Polio is back in US – why health officials are concerned

+ ancient stalagmites rewrite drought history in India US Edition - Today's top story: Polio vaccination rates in some areas of the US hover dangerously close to the threshold required for herd immunity – here's why that matters [View in browser]( US Edition | 21 September 2022 [The Conversation]( It’s hard to believe that polio is back in the news, given the disease was considered eradicated in the U.S. in 1979. But earlier this month New York state declared a public health emergency after finding community spread of the viral disease. This followed the first case in New York of polio in nearly a decade in July. University of Connecticut’s Jennifer Girotto, who works on immunizations and pediatric infectious diseases, explains how we’ve come to this point – and why there’s concern for the future. Most notably, she writes polio vaccination rates vary significantly across the U.S., which means areas of the country hover [“dangerously close” to the needed threshold of herd immunity](. Misinformation, in my mind, is one of the most destabilizing forces in society today. And deepfakes – manipulations of video and audio media to put words into someone’s mouth – take the potential to spread false information to a new level. Two researchers at the University of Florida recently presented a paper that provides a glimmer of hope that phony audio can be detected. In an article explaining this work, they write that the technique uses a computer model[and fluid dynamics to detect the difference between computer-generated voice samples and those created by human speakers](. Unraveling the mysteries and importance of the microbiome has long been an interest of our science editors, and this story goes even further on that quest by examining the evolutionary history of microbes that [“have been along for the evolutionary ride [with humans] for over hundreds of thousands of years.”]( Having greater insight into how the microorganisms in our guts partnered with humans could lead to microbiome-based treatments for specific populations and better understanding of their role in human well-being, they write. Also in this week’s science news: - [Human trash on Mars – there’s a lot of it]( - [Lack of sleep among teens is worse than believed]( - [Why and how nature creates patterns]( If there’s a subject you’d like our team of science editors to investigate, please reply to this email. Martin La Monica Director of Editorial Projects and Newsletters In 1956, during the height of the polio epidemic in the U.S., health officials in Chicago offer polio shots at a public school. Bettmann via Getty Images [Polio vaccination rates in some areas of the US hover dangerously close to the threshold required for herd immunity – here’s why that matters]( Jennifer Girotto, University of Connecticut With poliovirus circulating in New York, health authorities worry that pockets of the county with low polio vaccination rates could give the virus a foothold. With deepfake audio, that familiar voice on the other end of the line might not even be human let alone the person you think it is. Knk Phl Prasan Kha Phibuly/EyeEm via Getty Images [Deepfake audio has a tell – researchers use fluid dynamics to spot artificial imposter voices]( Logan Blue, University of Florida; Patrick Traynor, University of Florida AI-generated voice-alikes can be indistinguishable from the real person’s speech to the human ear. A computer model that gives voice to the dinosaurs turns out to be a good way to tell the difference. The gut microbiome may also play a role in personalized medicine. nopparit/iStock via Getty Images Plus [Humans evolved with their microbiomes – like genes, your gut microbes pass from one generation to the next]( Taichi A. Suzuki, Max Planck Institute for Biology; Ruth Ley, Max Planck Institute for Biology As early modern humans spread across the globe, their gut microbes genetically changed with them. Understanding the origins of gut microbes could improve understanding of their role in human health. [Mars is littered with 15,694 pounds of human trash from 50 years of robotic exploration]( Cagri Kilic, West Virginia University Discarded pieces of landing gear, crashed spacecraft and wear and tear have produced a lot of debris that is now scattered around the Martian surface. [1,000-year-old stalagmites from a cave in India show the monsoon isn’t so reliable – their rings reveal a history of long, deadly droughts]( Gayatri Kathayat, Xi'an Jiaotong University; Ashish Sinha, California State University, Dominguez Hills As water dripped in a remote cave, it left behind evidence of every monsoon season for a millennium. Scientists say it holds a warning for a country about to become the most populous on Earth. [2022’s supercharged summer of climate extremes: How global warming and La Niña fueled disasters on top of disasters]( Kevin Trenberth, University of Auckland A climate scientist explains the forces behind the summer’s extreme downpours and dangerous heat waves, and why new locations will be at risk in the coming year. [Super-Earths are bigger, more common and more habitable than Earth itself – and astronomers are discovering more of the billions they think are out there]( Chris Impey, University of Arizona Newly discovered super-Earths add to the list of planets around other stars that offer the best chance of finding life. An astronomer explains what makes these super-Earths such excellent candidates. - [Why does nature create patterns? A physicist explains the molecular-level processes behind crystals, stripes and basalt columns]( Maxim Lavrentovich, University of Tennessee Nature begins forming patterns at the molecular level – and sometimes they grow to enormous sizes. - [ARPA-H: High-risk, high-reward health research is the mandate of new, billion-dollar US agency]( Tong Sun, University of Washington Renee Wegrzyn will lead the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which is tasked with speeding up how fast basic science is translated into real-world applications. - [Typhoon Merbok, fueled by unusually warm Pacific Ocean, pounded Alaska’s vulnerable coastal communities at a critical time]( Rick Thoman, University of Alaska Fairbanks Most of the flooded communities are Indigenous and rely on subsistence hunting that residents would normally be doing right now. Recovering from the damage will make that harder. - [Viruses may be ‘watching’ you – some microbes lie in wait until their hosts unknowingly give them the signal to start multiplying and kill them]( Ivan Erill, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Phages, or viruses that infect bacteria, can lie dormant within chromosomes until they’re triggered to replicate and burst out of their hosts. - [School start times and screen time late in the evening exacerbate sleep deprivation in US teenagers]( - [Looking back at America’s summer of heat, floods and climate change: Welcome to the new abnormal]( - [NASA is crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid to test a plan that could one day save Earth from catastrophe]( - Like this newsletter? 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