National Geographic: Can COVID-19 alter your personality? Here's what brain research shows.

By Sharon Guynup

    We all know that COVID-19 has myriad health impacts, ranging from the lungs and heart to other areas of the body. But new symptoms and patients have revealed that it can also affect cognitive function.

    This was first noticed in patients after they returned to their daily lives and began experiencing side effects like loss of memory, bad mood, anxiety, among other symptoms that suggested brain damage had occurred. The symptoms were similar to those seen in patients of other neurological diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

    COVID-19 most likely causes these changes because of the immune response to the virus. When the immune system fights a virus, one of the cells it releases is an inflammatory cell. These are released into the bloodstream, and when they end up in the brain for a prolonged time, it can cause neurons to die, block capillaries, and create other side effects. In addition, the virus can also infect brain cells directly, also causing them to die.

    Brain damage has been seen to be most impactful on those with long fights with the virus, since prolonged sickness increases the amount of inflammation that occurs. Scientists have yet to find a definitive way to stop these effects, but antivirals like Remdesevir can help patients recover more quickly, and other drugs target specific areas in the brain. Researchers hope to be able to study these effects from the coronavirus to dig deeper into neurodegenerative diseases.

National Geographic: How the Rosetta Stone unlocked the secrets of ancient civilizations

By Erin Blakemore

    In 1799, the Rosetta Stone was discovered in Egypt. But it wasn't an archaeological dig; instead, it was dug up by French soldiers creating defenses for an Ottoman attack. They tore down a nearby wall and found a stone fragment with three types of writing, including ancient Greek. Today, we know that it is an inscription affirming King Ptolemy V's royal cult.

    When the French invaded Egypt in 1798, they brought scientists and archaeologists with them to pick out objects of interest and take them back to France. But the British ultimately defeated the French for control of Egypt and took the artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone, to England, where it resides in the British Museum to this day.

    Scholars across Europe raced to decipher the stone, and notable contributions came from Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion. Young, a scientist, looked at it as a mathematical problem. comparing other hieroglyphic texts to match phonetic sounds and piece words together. Champollion, who became known as the founder of Egyptology, cracked the code in 1822 by figuring out that the third script was demotic and the hieroglyphs were coptic.

    Eventually, more multilingual inscriptions were found, confirming this idea. But the iconic stele still generates controversy. Egypt has continually asked that the relic be returned, but it has adamantly remained in Britain, garnering 6 million visitors every year.

National Geographic: Why the U.S. once set off a nuclear bomb in space

By Brian Gutierrez

    On July 8th, 1962, the U.S. military prepared to launch a nuclear bomb miles into the air, a fusion bomb that was 500 times as powerful as the one that fell on Hiroshima. The bomb, Starfish Prime, would be one of the highest detonations ever and cause the nuclear powers to sign a treaty limiting the height of nuclear missile testing.

    Starfish Prime exploded at 250 miles into the atmosphere, around where the ISS orbits today. When it exploded above Hawaii, it lit up the night sky as far away as New Zealand, charged particles from the explosion colliding with the atmosphere and creating an artificial aurora. In Hawaii, it caused extensive blackouts, the collapse of the radio system, and made a siren go off.

    All this happened in the heat of the Cold War, when there were outlandish ideas like blowing up missiles on the Moon. Scientists were interested in knowing how the blast would interact with the Van Allen belts, which is essentially Earth's magnetic field. Most believed it would be a minor disturbance at worst.

    They were wrong. The massive plasma ball created a new radiation field called the Starfish Belt, with devastating consequences for the satellites that went through it. It eventually went away, but the threat of such an event occuring again is possible. Geomagnetic storms come periodically from the Sun, and if they are big enough, they have the effect of a nuclear bomb. In the 1800s, the Carrington Event created auroras in Australia and shocked telegraphers. But today, we rely much more on electronics than simple telegraphs. If the radiation is unchecked, the results could be devastating. Luckily, there is a potential remedy. If satellites hit the radiation belt with a certain frequency AM wave, the charged particles could be pushed into the atmosphere, where they would dissipate.

National Geographic: What is a heat dome? Deadly hot weather descends on Pacific Northwest.

