Delta variant said to be far more widespread than federal estimates

Delta variant said to be far more widespread than federal estimates

Politico reports: The more-transmissible Delta coronavirus variant is believed to be significantly more widespread than the current federal projections, according to two senior Biden administration health officials with knowledge of the situation. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released late Tuesday shows the Delta strain accounted for more than 51 percent of new Covid-19 cases from June 20 to July 3. But the reality on the ground is likely much higher because states and private labs are taking weeks…

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White evangelicals now outnumbered by mainline Protestants in U.S.

White evangelicals now outnumbered by mainline Protestants in U.S.

New York Magazine reports: The new “2020 Census of American Religion” from the Public Religion Research Institute is out, and while it has a number of interesting findings, the most surprising is that among white Christians, mainline Protestants have reversed a long-standing decline in membership and have now surged past Evangelical Protestants. The survey measured self-identification among white Christians as “evangelical”/“born-again” Protestant or “other” Protestant, so it is not correlated to institutional membership in this or that denomination. But generally…

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Trump’s social media lawsuits feature a mashup of arguments courts have already rejected

Trump’s social media lawsuits feature a mashup of arguments courts have already rejected

BuzzFeed News reports: Former president Donald Trump’s latest attempt at getting back on mainstream social media platforms came in the form of lawsuits on Wednesday against Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube — each featuring a series of claims that multiple courts, including the US Supreme Court, have rebuffed. Trump was suspended from Facebook and Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol and blocked from YouTube a few days later; all three companies cited posts…

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Iran’s counter-revolutionary role in the shifting political landscape of the Middle East

Iran’s counter-revolutionary role in the shifting political landscape of the Middle East

Danny Postel writes: The last decade has seen historic political upheavals across the Middle East and North Africa: a tsunami of popular uprisings that have brought down several dictators and led to momentous transformations in political consciousness, if not always to democratic outcomes. But the last decade has also seen a concomitant counter-revolutionary roll-back across the region: authoritarian regimes, entrenched elites, ruling classes, deep states, and reactionary forces have marshalled considerable resources to torpedo these movements from below. Saudi Arabia’s…

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Neurons unexpectedly encode information in the timing of their firing

Neurons unexpectedly encode information in the timing of their firing

Elena Renken writes: For decades, neuroscientists have treated the brain somewhat like a Geiger counter: The rate at which neurons fire is taken as a measure of activity, just as a Geiger counter’s click rate indicates the strength of radiation. But new research suggests the brain may be more like a musical instrument. When you play the piano, how often you hit the keys matters, but the precise timing of the notes is also essential to the melody. “It’s really…

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The story of songbirds is a story of sugar

The story of songbirds is a story of sugar

Ed Yong writes: Australia’s unique forests are the birthplace of birdsong. The plants there are drenched in sunlight and can readily mass-produce sugars through photosynthesis. But with few nutrients in the soil, they struggle to convert those sugars into leaves, seeds, and other tissues. They end up with excess, which they simply give away. Flowers overflow with nectar. Eucalyptus trees exude a sweet substance called manna from their bark. Even insects that suck plant sap are forced to excrete surplus…

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Human-driven climate change sent Pacific Northwest temperatures soaring

Human-driven climate change sent Pacific Northwest temperatures soaring

Science News reports: The deadly heat wave that baked the Pacific Northwest in late June would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, an international team of scientists announced July 7. In fact, the temperatures were so extreme — Portland, Ore., reached a staggering 47° Celsius (116° Fahrenheit) on June 29, while Seattle surged to 42° C (108° F) — that initial analyses suggested they were impossible even with climate change, Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, a climate scientist with…

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Global experts urge Boris Johnson to delay ‘dangerous’ Covid reopening

Global experts urge Boris Johnson to delay ‘dangerous’ Covid reopening

The Guardian reports: Lifting the remaining Covid restrictions in England this month is “dangerous and premature”, according to international scientists and doctors, who have called on the UK government to pause reopening until more people are vaccinated. Writing in the Lancet, more than 100 global experts warn that removing restrictions on 19 July will cause millions of infections and risk creating a generation with chronic health problems and disability from long Covid, the impact of which may be felt for…

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Covid origins mirror SARS’s genesis in animals, study finds

Covid origins mirror SARS’s genesis in animals, study finds

Bloomberg reports: Early Covid-19 cases traced to markets in Wuhan, China, mirror the initial spread of SARS 17 years earlier, scientists said in a paper that concludes that an animal contagion is the most likely explanation for the pandemic’s genesis. The epidemiological history of SARS-CoV-2 is comparable to previous animal market-associated outbreaks of coronaviruses and offers a simple route for human exposure, Edward Holmes, Andrew Rambaut and 19 other researchers said Wednesday in a review of the scientific evidence pertaining…

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A planned Biden executive order aims to tilt the job market toward workers

A planned Biden executive order aims to tilt the job market toward workers

Neil Irwin writes: According to an increasingly influential school of thought in left-of-center economic circles, corporate mergers and some other common business practices have made American workers worse off. The government, this theory holds, should address it. It appears that school has a particularly powerful student: President Biden. This week, the White House is planning to release an executive order focused on competition policy. People familiar with the order say one section has several provisions aimed at increasing competition in…

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Might we have reached peak populism?

Might we have reached peak populism?

Yascha Mounk writes: Feeling optimistic about the state of American politics is hard. The country is deeply polarized. Much of the debate consists of name-calling and demonization. Dissatisfied with a strategy of maximal obstructionism in Congress, Republicans in state houses are trying to make subverting the outcome of the next election easier. But we can’t forget how much worse things could be right now—and what a major achievement it was for Joe Biden to have defeated Donald Trump. America booted…

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Trump’s latest effort to fleece his followers

Trump’s latest effort to fleece his followers

CNBC reports: Former President Donald Trump took his fight with three massive tech companies to court, filing lawsuits that legal experts say are all but guaranteed to fail – even as they rally Republican voters, fundraisers and donors. Trump revealed Wednesday that he is suing Facebook, Twitter and Google, as well as their respective CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, in class-action lawsuits. Trump, who has a history of threatening legal action but not always following through, made…

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‘Social’ mitochondria, communicating between cells, influence health

‘Social’ mitochondria, communicating between cells, influence health

Katarina Zimmer writes: During his doctoral research on the ties between aging and mitochondria, Martin Picard frequently saw micrographs of those energy-producing organelles. Yet it wasn’t until fairly late in his graduate work that he first watched sped-up video of mitochondria moving inside live human cells, and the sight came as a revelation. Tagged with fluorescent dye, the mitochondria were neon squiggles crawling through the soupy interior of the cells — stretching and contracting, fusing together and splitting up again,…

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Surging global food prices put staple meals out of reach

Surging global food prices put staple meals out of reach

The Washington Post reports: A year of coronavirus pandemic saw a pot of jollof rice grow steadily more expensive in the Nigerian suburb of Nyanya. At Nyanya Market, near Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the price of the rice that forms the base for the dish went up by 10 percent. A small tin of tomatoes? Twenty-nine percent costlier. And the onions? Their price jumped by a third, according to a Nigerian research firm. Surging consumer food prices are a local problem…

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