How to Avoid COVID while Voting

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October 14, 2020

Dear Reader, For many of us, it's hard to remember a time when what happened online was not so world-shattering. How did we end up in our current situation, where lies travel farther and faster than the truth on social media? Social scientist Joan Donavan explores how the internet's history is connected to today's disinformation campaigns. In physics news, scientists have created a mystery material that seems to conduct electricity without any resistance at temperatures of up to about 15 °C—a new record for superconductivity. And lastly, our main story covers what voters should do to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 at polling places.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Public Health How to Avoid COVID while Voting Epidemiologists offer tips for U.S. voters and poll workers to limit their chances of getting infected By Jim Daley

Public Health Why So Many Americans Are Skeptical of a Coronavirus Vaccine It's not just "antiscience thinking" By Zakiya Whatley,Titilayo Shodiya

Behavior & Society I Can't Breathe: Asthma, Black Men and the Police The common, chronic inflammation of the airways may help explain why deaths in custody are so high among African Americans By Obasi Okorie,Ekemini Hogan,Utibe Effiong

Physics Science Pinpoints Global Metal Deposit Locations Miners can find new deposits with less effort By Karen Kwon

Behavior & Society Trolling for Truth on Social Media What 1990s Internet protest movements share with today's disinformation campaigns By Joan Donovan

Climate Curtain Falls on History's Biggest Arctic Expedition The mission provided an unprecedented opportunity to study multiple aspects of the rapidly melting region By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Physics First Room-Temperature Superconductor Excites and Baffles Scientists A compound of hydrogen, carbon and sulfur has broken a symbolic barrier—but its high pressure conditions make it difficult to analyze By Davide Castelvecchi,Nature magazine

Arts & Culture Galileo and the Science Deniers Four hundred years ago Galileo Galilei's scientific findings were rejected because they didn't fit the prevailing beliefs of the time. His story is disturbingly relevant today. Astrophysicist and author Mario Livio and Scientific American editor Clara Moskowitz to discusses lessons from Galileo's life for dealing with science deniers now, plus a historical detective story about Galileo's famous motto, "And yet it moves." By Mario Livio,Clara Moskowitz

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FROM THE ARCHIVE 4 Ways to Be a Better Voter Get informed and make better choices—or maybe you shouldn't vote at all By Sunny Sea Gold | September 2016

QUOTE OF THE DAY "It is everyone's responsibility to ensure a safe voting experience." Lenora Campbell, Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

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