Scientific American Magazine Vol 326 Issue 3

Scientific American

Volume 326, Issue 3

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Features

The Pandemic Set Off a Boom in Diagnostics

COVID accelerated the development of cutting-edge PCR tests—and made the need for them urgent

COVID's Uneven Toll Captured in Data

Visualizing ongoing stories of loss, adaptation and inequality

COVID Revealed the Fragility of American Public Health

What happens when a deadly virus hits a vulnerable society

A High-Speed Scientific Hive Mind Emerged from the COVID Pandemic

The pandemic pushed researchers into new forms of rapid communication and collaboration

COVID Changed the World of Work Forever

People realized their jobs don’t have to be that way

COVID Pushed Global Health Institutions to Their Limits

The need to reinvent the World Health Organization has become abundantly clear

COVID Has Made Global Inequality Much Worse

The poor, no matter where they live, will suffer the greatest lasting toll

Billionaire Space Tourism Has Become Insufferable

From brave exploration to just another playground for the 0.0000001 percent

The Lab-Leak Hypothesis Made It Harder for Scientists to Seek the Truth

Virus origin stories have always been prone to conspiracy theories. COVID disinformation has threatened research—and lives

Pandemic-Era Research Will Pay Off for Years

The COVID research infrastructure will help fight all sorts of pathogens

Introducing 21 Ways COVID Changed the World

The pandemic didn’t bring us together, but it did show us what we need to change the most

We're No More Serious about the Climate Crisis Than We Were before the Pandemic

Emergency managers are stuck reacting to a constant march of disasters

How the Pandemic Remade Science Journalism

It’s no longer possible to separate science and politics

COVID Long Haulers Are Calling Attention to Chronic Illnesses

But society is not prepared for the growing crisis of long COVID

Nasal Spray COVID Preventives Are Finally in Development

Different methods of drug delivery give us more tools to fight disease

Messenger RNA Therapies Are Finally Fulfilling Their Promise

Instructing our cells to make specific proteins could control influenza, autoimmune diseases, even cancer

COVID Disrupted Everything--Even Rocket Launches

Surprising supply chain breakdowns

COVID Is Here to Stay

How do we live with it?

Vaccine Inequality Has Shut Vulnerable People Out of Plans to Save the Planet

Those with the most at stake were heard the least

How a Virus Exposed the Myth of Rugged Individualism

Humans evolved to be interdependent, not self-sufficient

The Pandemic Showed the Promise of Cities with Fewer Cars

Residents learned what was possible. Some politicians fought to keep it that way

The Pandemic Deepened Fault Lines in American Society

COVID energized the Black Lives Matter movement—and provoked a dangerous backlash

Departments

50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: March 2022
Letters
Readers Respond to the November 2021 Issue
Advances
Homing Pigeons Remember Routes for Years
Giant Rotten-Smelling Parasite Flower Rafflesia Evokes Host Defenses
Honeybee Parasites Have Record-Breaking Clinginess
Airborne DNA Can Reveal Earth's Biodiversity
Snakes' and Lizards' Slow and Steady Evolution Won the Race
Science News Briefs from around the World: March 2022
Why Some Fluids Flow Slower when Pushed Harder
All Ocean Life Follows This Massive Pattern--Except Where Humans Have Interfered
Researchers Make a Phantom Sixth Finger Grow and Shrink
Pamplona Bull Runs Reveal Dynamics of Crowds in Danger
A Portable MRI Makes Imaging More Democratic
The Science Agenda
Contagions Worse Than COVID Will Prevail if Neglect of Global Public Health Continues
Meter
Poem: Other Worlds in Haiku
Reviews
Earth's Sonic Diversity, Secret Bird Scents, Pandemic-Inspired Sci-Fi, and More
Graphic Science
Monarchs Take Generations to Make Annual South-North Journey
From the Editor
Introducing a Special Issue on How COVID Changed the World
The Science of Health
Abortion Pills Are Very Safe and Effective, yet Government Rules Still Hinder Access
Observatory
Popular Health Claims, Such as a Woman's Fertility Dropping at Age 30, Are Wildly Overblown
Forum
A COVID Vaccine for All