinating and mysterious than the one we see in our everyday lives .
And for having the scientific tools to peer out into this cosmos and begin to understand it .
—Clara Moskowitz , space and physics editor .
The EPA ’ s approval of nootkatone , a chemical found in cedar trees and grapefruit that appears to repel mosquitos and ticks more effectively than nasty DEET @ @ @ @ @ @ @ editor .
All the birds that have come to visit my yard—50 species since I started keeping track in May .
The first one I logged was a rose-breasted grosbeak ; number 50 was a golden-crowned kinglet .
The birds don ’ t know there ’ s a pandemic .
In a year of social distancing and staying at home , it ’ s been a balm to watch them nest and fledge and flock and , now , fly south to warmer climes .
—Kate Wong , evolution and ecology editor .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Madam Vice President and our president will no longer call climate change a “ hoax.
” —Jess Ramirez , Web producer .
Indigenous peoples around the world who are putting their lives on the line to defend nature .
—Madhusree Mukerjee , science and society editor .
Health care workers who cared for my sister and new nephew ( both now home and healthy ! )
after a complicated birth , and advocates who are working to improve outcomes for birthing folks and their babies .
—Amanda Montañez , graphics editor .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote in her first presidential election .
She ’ d been waiting four years—already so much more socially conscious than I was at 18 !
And my “ Because Science ” PopSocket and my “ Vote for Science ” T-shirt .
—Maya Harty , executive assistant supervisor .
Election workers doing their job despite all the BS .
—Tanya Lewis , health and medicine editor .
Grateful to hear that a friend ’ s mother turned 101 during this pandemic and still plays online bridge and discusses politics with her children once a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Keller , copy director .
Bald eagles , peregrine falcons , California condors , red-cockaded woodpeckers , whooping cranes , black-footed ferrets , and all the other species that could have gone extinct but didn ’ t—thanks to science , environmental protection policies , endless conservation efforts , and people who care .
—Laura Helmuth , editor in chief .
Our colleagues , not just here at Scientific American but also journalists around the world for holding the powerful accountable and providing critical information during the pandemic .
—Sunya Bhutta , audience engagement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because he ’ s been a calm , clear , evidence-based voice in the swirling world of COVID-19 information , but because he bravely speaks truth to power despite criticism , mockery and death threats .
It ’ s also fun ( and telling ? )
that as a kid he was a Yankees fan even though he lived in Brooklyn when the borough ’ s hometown Dodgers were the rage .
—Mark Fischetti , sustainability editor .
For having the technology to be able to video chat , call and text family @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t see each other in person .
—Clara Moskowitz , space and physics editor .
For being able to witness , sometimes at consciousness-sapping proximity on account of lockdowns and social distancing , the dual neuronal marvels of my five-year-old ’ s developing theory of mind and my one-year-old ’ s first steps .
—Jeff DelViscio , multimedia editor .
With news from planet Earth being incredibly troubling this year , I am thankful for all the amazing astronomy stories such as the news that researchers detected a group of lakes hidden under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Scheer , head of communications .
The Chesapeake Bay and its ospreys and crabs and eelgrass , and the wind and boat that lets me see them , and the # cuteanimals Slack channel .
—Josh Fischman , chemistry , policy and biology editor .
The ergonomic desk chair I found abandoned in my apartment stairwell .
—Sarah Lewin Frasier , news editor .
All the intimate concerts my favorite musicians are now livestreaming from their homes .
Every ticket now guarantees a front row seat .
—Liz Tormes , photo editor .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ me at work didn ’ t get sick and , when I got sick , it was a mild COVID-19 case .
—Gary Stix , mind and brain editor .
All essential workers , from doctors and nurses to bus drivers and grocery store clerks .
The Black Lives Matter movement , and everyone who is taking action to end police brutality and systemic racism in America .
—Sunya Bhutta , audience engagement editor .
Grateful for my family working together to keep those around us safe and healthy , colleagues who love @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going strong , time home to spend with my kids and watch them grow every day , and unexpected sightings of hawks and falcons that visited our 5th floor fire escape entertaining us while we quarantined !
—Silvia De Santis , prepress and quality manager .
That the pandemic has led me and my family to take many more walks in the woods and fields that have been available to us all along , but which we never seemed to find time to explore .
—Mike Lemonick , opinions editor .
Adulkt Life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : not only the most invigorating record I ’ ve heard this year , but the singer is 55 ( ! )
and hadn ’ t been in a band for 25 years , which , as an aging artistic type myself , is incredibly inspiring .
—Ryan Reid , online art director .
Ribbons of honking cranes overhead as they fly south .
—Madhusree Mukerjee , science and society editor .
For vaccines , frontline and essential workers , leaders who value and listen to scientific evidence and expertise , the privilege @ @ @ @ @ @ @ … and for my dog who likes to cuddle next to me while I work .
—Andrea Thompson , sustainability editor .
Working for a magazine that has a real impact on the conversations in our society , whether about public health , racism or evidence-based thinking .
We are old , scrappy and hungry .
—Andrea Gawrylewski , collections editor .
Thankful for my friends , family and work colleagues .
—Chris Monello , marketing manager .
For vaccines !
And all the people who work so hard to make and distribute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ physics editor .
One thing that I ’ m thankful for is the varied set of folks in space doing science .
In a recent tweet from NASA : “ ‘ The amount of scientific output that you ’ re going to see from this mission I think is absolutely incredible.
’ – Kate Rubins of @ NASA_Astronauts shares how a larger crew means more @ ISS_Research on the @ Space_Station ” —Rich Hunt , production editor .
Where does one start ?
Definitely thankful to work with such a great and creative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every day .
I am especially thankful for my family and , despite the virus this year , we have been able to spend quality time that we hadn ’ t in years .
Lastly , for the many people who , around the world , have stepped up to help others .
Their service is truly remarkable and I am very thankful for it .
—Mike Mrak , creative director .
Knowing that we , as a 175-year-old magazine for and about science , still exist at a moment when knowledge and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ humanity ’ s continued happy existence on this planet .
—Jeff DelViscio , multimedia editor .
All of the researchers who study , track , and contextualize media manipulation , digital disinformation , the spread of false ideas—and then educate policymakers , journalists and the public on how to save reality .
They must be so , so tired .
—Jen Schwartz , technology and mind editor .