By Sarah Gibbens

    Residents across the Pacific Northwest are bracing for a heatwave as health warnings went up all across the region. It's the latest in what is an alarming trend of increasing temperatures. A heat dome is a high-pressure region in the atmosphere that traps heat over a certain area. Because of a La Niña weather pattern, waters this year in the eastern Pacific are cool, while those in the west are warmer. This creates dense, warm winds that go into the jet stream and end up over the U.S. West Coast. The current heat dome has already set record temperatures, and another one is predicted to occur in mid-July.

    Scientists say that climate change is one major factor in the increase in heat domes, not just in the U.S. but around the world, even in Russia's Arctic Circle. Especially in dry areas, heat waves can be self-perpetuating, because there are already droughts, which exacerbate heat even more.

    In areas with especially high temperatures, city officials are open public venues with cooling as designated cooling centers, where people without air conditioning at home can come to rest and cool off. Officials also say that the very young and old are at most risk, and people with neighbors who live alone should check on them.

National Geographic: ‘Dragon Man’ skull may be new species, shaking up human family tree

By Maya Wei-Haas

    In the 1930s, people in northeast China found a skull. But it wasn't just any old skull. It was massive, well preserved, with a mish-mash of different features. Obviously knowing that this was an important find, the person who found it tossed it down a well where it was recently rediscovered. Several studies have determined that it is the skull of a man who died around 146,000 years ago, and one has even claimed that it should be named its own species: Homo longi.

    The reason for all the commotion is its array of both modern and archaic features. The skull is squat and wide, and its one remaining tooth has three roots, which are all features commonly found in older fossils. However, it also has delicate cheekbones that are low on the face, which looks more like us. When researchers ran algorithms to try to give it a place on the hominins tree, the resulting location was closer to our own species, Homo sapiens, than the Neanderthals.

    Still, not all scientists agree that it warrants a new species. Some say that the odd characteristics are unique to the individual, or that it should be group under the Denisovans. Whatever the case is, the discovery shows that as we make more discoveries, evolutionary trees will only get more complicated.

National Geographic: Astronomers identify the stars where any aliens would have a view of Earth

By Nadia Drake

    The transit method has long been a common way to figure out where planets are. It identifies little blips that appear to move across the surface of a star, because those could be planets moving past the stars they orbit. But could aliens have identified us using the same method?

    Of course, the conditions would have to be right for this to occur. With the transit method, only planets that can be seen passing a start from the angle of another planet can be identified, leaving many others unnoticed. Researchers recently conducted a study to determine when certain planets would be able to see us. They concluded that in the 10,000 year period ranging from 5,000 years ago to 5,000 into the future, planets orbiting over 2,000 nearby stars could potentially have identified Earth, should there be living organisms there. They also estimated that around 29 planets are habitable and could have picked up stray radio signals from us.

    These planets are all in the Earth transit zone or the plane that is aligned with the Sun and Earth. These planets, if habited, could have seen us in the past, be looking at us now, or see us in the future. They could not only use radio waves that humans produce but, over the span of hundreds of thousands of years, see the composition of the atmosphere changing.

National Geographic: Whales don’t spray water from their blowholes and other myths, debunked

By Melissa Hobson

    There are a variety of myths out there about whales, ranging from them blowing water from their blowholes to swallowing humans. However, most of these are wrong.

    Whales have hair: Though they don't look furry, whales actually have hair, and some are even born with whiskers that fall out because they serve no purpose underwater. Hair follicles are an evolutionary trait present in all whales since whales are mammals.

    Whales can't breathe underwater: Whales have lungs just like we do, and need to breathe in order to survive (though they do last much longer on one breath than we do). Their blowhole(s) are like our noses.

    Whales expel air from their blowholes: Whales breathe, and their blowholes serve as an air intake. When they surface, they blow air out, and the hot air from their lungs condenses when it collides with cold air outside. Water and other particles that were covering the blowhole are also expelled.

    Not all whales sing: You've probably heard about whale songs - predictable sequences of sound that travel through the ocean. However, only certain baleen whales exhibit this behavior. Toothed whales use echolocation, which emits high-pitched clicks to identify objects. 

