Science Times: Is the Coronavirus in Your Backyard?

Plus: The Search for Ernest Shackleton's Endurance —

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story February 8, 2022 Hannah Yoon for The New York Times Is the Coronavirus in Your Backyard? White-tailed deer could become a reservoir for the virus, putting people and animals at risk, health experts say. By Emily Anthes and Sabrina Imbler Andrew Seng for The New York Times New York Deer Infected With Omicron, Study Finds White-tailed deer on Staten Island have become the first wild animals with documented Omicron infections. The coronavirus has now been found in deer in 15 states. By Emily Anthes and Sabrina Imbler Amr Alfiky for The New York Times Biden's Top Science Adviser Resigns After Acknowledging Demeaning Behavior The adviser, Eric S. Lander, had apologized for his workplace conduct. The president had pledged to immediately fire any official who acted that way toward colleagues. By Katie Rogers Gleb Garanich/Reuters Ukraine Gave Up a Giant Nuclear Arsenal 30 Years Ago. Today There Are Regrets. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine turned over thousands of atomic weapons in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the United States and other countries. By William J. Broad Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNIVERSE What is a coprolite? A fluorescent gemstone An amorphous volcanic glass A small poisonous snake Fossilized poop Click on what you think is the correct answer. Jiang et al., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2022 Trilobites How 2 Pterosaurs' Last Meals Ended Up in the Fossil Record Paleontologists in China found pellets of undigested food — just like ones owls leave behind — preserved with pterosaur fossils. By Asher Elbein Calvert Marine Museum Trilobites Why Did a Fish Have Fossilized Feces Where Its Brain Once Was? It's the first time a vertebrate's braincase has ever been found full of coprolites, scientists say. By Jeanne Timmons Tobias Deschner Trilobites Chimps Catch Insects to Put on Wounds. Is It Folk Medicine? They don't eat the bugs, and they're definitely applying them to wounds, so some scientists think the primates may be treating one another's injuries. By Nicholas Bakalar Victor O. Leshyk Trilobites Dissolving in Toxic Oceans: How an Ancient Extinction Happened Scientists say rocks on the English coast contain clues of the processes that drove the end-Triassic event that killed as much as a quarter of all life on Earth. By Lucas Joel Frank Hurley/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, via Getty Images A Search Begins for the Wreck Behind an Epic Tale of Survival Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance was crushed by Antarctic ice in 1915. Now, a team of researchers is heading to the Weddell Sea where it went down. By Henry Fountain Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Trilobites Body Odor May Smell Worse to You Than Your Ancient Ancestors Researchers worked out which receptors in your nose detect particular scent molecules, and found evidence of evolutionary change in some of these genes. By Sam Jones Trilobites If Rover Can Make It Here, Perhaps Bald Eagles Can Make It Anywhere A white-headed raptor has been preying on smaller birds in Central Park. It's come a long way since conservationists affixed aluminum bands to its legs four years ago. By Ryan Mandelbaum Astronomers Find a New Asteroid Sharing Earth's Orbit The Trojan asteroid 2020 XL5, which follows the same path around the sun as our planet, was revealed only after a decade of searching. By Kenneth Chang Email us Let us know how we're doing at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com. CLIMATE CHANGE Mason Trinca for The New York Times Climate Change Enters the Therapy Room Ten years ago, psychologists proposed that a wide range of people would suffer anxiety and grief over climate. Skepticism about that idea is gone. By Ellen Barry Matthew Brown/Associated Press Seen From Space: Huge Methane Leaks A European satellite reveals sites in the United States, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere that are "ultra emitters" of methane. That could help fight climate change. By Henry Fountain Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Subscribe Today We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times with this special offer. HEALTH Lilli Carré Personal Health Looking for Early Warning Signs of Pancreatic Cancer Scientists are exploring whether the onset of diabetes may in some cases herald the existence of one of the most deadly of all cancers. By Jane E. Brody Bryan Meltz for The New York Times The New Old Age The Pandemic Has Made Many Seniors Less Active Health experts are concerned that the pandemic, in upending daily routines, has reduced mobility and physical conditioning in older adults. By Paula Span Janice Chung for The New York Times Phys Ed What the 'Active Grandparent Hypothesis' Can Tell Us About Aging Well The need for healthy, active grandparents who can help with child-rearing may be encoded in our genes. By Gretchen Reynolds Desmond Picotte for The New York Times I Swapped My Reading Glasses for Magical Eyedrops Vuity, taken daily, promises clear vision for up to 10 hours. But does it work? By Elisabeth Egan I'm Lactose Intolerant. What's the Best Nondairy Milk Alternative? Soy milk, nut milks and other products may offer unique benefits. By Sophie Egan Pandemic Era Tests May Speed Hepatitis-C Detection A wave of diagnostics ushered in by Covid could help revive flagging efforts to eliminate the disease. By Ted Alcorn THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK Amarjeet Kumar Singh/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images The Covid Vaccine We Need Now May Not Be a Shot Nasal vaccines under development around the world may make better boosters by stopping the coronavirus in the airways. By Apoorva Mandavilli Jackie Molloy for The New York Times In New York City Sewage, a Mysterious Coronavirus Signal For the past year, scientists have been looking for the source of strange coronavirus sequences that have appeared in the city's wastewater. By Emily Anthes U.S. Has Far Higher Covid Death Rate Than Other Wealthy Countries Despite having one of the world's most powerful arsenals of vaccines, the United States has failed to inoculate as much of its population as other wealthy nations. By Benjamin Mueller and Eleanor Lutz James Estrin/The New York Times Younger Americans Benefited Less From Booster Shots Than Older People Among those under age 50, vaccination even without a booster protected strongly against hospitalization and death, according to new C.D.C. data. By Apoorva Mandavilli Derek Abella I Just Had Covid. Do I Need a Booster? The immunity you gain after a Covid-19 infection might not be enough to fend off the virus again. Here's what to know. By Knvul Sheikh Jeenah Moon for The New York Times Medicare Will Soon Provide Free At-Home Coronavirus Tests The announcement came after lawmakers and advocates argued that Medicare recipients had been passed over in the push to require insurers to cover the tests. By Noah Weiland Make a friend's day: Forward this email. Got this from a friend? Subscribe to the Science Times newsletter. Check out other New York Times newsletters (all free!) including: Climate Fwd: for climate coverage and expert analysis. 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