SCIENCE: Tackling Job One — COVID-19

Plus, volcanic lightning, northern lights, putting science in the Cabinet [SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT]( [VIEW ONLINE]( [SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT]( [National Geographic]( [THE BIG TOPIC:]( [TACKLING JOB ONE—COVID-19]( Wednesday, January 20, 2020 PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX WONG, GETTY IMAGES By [Victoria Jaggard]( SCIENCE executive editor Even before Joseph R. Biden, Jr. took the oath of office, he and his team were rushing to address the horrific COVID-19 pandemic and the catastrophic U.S. response. More than 400,000 Americans are dead. Hospital capacity is at crisis levels. New, seemingly [more contagious variants of the virus are circulating](. Vaccines are being rolled out far too slowly to [a chaotic patchwork of recipients](. Way back in August, after a summer of relaxed restrictions, our Craig Welch wrote about how [the U.S. could still come back from the brink]( and get the virus under control. “While the country’s politicians are fighting and divided, health-care leaders remain remarkably consistent on what needs to be done,” he reported. Wear masks, wash hands, keep social distancing, ramp up testing. However, roughly six months later, we’re in even more dire straits—despite [highly effective vaccines]( that were [created and authorized in record time](. It’s clear we need nationwide action to pull out of this crisis. Before being sworn in today (pictured above), [Biden had outlined]( his team’s plan to [get vaccination on track on a national level](. The administration vowed to kick off “an unprecedented, whole-of-society effort that mobilizes every resource available—across the public and private sectors.” The plan is multipronged and comprehensive, calling for manufacturing boosts to increase supply, expanded centers and increased staff for distribution, and even a wider public education campaign to overcome hesitancy to get a vaccine. Biden’s team has also strongly reiterated the importance of masks and announced plans to expand testing. The type-A planner in me is encouraged by this detailed, evidence-driven outline. But one of the hardest lessons I learned as a kid was how to go with the flow when things don’t go exactly to plan. For one thing, the COVID-19 response is estimated to cost $400 billion, and even after the harrowing toll of this pandemic, it’s unclear if Congress will support that figure. Meanwhile, plenty of people have clung to their dislike of masks, their disbelief of the risks, and their fears about vaccines. At this point, there is no “getting back to normal” once the pandemic has subsided, and that’s OK. There are plenty of aspects to the “normal” we inhabited in 2019 that needed to change. What we really need is to curb the deaths and the physical and emotional turmoil caused by an uncontrolled virus, and the only way to get there is to go all in on a science-based response. Biden pledged today to do his utmost to “repair this nation,” but as [his COVID- plan notes]( “It will take every American doing their part.” (Below, the “field of flags” on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall, representing those Americans who could not attend today's inauguration.) Do you get this daily? If not, [sign up here]( or forward to a friend. PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE RAEDLE, GETTY IMAGES TODAY IN A MINUTE Elevating science: The new U.S. government is the first to put a White House science adviser in its presidential Cabinet. Biden nominated genome-sequencing pioneer Eric Lander, president of the Broad Institute, to serve as his science adviser and the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, [STAT reports](. Whose land? Conservationists say they will fight the U.S. transfer of sacred Apache land in Arizona to a foreign mining company. Underneath Oak Flats, a popular campground site in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest, is one of the largest untapped copper reserves in North America. Last week, a coalition of mining opponents filed suit in federal court, saying the move “violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Apaches’ constitutional rights to religious freedom, due process, and petition and remedy, and is a breach of trust and fiduciary duties,” [Nat Geo’s Douglas Main reports](. Returning ancestors: To the Maori people of New Zealand, the practice of preserving one’s head after death was an act of love and respect. Beginning in 1770, Europeans began trading the mummified and tattooed Maori heads, also called toi moko, spurring enemy tribal groups to collect the heads of enemies for sale. Now, European museums are sending the toi moko home. Since 2003, the remains of more than 600 ancestors, including toi moko, have been returned to New Zealand, [Atlas Obscura reports](. A dino’s all-purpose orifice: Mating, egg-laying, excretion—why