Virus Mutations Reveal How COVID-19 Really Spread

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May 04, 2020

Dear Reader, Here are today's top stories: A crinkly bag of potato chips can reveal a surprising amount of information about the room it's in. Using the light reflecting off the wrapper, researchers were able to build an image of its surroundings. Next up, an op-ed from our May issue looks into a way to make it easier for the terminally ill to donate organs. In climate news, global warming isn't just causing glaciers to melt—it's making some collapse suddenly. And our main story features an infographic that shows how human contact, not a wildly evolving pathogen, created the coronavirus pandemic. Also, because it's Star Wars Day, I've included a piece from our archive by astronomer Caleb Scharf. Could we tell if the universe around us was filled with galactic empires and rebel forces? Find out below. May the 4th be with you.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Public Health Virus Mutations Reveal How COVID-19 Really Spread Globe-trotting humans were the culprits  By Mark Fischetti,Martin Krzywinski

EARTH Giant Volcano Rewrites the Story of Seafloor Formation   Tamu Massif and dozens of other seafloor volcanoes formed like sheet cakes, not layer cakes  By William W. Sager

Physics A Shiny Snack Bag's Reflections Can Reconstruct the Room around It Researchers used the light reflecting off the wrapper to build an image of its surroundings By Sophie Bushwick

Public Health Stopping Deforestation Can Prevent Pandemics Destroying habitats makes viruses and other pathogens more likely to infect humans By THE EDITORS

Policy & Ethics The Morally Complex Mix of Euthanasia and Organ Donation Canada's recent experience with terminally ill patients is instructive By Claudia Wallis

Biology Scientists Waited Two and a Half Years to See Whether Bacteria Can Eat Rock Mystery of dirt's origins is a thorny experimental problem By Jennifer Frazer

EARTH Warming Caused a Glacier in Alaska to Collapse Pooling meltwater destabilized the glacier, sending an avalanche of ice down a mountainside By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Computing Don't Regulate Artificial Intelligence: Starve It The potential dangers of this technology are great enough that we need to be very careful about how powerful we allow it to be By William Davidow,Michael S. Malone

Public Health Nurses Are Playing a Crucial Role in this Pandemic—as Always The profession's contributions to improving the public's health during times of crisis date back to the days of Florence Nightingale By Janice Phillips,Cathy Catrambone

Space Believable Extraterrestrials The 100th anniversary of astronomy's 'Great Debate' prompts thoughts on the hunt for life in the universe By Caleb A. Scharf

FROM THE STORE Ask the Experts: Human Body and Mind The third eBook in our Ask the Experts series, Human Body and Mind tackles questions about our own strange and mysterious biology, from how we evolved to exist this way to feats of body and mind.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE Do We Live in a Star Wars Universe? Tis the season for science fiction fun, but could we even tell if the universe around us was filled with galactic empires and rebel forces? By Caleb A. Scharf

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