scientificamerican--2020-12-29--New Views of Quantum Jumps Challenge Core Tenets of Physics

Quantum mechanics , the theory that describes the physics of the universe at very small scales , is notorious for defying common sense .
Consider , for instance , the way that standard interpretations of the theory suggest change occurs in the quantum turf : shifts from one state to another supposedly happen unpredictably and instantaneously .
Put another way , if events in our familiar world unfolded similarly to those within atoms , we would expect to routinely see batter becoming a fully baked cake without passing through any intermediate steps .
Everyday experience , of course , tells @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but for the less accessible microscopic realm , the true nature of such “ quantum jumps ” has been a major unsolved problem in physics .
In recent decades , however , technological advancements have allowed physicists to probe the issue more closely in carefully arranged laboratory settings .
The most fundamental breakthrough arguably came in 1986 , when researchers for the first time experimentally verified that quantum jumps are actual physical events that can be observed and studied .
Ever since , steady technical progress has opened deeper vistas upon the mysterious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2019 overturned the traditional view of quantum jumps by demonstrating that they move predictably and gradually once they start—and can even be stopped midway .
That experiment , performed at Yale University , used a setup that let the researchers monitor the transitions with minimal intrusion .
Each jump took place between two energy values of a superconducting qubit , a tiny circuit built to mimic the properties of atoms .
The research team used measurements of “ side activity ” taking place in the circuit when the system had the lower @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knowing which show is playing on a television in another room by only listening for certain key words .
This indirect probe evaded one of the top concerns in quantum experiments—namely , how to avoid influencing the very system that one is observing .
Known as “ clicks ” ( from the sound that old Geiger counters made when detecting radioactivity ) , these measurements revealed an important property : jumps to the higher energy were always preceded by a halt in the “ key words , ” a pause in the side @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to predict the jumps ’ unfolding and even to stop them at will .
Now a new theoretical study delves deeper into what can be said about the jumps and when .
And it finds that this seemingly simple and fundamental phenomenon is actually quite complex .
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN The new study , published in Physical Review Research , models the step-by-step , cradle-to-grave evolution of quantum jumps—from the initial lower-energy state of the system , known as the ground state , then a second one where it has higher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and finally the transition back to the ground state .
This modeling shows that the predictable , “ catchable ” quantum jumps must have a noncatchable counterpart , says author Kyrylo Snizhko , a postdoctoral researcher now at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany , who was formerly at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel , where the study was performed .
Specifically , by “ catchable ” the researchers mean that the jump back to the ground state will not always be smooth and predictable .
Instead the study ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s evolution depends on how “ connected ” the measuring device is to the system ( another peculiarity of the quantum realm , which , in this case , relates to the timescale of the measurements , compared with that of the transitions ) .
The connection can be weak , in which case a quantum jump can also be predictable through the pause in clicks from the qubit ’ s side activity , in the way used by the Yale experiment .
The system transitions by passing through a mixture of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quantum phenomenon known as superposition .
But sometimes , when the connection exceeds a certain threshold , this superposition will shift toward a specific value of the mixture and tend to stay at that state until it moves to the ground unannounced .
In that special case , “ this probabilistic quantum jump can not be predicted and reversed midflight , ” explains Parveen Kumar , a postdoctoral researcher at the Weizmann Institute and co-author of the most recent study .
In other words , even jumps for which timing was initially predictable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But there is yet more nuance when examining the originally catchable jumps .
Snizhko says that even these possess an unpredictable element .
A catchable quantum jump will always proceed on a “ trajectory ” through the superposition of the excited and ground states , but there can be no guarantee that the jump will ever finish .
“ At each point in the trajectory , there is a probability that the jump continues and a probability that it is projected back to the ground state , ” Snizhko says .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then abruptly get canceled .
The trajectory is totally deterministic—but whether the system will complete the trajectory or not is unpredictable.
” This behavior appeared in the Yale experiment ’ s results .
The scientists behind that work called such catchable jumps “ islands of predictability in a sea of uncertainty.
” Ricardo Gutiérrez-Jáuregui , a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University and one of the authors of the corresponding study , notes that “ the beauty of that work was to show that in the absence of clicks , the system followed a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a short but nonzero time .
The device , however , still has a chance to ‘ click ’ as the system transitions through this path , thus interrupting its transition.
” Zlatko Minev , a researcher at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and lead author of the earlier Yale study , notes that the new theoretical paper “ derives a very nice , simple model and explanation of the quantum jump phenomenon in the context of a qubit as a function of the parameters of the experiment.
” Taken @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the results “ show that there is more to the story of discreteness , randomness and predictability in quantum mechanics than commonly thought.
” Specifically , the surprisingly nuanced behavior of quantum jumps—the way a leap from the ground state to the excited state can be foretold—suggests a degree of predictability inherent to the quantum world that has never before been observed .
Some would even consider it forbidden , had it not already been validated by experiment .
When Minev first discussed the possibility of predictable quantum jumps with others in his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back , “ If this is true , then quantum physics is broken !
” “ In the end , our experiment worked , and from it one can infer that quantum jumps are random and discrete , ” Minev says .
“ Yet on a finer timescale , their evolution is coherent and continuous .
These two seemingly opposed viewpoints coexist.
” As to whether such processes can apply to the material world at large—for instance , to atoms outside a quantum lab—Kumar is undecided , in large part because of how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were .
“ It would be interesting to generalize our results , ” he says .
If the results turn out similar for different measurement setups , then this behavior—events that are in some sense both random and predictable , discrete yet continuous—could reflect more general properties of the quantum world .
Meanwhile the predictions of the study could get checked soon .
According to Serge Rosenblum , a researcher at the Weizmann Institute who did not participate in either study , these effects can be observed with today ’ s state-of-the-art superconducting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ list of experiments for the institute ’ s new qubits lab .
“ It was quite amazing to me that a deceptively simple system such as a single qubit can still hide such surprises when we measure it , ” he adds .
For a long time , quantum jumps—the most basic processes underlying everything in nature—were considered nearly impossible to probe .
But technological progress is changing that .
Kater Murch , an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis , who did not participate in the two studies , remarks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experiment seems to have motivated this theory paper , which is uncovering new aspects of a physics problem that has been studied for decades .
In my mind , experiments really help drive the ways that theorists think about things , and this leads to new discoveries.
” The mystery might not just be going away , though .
As Snizhko says , “ I do not think that the quantum jumps problem will be resolved completely any time soon ; it is too deeply ingrained in quantum theory .
But by playing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might stumble upon something practically useful .
”

