How Blood from Coronavirus Survivors Might Save Lives

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March 25, 2020

Dear Reader, In New York City—the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak—hospitals are preparing to use the blood of people who have recovered from COVID-19 as a possible antidote for the disease. Read our main story to learn more. Also in today's roundup: a new twist for string theory; scientists identify another rapidly melting glacier in Antarctica; and how to prevent future disease outbreaks. Important information for our print subscribers

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Public Health How Blood from Coronavirus Survivors Might Save Lives New York City researchers hope antibody-rich plasma can keep people out of intensive care By Amy Maxmen,Nature magazine

Physics Will String Theory Finally Be Put to the Experimental Test? Physicists have found a way the theory might limit the cosmic inflation that is thought to have expanded the early universe By Brendan Z. Foster

Public Health How Do We Prevent the Next Outbreak? Our planning needs to take account of the complex interconnections among species, ecosystems and human society By Nicholas A. Robinson,Christian Walzer

Public Health COVID-19: Predicting the Path and Analyzing Immunity Scientific American contributing editor W. Wayt Gibbs continues to report on the coronavirus outbreak from his home in Kirkland, Wash., site of the first U.S. cases. In this installment, he talks with researchers about what their models show for the future of the pandemic and on research to create tests to see who has developed immunity. By W. Wayt Gibbs,Steve Mirsky | 15:48

EARTH Antarctic Glacier Has Retreated 3 Miles in 22 Years Sitting atop a deep canyon, Denman Glacier could be a weak point in the Antarctic Ice Sheet By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Public Health Some States are Reporting Incomplete COVID-19 Results, Blurring the Full Picture Collecting only positive test results from certain labs skews the data By Fred Schulte,Kaiser Health News

Policy & Ethics How Disaster Aid Ravaged an Island People The 2004 tsunami devastated the Nicobar Islanders, but what came next was arguably worse By Ajay Saini,Simron J. Singh

FROM THE STORE The Secrets of Consciousness Consciousness is more than mere awareness. It's how we experience the world, how we turn input into experience. Once the province of philosophy, religion or perhaps fantasy, neuroscientists have added a scientific voice to the discussion, using available medical technology to explore just what separates so-called "mind" from brain. In this eBook, we look at what science has to say about one of humankind's most fundamental, existential mysteries.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE The American Economy Is Rigged And what we can do about it By Joseph E. Stiglitz | November 2018

QUOTE OF THE DAY "If you ask the American people to choose between public health and the economy, then it's no contest. No American is going to say, 'accelerate the economy at the cost of human life.' Because no American is going to say how much a life is worth." Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, press conference on Tuesday, March 24, 2020

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