    Whale sharks are not a type of whale: While whale sharks might be called whales and grow as large as one, they are a type of fish, not a mammal. Like all sharks, they are cold-blooded, have gills, and have a skeletal system comprised of cartilage. In addition, their fins move side to side, rather than up and down.

National Geographic: The Delta variant is serious. Here’s why it's on the rise.

By Sanjay Mishra

    As vaccination rates in the U.S. continue to fall, new concerns are rising about a more dangerous variant of COVID-19 that came out of India - the Delta variant. It already accounts for the majority of U.K. cases last week and 6% of the total cases worldwide, leading to the postponement of reopenings in that country. It is 60% more transmissible than the first Alpha variant, which was also 40% more transmissible compared to the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. It also seems to be more dangerous once a person is infected.

    The coronavirus mutates easily because its genetic information is in the form of RNA, which is prone to errors when copied. These random mutations can help a virus evade the immune system, make it weaker, or have no effect at all. In the case of the Delta variant, a series of genetic mistakes accumulated on the spike protein, which antibodies use to detect it. The mutations make it harder for antibodies to identify the virus and allow it to escape the immune system even after it is caught. Often, certain mutations that are beneficial to a virus evolve independently in many different areas around the globe and spread more quickly, with this mutation at location 681 quickly becoming more common.

    It also seems that this variant is also more resistant to vaccines. In the U.K., 31% of the patients with the Delta variant and needing critical care had at least one dose of a vaccine. With both doses, the Pfizer vaccine appeared to be around 88% effective, and AstraZeneca 60%. With one dose, they were just 51% and 33% effective. What has happened in the U.K. could happen in many other countries if people do not continue to be cautious. It is important that people not let down their guard.

National Geographic: Humpback whales can’t swallow a human. Here’s why.

By Melissa Hobson

    On Friday, a lobster diver in Cape Cod was reportedly swallowed by a humpback whale while diving. He said he was in the animal's mouth for around 30 seconds before it spat him out. However, while a humpback could technically fit a human in its massive mouth, it is scientifically impossible for it to swallow one, as its throat is much too small, usually around the size of a human fist. There have been other reports of people being swallowed and spit out before, but all these people were likely simply temporarily "engulfed" in the whale's mouth as it was trying to feed. The only whale with a throat big enough to swallow humans (and larger organisms) is the sperm whale, but this organism generally lives down in the depths of the ocean, below where most humans are ever able to go.

    Whales generally fall into two categories in terms of what they eat. Toothed whales sperm whales can eat animals like fish and squid, while baleen whales have teeth-like baleen which helps them filter small organisms like krill out of the water. So there is no reason to be afraid of whales, especially because most people will never get close enough to one to be "swallowed". In fact, whales need more help from us. A variety of human activities has led to a population decline, with everything from hunting to boats causing problems.

National Geographic: Deep-sea shark bonanza seen off remote island chain

By Annie Roth

    There is very little known about bluntnose sixgill sharks. These animals, which have six gills instead of five, are considered "near threatened", but there is also currently not enough data to determine their population. That's why researchers with OceanX developed a submarine and modified spear guns to go down and tag the animals down at around 4,500 feet, where they usually live. Previously, they would have to be trapped, brought to the surface, then tagged, which was both traumatic for the shark and difficult for humans to do.

    Down in the ocean, researchers and seeing the sharks a lot more often and having more success tagging them. They hope that this will help them understand more about these little-known creatures. It is believed that though they spend the majority of their time in the depths where the water is colder, they come up to shallower areas in order to feed. This means that climate change and warmer oceans could have an impact on their population and feeding patterns since they cannot tolerate warmer waters.

National Geographic: Will charging electric cars ever be as fast as pumping gas?

By Madeleine Stone

    One major obstacle to the adoption of electric vehicles is charging. Currently, they typically take around 30 minutes for an 80% charge, though this can vary with the size and charge rate of the battery. However, new lithium-ion and solid-state technologies being developed by companies could reduce those times to around 20 minutes.