At a lot of Thanksgiving dinners, people go around the table and take turns talking about something they’re thankful for. It’s nice! This Thanksgiving season, we’d like to share some of the things that people at Scientific American are thankful for. And we’d love to know what you’re thankful for. If you share this story or tag us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or wherever you’re celebrating with your virtual communities, we’ll highlight the responses to help everyone appreciate what’s right in the world, even in 2020.
Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you to everyone who is trying to stop the spread of the COVID pandemic this year so it’ll be safe to celebrate with more people around the table next year. Here’s what else we’re grateful for:
Xanthophylls, carotenoids and anthocyanins, the pigments that give us beautiful fall foliage. —Sophie Bushwick, technology editor.
Health care workers, essential workers, all the scientists working on COVID. —Tanya Lewis, health and medicine editor.
For black holes and glowing nebulae and swirling galaxies that remind me that we humans are just a small part of a vast universe much more fascinating and mysterious than the one we see in our everyday lives. And for having the scientific tools to peer out into this cosmos and begin to understand it. —Clara Moskowitz, space and physics editor.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping. —Seth Fletcher, features editor.
The EPA’s approval of nootkatone, a chemical found in cedar trees and grapefruit that appears to repel mosquitos and ticks more effectively than nasty DEET. —Jen Schwartz, technology and mind editor.
All the birds that have come to visit my yard—50 species since I started keeping track in May. The first one I logged was a rose-breasted grosbeak; number 50 was a golden-crowned kinglet. The birds don’t know there’s a pandemic. In a year of social distancing and staying at home, it’s been a balm to watch them nest and fledge and flock and, now, fly south to warmer climes. —Kate Wong, evolution and ecology editor.
That we’ll soon have a Madam Vice President and our president will no longer call climate change a “hoax.” —Jess Ramirez, Web producer.
Indigenous peoples around the world who are putting their lives on the line to defend nature. —Madhusree Mukerjee, science and society editor.
Health care workers who cared for my sister and new nephew (both now home and healthy!) after a complicated birth, and advocates who are working to improve outcomes for birthing folks and their babies. —Amanda Montañez, graphics editor.
That I got to take my daughter to vote in her first presidential election. She’d been waiting four years—already so much more socially conscious than I was at 18! And my “Because Science” PopSocket and my “Vote for Science” T-shirt. —Maya Harty, executive assistant supervisor.
Election workers doing their job despite all the BS. —Tanya Lewis, health and medicine editor.
Grateful to hear that a friend’s mother turned 101 during this pandemic and still plays online bridge and discusses politics with her children once a week. Grateful for hope. —Christi Keller, copy director.
Bald eagles, peregrine falcons, California condors, red-cockaded woodpeckers, whooping cranes, black-footed ferrets, and all the other species that could have gone extinct but didn’t—thanks to science, environmental protection policies, endless conservation efforts, and people who care. —Laura Helmuth, editor in chief.
Fact checkers and copy editors. —Jen Christiansen, graphics editor.
Our colleagues, not just here at Scientific American but also journalists around the world for holding the powerful accountable and providing critical information during the pandemic. —Sunya Bhutta, audience engagement editor.
Anthony Fauci, not just because he’s been a calm, clear, evidence-based voice in the swirling world of COVID-19 information, but because he bravely speaks truth to power despite criticism, mockery and death threats. It’s also fun (and telling?) that as a kid he was a Yankees fan even though he lived in Brooklyn when the borough’s hometown Dodgers were the rage. —Mark Fischetti, sustainability editor.
For having the technology to be able to video chat, call and text family and friends even when we can’t see each other in person. —Clara Moskowitz, space and physics editor.
For being able to witness, sometimes at consciousness-sapping proximity on account of lockdowns and social distancing, the dual neuronal marvels of my five-year-old’s developing theory of mind and my one-year-old’s first steps. —Jeff DelViscio, multimedia editor.
With news from planet Earth being incredibly troubling this year, I am thankful for all the amazing astronomy stories such as the news that researchers detected a group of lakes hidden under Mars’s icy surface. —Rachel Scheer, head of communications.
The Chesapeake Bay and its ospreys and crabs and eelgrass, and the wind and boat that lets me see them, and the #cuteanimals Slack channel. —Josh Fischman, chemistry, policy and biology editor.
The ergonomic desk chair I found abandoned in my apartment stairwell. —Sarah Lewin Frasier, news editor.
All the intimate concerts my favorite musicians are now livestreaming from their homes. Every ticket now guarantees a front row seat. —Liz Tormes, photo editor.
That my family and the people around me at work didn’t get sick and, when I got sick, it was a mild COVID-19 case. —Gary Stix, mind and brain editor.
All essential workers, from doctors and nurses to bus drivers and grocery store clerks. The Black Lives Matter movement, and everyone who is taking action to end police brutality and systemic racism in America. —Sunya Bhutta, audience engagement editor.
Grateful for my family working together to keep those around us safe and healthy, colleagues who love what they do and keep the magazine going strong, time home to spend with my kids and watch them grow every day, and unexpected sightings of hawks and falcons that visited our 5th floor fire escape entertaining us while we quarantined! —Silvia De Santis, prepress and quality manager.
That the pandemic has led me and my family to take many more walks in the woods and fields that have been available to us all along, but which we never seemed to find time to explore. —Mike Lemonick, opinions editor.
Adulkt Life’s debut album Book of Curses: not only the most invigorating record I’ve heard this year, but the singer is 55 (!) and hadn’t been in a band for 25 years, which, as an aging artistic type myself, is incredibly inspiring. —Ryan Reid, online art director.
Ribbons of honking cranes overhead as they fly south. —Madhusree Mukerjee, science and society editor.
For vaccines, frontline and essential workers, leaders who value and listen to scientific evidence and expertise, the privilege to be able to work from home … and for my dog who likes to cuddle next to me while I work. —Andrea Thompson, sustainability editor.
Working for a magazine that has a real impact on the conversations in our society, whether about public health, racism or evidence-based thinking. We are old, scrappy and hungry. —Andrea Gawrylewski, collections editor.
Thankful for my friends, family and work colleagues. —Chris Monello, marketing manager.
For vaccines! And all the people who work so hard to make and distribute them. —Clara Moskowitz, space and physics editor.
One thing that I’m thankful for is the varied set of folks in space doing science. In a recent tweet from NASA: “‘The amount of scientific output that you’re going to see from this mission I think is absolutely incredible.’ – Kate Rubins of @NASA_Astronauts shares how a larger crew means more @ISS_Research on the @Space_Station” —Rich Hunt, production editor.
Where does one start? Definitely thankful to work with such a great and creative group of people, it is inspiring every day. I am especially thankful for my family and, despite the virus this year, we have been able to spend quality time that we hadn’t in years. Lastly, for the many people who, around the world, have stepped up to help others. Their service is truly remarkable and I am very thankful for it. —Mike Mrak, creative director.
Knowing that we, as a 175-year-old magazine for and about science, still exist at a moment when knowledge and truth could not be more critical to humanity’s continued happy existence on this planet. —Jeff DelViscio, multimedia editor.
All of the researchers who study, track, and contextualize media manipulation, digital disinformation, the spread of false ideas—and then educate policymakers, journalists and the public on how to save reality. They must be so, so tired. —Jen Schwartz, technology and mind editor.