have separate orifices for these bodily needs when you can have one that does them all? Enter the cloaca, an all-in-one opening that’s found in modern amphibians, reptiles, birds, and a handful of mammals. Signs of this ancient feature go way back: On Tuesday, researchers announced the first formally published reconstruction of a non-avian dinosaur’s cloaca. The genitalia, found on a 100-million-year-old Psittacosaurus fossil, even include darkened patches that may have released musk, [the New York Times reports](. INSTAGRAM PHOTO OF THE DAY PHOTOGRAPH BY PETE MCBRIDE, [@PEDROMCBRIDE]( The remains of the day: The quiet dance of the Arctic lights was a spellbinding finish to a cold day on the icy ocean. The northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, emerge in the sky when the sun’s outermost plasma drives the solar wind toward Earth. The particles collide with nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the atmosphere, creating ions that give off the colors that light up the sky. This natural phenomenon has fascinated people for centuries, and it is even thought to be depicted in a cave painting dating back to 30,000 B.C. Readers, do you like this image? So have more than 500,000 followers since [it was posted to our Instagram page]( a few weeks ago. The aurora: [‘It seemed an act of magic’]( THE NIGHT SKIES ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW FAZEKAS Moon points to Mars: After darkness falls, check out the quarter moon in the southwestern sky pointing the way to two neighboring worlds, Mars and Uranus. While the red planet is an easy target for the unaided eye, the green ice giant is more of a challenge. Using binoculars or a telescope to peer through the lunar glare, track down the distinctively green, tiny disk of Uranus. The seventh planet from the sun is so far from us that its light takes well over two and half hours to reach your eye! On Monday, use the gibbous moon as a guidepost to find a bright open star cluster in the constellation Gemini. Known as the Shoe-buckle Cluster, or Messier 35, this loose association of 500 stars is 2,800 light-years away. — [Andrew Fazekas]( See: [10 top stargazing opportunities in 2021]( THE BIG TAKEAWAY PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANS LANTING Climate change, at a glance: As the U.S. prepares to rejoin the Paris Agreement to fight climate change, Nat Geo’s Alejandra Borunda [outlines six key numbers]( to watch in a world that just tied for its hottest year on record. Here are three: 1. 2.25: How many degrees higher in Fahrenheit Earth’s average temperature was in 2020, compared to the late 1800s, according to a comprehensive European analysis. 2. 22: The number of billion-dollar climate-related disasters in the U.S. last year. 3. 28: The percentage of energy the world gets from renewables. [Here’s the full list](. Another item: The realization of climate change’s effects is stronger among younger Americans. More than half of American adults 44 or under say they consider climate change in deciding where to live or move to, according to a National Geographic and Morning Consult poll. Are you among them? [Let us know!](mailto:david.beard@natgeo.com) (Pictured above, old-growth redwood trees are marked for cutting after a wildfire roared through Big Basin State Park in California. [Here’s one way to save the redwoods and sequias]( [READ MORE]( IN A FEW WORDS [QUOTE] My lodestar was always kindness and making things a little better than I found them, journalistically or personally. I think I can look back and say I was not a mean or bad person. Sharon Begley, 1956-2021 Science writer, author of [Can’t Just Stop: An Investigation of Compulsions]( [Path-breaking science journalist, who spun words into gold, dies at 64]( DID A FRIEND FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER? On Thursday, Rachael Bale covers the latest in animal news. If you’re not a subscriber, [sign up here]( to also get Whitney Johnson on photography, Debra Adams Simmons on history, and George Stone on travel. THE LAST GLIMPSE PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANCISCO NEGRONI Watch the magma: How do volcanic eruptions produce lightning storms? As we break it down [in the latest National Geographic]( the breakup of the rising magma starts the whole process off. Not all eruptions trigger lightning, and scientists are just beginning figure out connections between intensity, access to water, and lightning. Oh, ice can generate lighting as well. (Pictured above, the lightning-rich eruption of Chile’s Calbuco volcano in April 2015.) [SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE]( This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, with photo selections by Jen Tse. Kimberly Pecoraro and Gretchen Ortega helped produce this. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading, and have a good week ahead. 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