    Current EV batteries are composed of lithium-ion cells that can store and release energy thousands of times. Each cell consists of a lithium cathode and a graphite anode with liquid electrolytes in the middle. When the battery is charged, lithium ions flow across the liquid from the cathode to the anode and fill up the graphite. The speed is determined by the rate at which ions flow across the liquid. But charging too fast can cause the battery to overheat, develop a lithium plate over the anode, or form dendrites that can cause the battery to explode. In fact, the capacity of the charging stations isn't the problem - the fastest chargers can already charge batteries at extremely high rates, but the batteries have limits on how quickly they can charge.

    One solution is alternative anode materials. Niobium, for instance, doesn't overheat or form lithium plates, but one downside is that it doesn't store as much energy per unit, making it infeasible for EVs for the time being. Another option is solid-state storage. These use solid electrolytes instead of liquid, preventing the possibility of fire, though these form dendrites at high charge rates. Both technologies are years in the future, but new research is bringing them ever closer.

    Once EVs have super-fast batteries, charging them will put a much larger strain on the electricity grid. If all of them are pulling 400 volts of energy at once, it will be hard to keep up, which is why most developers are opting to keep speeds at around 20 minute charging times. In addition, many people like to charge at their homes after work, when there is less strain on electricity, helping them reach full environmental potential.

National Geographic: There’s a new ocean now—can you name all 5?

By Sarah Gibbens

    On World Oceans Day, National Geographic cartographers officially acknowledged the Southern Ocean, the world's fifth ocean. There has long been a debate over whether the region around Antarctica has enough unique features to warrant its own name. The ocean is rimmed by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) at around 60 degrees south latitude and encircles the Antarctic continent while touching three others.

    The ACC first formed when Antarctica separated from South America 34 million years ago and the current facilitates the movement of water around the southern end of the Earth. The waters there are colder and less salty than the more northern areas. It extends from the ocean floor to the surface, allowing it to transport the most water out of any current, and because its cold, dense waters bury carbon in the ocean, it has important environmental impacts as well. Warming of the current in recent years has also led to faster melting of the Antarctic shelf.

    The ocean holds a variety of unique creatures and ecosystems like whales, krill, seabirds, and fish. Industrial fishing has had a major impact on many of these animals, increasing the importance of recognizing the Southern Ocean and making sure more people are educated.

National Geographic: Are we there yet? What happens if the U.S. can't reach herd immunity

By Amy McKeever

    Even though herd immunity isn't necessarily the end of COVID-19 like many people assume, it is an important step toward making sure outbreaks are preventable and fewer in number. Herd immunity occurs once enough people are immune to a disease, either by vaccination or infection, that the virus can no longer find any hosts. This means that the transmission rate would be less than 1. Based on the transmission rate of around 3 to 4 during the early days of COVID, scientists estimated that around 60-70% vaccination would be required for herd immunity, though that number has since risen to 85% due to more dangerous variants. But many health officials in the U.S. are becoming more concerned that we may not reach that number due to a combination of slowing vaccination rates and increased hesitancy and false information.

    The Biden Administration and various state governments are working to try to get more people vaccinated, using tactics like offering free beer or lottery entries for full vaccination. But what happens if the U.S. can't reach herd immunity?

    The most important thing here is that a majority of the almost 50% of people vaccinated are 65 or older or otherwise compromised in the case that they contract the virus. Should they get it now, they are better protected, meaning that death rates will go down a lot, which is key in ending a pandemic. Even if pockets do continue to have outbreaks, they will be controlled, and likely won't cause major shutdowns. In fact, Israel was able to reopen at 54% vaccination with no major side effects.

National Geographic: How quickly can Congress impeach a president? Here’s how it could work.

By Erin Blakemore

    In the aftermath of the Capitol riot, lawmakers attempted to find a way to hold President Trump accountable. Democrats have suggested impeachment and even implied that they are drafting articles for impeachment. But why would Congress try to impeach a president with just weeks left in his term, and how would it work?

"Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states that the president shall be removed from office after being impeached for treason, bribery, or 'other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.' That removal takes place in two distinct parts: impeachment, which is conducted by the House of Representatives, and a trial in the Senate. In order to remove a president from office, two-thirds of the senators must vote to convict."

National Geographic: The 1876 election was the most divisive in U.S. history. Here’s how Congress responded.