Quantum mechanics, the theory that describes the physics of the universe at very small scales, is notorious for defying common sense. Consider, for instance, the way that standard interpretations of the theory suggest change occurs in the quantum turf: shifts from one state to another supposedly happen unpredictably and instantaneously. Put another way, if events in our familiar world unfolded similarly to those within atoms, we would expect to routinely see batter becoming a fully baked cake without passing through any intermediate steps. Everyday experience, of course, tells us this is not the case, but for the less accessible microscopic realm, the true nature of such “quantum jumps” has been a major unsolved problem in physics.
In recent decades, however, technological advancements have allowed physicists to probe the issue more closely in carefully arranged laboratory settings. The most fundamental breakthrough arguably came in 1986, when researchers for the first time experimentally verified that quantum jumps are actual physical events that can be observed and studied. Ever since, steady technical progress has opened deeper vistas upon the mysterious phenomenon. Notably, an experiment published in 2019 overturned the traditional view of quantum jumps by demonstrating that they move predictably and gradually once they start—and can even be stopped midway.
That experiment, performed at Yale University, used a setup that let the researchers monitor the transitions with minimal intrusion. Each jump took place between two energy values of a superconducting qubit, a tiny circuit built to mimic the properties of atoms. The research team used measurements of “side activity” taking place in the circuit when the system had the lower energy. This is a bit like knowing which show is playing on a television in another room by only listening for certain key words. This indirect probe evaded one of the top concerns in quantum experiments—namely, how to avoid influencing the very system that one is observing. Known as “clicks” (from the sound that old Geiger counters made when detecting radioactivity), these measurements revealed an important property: jumps to the higher energy were always preceded by a halt in the “key words,” a pause in the side activity. This eventually permitted the team to predict the jumps’ unfolding and even to stop them at will.
Now a new theoretical study delves deeper into what can be said about the jumps and when. And it finds that this seemingly simple and fundamental phenomenon is actually quite complex.
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
The new study, published in Physical Review Research, models the step-by-step, cradle-to-grave evolution of quantum jumps—from the initial lower-energy state of the system, known as the ground state, then a second one where it has higher energy, called the excited state, and finally the transition back to the ground state. This modeling shows that the predictable, “catchable” quantum jumps must have a noncatchable counterpart, says author Kyrylo Snizhko, a postdoctoral researcher now at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, who was formerly at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where the study was performed.
Specifically, by “noncatchable” the researchers mean that the jump back to the ground state will not always be smooth and predictable. Instead the study’s results show that such an event’s evolution depends on how “connected” the measuring device is to the system (another peculiarity of the quantum realm, which, in this case, relates to the timescale of the measurements, compared with that of the transitions). The connection can be weak, in which case a quantum jump can also be predictable through the pause in clicks from the qubit’s side activity, in the way used by the Yale experiment.
The system transitions by passing through a mixture of the excited state and ground state, a quantum phenomenon known as superposition. But sometimes, when the connection exceeds a certain threshold, this superposition will shift toward a specific value of the mixture and tend to stay at that state until it moves to the ground unannounced. In that special case, “this probabilistic quantum jump cannot be predicted and reversed midflight,” explains Parveen Kumar, a postdoctoral researcher at the Weizmann Institute and co-author of the most recent study. In other words, even jumps for which timing was initially predictable would be followed by inherently unpredictable ones.
But there is yet more nuance when examining the originally catchable jumps. Snizhko says that even these possess an unpredictable element. A catchable quantum jump will always proceed on a “trajectory” through the superposition of the excited and ground states, but there can be no guarantee that the jump will ever finish. “At each point in the trajectory, there is a probability that the jump continues and a probability that it is projected back to the ground state,” Snizhko says. “So the jump may start happening and then abruptly get canceled. The trajectory is totally deterministic—but whether the system will complete the trajectory or not is unpredictable.”
This behavior appeared in the Yale experiment’s results. The scientists behind that work called such catchable jumps “islands of predictability in a sea of uncertainty.” Ricardo Gutiérrez-Jáuregui, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University and one of the authors of the corresponding study, notes that “the beauty of that work was to show that in the absence of clicks, the system followed a predetermined path to reach the excited state in a short but nonzero time. The device, however, still has a chance to ‘click’ as the system transitions through this path, thus interrupting its transition.”
“QUANTUM PHYSICS IS BROKEN!”
Zlatko Minev, a researcher at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and lead author of the earlier Yale study, notes that the new theoretical paper “derives a very nice, simple model and explanation of the quantum jump phenomenon in the context of a qubit as a function of the parameters of the experiment.” Taken together with the experiment at Yale, the results “show that there is more to the story of discreteness, randomness and predictability in quantum mechanics than commonly thought.” Specifically, the surprisingly nuanced behavior of quantum jumps—the way a leap from the ground state to the excited state can be foretold—suggests a degree of predictability inherent to the quantum world that has never before been observed. Some would even consider it forbidden, had it not already been validated by experiment. When Minev first discussed the possibility of predictable quantum jumps with others in his group, a colleague responded by shouting back, “If this is true, then quantum physics is broken!”
“In the end, our experiment worked, and from it one can infer that quantum jumps are random and discrete,” Minev says. “Yet on a finer timescale, their evolution is coherent and continuous. These two seemingly opposed viewpoints coexist.”
As to whether such processes can apply to the material world at large—for instance, to atoms outside a quantum lab—Kumar is undecided, in large part because of how carefully specific the study’s conditions were. “It would be interesting to generalize our results,” he says. If the results turn out similar for different measurement setups, then this behavior—events that are in some sense both random and predictable, discrete yet continuous—could reflect more general properties of the quantum world.
Meanwhile the predictions of the study could get checked soon. According to Serge Rosenblum, a researcher at the Weizmann Institute who did not participate in either study, these effects can be observed with today’s state-of-the-art superconducting quantum systems and are high on the list of experiments for the institute’s new qubits lab. “It was quite amazing to me that a deceptively simple system such as a single qubit can still hide such surprises when we measure it,” he adds.
For a long time, quantum jumps—the most basic processes underlying everything in nature—were considered nearly impossible to probe. But technological progress is changing that. Kater Murch, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, who did not participate in the two studies, remarks, “I like how the Yale experiment seems to have motivated this theory paper, which is uncovering new aspects of a physics problem that has been studied for decades. In my mind, experiments really help drive the ways that theorists think about things, and this leads to new discoveries.”
The mystery might not just be going away, though. As Snizhko says, “I do not think that the quantum jumps problem will be resolved completely any time soon; it is too deeply ingrained in quantum theory. But by playing with different measurements and jumps, we might stumble upon something practically useful.”


scientificamerican--2020-12-29--From Rapping Robots to Glowing Frogs: Our Favorite Fun Stories of 2020

To say it has been a tough year would be a gross understatement , and reading the news—even on a science-focused Web site—can be a little depressing .
But while Scientific American has been providing in-depth coverage of the coronavirus pandemic , devastating natural disasters and the presidential election ’ s implications for science , we have also shared stories that show how the fun side of science still thrives .
Here , we ’ ve gathered some of our favorites from the year , from the truly amazing to the downright weird and quirky .
We hope you enjoy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of cutting-edge science in 2021 .
Acorn woodpeckers fiercely defend territories of granary trees stuffed with supplies , and when a vacancy opens up , rival teams swoop in to fight for it .
Biologists enjoy watching such fierce spectacles , but they ’ re not the only ones—other acorn woodpeckers quickly learn of the fights , and they fly in from kilometers away to watch the action .
AI is pretty good at chess and Go .
It ’ s the real world , and the challenge of translating a simulation to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a loop—until now .
A robot named Curly won three of four games against leading human rivals from South Korean curling teams .
Some frogs and other amphibians sport bright colors and striking patterns , while others have a drabber appearance .
But it turns out many of them are hiding a secret that was revealed when scientists turned on blue and ultraviolet lights : They glow .
Technically speaking , they biofluoresce .
We don ’ t know why , but one possibility is to attract mates ( presumably without the EDM @ @ @ @ @ @ @ examine ancient remains , such as the 3,000-year-old mummy of an Egyptian scribe , without damaging them .
But why just look when you can listen ?
Scientists used CT scans to image the mummy ’ s vocal tract , 3-D print a replica and run air through it , thus resurrecting the corpse ’ s voice .
Never Be Late to Meet a Bumblebee Bumblebees need nectar and pollen to feed themselves , which means they need the plants they frequent to be in bloom .
But plants aren ’ t always @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the bumblebees take matters into their own hands .
They bite a plant ’ s leaves , which forces it to flower , on average , 30 days earlier than it would have otherwise .
Move Over Jay-Z , the Robot Rappers Have Arrived Computers have been making music since the 1950s , yet it wasn ’ t until this year that they learned to rap in real time .
Using deep learning and data sets of both words and units of pronunciation , a musical bot called Shimon can improvise responses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dino , the Michael Phelps of Its Day Fossils of duckbill dinosaurs are so common in North America that paleontologists often just ignore them .
But they were shocked to find the 66-million-year-old jawbone of a previously undocumented duckbill species in Africa , where no duckbills had been found before .
Given that Cretaceous Africa was isolated by high seas , scientists deduce the dinos must have swam hundreds of miles from Europe .
If you capture video or photographs of a mirror , you can use the images that appear on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ room looks like .
Researchers developed a mathematical model that reconstructs the environment in a similar way but using footage of any reflective object—including a bag of potato chips .
I Think , Therefore I Am Part of a Simulation ?
Is reality real ?
Or are we unwitting participants in a computer simulation , à la The Matrix ?
A study this year put the odds either way at 50–50 .
So have fun bending your brain around that one for a while .
The 23 billion chickens alive today may not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s most numerous bird may not have been humanity ’ s first pick for domestication .
New research suggests that early evidence of birds that lived alongside people year-round , thought to be the remains of chickens , were actually pheasants .
Molyneux ’ s problem , named after the philosopher William Molyneux , examines whether our minds are wired to recognize shapes so that a blind person , suddenly able to see , could instantly identify an object .
But what about a bumblebee ’ s mind ?
Spinning smokestacklike columns , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sustainable cargo ships .
The smooth , towering cylinders pull a ship forward by creating a pressure difference as they whirl .
Who Are You Calling Birdbrained ?
Scientists have long known that ravens and other corvids are very smart , but new work this year really underscored that fact .
Even birds as young as four months performed just as well as adult great apes on a range of social and physical tasks meant to test general intelligence .
A Rose by Any Other Name Would Sting as Much ?
From the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s long tusk , nature has got stingers and other pointy , ouch-inducing objects down .
Despite the range of geometries such features could have , most have a particular narrow design .
A new model suggests this happens because evolution pushes species to economize : a narrower design means using less material to make stingers and similar structures .
We ’ ll let the 30-year-old telescope take this one : “ I have seen 160,000 sunrises and sunsets , more than anyone could hope for .
Circling hundreds of miles above @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for 30 years , I ’ ve had a remarkable view of the universe .
I haven ’ t always been comfortable up here , but thanks to many of you I have outgrown a host of problems and found a purpose far more expansive and satisfying than anything my creators envisioned .
”

