Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! Let’s kick off the week by catching up on the latest science news. For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman.
Monday, July 22, topped the charts as the hottest day ever recorded on the planet. But that’s not the worst part. Sunday, July 21, had actually just broken the same record. Monday turned out to be even hotter.
Speaking of hellish weather that’s all our fault, have you noticed how wacky rain has gotten? Like, speaking personally, it feels like we’re seeing way more torrential downpours and unpredictable forecasts than we used to.
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
[CLIP: Thunderstorm sounds]
Scientists say they've found proof suggesting that this really is the case and that climate change is to blame. I know, shocking. What a plot twist.
A study published last Thursday in Science found that daily global rainfall variability has been increasing since the 1900s to the tune of about 1.2 percent per decade. Rainfall variability is a measurement that tells you how uneven the quantity and pacing of our precipitation is. So, for example, if you have higher variability, you get droughts and downpours instead of a more chill assortment of sunny and rainy days.
The researchers behind the study say our greenhouse gas emissions are largely to blame. As our atmosphere gets warmer it’s also able to hold more moisture, which means it gets more humid—and that water has to go somewhere.
But while the world might be literally and figuratively on fire, it still manages to be really cool despite all of our best efforts. Last week researchers reported that unassuming mineral deposits found in the deep sea hold a cheeky little secret: they can produce oxygen in total darkness. I could probably nerd out about this for the rest of our airtime, but SciAm’s own Allison Parshall is going to join us next month to tell us all about it, so I will save all the nerdery for then.
In public health news, a study published last Thursday reports that the H5N1 virus, one of the viruses that causes bird flu, is being transmitted between mammals. Cornell University researchers say the data shows H5N1 has been passing from cow to cow, as well as from cows to cats and at least one unlucky raccoon.
While there isn’t yet any evidence of human-to-human transmission, the worry is that a virus that’s getting better at spreading among mammals might eventually adapt to jumping between very specific mammals, meaning us. People. We’re mammals.
The official tally for human cases this year is at 10, but dairy herds in 13 states have experienced outbreaks and there’s a lot of concern that this is going to get a lot worse.
In other troubling epidemiology news, earlier this month, health officials announced that analysis of wastewater samples taken from Gaza in June revealed the presence of poliovirus. The World Health Organization has said there is a high risk the virus will spread within Gaza, and even internationally, without prompt intervention.
The strain detected isn’t wild poliovirus, but a strain known as vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2. This strain comes from the weakened virus used in oral polio vaccines. The oral vaccine works well if immunization rates are high, which used to be the case in the Palestinian territory—the WHO estimated almost 100 percent immunization coverage in 2022. But in rare circumstances, the weakened virus used in the vaccine can revert to a form that causes illness and even paralysis among the people it infects and be spread back through the population.
Crowded living conditions, poor sanitation and, above all else, a decreased vaccination rate all make this more likely. And those conditions are present right now in Gaza. Immunization coverage has dropped significantly in the last few months as people have been displaced, and the majority of water and sanitation facilities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023. United Nations agencies say that only 16 out of the strip’s 36 hospitals are still considered partially functional.
So it’s not surprising that routine vaccinations have all but ground to a halt. That’s left thousands of young children vulnerable to infection and has created the scenario where this vaccine-derived polio virus can spread.
While no human cases of paralysis have been identified in Gaza so far, experts are worried this situation could escalate quickly. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “a ceasefire is essential to allow an effective response.”
And this is a sentiment we’re hearing from more and more healthcare providers. A letter from medical experts recently published in The Lancet estimated that the death toll in Gaza could end up being about 186,000, if not more. And that’s even if Israel ended its military campaign immediately. That’s not just counting people killed directly by artillery but also taking into account the cascading effects of potential outbreaks of illnesses like polio as well as the impacts of other factors, including mass displacement, loss of infrastructure and malnutrition.
For one more piece of global health news, a few weeks ago I mentioned a really promising new study on a twice-a-year injection to prevent HIV. Now, while the medication’s use for prevention is still being tested, Gilead Sciences already sells the injection as an HIV treatment in the U.S.
The sticker price for a year of treatment is around $40,000. Last week researchers presented an analysis that suggests that the treatment could be profitable at a cost of roughly $100 or even less. Doctors Without Borders and other activist groups have called for Gilead to increase access by lowering its prices and allowing for generic production. They’re arguing that the shot has the potential to end the global HIV epidemic, which would be incredible. And that’s just too big of a deal to get tied up in profits. And again, these researchers aren’t asking Gilead Sciences to take a loss. The medication could still be profitable at $100 per year, maybe even less as production ramped up, and right now it costs $40,000.
Okay, so I know we’ve talked about some extremely important, heavy world news today, so we’ll wrap things up with a couple of stories that feel like really great Syfy channel original movie fodder. And by really great I mean terrible because that’s what makes Syfy channel original movies great.
[CLIP: Ian Ziering: “I’m here representing Sharknado, this tiny little TV movie that has grown to a global storm.”
Feltman: Last Tuesday a study by researchers at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil reported that 13 sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro had cocaine in their muscle and liver tissues. The study authors say that sewage from human cocaine users and runoff from drug-producing labs is likely the culprit. They can’t yet be sure how the cocaine impacts the health or behavior of these sharks, but I don’t think that should stop Elizabeth Banks from taking the obvious inspo for a Cocaine Bear sequel, stat.
[CLIP: Growl and water splash]
Then last Wednesday in a study that’s totally unrelated to cocaine sharks but like somehow feels kinda related to cocaine sharks, scientists showed that Komodo dragons have teeth coated with literal metal. The iron covers the tips and serrated edges of their gnarly teeth and helps keeps them sharp.
Again, fantastic Syfy channel original movie fodder. Syfy: do you need help writing this script? Call my agent.
[CLIP: Ian Ziering: “I’m here representing Sharknado.”]
Feltman: Seriously, Syfy, call my agent. I can get you the script in, like, a day.
[CLIP: Ian Ziering: “Sharknado.”]
Feltman: Here’s a fun fact: lots of people believe that Komodo dragons, which are the world’s largest living lizards, take down their prey with the power of poor oral hygiene. A few decades ago this biologist noticed that after animals got chomped by a Komodo they sometimes suffered these fatal infections. And he went on to present and cement the idea that they used bacteria in place of venom.
I seriously remember learning this on, like, a nerdy little TV documentary in school as a kid. And I thought it was really awesome. Like, how wild to evolve to kill things with the power of your nasty teeth.
Turns out–thta’s not true. Follow-up research showed that the animals actually have a pretty standard assortment of mouth microbes. But they also have venom glands packed with powerful toxins. These compounds that can cause excessive bleeding, make blood pressure plummet and keep wounds from clotting—and, of course, iron-coated steak knives for teeth.
[CLIP: Knife sharpening sound]
That’s all for this week’s news roundup. We’ll be back on Wednesday to learn why the Olympics are so obsessed with sex. And don’t forget to tune in on Friday for the next installment in our ongoing Fascination miniseries all about the wildest kinds of archaeology research.
If you’re enjoying the show, do us a favor and leave a rating and a review wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also send us questions, comments and suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover at ScienceQuickly@sciam.com.
Science Quickly is produced by me, Rachel Feltman, along with Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Subscribe to Scientific American for more up-to-date and in-depth science news.
For Scientific American, this is Rachel Feltman. Have a great week!