Pandemic of Hunger

It ’ s 4 p.m. on a Friday , and dozens of children have begun to line up outside a home in a street in Delft , a working-class neighbourhood in Cape Town , South Africa .
On a busy day , the queue will grow to be hundreds of metres long , sometimes snaking off into other streets .
There is still an hour to go until the food is served—it ’ s chicken and vegetable curry with rice—but they are content to wait .
They ’ re hungry .
The day has been warm , but it turns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single-storey houses .
The children wait patiently , some dressed only in shorts and T-shirts .
They keep their place in the queue and their distance from each other .
From toddlers to teenagers , they all wear cloth masks over their mouths and noses .
The older children look after the youngest .
“ This community is like one big family , ” says Marlene Jameson , who has been operating this food initiative from her driveway for four years .
Plastic bags filled with fennel , herbs and peppers rest against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her neighbour ’ s .
Every room in her house is piled high with bags of maize ( corn ) meal , tins of pilchards and bottles of cold drinks .
The 56-year-old former bookkeeper set up her charity , called Khathalelana , which means ‘ caring for one another ’ in the Xhosa language , to help tackle some of the biggest challenges facing her community .
Unemployment , poverty and gang crime are rife in Delft , which has had the highest number of murders in South Africa in the past @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the charity used to run several activities , including an after-school programme that gave students a safe and quiet place to study and the opportunity to get involved in sports .
But in March , when the coronavirus pandemic hit and many Delft residents were unable to make a living owing to the nationwide lockdown , demand for food soared .
“ Then my day job became sourcing food because now the need was big , ” Jameson says .
Before the pandemic , about 100 people , mostly children , would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; now it ’ s closer to 300 .
And she sees the hunger on their faces .
“ You never know if it ’ s their first meal of the day.
” About 20 kilometres away , Brandon Mubaiwa paces along rows of leafy greens .
“ I never used to grow a lot of spinach , ” says the Zimbabwean farmer , who produces organic food on the outskirts of Stellenbosch .
His crop grows quickly and now covers half a hectare—a sizable chunk of his land .
Stellenbosch lies at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wine-growing district , and its plush vineyards are home to many top restaurants .
Until March , Mubaiwa ’ s farm supplied some of those restaurants with speciality vegetables such as baby parsnips , golden beetroot and pak choi .
But when the lockdowns started , the restaurants had to close .
Almost overnight , demand for Mubaiwa ’ s produce dried up .
“ When that happened , I wondered : how am I going to make money ?
I also thought I was going to lose all my vegetables .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he says .
But Mubaiwa now has a new customer , a charity called FoodFlow that caters to low-income communities and that values bulk and nutritional content over flavour—hence the spinach .
Each week , Mubaiwa makes 6,000 rand ( US $ 355 ) from selling the popular staple to FoodFlow , as well as carrots , butternut squash , kale and other vegetables .
It ’ s less than he earned growing speciality vegetables for restaurants , but it ’ s enough for him to pay his labourers and keep the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t for them , at this stage my income would not be all right , ” he says .
“ I changed my way of farming because of the pandemic.
” FoodFlow was established just a week before South Africa ’ s shutdown took effect on 27 March .
As well as buying produce from small-scale farmers such as Mubaiwa , it also purchases from other food producers , including fishers and bakers , who were dealt a harsh blow by the pandemic .
The charity then distributes the food to initiatives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Delft .
Mubaiwa is one of millions of small-scale farmers across Africa who have had to change the way they plan , plant and harvest as a result of COVID-19 .
The pandemic has posed fresh challenges to food security in countries that were already battling multiple threats , including climate change and invasive pests .
In some African countries , COVID-19 restrictions severely affected transportation networks for produce .
In others , lockdowns coincided with the planting season , leaving farmers with a difficult choice—either delay and risk missing the rains @ @ @ @ @ @ @ land than usual using the few seeds and fertilizers they still had access to .
And restrictions on people ’ s ability to work , combined with a drop in the amount of money sent to Africa from citizens working abroad , made it more difficult for many Africans to buy food .
Factors such as these could lead to 130 million more people living with chronic hunger by the end of 2020 than had been expected , according to the United Nations—a 19 % increase on its pre-pandemic estimate .
However , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also created an opportunity to strengthen food systems and make them more resilient .
“ COVID-19 has provided a real-life innovation lab , a testing ground for big ideas , ” says Corinna Hawkes , director of the Centre for Food Policy at City , University of London .
Globally , hunger was already on the rise before the pandemic hit .
After decades of sustained decline , the number of undernourished people has been growing since 2015 .
Last year , an estimated 688 million people were not getting enough to eat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security , the UN Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ) says that its target of eliminating hunger by 2030 is slipping out of reach .
Even without COVID-19 , it was predicting that the number of people around the world going hungry would reach 840 million by 2030—more than at any time since 2005 .
Africa is especially vulnerable .
One in five people there are undernourished—a greater prevalence than in any other region of the world .
By 2030 , the UN had projected that this could rise to one in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Africa ’ s population is also growing faster than that of any other continent , meaning that by 2030 more than half of the world ’ s hungry are expected to reside there .
Predicting the long-term impact of COVID-19 on food security is difficult , not least because of the lack of clarity about what the world economy will look like going forwards .
In June , when the FAO published its report , it was clear that the pandemic was having a substantial effect on both the supply and the demand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the inherent uncertainty in making projections at this moment , the report explores several scenarios for how the pandemic might affect the world economy , and estimates the impact on hunger .
Some are worse than others , but none makes for pleasant reading ( see ‘ A hungrier future ’ ) .
The best-case scenario for the global economy would cause the number of undernourished people to increase by 83 million in 2020 .
In future years , numbers would stick closer to earlier predictions .
The most pessimistic scenario sees a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It would result in an extra 132 million hungry people this year .
By 2030 , 909 million people would be undernourished .
Such forecasts are alarming , but they still might not capture the full impact of a global recession .
Because they focus on supply , and do not take into account inequalities in access to food , the FAO notes that they might underestimate the harm .
Not all the food-security problems caused by the pandemic are linked to food production .
Lockdowns will hamper access to food , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on imported food are likely to be hit hard by economic slowdown .
But farmers across Africa are undoubtedly being affected by the pandemic .
Many have seen their incomes dwindle .
In Uganda , chicken farmers lost out on an anticipated boom in demand in April , when Easter celebrations were muted by bans on gatherings .
Festivities in May for Eid were also subdued , hitting producers again .
In Ethiopia , lockdowns have disrupted distribution chains for both dairy products and vegetables , according to the International Food Policy Research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a regional office in Addis Ababa .
The pandemic has also strained household budgets , so families have had to cut back on their consumption of expensive sources of nutrients , such as vegetables .
Ethiopia was already reeling from the effects of an onslaught of voracious desert locusts ( Schistocerca gregaria ) —its worst infestation in a quarter of a century .
COVID-19 made things worse .
By June , the Ethiopian government had announced that 16.5 million people—about 15 % of the population—were in need of food and other humanitarian assistance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that situation because of COVID-19 , the government said .
These effects have probably hit rural communities the hardest , says Kalle Hirvonen , a development economist at the IFPRI in Addis Ababa .
It has been difficult to track impact in these regions , however , because coronavirus restrictions have stopped researchers from carrying out field surveys .
Some research organizations have switched to phone surveys , but this means that they can only reach people who own mobile phones , which Hirvonen says excludes 60 % of rural households .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have a pretty limited understanding of how this pandemic is affecting the poorest and most vulnerable segments of the Ethiopian population ” .
Although the overall picture is murky , data collected in May show that many Ethiopian vegetable farmers are seeing a drop in their income as a result of COVID-19 .
Scientists who surveyed farmers in the central East Shewa region found that many had struggled to access fertilizers and to employ migrant labourers since the pandemic struck .
Around half of farmers reported making less money this year than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s most populous country and largest economy , income in the agricultural sector dropped by 13 % during the country ’ s lockdown .
This is despite farming being classified as an essential service and therefore exempt from many of the restrictions .
The coronavirus crisis has , however , led to innovation—especially in the distribution of food .
As in many other parts of the world , there has been an increase in online food ordering and delivery services , says Kwaw Andam , a food-security specialist with the IFPRI in Nigeria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s markets—where most people buy groceries and other goods—were open every day .
During lockdown , stall holders were restricted to trading on specific days of the week .
This made many farmers turn to social media , including Facebook and Twitter , to sell their produce straight to consumers .
More-formal online food ordering and delivery services have also become more popular .
A Nigerian company that has done well out of the pandemic is Hills Harvest , which collects fresh food from multiple farms and connects farmers to corporate buyers in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It has been around for almost a decade , but saw a hike in demand when COVID-19 hit .
Abu Market , a subsidiary of Hills Harvest in Lagos , started a donor-funded delivery service of essential food to low-income consumers during lockdown .
Farmers have also been using digital technologies more to access information on seeds , pricing , credit , innovative farming practices and the weather .
“ COVID-19 served as a catalyst for wider adoption of innovations in agriculture that were starting to take off before the pandemic , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , digital technologies matching farmers to consumers have flourished , says Samuel Abroquah , an agriculture entrepreneur based in Kumasi .
Developed by young Ghanaians , these platforms became a major business during the lockdown , he says .
Even though many of these applications require access to the Internet , the cost of accessing these digital tools is not prohibitive , says John Agboola , an agricultural economist based in Lagos .
“ Nigeria has one of the lowest data rates in the world , ” he says .
“ If you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 can last you a month.
” Both Abroquah and Andam think that the digital food technologies are here to stay .
They help everyone by cutting down on cumbersome delivery mechanisms that drive up costs , Abroquah says .
Elsewhere , however , the innovative practices might not be as easy to hold on to .
In South Africa , the crisis has highlighted some of the deep injustices that underpin the country ’ s food-production system .
Overall , food production there is much more mechanized than in many other African @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is concentrated on the large commercial farms that supply the country ’ s supermarkets .
There are about two million small-scale or household farmers in South Africa , who trade mainly at informal markets .
The lockdown in March shut down this trade , and the farmers lost what little market access they had .
The large commercial farmers , by contrast , continued to operate profitably because they supplied the supermarkets , which were still allowed to open .
The highlighting of such injustices has provided an opportunity for scientists , policymakers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ systems .
In Cape Town , this includes addressing the nutrient exodus , in which produce grown by farmers such as Mubaiwa flows from the low-income farming areas , where nutritious food is sorely needed , to more affluent areas , either on restaurant plates or in vegetable boxes marketed at the middle classes .
Before COVID-19 , it was not profitable for most small-scale farmers around Cape Town to grow for their own communities .
But initiatives such as FoodFlow have changed that .
However , maintaining these gains as the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a growing challenge for these initiatives , says FoodFlow co-founder Ashley Newell .
At the height of lockdown , donations were high .
“ It was a real opportunity for people to do something , ” she says .
In its first 5 months , FoodFlow supported 400 food producers across South Africa , and provided an estimated 160,000 meals .
But FoodFlow ’ s donations have dropped with every loosening of the restrictions .
“ With that in mind , we ’ ve been starting the process of figuring out a more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The problem is how to ensure small-scale farmers can make money while also supplying very price-sensitive customers .
To reconfigure the food systems in Africa , producers and communities need “ much greater political and financial support ” than they had before the pandemic , according to Helena Shilomboleni , a food-security scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi .
“ Most African governments are not investing nearly as much resources to support their farmers or agricultural sectors as they should , ” she says .
For South Africa ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as Jameson ’ s and Mubaiwa ’ s need to be amplified , says Scott Drimie , director of the Southern Africa Food Lab at Stellenbosch University .
He agrees that the pandemic has created an “ opportunity for recalibration ” , but points out that people have a choice as to what form this takes—it can either mimic old power systems or be something more equitable and resilient .
“ To end hunger , we need to navigate the rapid changes under way whilst keeping issues of power and voice in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jameson , a marathon runner in her spare time , intends to go the distance .
Despite the misery that COVID-19 has caused her community , it has also allowed people like her to help more than they ever thought possible .
“ This pandemic has just opened more doors .
There ’ s more connections , there ’ s more networking , ” she says .
“ I know these connections will be lifelong.
” This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on October 12 2020 .