To say it has been a tough year would be a gross understatement, and reading the news—even on a science-focused Web site—can be a little depressing.
But while Scientific American has been providing in-depth coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, devastating natural disasters and the presidential election’s implications for science, we have also shared stories that show how the fun side of science still thrives. Here, we’ve gathered some of our favorites from the year, from the truly amazing to the downright weird and quirky. We hope you enjoy them and come back for more coverage of cutting-edge science in 2021.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Acorn woodpeckers fiercely defend territories of granary trees stuffed with supplies, and when a vacancy opens up, rival teams swoop in to fight for it. Biologists enjoy watching such fierce spectacles, but they’re not the only ones—other acorn woodpeckers quickly learn of the fights, and they fly in from kilometers away to watch the action.
Robo-Curler Gets in South Korean Athletes’ Hair
AI is pretty good at chess and Go. It’s the real world, and the challenge of translating a simulation to reality, that throws a robot for a loop—until now. A robot named Curly won three of four games against leading human rivals from South Korean curling teams.
Amphibians Would Make Good Ravers
Some frogs and other amphibians sport bright colors and striking patterns, while others have a drabber appearance. But it turns out many of them are hiding a secret that was revealed when scientists turned on blue and ultraviolet lights: They glow. Technically speaking, they biofluoresce. We don’t know why, but one possibility is to attract mates (presumably without the EDM).
Voice of the Dead
Advanced imaging techniques help researchers examine ancient remains, such as the 3,000-year-old mummy of an Egyptian scribe, without damaging them. But why just look when you can listen? Scientists used CT scans to image the mummy’s vocal tract, 3-D print a replica and run air through it, thus resurrecting the corpse’s voice.
Never Be Late to Meet a Bumblebee
Bumblebees need nectar and pollen to feed themselves, which means they need the plants they frequent to be in bloom. But plants aren’t always on the same schedule—and in that case, the bumblebees take matters into their own hands. They bite a plant’s leaves, which forces it to flower, on average, 30 days earlier than it would have otherwise.
Move Over Jay-Z, the Robot Rappers Have Arrived
Computers have been making music since the 1950s, yet it wasn’t until this year that they learned to rap in real time. Using deep learning and data sets of both words and units of pronunciation, a musical bot called Shimon can improvise responses to a human rapper.
The Duckbill Dino, the Michael Phelps of Its Day
Fossils of duckbill dinosaurs are so common in North America that paleontologists often just ignore them. But they were shocked to find the 66-million-year-old jawbone of a previously undocumented duckbill species in Africa, where no duckbills had been found before. Given that Cretaceous Africa was isolated by high seas, scientists deduce the dinos must have swam hundreds of miles from Europe.
A Snack-Bag’s-Eye View
If you capture video or photographs of a mirror, you can use the images that appear on the glass to figure out what the surrounding room looks like. Researchers developed a mathematical model that reconstructs the environment in a similar way but using footage of any reflective object—including a bag of potato chips.
I Think, Therefore I Am Part of a Simulation?
Is reality real? Or are we unwitting participants in a computer simulation, à la The Matrix? A study this year put the odds either way at 50–50. So have fun bending your brain around that one for a while.
Kentucky Fried Pheasant?
The 23 billion chickens alive today may not know it, but the world’s most numerous bird may not have been humanity’s first pick for domestication. New research suggests that early evidence of birds that lived alongside people year-round, thought to be the remains of chickens, were actually pheasants.
QED Bees
Molyneux’s problem, named after the philosopher William Molyneux, examines whether our minds are wired to recognize shapes so that a blind person, suddenly able to see, could instantly identify an object. But what about a bumblebee’s mind?
From Barbershop to Cargo Ship
Spinning smokestacklike columns, called Flettner rotors, could propel future sustainable cargo ships. The smooth, towering cylinders pull a ship forward by creating a pressure difference as they whirl.
Who Are You Calling Birdbrained?
Scientists have long known that ravens and other corvids are very smart, but new work this year really underscored that fact. Even birds as young as four months performed just as well as adult great apes on a range of social and physical tasks meant to test general intelligence.
A Rose by Any Other Name Would Sting as Much?
From the spines of a cactus to a narwhal’s long tusk, nature has got stingers and other pointy, ouch-inducing objects down. Despite the range of geometries such features could have, most have a particular narrow design. A new model suggests this happens because evolution pushes species to economize: a narrower design means using less material to make stingers and similar structures.
Blow Out the Candles, Hubble!
We’ll let the 30-year-old telescope take this one: “I have seen 160,000 sunrises and sunsets, more than anyone could hope for. Circling hundreds of miles above the surface of our big blue marble for 30 years, I’ve had a remarkable view of the universe. I haven’t always been comfortable up here, but thanks to many of you I have outgrown a host of problems and found a purpose far more expansive and satisfying than anything my creators envisioned.”


scientificamerican--2020-12-29--Chernobyl 'Exclusion Zone' Radiation Doses Reanalyzed

More than 30 years after the Chernobyl nuclear plant 's meltdown , an 18-mile radius around the site remains almost entirely devoid of human activity—creating a haven for wildlife .
But scientists disagree over lingering radiation 's effects on animal populations in this region , called the Exclusion Zone .
A new analysis , based on estimating the actual doses animals receive in various parts of the zone , supports the hypothesis that areas with the most radiation have the fewest mammals .
“ The effects we saw are consistent with conventional wisdom about radiation , ” says University of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the new study in Scientific Reports .
“ What 's surprising is that it took this long to start looking at this in a rigorous , comprehensive way.
” The paper reanalyzed data collected in 2009 .
At that time the same researchers used snow tracks to estimate the abundance of 12 mammal species , from mice to horses to wild boars , at 161 sites across 300 square miles in the Exclusion Zone .
They found fewer mammals in areas with higher background radiation .
Two subsequent studies , however , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and mammal abundance .
But Mousseau and his colleagues say all three studies analyzed radiation exposure too simplistically .
The previous studies relied solely on measurements of ambient radiation .
For their reanalysis , the researchers used their original mammal counts—but they estimated the total radiation doses those animals would likely receive over their lifetimes , combining data about each species ( including range size , diet and life span ) with radiation levels based on soil samples and calculations about how the animals encounter radioactive molecules .
Again , they found that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mammals .
Many past studies have linked radiation exposure at those estimated levels to deleterious genetic , physiological and reproductive effects , Mousseau says .
“ This work is very important and is well done , ” says Carmel Mothersill , a radiobiologist at McMaster University in Ontario , who was not involved in the study .
“ My own lab has used this approach to reanalyze data from Fukushima as well as Chernobyl , and it gives a much more meaningful relation between radiation exposure and risk of harm.
” But according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Beasley , a co-author of past conflicting studies , the paper suffers from “ critical flaws ” —primarily in how the authors estimated animal abundance .
Their original measurement locations , he says , were not spaced appropriately or extensively enough to draw conclusions about the entire area .
Karine Beaugelin-Seiller , study lead author and a radioecologist at the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety in France , agrees that uncertainty remains .
Yet , she says , the study provides a more accurate way to establish the connection between radiation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ research .

