Science Times: Are we talking too much about mental health?

Plus: Neanderthal tools, Beethoven's hair and cicadas —

View in browser|nytimes.com May 7, 2024 SUPPORTED BY SELC Sandra Mickiewicz for The New York Times Are We Talking Too Much About Mental Health? Recent studies cast doubt on whether large-scale mental health interventions are making young people better. Some even suggest they can have a negative effect. By Ellen Barry Kevin Brown Locks of Beethoven's Hair Offer New Clues to the Mystery of His Deafness Using powerful technologies, scientists found staggering amounts of lead and other toxic substances in the composer's hair that may have come from wine, or other sources. By Gina Kolata Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Was the Stone Age Actually the Wood Age? Neanderthals were even better craftsmen than thought, a new analysis of 300,000-year-old wooden tools has revealed. By Franz Lidz Wirestock, Inc., via Alamy Origins What Makes a Society More Resilient? Frequent Hardship. Comparing 30,000 years of human history, researchers found that surviving famine, war or climate change helps groups recover more quickly from future shocks. By Carl Zimmer A MESSAGE FROM SELC Solutions Start in the South  The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation's most powerful environmental defenders rooted in the South. As lawyers, policy and issue experts and community advocates and partners, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges. That is why we say: Solutions Start in the South. Learn More Email us Let us know how we're doing at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com. Here Come a Trillion Cicadas. The Midwest Is Abuzz. Illinois is the center of the cicada emergence that is on the way. Two groups of cicadas are expected at once, leaving some people queasy, others thrilled. By Julie Bosman and Jamie Kelter Davis The New York Times Maps of Two Cicada Broods, Reunited After 221 Years Brood XIII and Brood XIX are making their first dual appearance since 1803. By Jonathan Corum Our Reporter on the Cicada Lifecycle Two periodical cicada broods are appearing in a 16-state area in the Midwest and Southeast for the first time in centuries. By Aaron Byrd, Karen Hanley and Carl Zimmer Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images China Launches Spacecraft to the Far Side of the Moon If successful, the Chang'e-6 mission will be the first in history to return a sample from a part of the moon that we never get to see from Earth. By Katrina Miller How to Know When a Good Dog Has Gone Bad Gov. Kristi Noem suggested that President Biden should have euthanized the family dog, as she did. Animal experts said that such an option should be a last resort. By Emily Anthes Trilobites Orangutan, Heal Thyself For the first time, scientists observed a primate in the wild treating a wound with a plant that has medicinal properties. By Douglas Main Larry Young, Who Studied the Chemistry of Love, Dies at 56 Professor Young's experiments with prairie voles revealed what poets never could: how the brain processes that fluttering feeling in the heart. By Michael S. Rosenwald ADVERTISEMENT CLIMATE CHANGE NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team What Happens When NASA Loses Eyes on Earth? We're About to Find Out. Three long-running satellites will soon be switched off, forcing scientists to figure out how to adjust their views of our changing planet. By Raymond Zhong The New York Times Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity They're delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. And the technology is expanding rapidly. By Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich The Daily How Changing Ocean Temperatures Could Upend Life on Earth Is the world's climate close to a tipping point? 27 MIN LISTEN We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. HEALTH Vsevolod Zviryk/Science Source Study Suggests Genetics as a Cause, Not Just a Risk, for Some Alzheimer's People with two copies of the gene variant APOE4 are almost certain to get Alzheimer's, say researchers, who proposed a framework under which such patients could be diagnosed years before symptoms. By Pam Belluck Kenny Holston/The New York Times First Patient Begins Newly Approved Sickle Cell Gene Therapy A 12-year-old boy in the Washington, D.C., area faces months of procedures to remedy his disease. "I want to be cured," he said. By Gina Kolata and Kenny Holston Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press Widening Racial Disparities Underlie Rise in Child Deaths in the U.S. New research finds that the death rate among Black youths soared by 37 percent, and among Native American youths by 22 percent, between 2014 and 2020, compared with less than 5 percent for white youths. By Emily Baumgaertner Hannah Yoon for The New York Times Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening? All vaccines have at least occasional side effects. But people who say they were injured by Covid vaccines believe their cases have been ignored. By Apoorva Mandavilli ADVERTISEMENT Republicans Step Up Attacks on Scientist at Heart of Lab Leak Theory A heated hearing produced no new evidence that Peter Daszak or his nonprofit, EcoHealth Alliance, were implicated in the Covid outbreak. By Benjamin Mueller New Mutations Identified in Bird Flu Virus A genetic analysis sheds light on when the outbreak began, how the virus spread and where it may be going. By Apoorva Mandavilli and Emily Anthes Pasteurized Dairy Foods Free of Live Bird Flu, Federal Tests Confirm But the scope of the outbreak among cattle remains uncertain, and little human testing has been done. By Noah Weiland and Linda Qiu Aspirin Can Prevent a Deadly Pregnancy Complication. Why Aren't Women Told? Women at risk for extreme high blood pressure should take a daily baby aspirin. But their doctors don't always tell them. By Roni Caryn Rabin How Bad Are Ultraprocessed Foods, Really? They're clearly linked to poor health. But scientists are only beginning to understand why. By Alice Callahan Make a friend's day: Forward this email. Got this from a friend? Subscribe to the Science Times newsletter. 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