It’s 4 p.m. on a Friday, and dozens of children have begun to line up outside a home in a street in Delft, a working-class neighbourhood in Cape Town, South Africa. On a busy day, the queue will grow to be hundreds of metres long, sometimes snaking off into other streets. There is still an hour to go until the food is served—it’s chicken and vegetable curry with rice—but they are content to wait. They’re hungry.
The day has been warm, but it turns chilly as the Sun dips behind the single-storey houses. The children wait patiently, some dressed only in shorts and T-shirts. They keep their place in the queue and their distance from each other. From toddlers to teenagers, they all wear cloth masks over their mouths and noses. The older children look after the youngest.
“This community is like one big family,” says Marlene Jameson, who has been operating this food initiative from her driveway for four years. Plastic bags filled with fennel, herbs and peppers rest against the shoulder-height wall separating her property from her neighbour’s. Every room in her house is piled high with bags of maize (corn) meal, tins of pilchards and bottles of cold drinks.
The 56-year-old former bookkeeper set up her charity, called Khathalelana, which means ‘caring for one another’ in the Xhosa language, to help tackle some of the biggest challenges facing her community. Unemployment, poverty and gang crime are rife in Delft, which has had the highest number of murders in South Africa in the past year. As well as providing food, the charity used to run several activities, including an after-school programme that gave students a safe and quiet place to study and the opportunity to get involved in sports. But in March, when the coronavirus pandemic hit and many Delft residents were unable to make a living owing to the nationwide lockdown, demand for food soared.
“Then my day job became sourcing food because now the need was big,” Jameson says. Before the pandemic, about 100 people, mostly children, would line up in front of her house; now it’s closer to 300. And she sees the hunger on their faces. “You never know if it’s their first meal of the day.”
Life on the farm
About 20 kilometres away, Brandon Mubaiwa paces along rows of leafy greens. “I never used to grow a lot of spinach,” says the Zimbabwean farmer, who produces organic food on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. His crop grows quickly and now covers half a hectare—a sizable chunk of his land.
Stellenbosch lies at the heart of South Africa’s wine-growing district, and its plush vineyards are home to many top restaurants. Until March, Mubaiwa’s farm supplied some of those restaurants with speciality vegetables such as baby parsnips, golden beetroot and pak choi. But when the lockdowns started, the restaurants had to close.
Almost overnight, demand for Mubaiwa’s produce dried up. “When that happened, I wondered: how am I going to make money? I also thought I was going to lose all my vegetables. It was a big blow to me,” he says.
But Mubaiwa now has a new customer, a charity called FoodFlow that caters to low-income communities and that values bulk and nutritional content over flavour—hence the spinach. Each week, Mubaiwa makes 6,000 rand (US$355) from selling the popular staple to FoodFlow, as well as carrots, butternut squash, kale and other vegetables. It’s less than he earned growing speciality vegetables for restaurants, but it’s enough for him to pay his labourers and keep the farm going. “If it wasn’t for them, at this stage my income would not be all right,” he says. “I changed my way of farming because of the pandemic.”
FoodFlow was established just a week before South Africa’s shutdown took effect on 27 March. As well as buying produce from small-scale farmers such as Mubaiwa, it also purchases from other food producers, including fishers and bakers, who were dealt a harsh blow by the pandemic. The charity then distributes the food to initiatives such as the one run by Jameson in Delft.
Mubaiwa is one of millions of small-scale farmers across Africa who have had to change the way they plan, plant and harvest as a result of COVID-19. The pandemic has posed fresh challenges to food security in countries that were already battling multiple threats, including climate change and invasive pests.
In some African countries, COVID-19 restrictions severely affected transportation networks for produce. In others, lockdowns coincided with the planting season, leaving farmers with a difficult choice—either delay and risk missing the rains, or sow a smaller area of land than usual using the few seeds and fertilizers they still had access to. And restrictions on people’s ability to work, combined with a drop in the amount of money sent to Africa from citizens working abroad, made it more difficult for many Africans to buy food.
Factors such as these could lead to 130 million more people living with chronic hunger by the end of 2020 than had been expected, according to the United Nations—a 19% increase on its pre-pandemic estimate.
However, the challenges posed by the coronavirus have also created an opportunity to strengthen food systems and make them more resilient. “COVID-19 has provided a real-life innovation lab, a testing ground for big ideas,” says Corinna Hawkes, director of the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London.
A deepening hunger crisis
Globally, hunger was already on the rise before the pandemic hit. After decades of sustained decline, the number of undernourished people has been growing since 2015. Last year, an estimated 688 million people were not getting enough to eat. In its latest report on food security, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that its target of eliminating hunger by 2030 is slipping out of reach. Even without COVID-19, it was predicting that the number of people around the world going hungry would reach 840 million by 2030—more than at any time since 2005.
Africa is especially vulnerable. One in five people there are undernourished—a greater prevalence than in any other region of the world. By 2030, the UN had projected that this could rise to one in four, even without the pandemic. Africa’s population is also growing faster than that of any other continent, meaning that by 2030 more than half of the world’s hungry are expected to reside there.
Predicting the long-term impact of COVID-19 on food security is difficult, not least because of the lack of clarity about what the world economy will look like going forwards. In June, when the FAO published its report, it was clear that the pandemic was having a substantial effect on both the supply and the demand side of the food system. Acknowledging the inherent uncertainty in making projections at this moment, the report explores several scenarios for how the pandemic might affect the world economy, and estimates the impact on hunger. Some are worse than others, but none makes for pleasant reading (see ‘A hungrier future’).
The best-case scenario for the global economy would cause the number of undernourished people to increase by 83 million in 2020. In future years, numbers would stick closer to earlier predictions.
The most pessimistic scenario sees a deeper, longer, economic contraction. It would result in an extra 132 million hungry people this year. By 2030, 909 million people would be undernourished.
Such forecasts are alarming, but they still might not capture the full impact of a global recession. Because they focus on supply, and do not take into account inequalities in access to food, the FAO notes that they might underestimate the harm.
Continental impact
Not all the food-security problems caused by the pandemic are linked to food production. Lockdowns will hamper access to food, for example, and countries that rely heavily on imported food are likely to be hit hard by economic slowdown. But farmers across Africa are undoubtedly being affected by the pandemic.
Many have seen their incomes dwindle. In Uganda, chicken farmers lost out on an anticipated boom in demand in April, when Easter celebrations were muted by bans on gatherings. Festivities in May for Eid were also subdued, hitting producers again.