More than 30 years after the Chernobyl nuclear plant's meltdown, an 18-mile radius around the site remains almost entirely devoid of human activity—creating a haven for wildlife. But scientists disagree over lingering radiation's effects on animal populations in this region, called the Exclusion Zone. A new analysis, based on estimating the actual doses animals receive in various parts of the zone, supports the hypothesis that areas with the most radiation have the fewest mammals.
“The effects we saw are consistent with conventional wisdom about radiation,” says University of South Carolina biologist Timothy Mousseau, co-author of the new study in Scientific Reports. “What's surprising is that it took this long to start looking at this in a rigorous, comprehensive way.”
The paper reanalyzed data collected in 2009. At that time the same researchers used snow tracks to estimate the abundance of 12 mammal species, from mice to horses to wild boars, at 161 sites across 300 square miles in the Exclusion Zone. They found fewer mammals in areas with higher background radiation. Two subsequent studies, however, found no significant correlation between radiation levels and mammal abundance. But Mousseau and his colleagues say all three studies analyzed radiation exposure too simplistically.
The previous studies relied solely on measurements of ambient radiation. For their reanalysis, the researchers used their original mammal counts—but they estimated the total radiation doses those animals would likely receive over their lifetimes, combining data about each species (including range size, diet and life span) with radiation levels based on soil samples and calculations about how the animals encounter radioactive molecules.
Again, they found that locations calculated as more radioactive had fewer mammals. Many past studies have linked radiation exposure at those estimated levels to deleterious genetic, physiological and reproductive effects, Mousseau says.
“This work is very important and is well done,” says Carmel Mothersill, a radiobiologist at McMaster University in Ontario, who was not involved in the study. “My own lab has used this approach to reanalyze data from Fukushima as well as Chernobyl, and it gives a much more meaningful relation between radiation exposure and risk of harm.”
But according to University of Georgia wildlife ecologist James Beasley, a co-author of past conflicting studies, the paper suffers from “critical flaws”—primarily in how the authors estimated animal abundance. Their original measurement locations, he says, were not spaced appropriately or extensively enough to draw conclusions about the entire area.
Karine Beaugelin-Seiller, study lead author and a radioecologist at the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety in France, agrees that uncertainty remains. Yet, she says, the study provides a more accurate way to establish the connection between radiation exposure and effects, ideally guiding future research.


scientificamerican--2020-12-29--Race Riot Site from 1908 Could Become a National Park

A site in Springfield , Ill. , where a white mob murdered six African Americans and burned Black homes and businesses in a 1908 race riot , could become a new addition of the National Park Service .
The COVID-19 relief bill signed by President Trump last night included a provision that ordered the National Park Service to conduct a study to determine whether to allow the site to become part of the NPS portfolio , which now includes 423 units .
The Illinois site gained attention from federal officials in August when Interior Secretary David Bernhardt made it part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That network , created by Congress in 2018 , seeks to bring attention to events linked to the nation ’ s long push for civil rights ( Greenwire , Aug. 21 ) .
Publicity of the mass violence in the summer of 1908 in Springfield , which attracted a white mob of at least 5,000 people , helped lead to the creation of the NAACP .
Getting the study included in the COVID-19 aid package marked a victory for members of the Illinois congressional delegation , including Republican Rep. Rodney Davis , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make the site a national monument .
Davis said passage of the bill marks “ a critical step towards giving the site the recognition it deserves and ensuring that future generations of Americans will never forget about the innocent lives that were lost.
” A formal designation of the site could still be years away , with other projects already in the pipeline .
In November , NPS launched two of its latest studies to assess whether to add former President George W. Bush ’ s childhood home in Midland , Texas , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , where more than 7,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II ( Greenwire , Nov. 24 ) .
Under federal requirements , NPS conducts “ special resource studies ” to determine whether sites should be added , judging them on four standards set by Congress : national significance , suitability , feasibility and the need for NPS management .
The studies take an average of three years to complete .
Reprinted from Greenwire with permission from E & E News .
E & E provides daily coverage of essential energy and @ @ @ @ @

A site in Springfield, Ill., where a white mob murdered six African Americans and burned Black homes and businesses in a 1908 race riot, could become a new addition of the National Park Service.
The COVID-19 relief bill signed by President Trump last night included a provision that ordered the National Park Service to conduct a study to determine whether to allow the site to become part of the NPS portfolio, which now includes 423 units.
The Illinois site gained attention from federal officials in August when Interior Secretary David Bernhardt made it part of the African American Civil Rights Network. That network, created by Congress in 2018, seeks to bring attention to events linked to the nation’s long push for civil rights (Greenwire, Aug. 21).
Publicity of the mass violence in the summer of 1908 in Springfield, which attracted a white mob of at least 5,000 people, helped lead to the creation of the NAACP.
Getting the study included in the COVID-19 aid package marked a victory for members of the Illinois congressional delegation, including Republican Rep. Rodney Davis, who has helped lead an effort to make the site a national monument.
Davis said passage of the bill marks “a critical step towards giving the site the recognition it deserves and ensuring that future generations of Americans will never forget about the innocent lives that were lost.”
A formal designation of the site could still be years away, with other projects already in the pipeline.
In November, NPS launched two of its latest studies to assess whether to add former President George W. Bush’s childhood home in Midland, Texas, and Camp Amache in Granada, Colo., where more than 7,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II (Greenwire, Nov. 24).
Under federal requirements, NPS conducts “special resource studies” to determine whether sites should be added, judging them on four standards set by Congress: national significance, suitability, feasibility and the need for NPS management.
The studies take an average of three years to complete.
Reprinted from Greenwire with permission from E&E News. E&E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news at www.eenews.net.


