Science Times: Meet the Bird Medics of New Delhi

Plus: Solving the Quadratic Equation —

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Meet the Bird Medics of New Delhi Two brothers have given everything to treat raptors injured by a popular pastime. By Oliver Whang and Saumya Khandelwal

This Professor’s ‘Amazing’ Trick Makes Quadratic Equations Easier Looking for the answers to ax² + bx + c = 0? A mathematician has rediscovered a technique that the ancient Babylonians used. By Kenneth Chang and Jonathan Corum NASA   Essay Christina Koch Lands on Earth, and Crosses a Threshold for Women in Space The astronaut completed three all-female spacewalks and set a record for time in space, but you should remember her for much more. By Mary Robinette Kowal Avalon/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images   Grizzly Bear Death Rates Are Climbing Trains, cars and poaching have all contributed to a soaring number of fatalities, prompting fears for the grizzlies’ future. By Jim Robbins

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ESA/ATG medialab   We’ve Never Seen the Sun’s Top or Bottom. Solar Orbiter Will Change That. The NASA-European Space Agency spacecraft, which launched Sunday, will spend the next decade closely observing the sun. By Kenneth Chang Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images   Trilobites A Horse Has 5 Toes, and Then It Doesn’t As a horse’s hoof forms, scientists say something profound is occurring in its anatomical development. By Veronique Greenwood Ruairidh Macleod   Trilobites New Origin Story for Gross Blobs That Wash Up on Beaches DNA evidence shows that jetsam ambergris comes from sperm whales. By Joshua Sokol Sidsel de Jong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   ‘The Scream’ Is Fading. New Research Reveals Why. The art world is increasingly turning to scientific analysis of pigments to find out how time has changed some famous paintings. By Sophie Haigney

Boeing Starliner Flight’s Flaws Show ‘Fundamental Problem,’ NASA Says A software glitch that could have destroyed the capsule was fixed in orbit, during an uncrewed December test flight that had already gone awry. by kenneth chang OneWeb Launches 34 Satellites as Astronomers Fear Radio Chatter Like SpaceX, the company aims to build a constellation of internet satellites, but its orbiters could interfere with telescopes on Earth. by shannon hall Stanley Cohen, Nobelist, Dies at 97; Made Breakthrough on Cell Growth He shared the prize with Rita Levi-Montalcini for research that opened the door to a clearer understanding of dementia, cancer and other maladies. by vicki glaser Bruce McEwen, 81, Is Dead; Found Stress Can Alter the Brain A neuroscientist, he showed how an unrelenting barrage of stress hormones can break down the body, leading to disease, depression, obesity and more. by randi hutter epstein

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THE CORONAVIRUS Themba Hadebe/Associated Press   Pangolins Are Suspected as a Potential Coronavirus Host The world’s most trafficked mammal may be involved in the Wuhan outbreak, but the evidence is far from clear. By James Gorman Reuters   New Report on 138 Coronavirus Cases Reveals Disturbing Details A highly contagious patient, virus transmission inside a hospital and unexpected turns for the worse have emerged as part of the epidemic in China. By Denise Grady Bella Zhang; Amy Qin/The New York Times   Inside The Outbreak Her Grandmother Got the Coronavirus. Then So Did the Whole Family. “What kind of government is this?’ asks a family of three generations sickened by the new virus and desperate for care in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak. By Amy Qin Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   The New Health Care Lessons That Go Beyond the Coronavirus Outbreak There are more useful things to do than worry. For one thing, you could wash your hands. (And did you get your flu shot?) By Aaron E. Carroll

HEALTH Matt York/Associated Press   An Alzheimer’s Treatment Fails: ‘We Don’t Have Anything Now’ With high hopes, drugs to fight brain plaques were tested in people genetically destined to develop dementia. The drugs failed. By Gina Kolata Gracia Lam   Personal Health Half of Us Face Obesity, Dire Projections Show By 2030, nearly one in two adults will be obese, and nearly one in four will be severely obese. By Jane E. Brody iStock   Phys Ed Could a Keto Diet Be Bad for Athletes’ Bones? Race walkers on a low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet showed early signs indicative of bone loss. By Gretchen Reynolds Jackie Clausen/The Times/Gallo Images, via Getty   Global Health Another H.I.V. Vaccine Fails a Trial, Disappointing Researchers After more than 30 years of research, 1.7 million people are still infected each year with the virus that causes AIDS. By Donald G. McNeil Jr. Tony Cenicola/The New York Times   Meat Increases Heart Risks, Latest Study Concludes A new study found a meat-heavy diet carries a small but increased risk of cardiovascular disease. By Anahad O’Connor

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CLIMATE CHANGE     Climate Change: It’s a Buzzkill for Bumblebees, Study Finds Climate change could increase the risk of extinction for the bees, which are already threatened by pesticides and habitat loss. By Kendra Pierre-Louis and Nadja Popovich Francois Loubser/Alamy   Africa, a Thunder and Lightning Hot Spot, May See Even More Storms The size and frequency of thunderstorms has risen along with global temperatures, researchers at the University of Tel Aviv found.  By Shola Lawal Vanderlei Almeida/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   Antarctica Sets Record High Temperature: 64.9 Degrees “This is the foreshadowing of what is to come,” a researcher said. “It’s exactly in line of what we’ve been seeing for decades.” By Derrick Bryson Taylor Jose Jordan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   How Europe Turned Into a Perfect Landscape for Wildfires Forests absorb and store planet-warming carbon dioxide. They are also extremely vulnerable in the era of climate change. Europe is a case in point. By Somini Sengupta

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