In Ethiopia, lockdowns have disrupted distribution chains for both dairy products and vegetables, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which has a regional office in Addis Ababa. The pandemic has also strained household budgets, so families have had to cut back on their consumption of expensive sources of nutrients, such as vegetables.
Ethiopia was already reeling from the effects of an onslaught of voracious desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria)—its worst infestation in a quarter of a century. COVID-19 made things worse. By June, the Ethiopian government had announced that 16.5 million people—about 15% of the population—were in need of food and other humanitarian assistance. Nearly 10 million people were in that situation because of COVID-19, the government said.
These effects have probably hit rural communities the hardest, says Kalle Hirvonen, a development economist at the IFPRI in Addis Ababa. It has been difficult to track impact in these regions, however, because coronavirus restrictions have stopped researchers from carrying out field surveys. Some research organizations have switched to phone surveys, but this means that they can only reach people who own mobile phones, which Hirvonen says excludes 60% of rural households. As a result, he says, “we have a pretty limited understanding of how this pandemic is affecting the poorest and most vulnerable segments of the Ethiopian population”.
Although the overall picture is murky, data collected in May show that many Ethiopian vegetable farmers are seeing a drop in their income as a result of COVID-19. Scientists who surveyed farmers in the central East Shewa region found that many had struggled to access fertilizers and to employ migrant labourers since the pandemic struck. Around half of farmers reported making less money this year than last.
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, income in the agricultural sector dropped by 13% during the country’s lockdown. This is despite farming being classified as an essential service and therefore exempt from many of the restrictions.
The coronavirus crisis has, however, led to innovation—especially in the distribution of food. As in many other parts of the world, there has been an increase in online food ordering and delivery services, says Kwaw Andam, a food-security specialist with the IFPRI in Nigeria. Before the pandemic, Nigeria’s markets—where most people buy groceries and other goods—were open every day. During lockdown, stall holders were restricted to trading on specific days of the week. This made many farmers turn to social media, including Facebook and Twitter, to sell their produce straight to consumers.
More-formal online food ordering and delivery services have also become more popular. A Nigerian company that has done well out of the pandemic is Hills Harvest, which collects fresh food from multiple farms and connects farmers to corporate buyers in a bid to reduce post-harvest losses. It has been around for almost a decade, but saw a hike in demand when COVID-19 hit. Abu Market, a subsidiary of Hills Harvest in Lagos, started a donor-funded delivery service of essential food to low-income consumers during lockdown.
Farmers have also been using digital technologies more to access information on seeds, pricing, credit, innovative farming practices and the weather. “COVID-19 served as a catalyst for wider adoption of innovations in agriculture that were starting to take off before the pandemic,” explains Andam.
In Ghana, too, digital technologies matching farmers to consumers have flourished, says Samuel Abroquah, an agriculture entrepreneur based in Kumasi. Developed by young Ghanaians, these platforms became a major business during the lockdown, he says.
Even though many of these applications require access to the Internet, the cost of accessing these digital tools is not prohibitive, says John Agboola, an agricultural economist based in Lagos. “Nigeria has one of the lowest data rates in the world,” he says. “If you manage your data well, US$2 can last you a month.”
A moment for change
Both Abroquah and Andam think that the digital food technologies are here to stay. They help everyone by cutting down on cumbersome delivery mechanisms that drive up costs, Abroquah says. Elsewhere, however, the innovative practices might not be as easy to hold on to.
In South Africa, the crisis has highlighted some of the deep injustices that underpin the country’s food-production system. Overall, food production there is much more mechanized than in many other African nations. But most of that technology is concentrated on the large commercial farms that supply the country’s supermarkets. There are about two million small-scale or household farmers in South Africa, who trade mainly at informal markets. The lockdown in March shut down this trade, and the farmers lost what little market access they had. The large commercial farmers, by contrast, continued to operate profitably because they supplied the supermarkets, which were still allowed to open.
The highlighting of such injustices has provided an opportunity for scientists, policymakers and community-based organizations to re-imagine the broken systems. In Cape Town, this includes addressing the nutrient exodus, in which produce grown by farmers such as Mubaiwa flows from the low-income farming areas, where nutritious food is sorely needed, to more affluent areas, either on restaurant plates or in vegetable boxes marketed at the middle classes.
Before COVID-19, it was not profitable for most small-scale farmers around Cape Town to grow for their own communities. But initiatives such as FoodFlow have changed that.
However, maintaining these gains as the pandemic progresses, and hopefully passes, is a growing challenge for these initiatives, says FoodFlow co-founder Ashley Newell. At the height of lockdown, donations were high. “It was a real opportunity for people to do something,” she says. In its first 5 months, FoodFlow supported 400 food producers across South Africa, and provided an estimated 160,000 meals.
But FoodFlow’s donations have dropped with every loosening of the restrictions. “With that in mind, we’ve been starting the process of figuring out a more sustainable model,” Newell says. The problem is how to ensure small-scale farmers can make money while also supplying very price-sensitive customers.
To reconfigure the food systems in Africa, producers and communities need “much greater political and financial support” than they had before the pandemic, according to Helena Shilomboleni, a food-security scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi. “Most African governments are not investing nearly as much resources to support their farmers or agricultural sectors as they should,” she says.
For South Africa’s food systems to change, community voices such as Jameson’s and Mubaiwa’s need to be amplified, says Scott Drimie, director of the Southern Africa Food Lab at Stellenbosch University. He agrees that the pandemic has created an “opportunity for recalibration”, but points out that people have a choice as to what form this takes—it can either mimic old power systems or be something more equitable and resilient. “To end hunger, we need to navigate the rapid changes under way whilst keeping issues of power and voice in stark focus,” he says.
Jameson, a marathon runner in her spare time, intends to go the distance. Despite the misery that COVID-19 has caused her community, it has also allowed people like her to help more than they ever thought possible. “This pandemic has just opened more doors. There’s more connections, there’s more networking,” she says. “I know these connections will be lifelong.”
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on October 12 2020.
Author Linda Nordling
Design Mohamed Ashour, Chris Ryan
Original photography Aurélie Marrier d'Unienville / Panos Pictures for Nature
Photo editor Madeline Hutchinson
Original video Shaun Swingler
Video editor Shamini Bundell
Fact checking Jenny Rooke
Project management Rebecca Jones
Editor Richard Hodson