scientificamerican--2020-12-29--The Problem of 'Long Haul' COVID

The Problem of 'Long Haul' COVID

It was just a couple of months into the pandemic when patients in online support groups began describing the phenomenon .
In some emergency departments , they said , their complaints were largely being dismissed—or at the very least diminished—by health care professionals .
The patients felt they were not being heard , or perhaps even were outright disbelieved .
The common thread through these comments was a basic one .
Each of the patients had already been infected with COVID-19 and presumably had recovered , yet each was still dealing with symptoms of the disease—sometimes vague , sometimes nonspecific—that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and nurses , already overloaded with emergent cases of the virus , were baffled , often searching for other , more benign explanations for what they were being told .
We now have a term for those patients—and the truth is , “ long hauler ” only begins to describe the COVID-related ordeals they are enduring .
Of all the facets of the virus we have dealt with in 2020 , this one may ultimately prove the most difficult to recognize , much less combat .
Long-haul COVID patients carry their symptoms well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understand as a “ normal ” course of recovery .
It can last for weeks .
For some long haulers , it has been months—and counting .
And to the consternation of physicians and nurses on the front lines , the symptoms of these patients often present as so varied and relatively common that they defy a solid COVID-related diagnosis .
If a patient comes to the emergency department ( E.D . )
complaining of dizziness , forgetfulness and headache , for example , is that long-haul COVID or something else entirely ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Muscle aches and insomnia ?
Relapsing fevers ?
With little to go on , and lacking clinical guidance , some of us in the E.D .
have instructed our patients to go home , get more rest , “ try to relax.
” We ’ ve offered reassurances that everything would be okay with more time , checked off the final diagnosis box for something like anxiety or chronic fatigue on our computers , and moved on to see our next patients .
But there ’ s a growing body of evidence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are , in fact , COVID long haulers , and that hospital emergency departments and clinics may be dealing with them for months and months to come .
“ Over the past few months evidence has mounted about the serious long-term effects of COVID-19 , ” said the World Health Organization Director-General , Tedros Adhanom , at an international long-COVID forum on December 9 .
At the same event , Danny Altmann , an immunologist at London ’ s Imperial College , said that his “ guesstimate is that we probably have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the planet with long COVID.
” The worldwide percentages of infection suggest that many of those people are living and suffering in the U.S. Long COVID is neither well-defined nor well understood , in part because the research base is still in its infancy .
The term “ long hauler ” is broadly used to characterize individuals whose symptoms persist or develop outside the initial viral infection , but the duration and pathogenesis are unknown .
Late sequelae have been described even in young , healthy people who had mild initial infection .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ haulers as being relapsing and remitting in nature—they improve , only to be struck back down again .
This reporting of this entire phenomenon has been inside out .
In fact , this may be one of the first syndromes which evolved from patients ’ accounts on social media .
As the early weeks and months passed , patients joined Facebook groups , Twitter feeds , and other online support groups—the Body Politic COVID-19 Support Group is one—to share stories of the myriad long-hauler symptoms that they were experiencing post-COVID , bringing visibility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were wide-ranging and included cognitive issues like “ brain fog ” and memory or attention problems , shortness of breath , a racing heart , nausea , diarrhea , intermittent spiking fevers—on and on .
“ A lot of us have the experience of really actually not knowing whether we would wake up in the morning , ” said event participant Margaret O ’ Hara , co-founder of Long Covid Support Group , which has 31,000 members .
Members even began collecting data about themselves , organizing their own Patient-Led Research for Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ self-reporting is the clear realization that long COVID is very real , that the chronic health manifestations can be quite debilitating , that the syndrome may affect a significant number of individuals , and that much more research and care provision are urgently needed .
“ From my perspective , it appears that post-COVID symptoms tend to be more common , severe , and longer-lasting than other viral illnesses , such as influenza , ” says Timothy Hendrich , a viral immunologist and infectious disease expert at University of California , San Francisco @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not clear .
A post–intensive care syndrome is well recognized whereby patients , following discharge after a critical illness , can suffer from impairments of thinking , mental health and physical function that can last up to a year .
The catch here is that long-haul COVID patients experiencing similar impairments have not all been hospitalized or critically ill .
This may be due to an immune-inflammatory response gone amok , or perhaps to ongoing viral activity .
Says Hendrich , “ The etiologies are almost certainly multifactorial , but may involve overzealous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , vascular inflammation or clotting disorders , and direct damage from viral replication during acute illness.
” We currently have no proven treatments for these type of long-term post-COVID symptoms , he added .
One challenge is getting a real picture of how many people are affected .
In a recent study in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection , a two-month follow-up of 150 adults with only mild to moderate COVID cases found that two thirds of them were still experiencing symptoms , most commonly shortness of breath , loss of smell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ study by Italian researchers , covering 143 COVID patients who had been discharged from the hospital , found that only about one in eight was completely free of symptoms 60 days from the beginnings of the illness .
One of the largest surveys so far , the King ’ s College London study , had four million users in the U.K. enter their ongoing symptoms on a smartphone app .
The researchers reported that around 10 percent of patients had persistent symptoms for one month , with 1.5 to 2 percent having sustained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggests , this idea of “ how many ” is a moving target that will require more study and analysis .
King ’ s College researchers , reviewing their data from the COVID Symptom Study , identified patterns that suggested long COVID was twice as common in women as men , and the median age was 45 .
A non–peer reviewed study of approximately 4,100 people from the same data set found that older people , women , and those with more than five symptoms during their first week of illness were more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clinical studies have shown that COVID patients may experience complications like myocarditis ( inflammation of the heart ) , abnormal heart rhythms and other cardiac sequelae weeks after contracting the virus .
These conditions may help explain why some long haulers experience shortness of breath , chest pain or their heart racing .
One non–peer reviewed study , involving 139 health care workers who developed coronavirus infection and recovered , found that about 10 weeks after their initial symptoms , 37 percent of them were diagnosed with myocarditis or myopericarditis—and fewer than half @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time of their scans .
Persistent shortness of breath—not being able to climb up a few flights of stairs , for example , or being unable to complete usual exertional activities without getting winded—are complaints repeatedly seen on long-COVID forum sites .
Small studies have found persistent lung findings like fibrosis ( a form of lung scarring ) , perhaps explaining these symptoms .
A retrospective multicenter study published in the Lancet of 55 recovered noncritical patients found that over 60 percent of patients had persistent symptoms three months after discharge , while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on their lung CT scans .
A quarter had demonstrable reductions in lung function .
Long haulers also have commonly described neurologic symptoms that include dizziness , headache , loss of smell or taste , etc .
Carlos del Rio , at Emory University School of Medicine , wrote in a review that while stroke is not commonly reported acutely with COVID , encephalitis ( inflammation of the brain ) , seizures and “ brain fog ” have been described several months post initial infection .
While there is much to learn , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neurologic manifestations occurred in patients who experienced severe COVID infections , were older and had comorbidities .
Anthony Fauci has expressed concern that some long haulers may develop myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome ( ME/CFS ) which has been linked to another coronavirus , severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ) .
Several viruses including SARS-CoV-1 , HIV , Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS ) , polio , the chicken pox virus , etc .
have been known to trigger delayed neurological sequelae .
Researchers are carefully monitoring mental health outcomes , too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this virus is exacting on COVID survivors have yet to be fully elucidated .
Anxiety , hopelessness , depression , even postraumatic stress disorder —especially in health care workers or patients following ICU experiences—have all been reported and need further study .
Amid all this there lies some good news .
First , physicians and our medical communities now are much more aware of long-hauler syndrome .
Post-COVID clinics now exist , offering a much-needed multidisciplinary and integrated approach .
The Neuro COVID-19 Clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital , for example , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ director , Igor Koralnik .
Research studies may well shine a brighter light on the symptoms of long-COVID patients , affording us a better understanding of who gets this condition and why , and suggesting possible interventions .
Yet we ’ re still in early stages : The National Institutes of Health ClinicalTrials.gov Web site shows fewer than a dozen post-COVID trials currently planned in the U.S. , while scientists reported from the Long COVID forum there are only 45 long-COVID projects underway worldwide , out of some 5,000-plus total COVID research projects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should be prepared to face .
In Del Rio ’ s words , “ hundreds of thousands , if not millions ” of individuals in the U.S. may wind up dealing with a multitude of adverse physical and mental health effects over a long term—and some anecdotal accounts of children experiencing long-haul symptoms are especially worrisome .
This may not be the aspect of COVID we thought we ’ d be seeing , but it ’ s the aspect we are going to be dealing with—and for some time .
As Tim Spector @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the foreword of a report for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change , “ This is the other side of Covid.
” Long after we ’ ve implemented strategies for dealing with the first wave of infection , our physicians are going to be seeing the many waves that follow .

