Ukraine maps omit key info + how bad is the BA.2 variant? | Top 5

+ a huge solar storm could wreak havoc US Edition - Today's top story: The West thinks that Russians, suffering from sanctions, will end up abandoning Putin – but history indicates they won't [View in browser]( US Edition | 27 March 2022 [The Conversation]( Welcome to Sunday! Our top five articles of the past week are displayed below, and [also available in a downloadable, printable edition](. This is an experiment – if you find it useful, or have any suggestions, please let us know. Here in New England, the ugliness of late winter is slowly yielding to warmer, sunnier weather. I’m getting the itch to get outside to clean up the yard and plant some cold-weather vegetables. For the past few springs, as I’ve sorted through my seeds, I’ve thought of this 2020 article by Christina Gish Hill, an associate professor of anthropology at Iowa State University. With colleagues, Hill is studying an Indigenous gardening technique that brings together different plants in the same plot so that [they can nourish and support one another](. “Native growers knew that planting corn, beans, squash and sunflowers together produced mutual benefits,” Hill writes. “Corn stalks created a trellis for beans to climb, and beans’ twining vines secured the corn in high winds.” It’s a reminder to think holistically and try to learn a new trick every growing season. Hit reply and let me know what you’re planting this spring. Emily Costello Managing Editor The McDonald’s flagship restaurant at Pushkinskaya Square – the first one of the chain, opened in the USSR on Jan. 31, 1990 – in central Moscow on March 13, 2022, McDonald’s last day in Russia. AFP via Getty Images [The West thinks that Russians, suffering from sanctions, will end up abandoning Putin – but history indicates they won’t]( Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, Colorado State University; Evgeniya Pyatovskaya, University of South Florida Those placing their faith in sanctions to turn Russians against the war in Ukraine know little about the country, its history and people, write two scholars who have studied Russian culture. BA.2, one of three main omicron sublineages, is sweeping the world. BlackJack3D/iStock via Getty Images Plus [What is the new COVID-19 variant BA.2, and will it cause another wave of infections in the US?]( Prakash Nagarkatti, University of South Carolina; Mitzi Nagarkatti, University of South Carolina The latest addition to the omicron lineage has been making waves in Europe. Whether it will do the same in the U.S. depends on rates of vaccination and prior infection. - [A large solar storm could knock out the power grid and the internet – an electrical engineer explains how]( David Wallace, Mississippi State University Every few centuries the sun blasts the Earth with a huge amount of high-energy particles. If it were to happen today, it would wreak havoc on technology. - [Food pantries that give away stuff people can’t or won’t cook have an ‘acorn squash problem’]( Diana Cuy Castellanos, University of Dayton; John C. Jones, Virginia Commonwealth University Efforts to make donated food as healthy as possible backfire if the recipients throw it out. - [Maps show – and hide – key information about Ukraine war]( Timothy Barney, University of Richmond Geographers often talk about the ‘silences’ of maps – what’s missing and unseen. Those silences can be as meaningful as what’s shown. Download the new printable edition We're experimenting with a magazine version of this newsletter that you can download to read on a tablet, on an e-reader or on paper. [Try it out]( and let us know what you think by replying to this email. Like this newsletter? You might be interested in our other weekly emails: [Science Editors' Picks]( • [This Week in Religion]( • [Politics Weekly]( • [Global Economy & Business]( About The Conversation: We're a nonprofit news organization dedicated to [helping academic experts share ideas with the public](. We can give away our articles thanks to the help of foundations, universities and readers like you. [Donate now to support research-based journalism]( [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](