By Erin Blakemore

    As Congress gears up to certify electoral votes on January 6th, several Republicans from both houses have said that they will challenge counts from certain states, citing "widespread voter fraud". Many have given the example of 1876, when allegations of fraud from both parties led to political mayhem.

    In 1876, the Civil War was over, and the Republican-controlled government quickly passed laws limiting former Confederates and giving Blacks more freedom during a period called the Reconstruction. Because of this, they were overwhelmingly supported by the new Black voting population, which also elected several African Americans to Congress. The Southern white voters, who largely supported the anti-Reconstruction Democratic party, didn't like this and began to start trying to disenfranchise Black voters in the 1870s.

   

National Geographic: What vaccines mean for the return of travel

By Johanna Read

    As several companies announced vaccines toward the end of 2020, hope returned for regular travel in 2021. Still, there is anxiety over the potential of catching COVID-19. Most people said that they wouldn't be doing any extra traveling, and many said that they are still concerned about exposure.

"'Vaccine hesitancy is a critical obstacle to overcome,' says Dr. Tom Kenyon, the chief health officer of Project HOPE, a global health and humanitarian relief organization, and a former director at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To get back to travel, the U.S. and the world need herd immunity, thought to be achieved when about 70 percent of the population has protective antibodies. Kenyon says, though, that '70 percent is an arbitrary figure, and there is no "off/on" switch with herd immunity.' Recent news about more transmissable strains of COVID-19 suggest that herd immunity might only come when 90 percent of citizens have antibodies."

The New Yorker: Can Democrats Win Georgia - and the Senate?

By Charles Bethea

    In 2014, the New Georgia Project was founded by Stacey Abrams, and its volunteers have assisted millions in getting to the polls. Along with a few groups like it, the New Georgia Project helped get Biden a victory in the red state.

    Early voting for the special election in the state ended on December 31st, and the organization planned to knock on a million doors before then.

"The incumbents, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, 'do not give a damn about the fact that Black folks are dying at an alarming clip in our state,' Ufot said...Health disparities are particularly stark in Georgia’s rural Black Belt, she noted, where the pandemic has taken a heavy toll. 'What an incredible holiday gift it would be to send Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the United States Senate so they can go there to do the people’s work,' she added."

National Geographic: When the world reopens, will art museums still be there?

By Christine Spolar

    In March, museums across America closed as the stay-at-home orders set in.

"The year 2020 has been a time of crisis, innovation, anxiety, and introspection for all businesses, especially museums. Large galleries in cities with reliable international tourism found travel bans nearly ruinous to their business models. Smaller regional museums discovered a surprising upside as their institutions emerged as symbols of good, collaborative creativity in their communities."

    Some museums have become more popular for local residents as they come to museums for a hint of normalcy. Museums across the world have improved their digital and virtual assets. In the light of civil rights protests, some have closed down controversial exhibits, and the Baltimore Museum of Art has pledged to only accept works by female artists in the coming fiscal season.

National Geographic: What we’ve learned about how our immune system fights COVID-19

By Fedor Kossakovski

    Over the past year, scientists have been studying the coronavirus and developed a vaccine at a record pace. During an infection, our immune system develops a healthy response, leaving us with antibodies. But in severe cases, it can end up going overboard or not working at all.

    First, the good news:

Immune responses fall on a spectrum. Our bodies develop lifelong immunity to viruses like hepatitis A or measles, while HIV, on the other end, can evade our bodies’ defenses for as long as we live. 'Fortunately, SARS-CoV-2 is closer to the hepatitis A end of the spectrum,' says Andrea Cox, a viral immunologist at Johns Hopkins University. 'It's not the easiest virus, but it's nowhere near HIV.'"

National Geographic: Why new coronavirus variants 'suddenly arose' in the U.K. and South Africa

By Maya Wei-Haas

    In early December, COVID-19 cases started going up in Kent in the UK. Researchers with the COIVD-19 Genomics Consortium in the UK started looking toward mutations in the virus for clues as to what was happening.

"For SARS-CoV-2, these mutations—the small errors made naturally when genomes are copied—develop at a steady pace of one or two each month, says Loman, a professor of microbial genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Birmingham. Yet among the Kent cases, scientists found a large cluster that was remarkably different, with a total of 23 mutations arising without prior notice and faster than anyone expected."