scientificamerican--2020-11-25--Scientists Are Becoming More Politically Engaged

For many , the 2016 presidential election represented an existential threat to science and jolted large segments of the research workforce into street protest mode .
More recently , the COVID-19 pandemic has thrust scientists into global prominence , while the Black Lives Matter uprising has forced a reckoning with science ’ s problematic past and present .
In many ways , science itself was on the ballot this Election Day .
Prominent scientific journals endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden , scientific societies issued statements in the wake of the George Floyd killing , and thousands of scientists went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matter .
With scientists and scientific organizations now more politically engaged than at any time since the Vietnam War , we sought to understand the scope and focus of their political engagement .
Before the November 3 elections , we surveyed more than 1,500 researchers belonging to the Union of Concerned Scientists Science Network ( UCSSN ) —a multidisciplinary network of more than 19,000 politically engaged scientists , medical doctors , and engineers .
What we learned may have important implications beyond the current electoral season .
Scientists are becoming an important mobilizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for their political involvement .
SCIENTISTS ARE PART OF THE BLUE WAVE UCSSN scientists vote .
Of those we surveyed , nearly everyone who was eligible to vote cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election ( 93 percent ) and the 2018 midterms ( 92 percent ) .
For comparison , just 53 percent of the voting-age population in the United States voted in the last midterm election , itself a historic high .
And they are consensus Democratic voters .
Eighty-nine percent of survey respondents voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Not surprisingly , their view of the president has not improved with time .
UCSSN scientists rate the administration ’ s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic very poorly , take issue with the way the administration uses science to handle the pandemic , and identify White House attacks on science generally as a serious social threat .
To be sure , our respondents are highly politically mobilized and skew left ideologically ; in comparison , the scientific community is more ideologically diverse , and traditionally avoids political advocacy .
Nevertheless , our results @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likely a factor in the election .
To be clear , scientists represent just under 5 percent of the U.S. workforce and tend to concentrate in coastal cities and regions that are already overwhelmingly blue .
In this respect , scientists do not represent the kind of strategic voting bloc we find in labor , evangelical , or Latinx voters .
Yet scientists have significant emotional grievances against the Trump administration .
Scientists have been disrespected , their work stifled , their data hidden or destroyed , and consensus around basic scientific ideas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in electoral politics , organizing , and advocacy , among other forms of political engagement .
Voting is just the tip of the iceberg for UCSSN scientists , who tell us they are actively engaged in a range of political activities related to national politics .
Nine out of 10 respondents engaged in at least one form of political activity in the past twelve months .
Even more striking , 99 percent report engaging at least two types of science-related activism , and 83 percent report engaging in at least four .
These @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have engaged in protest activities during the past 12 months than the average U.S. voter .
What have they been doing ?
Most UCSSN scientists have contacted an elected official ( 84 percent ) and would like more guidance on how to engage with them , the general public and their communities .
Elected officials can expect to get calls , e-mails , petitions and letters from scientists .
Respondents also reported being very active on social media and protesting in the streets .
Half of UCSSN respondents attended one or more demonstrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( 14 percent ) .
Most signed a petition ( 94 percent ) and donated to a non-profit organization ( 79 percent ) .
Some have even started new organizations ( 7 percent ) .
Engaged in multiple types of political action , these scientists are far more committed to engaging politically than the average U.S. voter .
These findings run counter to the perception of scientists as being “ above ” politics .
And although this is a small population , as a group , scientists are exceptionally well connected to various @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think tanks , civil society groups , social movement organizations and—not least—scientific societies .
Even self-described “ non-political ” scientific societies are mobilizing their members .
Three fourths of scientists in our survey report receiving support from their employers for science-related advocacy .
Less than 10 percent reported that their careers were affected negatively as a result of engaging in science advocacy , a finding that flies in the face of common wisdom suggesting that advocacy risks career suicide .
The unprecedented high-profile endorsements of Joe Biden from prestigious academic journals signaled to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ longer anathema to scientific research , but should be embraced as a central aspect of science ’ s social mission .
An ongoing chorus of calls to defend science in the context of climate change , attacks on health care , and environmental justice , among other pressing issues only reinforce and legitimate this message .
Beyond the election , scientists and their organizations should focus on building mobilization capacity among the various the groups that they are connected to .
These include scientists ’ own professional communities , as well as students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the science and engineering workforce , and the more than 24 million workers employed in education and health services .
The Trump administration ’ s sidelining of science drove scientists to the streets .
The real work of organizing the political capital of scientists will continue .
Now that the yard signs are coming down , we must be prepared to engage with what remains and advance the political struggle in defense of science .

For many, the 2016 presidential election represented an existential threat to science and jolted large segments of the research workforce into street protest mode. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrust scientists into global prominence, while the Black Lives Matter uprising has forced a reckoning with science’s problematic past and present. In many ways, science itself was on the ballot this Election Day. Prominent scientific journals endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, scientific societies issued statements in the wake of the George Floyd killing, and thousands of scientists went on strike in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
With scientists and scientific organizations now more politically engaged than at any time since the Vietnam War, we sought to understand the scope and focus of their political engagement. Before the November 3 elections, we surveyed more than 1,500 researchers belonging to the Union of Concerned Scientists Science Network (UCSSN)—a multidisciplinary network of more than 19,000 politically engaged scientists, medical doctors, and engineers. What we learned may have important implications beyond the current electoral season. Scientists are becoming an important mobilizing force at a time that urgently calls for their political involvement.
SCIENTISTS ARE PART OF THE BLUE WAVE
UCSSN scientists vote. Of those we surveyed, nearly everyone who was eligible to vote cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election (93 percent) and the 2018 midterms (92 percent). For comparison, just 53 percent of the voting-age population in the United States voted in the last midterm election, itself a historic high.
And they are consensus Democratic voters. Eighty-nine percent of survey respondents voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016; only 1 percent voted for Trump.
Not surprisingly, their view of the president has not improved with time. UCSSN scientists rate the administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic very poorly, take issue with the way the administration uses science to handle the pandemic, and identify White House attacks on science generally as a serious social threat. To be sure, our respondents are highly politically mobilized and skew left ideologically; in comparison, the scientific community is more ideologically diverse, and traditionally avoids political advocacy. Nevertheless, our results suggest that a scientific blue wave was likely a factor in the election.
To be clear, scientists represent just under 5 percent of the U.S. workforce and tend to concentrate in coastal cities and regions that are already overwhelmingly blue. In this respect, scientists do not represent the kind of strategic voting bloc we find in labor, evangelical, or Latinx voters.
Yet scientists have significant emotional grievances against the Trump administration. Scientists have been disrespected, their work stifled, their data hidden or destroyed, and consensus around basic scientific ideas challenged. These grievances fueled their involvement in electoral politics, organizing, and advocacy, among other forms of political engagement.
ACTIVISM BEYOND THE BALLOT BOX
Voting is just the tip of the iceberg for UCSSN scientists, who tell us they are actively engaged in a range of political activities related to national politics. Nine out of 10 respondents engaged in at least one form of political activity in the past twelve months. Even more striking, 99 percent report engaging at least two types of science-related activism, and 83 percent report engaging in at least four. These scientists are also much more likely to have engaged in protest activities during the past 12 months than the average U.S. voter. What have they been doing?
Most UCSSN scientists have contacted an elected official (84 percent) and would like more guidance on how to engage with them, the general public and their communities. Elected officials can expect to get calls, e-mails, petitions and letters from scientists. Respondents also reported being very active on social media and protesting in the streets. Half of UCSSN respondents attended one or more demonstrations – nearly four times the national average (14 percent). Most signed a petition (94 percent) and donated to a non-profit organization (79 percent). Some have even started new organizations (7 percent).
Engaged in multiple types of political action, these scientists are far more committed to engaging politically than the average U.S. voter. These findings run counter to the perception of scientists as being “above” politics. And although this is a small population, as a group, scientists are exceptionally well connected to various kinds of organizations, including universities, think tanks, civil society groups, social movement organizations and—not least—scientific societies. Even self-described “non-political” scientific societies are mobilizing their members. Three fourths of scientists in our survey report receiving support from their employers for science-related advocacy. Less than 10 percent reported that their careers were affected negatively as a result of engaging in science advocacy, a finding that flies in the face of common wisdom suggesting that advocacy risks career suicide.
MOBILIZING SCIENTISTS BEYOND 2020
The unprecedented high-profile endorsements of Joe Biden from prestigious academic journals signaled to rank-and-file scientists that political advocacy is no longer anathema to scientific research, but should be embraced as a central aspect of science’s social mission. An ongoing chorus of calls to defend science in the context of climate change, attacks on health care, and environmental justice, among other pressing issues only reinforce and legitimate this message.
Beyond the election, scientists and their organizations should focus on building mobilization capacity among the various the groups that they are connected to. These include scientists’ own professional communities, as well as students and staff on college campuses, members of the science and engineering workforce, and the more than 24 million workers employed in education and health services.
The Trump administration’s sidelining of science drove scientists to the streets. The real work of organizing the political capital of scientists will continue. Now that the yard signs are coming down, we must be prepared to engage with what remains and advance the political struggle in defense of science.