It was just a couple of months into the pandemic when patients in online support groups began describing the phenomenon. In some emergency departments, they said, their complaints were largely being dismissed—or at the very least diminished—by health care professionals. The patients felt they were not being heard, or perhaps even were outright disbelieved.
The common thread through these comments was a basic one. Each of the patients had already been infected with COVID-19 and presumably had recovered, yet each was still dealing with symptoms of the disease—sometimes vague, sometimes nonspecific—that simply would not go away. Physicians and nurses, already overloaded with emergent cases of the virus, were baffled, often searching for other, more benign explanations for what they were being told.
We now have a term for those patients—and the truth is, “long hauler” only begins to describe the COVID-related ordeals they are enduring. Of all the facets of the virus we have dealt with in 2020, this one may ultimately prove the most difficult to recognize, much less combat.
Long-haul COVID patients carry their symptoms well beyond what we’ve come to understand as a “normal” course of recovery. It can last for weeks. For some long haulers, it has been months—and counting. And to the consternation of physicians and nurses on the front lines, the symptoms of these patients often present as so varied and relatively common that they defy a solid COVID-related diagnosis.
If a patient comes to the emergency department (E.D.) complaining of dizziness, forgetfulness and headache, for example, is that long-haul COVID or something else entirely? How about fatigue? A persistent cough? Muscle aches and insomnia? Relapsing fevers?
With little to go on, and lacking clinical guidance, some of us in the E.D. have instructed our patients to go home, get more rest, “try to relax.” We’ve offered reassurances that everything would be okay with more time, checked off the final diagnosis box for something like anxiety or chronic fatigue on our computers, and moved on to see our next patients.
But there’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that a surprising number of people are, in fact, COVID long haulers, and that hospital emergency departments and clinics may be dealing with them for months and months to come.
“Over the past few months evidence has mounted about the serious long-term effects of COVID-19,” said the World Health Organization Director-General, Tedros Adhanom, at an international long-COVID forum on December 9. At the same event, Danny Altmann, an immunologist at London’s Imperial College, said that his “guesstimate is that we probably have way more than five million people on the planet with long COVID.” The worldwide percentages of infection suggest that many of those people are living and suffering in the U.S.
Long COVID is neither well-defined nor well understood, in part because the research base is still in its infancy. The term “long hauler” is broadly used to characterize individuals whose symptoms persist or develop outside the initial viral infection, but the duration and pathogenesis are unknown. Late sequelae have been described even in young, healthy people who had mild initial infection. And symptoms are often described by long haulers as being relapsing and remitting in nature—they improve, only to be struck back down again.
This reporting of this entire phenomenon has been inside out. In fact, this may be one of the first syndromes which evolved from patients’ accounts on social media. As the early weeks and months passed, patients joined Facebook groups, Twitter feeds, and other online support groups—the Body Politic COVID-19 Support Group is one—to share stories of the myriad long-hauler symptoms that they were experiencing post-COVID, bringing visibility to the issue.
The persistent effects were wide-ranging and included cognitive issues like “brain fog” and memory or attention problems, shortness of breath, a racing heart, nausea, diarrhea, intermittent spiking fevers—on and on. “A lot of us have the experience of really actually not knowing whether we would wake up in the morning,” said event participant Margaret O’Hara, co-founder of Long Covid Support Group, which has 31,000 members. Members even began collecting data about themselves, organizing their own Patient-Led Research for Covid-19 group.
What has emerged from this self-reporting is the clear realization that long COVID is very real, that the chronic health manifestations can be quite debilitating, that the syndrome may affect a significant number of individuals, and that much more research and care provision are urgently needed.
“From my perspective, it appears that post-COVID symptoms tend to be more common, severe, and longer-lasting than other viral illnesses, such as influenza,” says Timothy Hendrich, a viral immunologist and infectious disease expert at University of California, San Francisco.
The cause? It’s not clear. A post–intensive care syndrome is well recognized whereby patients, following discharge after a critical illness, can suffer from impairments of thinking, mental health and physical function that can last up to a year. The catch here is that long-haul COVID patients experiencing similar impairments have not all been hospitalized or critically ill.
This may be due to an immune-inflammatory response gone amok, or perhaps to ongoing viral activity. Says Hendrich, “The etiologies are almost certainly multifactorial, but may involve overzealous immune responses, cardiopulmonary or systemic inflammation, vascular inflammation or clotting disorders, and direct damage from viral replication during acute illness.” We currently have no proven treatments for these type of long-term post-COVID symptoms, he added.
One challenge is getting a real picture of how many people are affected. In a recent study in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection, a two-month follow-up of 150 adults with only mild to moderate COVID cases found that two thirds of them were still experiencing symptoms, most commonly shortness of breath, loss of smell and taste, and/or fatigue. Another study by Italian researchers, covering 143 COVID patients who had been discharged from the hospital, found that only about one in eight was completely free of symptoms 60 days from the beginnings of the illness.
One of the largest surveys so far, the King’s College London study, had four million users in the U.K. enter their ongoing symptoms on a smartphone app. The researchers reported that around 10 percent of patients had persistent symptoms for one month, with 1.5 to 2 percent having sustained symptoms at three months. As Hendrich suggests, this idea of “how many” is a moving target that will require more study and analysis.
King’s College researchers, reviewing their data from the COVID Symptom Study, identified patterns that suggested long COVID was twice as common in women as men, and the median age was 45. A non–peer reviewed study of approximately 4,100 people from the same data set found that older people, women, and those with more than five symptoms during their first week of illness were more likely to develop long COVID.
Early clinical studies have shown that COVID patients may experience complications like myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), abnormal heart rhythms and other cardiac sequelae weeks after contracting the virus. These conditions may help explain why some long haulers experience shortness of breath, chest pain or their heart racing. One non–peer reviewed study, involving 139 health care workers who developed coronavirus infection and recovered, found that about 10 weeks after their initial symptoms, 37 percent of them were diagnosed with myocarditis or myopericarditis—and fewer than half of those had showed symptoms at the time of their scans.
Persistent shortness of breath—not being able to climb up a few flights of stairs, for example, or being unable to complete usual exertional activities without getting winded—are complaints repeatedly seen on long-COVID forum sites. Small studies have found persistent lung findings like fibrosis (a form of lung scarring), perhaps explaining these symptoms. A retrospective multicenter study published in the Lancet of 55 recovered noncritical patients found that over 60 percent of patients had persistent symptoms three months after discharge, while just over 70 percent had abnormal findings on their lung CT scans. A quarter had demonstrable reductions in lung function.
Long haulers also have commonly described neurologic symptoms that include dizziness, headache, loss of smell or taste, etc. Carlos del Rio, at Emory University School of Medicine, wrote in a review that while stroke is not commonly reported acutely with COVID, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), seizures and “brain fog” have been described several months post initial infection.
While there is much to learn, one study found that the most serious neurologic manifestations occurred in patients who experienced severe COVID infections, were older and had comorbidities. Anthony Fauci has expressed concern that some long haulers may develop myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) which has been linked to another coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Several viruses including SARS-CoV-1, HIV, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), polio, the chicken pox virus, etc. have been known to trigger delayed neurological sequelae.
Researchers are carefully monitoring mental health outcomes, too. Unquestionably, the longer-term psychosocial effects this virus is exacting on COVID survivors have yet to be fully elucidated. Anxiety, hopelessness, depression, even postraumatic stress disorder —especially in health care workers or patients following ICU experiences—have all been reported and need further study.
Amid all this there lies some good news. First, physicians and our medical communities now are much more aware of long-hauler syndrome. Post-COVID clinics now exist, offering a much-needed multidisciplinary and integrated approach. The Neuro COVID-19 Clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, for example, has been very busy, according to its director, Igor Koralnik.
Research studies may well shine a brighter light on the symptoms of long-COVID patients, affording us a better understanding of who gets this condition and why, and suggesting possible interventions. Yet we’re still in early stages: The National Institutes of Health ClinicalTrials.gov Web site shows fewer than a dozen post-COVID trials currently planned in the U.S., while scientists reported from the Long COVID forum there are only 45 long-COVID projects underway worldwide, out of some 5,000-plus total COVID research projects.
It’s a situation we should be prepared to face. In Del Rio’s words, “hundreds of thousands, if not millions” of individuals in the U.S. may wind up dealing with a multitude of adverse physical and mental health effects over a long term—and some anecdotal accounts of children experiencing long-haul symptoms are especially worrisome.
This may not be the aspect of COVID we thought we’d be seeing, but it’s the aspect we are going to be dealing with—and for some time. As Tim Spector of King’s College wrote in the foreword of a report for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, “This is the other side of Covid.” Long after we’ve implemented strategies for dealing with the first wave of infection, our physicians are going to be seeing the many waves that follow.


scientificamerican--2020-12-29--Science News Briefs from around the Planet

I ’ m Scientific American assistant news editor Sarah Lewin Frasier .
And here ’ s a short piece from the December 2020 issue of the magazine , in the section called Advances : Dispatches from the Frontiers of Science , Technology and Medicine .
The article is titled “ Quick Hits , ” and it ’ s a rundown of some noncoronavirus stories from around the globe .
U.S. : Western Joshua trees will get a year of temporary endangered species status in California while the state considers permanently listing the distinctive succulents as the first-ever plant species protected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : A tropical forest ground survey revealed that one lightning strike often damages more than 20 trees , a quarter of which can die within a year .
Researchers combined this finding with satellite data to estimate that lightning kills 200 million tropical trees worldwide every year—a significant cause of their demise .
Greenland : Climate researchers discovered records of an automatic weather station that measured −93.3 degrees Fahrenheit one day in December 1991—a temperature colder than the average on Mars and the coldest ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere .
Italy : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Sardinia that somehow survived to three years old without skin or teeth .
They concluded it was a genetic mutation and plan to check nearby sediment for potential pollutant causes .
China : Newly discovered and pristinely preserved fossils suggest two sleeping dinosaurs were buried alive in an underground burrow 125 million years ago .
The burrow may have collapsed under volcanic debris .
Australia : A new study shows how Australian grasslands ’ strange barren patches—called fairy circles—are landscaped by the grasses themselves .
Baking heat creates a hard clay crust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ runs off of it , forming a more welcoming zone at its edges that grasses bolster as they grow and cool the soil .
[ The above text is a transcript of this podcast . ]

