Scientific American 2020 06.pdf

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JUNE 2020
SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM
C E L E B R AT I N G
YEARS
BABY PLANETS
ORIGIN OF HANDS
NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
THE
CORONAVIRUS
PANDEMIC
How it started, where it’s headed,
and how scientists are fighting back
SPECIAL
REPORT
© 2020 Scientific American
June 2020
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26 Chasing Plagues
A virologist crawled through bat caves to find the
origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
By Jane Qiu
32  Fast-Track Drugs
With no time to make treatments from scratch,
scientists are searching for existing compounds
that reduce harm.
By Michael Waldholz
36 Frontline Trauma
Stress from fighting COVID-19 poses an
unprecedented threat to health care workers.
By Jillian Mock
38 How the Healers Feel
Interviews by Jillian Mock and Jen Schwartz
40 The Vaccine Quest
Only genetic engineering can create a protec-
tive serum in months rather than years.
By Charles Schmidt
44 What Comes Next
Large outbreaks of disease in the past suggest
how the current crisis might play out.
By Lydia Denworth
Illustration by Richard Borge
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24 THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
46 The Unexpected Origin of Fingers
A remarkable fossil shows that the digits
in our hands evolved before vertebrates
emerged from the water to colonize land.
By John A. Long and Richard Cloutier
A S T R O N O MY
54 A Planet Is Born
High-resolution imaging of circumstellar
disks—the swirls of dust left behind after
stars form—is revealing hidden planets and
insights about how solar systems evolve.
By Meredith A. MacGregor
C L I M AT E C H A N G E
62 What Should Carbon Cost?
Smart math, combined with fundamental
policy choices, can determine a practical
tax that will drive down CO
2
emissions.
By Gilbert E. Metcalf
CONSCIOUSNESS
On THe COVeR
In a matter of weeks
the SARS-CoV-2 virus
infected millions, kil-
ling thousands and
bringing the global
economy to a halt.
Read our special
report on the origins
of the plague, the
human toll, and the
search for treatments
and a vaccine.
Illustration by
Richard Borge.
70 Tales of the Dying Brain
A brush with death can leave a lasting
legacy in the mind—and may help us
understand how the brain functions in
extreme conditions.
By Christof Koch
June 2020, ScientificAmerican.com
1
© 2020 Scientific American
4 From the Editor
6 Letters
8 Science Agenda
To prevent future pandemics, stop deforestation.
By the Editors
9 Forum
Leaders who belittle science during a global health
crisis are a danger to us all.
By Ben Santer
10 Advances
8
A collision model shakes up Pluto. New strategy to
prevent tropical extinction. Lightweight vaccine-
delivery technology. A poultry domestication mystery.
20 Meter
The poetic landscape of boreal forests.
By Jessica Goodfellow
22 The Science of Health
As drug-resistant superbugs spread, researchers
are turning to viruses that kill bacteria.
By Claudia Wallis
76 Recommended
Women ran Britain’s most extraordinary World War I
hospital. Why innovation flourishes in freedom.
The fury of hurricanes. How Dr. Claire Weekes cracked
the anxiety code.
By Andrea Gawrylewski
10
77 Observatory
How we can best quantify “small” benefits.
By Naomi Oreskes
78 Anti Gravity
Misinformation and miscalculation in the time
of the coronavirus.
By Steve Mirsky
79 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
By Daniel C. Schlenoff
80 Graphic Science
Globe-trotting humans spread COVID-19
around the world.
By Mark Fischetti and
Martin Krzywinski
77
Scientific American (ISSN 0036-8733), Volume 322, Number 6, June 2020, published monthly by Scientific American, a division of Springer Nature America, Inc., 1 New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, N.Y. 10004-1562. Periodicals
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Scientific American, June 2020
© 2020 Scientific American

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