scientificamerican--2020-11-25--Echolocation Drains Bats Traveling through Noise

Bats have to leave the safety of their roosts every night to find food .
That takes energy : their insect prey must provide them with enough fuel to offset the cost of hunting in the first place .
Because bats use the same chest and abdominal muscles for both flying and producing echolocation calls , many researchers thought vocalizing while airborne would not consume significantly more energy than flying alone .
But a new study has thrown that idea into serious doubt .
The results were published in Nature Ecology & Evolution .
“ When they are calling quietly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Shannon Currie of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany .
But “ getting loud becomes extremely expensive.
” Currie and her team measured metabolism and echolocation intensity for nine Nathusius 's pipistrelle bats , captured from urban areas in Berlin and released after laboratory tests .
When subjected to just the normal ambient sounds while flying in a wind tunnel , the bats called at 113 decibels .
But when the researchers played extra ultrasonic noise , the bats “ shouted ” at 128 decibels—requiring about 30 times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Although their calls are inaudible to humans , this jump in volume is proportionally equivalent to the difference between a nearby chainsaw and a jet engine , says University of Winnipeg biologist Craig Willis , who specializes in bats and was not involved in the new study .
To compensate for the additional calories they burn by turning up their volume so dramatically , the bats would have to gobble up an extra half a gram of insects ( around 7 percent of their body mass ) each night .
“ That 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's a big deal , ” Willis says .
Getting enough nourishment to afford calling over the sounds of human-generated ultrasonic noise , from traffic or heavy machinery , for example , may be difficult for bats in habitats with dwindling insect populations .
“ In many ways , insect conservation is bat conservation , ” Willis says , “ and we 're in the midst of this insect apocalypse where we 're losing insects at alarming rates.
” What that means , Currie says , is that bats in many areas now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fewer insects available .
If they burn more calories hunting than they acquire from their prey , it could spell trouble for the flying mammals .
Human-made noise adds yet one more hurdle to their survival .

Bats have to leave the safety of their roosts every night to find food. That takes energy: their insect prey must provide them with enough fuel to offset the cost of hunting in the first place.
Because bats use the same chest and abdominal muscles for both flying and producing echolocation calls, many researchers thought vocalizing while airborne would not consume significantly more energy than flying alone. But a new study has thrown that idea into serious doubt. The results were published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
“When they are calling quietly ... those original assumptions hold,” says Shannon Currie of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany. But “getting loud becomes extremely expensive.”
Currie and her team measured metabolism and echolocation intensity for nine Nathusius's pipistrelle bats, captured from urban areas in Berlin and released after laboratory tests. When subjected to just the normal ambient sounds while flying in a wind tunnel, the bats called at 113 decibels. But when the researchers played extra ultrasonic noise, the bats “shouted” at 128 decibels—requiring about 30 times as much energy, Currie says. Although their calls are inaudible to humans, this jump in volume is proportionally equivalent to the difference between a nearby chainsaw and a jet engine, says University of Winnipeg biologist Craig Willis, who specializes in bats and was not involved in the new study.
To compensate for the additional calories they burn by turning up their volume so dramatically, the bats would have to gobble up an extra half a gram of insects (around 7 percent of their body mass) each night. “That's a turkey dinner for us; that's a big deal,” Willis says.
Getting enough nourishment to afford calling over the sounds of human-generated ultrasonic noise, from traffic or heavy machinery, for example, may be difficult for bats in habitats with dwindling insect populations. “In many ways, insect conservation is bat conservation,” Willis says, “and we're in the midst of this insect apocalypse where we're losing insects at alarming rates.” What that means, Currie says, is that bats in many areas now have to work harder to find the fewer insects available. If they burn more calories hunting than they acquire from their prey, it could spell trouble for the flying mammals. Human-made noise adds yet one more hurdle to their survival.


scientificamerican--2020-11-24--Duckbill Dino Odyssey Ended in Africa

Duckbill Dino Odyssey Ended in Africa

In North America , fossils of duckbill dinosaur are abundant .
So abundant that paleontologists sometimes ignore them in search of more exciting species , like T. Rex or Triceratops .
“ They were so common we often would n't collect them and just left them out in the field.
” But duckbills had never been found in Africa .
So , Longrich did a double take when he was visiting the Natural History Museum of Marrakesh in Morocco and came across the 66-million-year-old jawbone of a previously undocumented duckbill species .
“ I instantly knew what it was , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what it was doing there.
” Its presence in North Africa was problematic because during the Late Cretaceous period the planet was warmer , which means sea levels were higher .
“ Africa was isolated from all the other continents by water , and there did n't seem to be any way that they could get there.
” Unless , perhaps , duckbills swam hundreds of miles across open ocean from what is now Europe .
It 's not as far-fetched as it might sound .
In fact , paleontologists once thought duckbill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eventually fell out of favor .
Nonetheless , there 's evidence that duckbills were well-adapted for swimming .
“ They have these really big , powerful hind limbs .
Great big feet .
They 've got a long , deep tail they could have used for sculling .
So , they might have been pretty good swimmers.
” Plus , other animal species have been known to cross oceans , albeit rarely .
Elephants , monkeys , and even hippos , for example , have all colonized new places after swimming or floating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But over millions of years , these once-in-a-million-year events will happen on average once every million years.
” To better understand the migrations of duckbill dinosaurs , Longrich and his colleagues reconstructed their evolutionary tree .
“ The duckbills seem to originate in North America .
They migrate across the land bridge into Asia , jump over into Europe .
And then finally this European lineage , one branch of that evolutionary tree , jumps into Africa.
” Longrich 's team dubbed the new species Ajnabia odysseus .
Some duckbills were 50-feet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smallest of these Cretaceous vegetarians , about the size of a pony .
And while North American duckbills were being hunted down by hungry T. rex , in Africa , Ajnabia likely had to contend with fearsome Abelisaurs , which were smaller , but similar to T. rex .
The study is in the journal Cretaceous Research .
[ Nicholas R. Longrich , et al.
, The first duckbill dinosaur ( Hadrosauridae : Lambeosaurinae ) from Africa and the role of oceanic dispersal in dinosaur biogeography ] Insights into Ajnabia could help answer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the dinosaurs .
“ This is just before the asteroid hit .
So , we 're getting a snapshot of the dinosaurs in their final moments .
The sort of twilight of the dinosaurs .
Along with things like T-Rex and Triceratops , these were the last dinosaurs on earth .
”

Full Transcript
In North America, fossils of duckbill dinosaur are abundant. So abundant that paleontologists sometimes ignore them in search of more exciting species, like T. Rex or Triceratops.
“They were so common we often wouldn't collect them and just left them out in the field.”
University of Bath evolutionary biologist Nick Longrich.
But duckbills had never been found in Africa. So, Longrich did a double take when he was visiting the Natural History Museum of Marrakesh in Morocco and came across the 66-million-year-old jawbone of a previously undocumented duckbill species.
“I instantly knew what it was, and I just couldn't figure out what it was doing there.”
Its presence in North Africa was problematic because during the Late Cretaceous period the planet was warmer, which means sea levels were higher.
“Africa was isolated from all the other continents by water, and there didn't seem to be any way that they could get there.” Unless, perhaps, duckbills swam hundreds of miles across open ocean from what is now Europe.
It's not as far-fetched as it might sound. In fact, paleontologists once thought duckbill dinosaurs were aquatic, but that theory eventually fell out of favor. Nonetheless, there's evidence that duckbills were well-adapted for swimming.
“They have these really big, powerful hind limbs. Great big feet. They've got a long, deep tail they could have used for sculling. So, they might have been pretty good swimmers.”
Plus, other animal species have been known to cross oceans, albeit rarely. Elephants, monkeys, and even hippos, for example, have all colonized new places after swimming or floating there.
“It's incredibly improbable. But over millions of years, these once-in-a-million-year events will happen on average once every million years.”
To better understand the migrations of duckbill dinosaurs, Longrich and his colleagues reconstructed their evolutionary tree.
“The duckbills seem to originate in North America. They migrate across the land bridge into Asia, jump over into Europe. And then finally this European lineage, one branch of that evolutionary tree, jumps into Africa.”
Longrich's team dubbed the new species Ajnabia odysseus. Some duckbills were 50-feet long, but Ajnabia was perhaps the smallest of these Cretaceous vegetarians, about the size of a pony. And while North American duckbills were being hunted down by hungry T. rex, in Africa, Ajnabia likely had to contend with fearsome Abelisaurs, which were smaller, but similar to T. rex.
The study is in the journal Cretaceous Research. [Nicholas R. Longrich, et al., The first duckbill dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Africa and the role of oceanic dispersal in dinosaur biogeography]
Insights into Ajnabia could help answer questions about the end of the age of the dinosaurs.
“This is just before the asteroid hit. So, we're getting a snapshot of the dinosaurs in their final moments. The sort of twilight of the dinosaurs. Along with things like T-Rex and Triceratops, these were the last dinosaurs on earth.”
—Susanne Bard
(The above text is a transcript of this podcast)


scientificamerican--2020-11-24--China's Chang'e-5 Mission Launches to Collect Lunar Samples