Full Transcript
I’m Scientific American assistant news editor Sarah Lewin Frasier. And here’s a short piece from the December 2020 issue of the magazine, in the section called Advances: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Science, Technology and Medicine.
The article is titled “Quick Hits,” and it’s a rundown of some noncoronavirus stories from around the globe.
U.S.:
Western Joshua trees will get a year of temporary endangered species status in California while the state considers permanently listing the distinctive succulents as the first-ever plant species protected because of climate change–related threat.
Panama:
A tropical forest ground survey revealed that one lightning strike often damages more than 20 trees, a quarter of which can die within a year. Researchers combined this finding with satellite data to estimate that lightning kills 200 million tropical trees worldwide every year—a significant cause of their demise.
Greenland:
Climate researchers discovered records of an automatic weather station that measured −93.3 degrees Fahrenheit one day in December 1991—a temperature colder than the average on Mars and the coldest ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere.
Italy:
Scientists have examined a shark found south of Sardinia that somehow survived to three years old without skin or teeth. They concluded it was a genetic mutation and plan to check nearby sediment for potential pollutant causes.
China:
Newly discovered and pristinely preserved fossils suggest two sleeping dinosaurs were buried alive in an underground burrow 125 million years ago. The burrow may have collapsed under volcanic debris.
Australia:
A new study shows how Australian grasslands’ strange barren patches—called fairy circles—are landscaped by the grasses themselves. Baking heat creates a hard clay crust over a patch of ground; water runs off of it, forming a more welcoming zone at its edges that grasses bolster as they grow and cool the soil.
That was “Quick Hits.” I’m Sarah Lewin Frasier.
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]


scientificamerican--2020-12-30--Explosive Charges Protect Backcountry Skiers

As the coronavirus pandemic rages on , many winter sports enthusiasts are skipping their usual ski resort visits in order to avoid contagious crowds or preemptive shutdowns .
But that does not mean they are giving up on skiing , snowboarding and snowmobiling .
Many are instead venturing into unpatrolled and ungroomed backcountry terrain .
Specialized backcountry equipment retailers and manufacturers are , in fact , reporting record sales .
And some skiers are skipping backcountry safety lessons before heading off-piste , with potentially deadly results : the week before Christmas , at least three Colorado backcountry skiers died in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ December 26 .
Avalanches have , of course , been part of the winter landscape for as long as snow has fallen on mountains .
During the 2018–2019 winter sports season , the Colorado Avalanche Information Center documented thousands of these events , which hit 135 people and killed eight , in that state alone .
Now increasing traffic in the backcountry is not only exposing more people to risk but is actually making avalanches more frequent , says Paige Pagnucco , an avalanche education and outreach specialist at the Utah Avalanche Center @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in human-triggered avalanches because we have more people in the backcountry accessing that terrain that ’ s questionable , ” she explains .
Under the weight of even a single skier , an unstable snowfield can shift and send loose snow thundering down a mountainside .
In attempts to prevent avalanches from sweeping skiers off the runs and pushing cars off the roads , officials tasked with protecting winter sports terrain and state highways must clear steep slopes of deep , unstable snowpack .
They usually do so by setting off explosions that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slides .
In 2018–2019 the Colorado Department of Transportation conducted more than 1,400 detonations , causing almost 900 avalanches .
Many of these blasts are still produced with traditional methods .
New cutting-edge technologies are quickly becoming more common , however .
In the U.S. , humans have been unleashing ordnance against avalanches since just after World War II .
Monty Atwater , a veteran of the U.S. Army ’ s 10th Mountain Division , spent part of the war in Europe , where he saw military artillery used to trigger snowslides and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Utah in 1946 , when the U.S. Forest Service ( which regulates ski resorts on public land ) hired him to serve as “ snow ranger ” at the state ’ s Alta Ski Area .
Alta became the first American ski resort where artillery was used to clear snow from steep mountain passes .
Avalanche fighters still use military weapons today : About 40 surplus 105-millimeter howitzers leased from the U.S. Army are currently deployed by nine ski resorts and seven state transportation departments .
The weapons can throw an 18-kilogram @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trained ski patrollers and staff from state transportation departments aim the howitzers at steep , high-mountain terrain with historical records of avalanches .
When the rounds strike their target , they explode and trigger snowslides that can sometimes be massive .
The Avalanche Artillery Users of North America Committee , a nonprofit organization , manages the artillery-avalanche-control processes across all 16 existing U.S. programs .
“ There 's nothing more cost-effective than an artillery system for avalanche mitigation , ” says Jamie Yount , a certified master gunner and president of the Avalanche @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yount is also the winter operations program manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation , where he monitors approximately 300 avalanche paths that could threaten ski resorts or transportation corridors .
Artillery is a proved and effective way to help control avalanches .
But unfortunately , most howitzers are almost 60 years old .
With limited access to maintenance expertise and spare parts to repair these aging tools , avalanche managers are moving to new technologies .
Some of the latest mitigation mechanisms , called remote avalanche control systems ( RACS ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are at high risk of being buried by avalanches .
RACS can trigger avalanches at any time and in any weather via signals sent over a cellular network ( or through backup radio control if that network fails ) .
Those signals tell the installation to deploy a specific type of explosive charge , depending on the system .
One such system was developed by a Switzerland-based company called Wyssen Avalanche Control .
The Wyssen avalanche tower , which varies in height , depending on its location , has explosive charges stored in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the tower receives secure commands through a cellular system , a panel on the box opens and drops a charge , which is attached to a cable that lowers it to a preset height above the snowpack .
Igniters are activated as the charge falls .
And after a time delay , they set off the explosion .
“ Remote control systems like the Wyssen tower are more efficient and much safer [ than artillery or handheld explosives ] because you ’ re removing the charges from the hands of people , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wyssen Avalanche Control .
The technology lets humans control avalanches without physically entering a potentially dangerous snowfield .
On the other hand , permanent systems such as this one are more expensive to install—and because explosive charges are stored on-site , companies can face legal scrutiny .
Despite these challenges , Wyssen says it has installed almost 600 mitigation towers worldwide , including more than a dozen in the U.S .
The Utah Department of Transportation placed the first of these in Cardiff Bowl , across the highway from the Alta Ski Area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state transportation departments have put up a total of 13 Wyssen towers in Utah and five in Colorado .
Bomblike explosive charges are not the only option for remote avalanche control .
Two RACS , called Gazex and O ’ Bellx , ignite a mix of propane and oxygen to create a concussive force on demand .
The Gazex system consists of a network of pipes and a small structure that houses oxygen and propane tanks permanently installed in known avalanche start zones .
Remotely controlled valves release the gases into the pipes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ certain point , a firing mechanism ignites them , creating a downward-facing pressure wave that punches into the unstable snowpack to trigger an avalanche .
The O ’ Bellx system uses a similar gas-based method but looks different than Gazex .
O ’ Bellx units resemble rocket nose cones , and they sit on towers built on high-risk avalanche slopes .
These systems share many of the Wyssen towers ’ advantages , with remote control making them available 24/7 in all weather conditions .
The technology they rely on makes them safe for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explosive gas mix is created only when needed , says David Poulet , a safety marketing manager at the French winter sports company MND , which manufactures both the Gazex and O ’ Bellx systems .
“ There ’ s no risk of duds or sliding charges in avalanche areas , ” he says .
MND says it has sold these systems to American ski resorts—including Alta , Brighton Resort in Utah , Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming , Squaw Valley Ski Resort in California and Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico—and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S .
Despite higher initial installation costs , compared with artillery , Poulet says demand for remotely controlled avalanche systems is increasing .
“ There ’ s a necessity to keep highways closed for the shortest possible time , as well as ski resorts opened for as long as possible , ” he notes .
And with more people ditching groomed ski trails for backcountry , avalanche-prevention experts will need all the tools at their disposal to wipe snow off potentially dangerous areas .

