Animals Use Social Distancing to Avoid Disease

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July 08, 2020

Dear Reader,   Social distancing may feel unnatural to people, but the practice is very much a part of the natural world. Animals have strategies to separate during an outbreak, even changing behaviors to stop the spread of diseases that could kill them. Our lead story, from the July issue of Scientific American, explains how lobsters, birds and some primates use quarantine to avoid infections. Also featured in today’s roundup of top news: vaccinations across the U.S. have plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic; American universities and institutions are taking steps to guard against science theft from other countries; and researchers are using drones and underwater robots to study how sharks interact with people.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Biology Animals Use Social Distancing to Avoid Disease Lobsters, birds and some primates use quarantine to ward off infections By Dana M. Hawley,Julia C. Buck

Public Health Vaccinations Have Sharply Declined Nationwide during the COVID-19 Pandemic Rates of childhood immunization have fallen across the U.S., raising the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks​ By Jim Daley

Drones Capture Close Encounters between Great White Sharks and Beachgoers Over the past decade, the number of encounters between humans and sharks swimming off the coast of California has risen dramatically.  By Erik Olsen

Policy & Ethics Coronavirus Is Attacking the Navajo 'because We Have Built the Perfect Human for It to Invade' A traditional Diné storyteller explains how disadvantage and injustice have shaped her people’s encounter with COVID-19 By Sunny Dooley

Policy & Ethics How Universities Can Keep Foreign Governments from Stealing Intellectual Capital The arrest of a Harvard scientist earlier this year on charges of lying about working for the Chinese government was a wake-up call By Mary Sue Coleman

Arts & Culture Black Images Matter: How Cameras Helped—and Sometimes Harmed—Black People From Frederick Douglass to George Floyd, photography has been key for racial justice. But cameras have also been used to hurt By Ainissa G. Ramirez

Behavior & Society Stereotypes Harm Black Lives and Livelihoods, but Research Suggests Ways to Improve Things Management researcher Modupe Akinola explains on how stereotypes hurt Black Americans and what we can do to counter them By Katy Milkman,Kassie Brabaw

Environment Warming Could Lower One Barrier to Invasive Fish Reaching Great Lakes Mussels in the lakes, themselves invasive species, may not be able to outcompete Asian carp for food, as previously thought By Daniel Cusick,E&E News

Policy & Ethics Let's Defund the Pentagon, Too We must begin moving beyond militarism, as Martin Luther King urged more than 50 years ago By John Horgan

Cognition Bat Says Hi as It Hunts Velvety free-tailed bats produce sounds that help them locate insect prey but simultaneously identify them to their companions.   By Jason G. Goldman | 02:51

FROM THE STORE July 4th Flash Sale   Celebrate July 4th with 25% savings on any subscription to Scientific American. Your purchase will support expert journalism. Use code JULY20 at checkout.

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