The first lunar sample-return mission since the 1970s is underway .
China ’ s robotic Chang ’ e 5 mission launched today ( Nov. 23 ) from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province , rising into the sky atop a Long March 5 rocket at about 3:30 p.m. EST ( 2130 GMT ; 4:30 a.m.on Nov. 24 local time in Hainan ) .
If all goes according to plan , the bold and complex Chang ’ e 5 will haul pristine moon samples back to Earth in mid-December—something that hasn ’ t been done since the Soviet Union ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chang ’ e 5 ’ s short mission will be action-packed .
The 18,100-lb .
( 8,200 kilograms ) spacecraft will likely arrive in lunar orbit around Nov. 28 , then send two of its four modules—a lander and an ascent vehicle—to the lunar surface a day or so later .
( Chinese officials have been characteristically vague about Chang ’ e 5 ’ s details , so timeline information has been pieced together from various sources by China space watchers like Space News ’ Andrew Jones , who also provides articles for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the Mons Rumker area of the huge volcanic plain Oceanus Procellarum ( `` Ocean of Storms '' ) , portions of which have been explored by a number of other surface missions , including NASA ’ s Apollo 12 in 1969 .
The stationary lander will study its environs with cameras , ground-penetrating radar and a spectrometer .
But its main job is to snag about 4.4 lbs .
( 2 kg ) of lunar material , some of which will be dug from up to 6.5 feet ( 2 meters ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the course of two weeks , or one lunar day—a firm deadline , given that the Chang ’ e 5 lander is solar-powered and won ’ t be able to operate once night falls at its location .
Mons Rumker harbors rocks that formed just 1.2 billion years ago , meaning that Chang ’ e 5 “ will help scientists understand what was happening late in the moon ’ s history , as well as how Earth and the solar system evolved , ” as the nonprofit Planetary Society noted its description @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lbs.
, or 382 kg , of moon rocks brought home by the Apollo astronauts between 1969 and 1972 are considerably older , providing a window in the deeper lunar past . )
The Chang ’ e 5 lander will transfer its samples to the ascent vehicle , which will launch them to lunar orbit for a meetup with the other two mission elements , a service module and an attached Earth-return capsule .
The moon material will be loaded into the return capsule , which the service module will haul back toward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ touchdown scheduled for Dec. 16 or Dec. 17 .
“ Whereas human-rated vehicles like NASA ’ s Apollo capsule relied solely on strong heat shielding , Chang ’ e 5 will perform a ’ skip reentry , ’ bouncing off the atmosphere once to slow down before plummeting to a landing in Inner Mongolia , ” the Planetary Society wrote .
“ The landing site is the same used for [ China ’ s ] returning crewed Shenzhou spacecraft.
” Chang ’ e 5 , China ’ s first-ever sample-return effort , is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Chang ’ e program of robotic lunar exploration , which is named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology .
China launched the Chang ’ e 1 and Chang ’ e 2 orbiters in 2007 and 2010 , respectively , and the Chang ’ e 3 lander-rover duo touched down on the moon ’ s near side in December 2013 .
The Chang ’ e 5T1 mission launched a prototype return capsule on an eight-day trip around the moon in October 2014 , to help prepare for Chang ’ e 5 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ e 4 became the first mission ever to ace a soft landing on the moon ’ s mysterious far side .
Chang ’ e 4 ’ s lander and rover are still going strong , as is the Chang ’ e 3 lander .
( The Chang ’ e 3 rover died after 31 months of work on the lunar surface . )
Chang ’ e 5 is part of a recent surge in sample-return missions .
On Dec. 6 , for example , pieces of the asteroid Ryugu collected by Japan ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down in Australia .
And NASA ’ s OSIRIS-REx probe snagged a hefty sample of the asteroid Bennu last month ; that material will come down to Earth in September 2023 , if all goes according to plan .
Copyright 2020 Space.com , a Future company .
All rights reserved .
This material may not be published , broadcast , rewritten or redistributed .

The first lunar sample-return mission since the 1970s is underway.
China’s robotic Chang’e 5 mission launched today (Nov. 23) from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, rising into the sky atop a Long March 5 rocket at about 3:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT; 4:30 a.m.on Nov. 24 local time in Hainan).
If all goes according to plan, the bold and complex Chang’e 5 will haul pristine moon samples back to Earth in mid-December—something that hasn’t been done since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.
Chang’e 5’s short mission will be action-packed. The 18,100-lb. (8,200 kilograms) spacecraft will likely arrive in lunar orbit around Nov. 28, then send two of its four modules—a lander and an ascent vehicle—to the lunar surface a day or so later. (Chinese officials have been characteristically vague about Chang’e 5’s details, so timeline information has been pieced together from various sources by China space watchers like Space News’ Andrew Jones, who also provides articles for Space.com.)
The mission will land in the Mons Rumker area of the huge volcanic plain Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms"), portions of which have been explored by a number of other surface missions, including NASA’s Apollo 12 in 1969.
The stationary lander will study its environs with cameras, ground-penetrating radar and a spectrometer. But its main job is to snag about 4.4 lbs. (2 kg) of lunar material, some of which will be dug from up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) underground. This work will be done over the course of two weeks, or one lunar day—a firm deadline, given that the Chang’e 5 lander is solar-powered and won’t be able to operate once night falls at its location.
Mons Rumker harbors rocks that formed just 1.2 billion years ago, meaning that Chang’e 5 “will help scientists understand what was happening late in the moon’s history, as well as how Earth and the solar system evolved,” as the nonprofit Planetary Society noted its description of the mission. (The 842 lbs., or 382 kg, of moon rocks brought home by the Apollo astronauts between 1969 and 1972 are considerably older, providing a window in the deeper lunar past.)
The Chang’e 5 lander will transfer its samples to the ascent vehicle, which will launch them to lunar orbit for a meetup with the other two mission elements, a service module and an attached Earth-return capsule. The moon material will be loaded into the return capsule, which the service module will haul back toward Earth, releasing it shortly before a touchdown scheduled for Dec. 16 or Dec. 17.
“Whereas human-rated vehicles like NASA’s Apollo capsule relied solely on strong heat shielding, Chang’e 5 will perform a ’skip reentry,’ bouncing off the atmosphere once to slow down before plummeting to a landing in Inner Mongolia,” the Planetary Society wrote. “The landing site is the same used for [China’s] returning crewed Shenzhou spacecraft.”
Chang’e 5, China’s first-ever sample-return effort, is the sixth and most ambitious mission in the Chang’e program of robotic lunar exploration, which is named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology. China launched the Chang’e 1 and Chang’e 2 orbiters in 2007 and 2010, respectively, and the Chang’e 3 lander-rover duo touched down on the moon’s near side in December 2013.
The Chang’e 5T1 mission launched a prototype return capsule on an eight-day trip around the moon in October 2014, to help prepare for Chang’e 5. And in January 2019, Chang’e 4 became the first mission ever to ace a soft landing on the moon’s mysterious far side. Chang’e 4’s lander and rover are still going strong, as is the Chang’e 3 lander. (The Chang’e 3 rover died after 31 months of work on the lunar surface.)
Chang’e 5 is part of a recent surge in sample-return missions. On Dec. 6, for example, pieces of the asteroid Ryugu collected by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission are scheduled to touch down in Australia. And NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe snagged a hefty sample of the asteroid Bennu last month; that material will come down to Earth in September 2023, if all goes according to plan.
Copyright 2020 Space.com, a Future company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.