As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, many winter sports enthusiasts are skipping their usual ski resort visits in order to avoid contagious crowds or preemptive shutdowns. But that does not mean they are giving up on skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling. Many are instead venturing into unpatrolled and ungroomed backcountry terrain. Specialized backcountry equipment retailers and manufacturers are, in fact, reporting record sales. And some skiers are skipping backcountry safety lessons before heading off-piste, with potentially deadly results: the week before Christmas, at least three Colorado backcountry skiers died in avalanches, and a fourth perished on December 26.
Avalanches have, of course, been part of the winter landscape for as long as snow has fallen on mountains. During the 2018–2019 winter sports season, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center documented thousands of these events, which hit 135 people and killed eight, in that state alone. Now increasing traffic in the backcountry is not only exposing more people to risk but is actually making avalanches more frequent, says Paige Pagnucco, an avalanche education and outreach specialist at the Utah Avalanche Center. “We have had an increase in human-triggered avalanches because we have more people in the backcountry accessing that terrain that’s questionable,” she explains. Under the weight of even a single skier, an unstable snowfield can shift and send loose snow thundering down a mountainside.
In attempts to prevent avalanches from sweeping skiers off the runs and pushing cars off the roads, officials tasked with protecting winter sports terrain and state highways must clear steep slopes of deep, unstable snowpack. They usually do so by setting off explosions that send snow cascading down mountains in planned slides. In 2018–2019 the Colorado Department of Transportation conducted more than 1,400 detonations, causing almost 900 avalanches. Many of these blasts are still produced with traditional methods. New cutting-edge technologies are quickly becoming more common, however.
An Explosive History
In the U.S., humans have been unleashing ordnance against avalanches since just after World War II. Monty Atwater, a veteran of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, spent part of the war in Europe, where he saw military artillery used to trigger snowslides and clear slopes. He brought the idea to Utah in 1946, when the U.S. Forest Service (which regulates ski resorts on public land) hired him to serve as “snow ranger” at the state’s Alta Ski Area. Alta became the first American ski resort where artillery was used to clear snow from steep mountain passes.
Avalanche fighters still use military weapons today: About 40 surplus 105-millimeter howitzers leased from the U.S. Army are currently deployed by nine ski resorts and seven state transportation departments. The weapons can throw an 18-kilogram explosive projectile up to 11 kilometers. Trained ski patrollers and staff from state transportation departments aim the howitzers at steep, high-mountain terrain with historical records of avalanches. When the rounds strike their target, they explode and trigger snowslides that can sometimes be massive. The Avalanche Artillery Users of North America Committee, a nonprofit organization, manages the artillery-avalanche-control processes across all 16 existing U.S. programs.
“There's nothing more cost-effective than an artillery system for avalanche mitigation,” says Jamie Yount, a certified master gunner and president of the Avalanche Artillery Users of North America Committee. Yount is also the winter operations program manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation, where he monitors approximately 300 avalanche paths that could threaten ski resorts or transportation corridors.
Remote Control
Artillery is a proved and effective way to help control avalanches. But unfortunately, most howitzers are almost 60 years old. With limited access to maintenance expertise and spare parts to repair these aging tools, avalanche managers are moving to new technologies.
Some of the latest mitigation mechanisms, called remote avalanche control systems (RACS), are being permanently installed along paths that are at high risk of being buried by avalanches. RACS can trigger avalanches at any time and in any weather via signals sent over a cellular network (or through backup radio control if that network fails). Those signals tell the installation to deploy a specific type of explosive charge, depending on the system.
One such system was developed by a Switzerland-based company called Wyssen Avalanche Control. The Wyssen avalanche tower, which varies in height, depending on its location, has explosive charges stored in a box at the top. When the tower receives secure commands through a cellular system, a panel on the box opens and drops a charge, which is attached to a cable that lowers it to a preset height above the snowpack. Igniters are activated as the charge falls. And after a time delay, they set off the explosion.
“Remote control systems like the Wyssen tower are more efficient and much safer [than artillery or handheld explosives] because you’re removing the charges from the hands of people,” says Roz Reynolds, U.S. representative of Wyssen Avalanche Control. The technology lets humans control avalanches without physically entering a potentially dangerous snowfield. On the other hand, permanent systems such as this one are more expensive to install—and because explosive charges are stored on-site, companies can face legal scrutiny.
Despite these challenges, Wyssen says it has installed almost 600 mitigation towers worldwide, including more than a dozen in the U.S. The Utah Department of Transportation placed the first of these in Cardiff Bowl, across the highway from the Alta Ski Area, in 2017. Since then, state transportation departments have put up a total of 13 Wyssen towers in Utah and five in Colorado.
Bomblike explosive charges are not the only option for remote avalanche control. Two RACS, called Gazex and O’Bellx, ignite a mix of propane and oxygen to create a concussive force on demand. The Gazex system consists of a network of pipes and a small structure that houses oxygen and propane tanks permanently installed in known avalanche start zones. Remotely controlled valves release the gases into the pipes. When they build up to a certain point, a firing mechanism ignites them, creating a downward-facing pressure wave that punches into the unstable snowpack to trigger an avalanche. The O’Bellx system uses a similar gas-based method but looks different than Gazex. O’Bellx units resemble rocket nose cones, and they sit on towers built on high-risk avalanche slopes.
These systems share many of the Wyssen towers’ advantages, with remote control making them available 24/7 in all weather conditions. The technology they rely on makes them safe for operational staff and the public because the explosive gas mix is created only when needed, says David Poulet, a safety marketing manager at the French winter sports company MND, which manufactures both the Gazex and O’Bellx systems. “There’s no risk of duds or sliding charges in avalanche areas,” he says.
MND says it has sold these systems to American ski resorts—including Alta, Brighton Resort in Utah, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming, Squaw Valley Ski Resort in California and Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico—and has set up almost 200 units throughout the U.S. Despite higher initial installation costs, compared with artillery, Poulet says demand for remotely controlled avalanche systems is increasing. “There’s a necessity to keep highways closed for the shortest possible time, as well as ski resorts opened for as long as possible,” he notes. And with more people ditching groomed ski trails for backcountry, avalanche-prevention experts will need all the tools at their disposal to wipe snow off potentially dangerous areas.
Editor’s Note (9/10/21): The headline of this article was edited after posting to correct the description of the protected areas.


scientificamerican--2020-12-30--Poem: Letter to 2050

Poem: Letter to 2050

The Squamscott River grew lazy in early summer— muskrat rose and dove heron swept the air and landed and hemlocks that had survived another century 's practice of harvesting their bark were thriving .
Some suffered beaver girdles and the predation by woolly adelgids but still the pileated woodpeckers found what they required in the snags .
This is how it was for us—pulling threads of hope out of the air as if we had the skill to weave them back into webs .
We surprised ourselves when it worked— so much needed to be undone .
And I promise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may seem to you—no .
I wo n't justify our failures .
The story of the alewives' return—that 's what I wanted you to know because it helps to think of desires that last for centuries without being satisfied .
How far inland did the alewives come , I wondered , the dam removed after three hundred years and in the first year then they came in a rush .
Locals could hear the gulls gathered in the estuary in their joy and the alewives swam and swam to the reaches of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appetite for place their genes remembered and knew how to find .
The Abenaki offered a welcome back ceremony .
And fishers gathered—human cat and bird to feast and the memory that had been thwarted for centuries became a fertile flow .

Edited by Dava Sobel
The Squamscott River
grew lazy in early summer—
muskrat rose and dove
heron swept the air and landed
and hemlocks that had survived
another century's practice
of harvesting their bark
were thriving. Some suffered
beaver girdles and the predation
by woolly adelgids but still
the pileated woodpeckers
found what they required
in the snags. This is how it was
for us—pulling threads of hope
out of the air as if we had
the skill to weave them
back into webs. We surprised
ourselves when it worked—
so much needed to be undone.
And I promise you that
as paltry as our efforts
may seem to you—no.
I won't justify our failures.
The story of the alewives'
return—that's what I wanted
you to know because it helps
to think of desires that last
for centuries without being
satisfied. How far inland
did the alewives come,
I wondered, the dam removed
after three hundred years
and in the first year then
they came in a rush.
Locals could hear the gulls
gathered in the estuary
in their joy and the alewives
swam and swam to the reaches
of their ancestors—eleven miles
and three hundred years
of appetite for place
their genes remembered
and knew how to find.
The Abenaki offered
a welcome back ceremony.
And fishers gathered—human
cat and bird to feast
and the memory that had been
thwarted for centuries
became a fertile flow.