Pi in the Sky: General Relativity Passes the Ratio's Test

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May 19, 2020

Dear Reader, Here are highlights from today's top stories: Physicists tested Einstein's general theory of relativity using gravitational waves to approximate pi. Next up, a unique math-based approach has identified potential drug and vaccine targets in the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. And lastly, the pandemic may lead to long-term consequences for older people: specifically, a rising wave of dementia. Also, we're providing free digital access to the June issue of Scientific American, which features a special report exploring how the pandemic started, where it's headed, and how scientists are fighting back.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Physics Pi in the Sky: General Relativity Passes the Ratio's Test Using gravitational waves to approximate pi, physicists see no problem with Einstein's theory By Daniel Garisto

Math Geometry Points to Coronavirus Drug Target Candidates A new mathematical model predicts areas on a virus that might be especially vulnerable to disabling treatments By Michael Dhar

Cognition A Tsunami of Dementia Could Be On the Way The COVID-19 pandemic can damage the aging brain both directly and indirectly By Shannon Halloway,Bryan D. James

Biology Shyness Helps Parrotfish Survive Invasive Predators Prey fish still do not recognize lionfish as a threat. But selection pressure from the invaders is making them shy By Lesley Evans Ogden

Public Health How COVID-19 Deaths Are Counted Assigning a cause of death is never straightforward, but data on excess deaths suggest coronavirus death tolls are likely an underestimate By Stephanie Pappas,LiveScience

Behavior & Society The Things We've Lost in the Pandemic Human lives, human touch and direct human interactions are gone—and so is the sense that we can trust our leaders to act quickly and effectively in the face of a catastrophe By Ben Santer

Cognition Forced Social Isolation Causes Neural Craving Similar to Hunger New research highlights the profound effect of severe social isolation on the brain By Scott Barry Kaufman

Climate COVID-19 Could Permanently Transform Transportation The drop in CO2 emissions we're seeing is temporary—but it shows us what might be possible By Rob Jackson,Corinne Le Quéré,Pep Canadell,Pierre Friedlingstein,Glen Peters

Public Health Introducing the June 2020 Issue Special report: How the coronavirus pandemic started, where it's headed, and how scientists are fighting back By Curtis Brainard

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Digital & Full Archive For $69 per year, your Digital & Full Archive subscription includes 12 digital issues with full digital archive access back to 1845 and Android and iOS app access.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE What Is Pi, and How Did It Originate? Steven Bogart, a mathematics instructor at Georgia Perimeter College, answers By Steven Bogart | May 1999

QUOTE OF THE DAY "3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679" The first 100 digits of pi

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