Science Times: Stalking the Endangered Wax Palm

Plus: Voyager 2's Discoveries From Interstellar Space —

View in browser|nytimes.com November 5, 2019

Stalking the Endangered Wax Palm Colombia's national tree, the wax palm, is endangered. Now, with decades of guerrilla war in retreat, scientists are rediscovering vast forests and racing to study and protect them. By Jennie Erin Smith and Federico Rios Escobar

ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences   A Physics Magic Trick: Take 2 Sheets of Carbon and Twist The study of graphene was starting to go out of style, but new experiments with sheets of the ultrathin material revealed there was much left to learn. By Kenneth Chang NASA   Voyager 2's Discoveries From Interstellar Space In its journey beyond the boundary of the solar wind's bubble, the probe observed some notable differences from its twin, Voyager 1. By Kenneth Chang James Klarevas   Tiny Brains Don't Stop These Birds From Having a Complex Society Scientists discovered that vulturine guineafowl live in multilevel societies reminiscent of our own. By Elizabeth Preston

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Belilla, J., Moreira, D., Jardillier, L. et al.   Trilobites They Didn't Find Life in a Hopeless Place In some of the world's saltiest, most acidic bodies of superheated water, even the most extreme forms of archaea couldn't survive. By Robin George Andrews de Ruiter et al., Journal of the Royal Society Interface   Trilobites This Fungus Fires Artillery From the Backs of Zombie Flies After Entomophthora muscae fatally infects house flies, it makes microscopic stalks for hurtling spores at other insects that come nearby. By Knvul Sheikh Romona Robbins/Cultura Creative Ltd., via Alamy   Trilobites In the Blue Holes of the Bahamas, Secrets of Hurricanes Past Scientists assembled a 1,500-year history of big storm activity by retrieving sediment from the island country's submarine caverns. By Katherine Kornei Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock   Trilobites Why Do Parrots Waste So Much Food? The behavior is so consistent across species and in the wild that some scientists think it must be intentional. By Cara Giaimo

Boeing's Starliner Spacecraft Touches Down After Test of Safety System Boeing was one of two American companies chosen by NASA to develop spacecraft for flying astronauts to the International Space Station. by mariel padilla and jacey fortin Fear and Sport Imperil Lebanon's Striped Hyenas Poisoned, run over and shot on sight, the country's national animal finds itself threatened by frightened humans and dated myths. by helen sullivan and diego ibarra sanchez E.P.A. to Roll Back Rules to Control Toxic Ash from Coal Plants The Trump administration is expected today to roll back rules designed to limit emissions of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury from coal-fired power plants. by lisa friedman

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CLIMATE CHANGE Pete Marovich for The New York Times   Trump Serves Notice to Quit Paris Climate Agreement The United States notified the United Nations on Monday that it would leave the Paris climate agreement, staring the clock on a yearlong withdrawal process.  By Lisa Friedman Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press   In the Fight Against Climate Change, Not All Forests Are Equal A new study on the carbon impact of forest loss suggests a new target: preserving forests where deforestation and degradation haven't yet begun. By Henry Fountain     Indonesia Dispatch A Lake With Stingless Jellyfish and Hints of Hotter Seas For divers, the millions of harmless jellyfish in an Indonesian lake are must-see novelties. For scientists, the warmer, more acidic and less oxygenated water is "a projection of our future climate." By Richard C. Paddock and Adam Dean

Guilt by Machine

More than 1 million people a year are arrested in the U.S. and asked to blow into a breathalyzer to see if they're too drunk to drive. "The Weekly" investigates how one of the most common forensic tools in law enforcement may be unreliable. Watch The Times's new TV show on FX and Hulu.

HEALTH Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times   Why Didn't She Get Alzheimer's? The Answer Could Hold a Key to Fighting the Disease Researchers have found a woman with a rare genetic mutation that has protected her from dementia even though her brain has developed major neurological features of the disease. By Pam Belluck Gracia Lam   Personal Health Making Meaning Out of Grief "Loss is simply what happens to you in life. Meaning is what you make happen," the author of a new book says. By Jane E. Brody Ezra Acayan/Getty Images   Measles Makes Your Immune System's Memory Forget Defenses Against Other Illnesses New research shows the virus can have devastating effects on the immune system that persist much longer than the illness itself. By Denise Grady Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times   How Contaminated Stool Stored in a Freezer Left a Fecal Transplant Patient Dead The doctors who treated him, and another patient who fell ill, detailed the mistakes in a paper published Wednesday in a renowned medical journal. By Andrew Jacobs Stefano Ukmar for The New York Times   Phys Ed How Walking Might Affect Our Sleep Among middle-aged men and women who took about 7,000 steps a day, covering even a little extra ground was tied to better sleep. By Gretchen Reynolds Daniel Zender   Essay Our Hospital's New Software Frets About My 'Deficiencies' But the patient records system, called Epic, has a few shortcomings of its own, including a voice that amplifies the insecurities that come with being a doctor. By Emily Silverman, M.D.

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ask well Why Was My Doctor Visit Suddenly So Expensive? The facility fee may be to blame for the added costs of a doctor visit. by richard klasco, m.d. Vast Dragnet Targets Theft of Biomedical Secrets for China Nearly 200 investigations are underway at major academic centers. Critics fear that researchers of Chinese descent are being unfairly targeted. by gina kolata Trump to Nominate Stephen Hahn, Cancer Researcher, to Head F.D.A. In choosing him, President Trump is passing over the acting F.D.A. commissioner, Norman E. Sharpless, who has been running the agency since Scott Gottlieb resigned last spring. by katie thomas the new health care Sleep Can Be Good for Your Salary Sleep can affect work, but it's also true that work can affect sleep. by austin frakt

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