Science Times: How Long Is a Foot? Surprisingly, There Are Two Answers

Plus: Did Betelgeuse Sneeze? —

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story August 18, 2020 Library of Congress   America Has Two Feet. It’s About to Lose One of Them. For decades, U.S. metrologists have juggled two conflicting measurements for the foot. Henceforth, only one shall rule. By Alanna Mitchell European Southern Observatory   Out There This Star Looked Like It Would Explode. Maybe It Just Sneezed The mysterious dimming of the red supergiant Betelgeuse is the result of a stellar exhalation, astronomers say. By Dennis Overbye NASA   Trilobites How Do You Solve a Moon Mystery? Fire a Laser at It Researchers have used reflective prisms left on the moon’s surface for decades, but had increasingly seen problems with their effectiveness. By Katherine Kornei Michel & Gabrielle Therin-Weise/Alamy   Trilobites How 14 Elephant Seals Assisted an Antarctic Ice Study Mapping currents in the Southern Ocean is vital to monitoring climate change, but hard to conduct. So scientists turned to seals for help. By Oliver Whang Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Email us Let us know how we’re doing at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com. THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters   Federal Study of Covid Treatments Enters a New Phase A clinical trial showed that remdesivir helped hospitalized patients. Now researchers are asking whether when the drug is paired with another antiviral drug, patients will recover faster. By Gina Kolata Jonah Markowitz for The New York Times   What if ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Closer Than Scientists Thought? In what may be the world’s most important math puzzle, researchers are trying to figure out how many people in a community must be immune before the coronavirus fades. By Apoorva Mandavilli Joe Raedle/Getty Images   Scientists See Signs of Lasting Immunity to Covid-19, Even After Mild Infections New research indicates that human immune system cells are storing information about the coronavirus so they can fight it off again. By Katherine J. Wu Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images   Older Children and the Coronavirus: A New Wrinkle in the Debate A new report from South Korea throws into question an earlier finding regarding transmission by older children. By Apoorva Mandavilli Michele Spatari/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   ‘A Smoking Gun’: Infectious Coronavirus Retrieved From Hospital Air Airborne virus plays a significant role in community transmission, many experts believe. A new study fills in the missing piece: Floating virus can infect cells. By Apoorva Mandavilli Go Nakamura/Getty Images   Obesity Raises the Risk of Death From Covid-19 Among Men Obesity is not an independent risk for women, according to a new study, perhaps because their fat is distributed differently. By Roni Caryn Rabin Brittainy Newman/The New York Times   In N.Y.C.’s Spring Virus Surge, a Frightening Echo of 1918 Flu In March and April, death rates rivaled those seen during the country’s deadliest pandemic, a new study finds. “What 1918 looked like is basically this.” By Apoorva Mandavilli Tomás Karmelo Amaya for The New York Times   On Native American Land, Contact Tracing Is Saving Lives As the coronavirus spread on the Fort Apache reservation in Arizona, medical teams sought out residents who might have been exposed. The effort paid off in unexpected ways. By Gina Kolata and Tomás Karmelo Amaya Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT MORE SCIENCE NEWS Arianne P. Oriá   Could Owl and Crocodilian Tears Lead to a Cure for Your Dry Eyes? By studying the numerous ways animals keep their eyes wet and healthy, scientists hope to help address human vision problems. By Katherine J. Wu Tyler Stone   ‘Terror Crocodile’ the Size of a Bus Fed on Dinosaurs, Study Says The monster animal, more closely related to American alligators than modern crocodiles, had teeth the size of bananas and a strange enlarged snout. By Johnny Diaz Emma Finley-Jacob   Trilobites Making Sense of ‘One of the Most Baffling Animals That Ever Lived’ Important mysteries have been solved about a reptile with a giraffe-like neck that hunted prey 242 million years ago. By Asher Elbein Fábio de Sá   Trilobites He Doesn’t Mind Being Shared, Unless His Mates Try to Eat Each Other’s Eggs A Brazilian frog species engages in reproductive behavior never seen in amphibians before. By Katherine J. Wu Gary Cornell/Alamy   A Bee, or Not a Bee? There are about 4,000 bee species in the U.S, but many other insects sport their telltale patterns. Here’s how to spot some of these clever mimics. By Cara Giaimo trilobites How a Fruit in Your Garden Gets Its Shiny Blue Color Slabs of fat help give Viburnum tinus its gleam. By Veronique Greenwood trilobites A Honeybee’s Tongue Is More Swiss Army Knife Than Ladle Once again, insects prove to be more complicated than scientists thought they were. By James Gorman Fire Tornadoes Reported in Northern California Wildfire The National Weather Service issued an unusual warning on Saturday about the possibility of “a fire-induced tornado.” By Allyson Waller Trump Administration Finalizes Plan to Open Arctic Refuge to Drilling The decision sets up a fierce legal battle over the fate of a vast, remote area that is home to polar bears, caribou and the promise of oil wealth. By Brad Plumer and Henry Fountain Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT CLIMATE CHANGE Jessica Lutz for The New York Times   Trump Eliminates Major Methane Rule, Even as Leaks Are Worsening The weakening of Obama-era efforts to fight climate change amounts to a gift to many oil companies. Researchers warn that the decision ignores science. By Coral Davenport William Colgan/CIRES - GEUS   Konrad Steffen, Who Sounded Alarm on Greenland Ice, Dies at 68 A renowned researcher on rising sea levels, he died after falling into the kind of crevasse that warming has created. “It looks like climate change actually claimed him as a victim,” a colleague said. By John Schwartz Nature Picture Library/Alamy   Global Warming Could Unlock Carbon From Tropical Soil Warming soils in the tropics could cause microbes to release carbon dioxide from storage. One scientist called the finding “another example of why we need to worry more.” By Gabriel Popkin HEALTH Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times   The New Old Age Nursing Home Families Yearn to Visit Loved Ones Again Struck hard by the pandemic, long-term and assisted living facilities shut their doors to outsiders. Many still have not reopened. By Paula Span Cam Bonelli/The Hattiesburg American, via Associated Press   Young Adults Report Rising Levels of Anxiety and Depression in Pandemic A new C.D.C. survey indicates that young people, as well as Blacks and Latinos of all ages, are showing signs of deteriorating mental health and some are resorting to substance abuse. By Jan Hoffman Getty Images   The Checkup How Children’s Sleep Habits Have Changed in the Pandemic Spending more time on screens, staying up late and sleeping late may require some adjustments for the start of the school year. By Perri Klass, M.D. Joshua Bright for The New York Times   Fearing a ‘Twindemic,’ Health Experts Push Urgently for Flu Shots There’s no vaccine for Covid-19, but there’s one for influenza. With the season’s first doses now shipping, officials are struggling over how to get people to take it. By Jan Hoffman Gracia Lam   Personal Health Are Mammograms Worthwhile for Older Women? Some might be better off not knowing they have breast cancer because they are likely to die of other causes long before breast cancer would threaten their health. By Jane E. Brody iStock   Phys Ed Whether You Are a Night Owl or Early Bird May Affect How Much You Move Early risers did the equivalent of walking 20 to 30 minutes more each day compared to “evening types,” who tend to stay up late. By Gretchen Reynolds Make a friend’s day: Forward this email. Got this from a friend? Subscribe to the Science Times newsletter. 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