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Added daily report
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Person of the Year: Jamie Raskin</strong> - How one politician devoted his fight for democracy to his lost son. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-person-of-the-year-jamie-raskin">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Year in Climate</strong> - A summer that really scared scientists. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/2021-in-review/the-year-in-climate">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inside an Oklahoma City Abortion Clinic</strong> - The staff is struggling to meet the needs of Texas patients, with no relief in sight. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/inside-an-oklahoma-city-abortion-clinic">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Rio Grande Valley’s Abortion Desert</strong> - Texas’s new law is the culmination of decades of legal restrictions and budget cuts that have left women in one of the country’s poorest regions with scant access to abortion. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-rio-grande-valleys-abortion-desert">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Baby-Box Lady of America</strong> - With the help of safe-haven laws, which allow parents to anonymously surrender their babies, Monica Kelsey has installed more than ninety baby boxes—mailbox-like receptacles for infants—in five states. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-baby-box-lady-of-america">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The Senate’s last-minute confirmation push, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer adjusts his glasses as he speaks to reporters on Capitol
Hill." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7oEqDWPxmk67PnM0QTSsn9ra6Lk=/169x0:4981x3609/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70292090/1359012818.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talks to reporters following the weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the US Capitol on December 14, 2021, in Washington, DC. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Republican senators have been been holding up Biden’s diplomatic nominees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwmHaM">
The Senate confirmed a long-delayed slate of executive and judicial nominees on Friday and Saturday, filling positions that been left open for months because of Republican obstruction.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VeDUeW">
The marathon Senate session, which ran into the early hours of Saturday morning before <a href="https://www.dailypress.senate.gov/friday-december-17-2021/">officially adjourning</a> at just after 4 am Eastern time, included confirmation votes for 41 ambassadors and nine federal district court judges nominated by President Joe Biden, <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1472191229249179650?s=20">according to Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman</a>.
</p>
<div id="746Ryf">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Quite the last day in session for the Senate. They confirmed 9 district court judges, 41 ambassadors and 5 other positions. They also invoked cloture on two more circuit judges.<a href="https://twitter.com/RahmEmanuel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="RahmEmanuel">@RahmEmanuel</span></a> is going to Tokyo. 48-21 vote.
</p>
— Jake Sherman (<span class="citation" data-cites="JakeSherman">@JakeSherman</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1472191229249179650?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jCHrcx">
Among those <a href="https://twitter.com/DSenFloor/status/1472283459435614213?s=20">confirmed</a> were US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, US Ambassador to France Denise Campbell Bauer, and US Ambassador to the European Union Mark Gitenstein.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B2TbCR">
The Senate also confirmed its 40th Biden-nominated judge, <a href="https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1472186035777978368?s=20">according to Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim</a>, more than any president in his first year in office since Ronald Reagan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vcFvnC">
The last-minute rush of confirmations on Friday — the last day of the Senate’s 2021 session — was an effort to work through a backlog of about 150 presidential nominees. Many diplomatic and national security posts remain open thanks to stonewalling from Senate Republicans and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/13/1055575802/lack-of-american-ambassadors-is-hurting-
foreign-goals-says-afsa-president">slow pace of nominations</a> from the Biden administration. Despite Friday’s progress, many of the nominees still in the backlog <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/senate-powers-through-
nomination-votes-in-marathon-session/">will have to be re-nominated by the president</a> in the new session, further delaying the process.
</p>
<h3 id="GgP8C8">
Republicans stalled confirmations to advance their own agendas
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BUMn2Y">
The overall process of confirming presidential nominees has become increasingly difficult in recent years, but Friday’s backlog was the result of several specific demands from Republican senators.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aXtG30">
In particular, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/14/democrats-cruz-hawley-biden-ambassadors-524220">Sens. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marco Rubio</a> have all held up Biden foreign service and national security nominees until their own priorities were guaranteed a vote.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U8WgPO">
Most presidential nominees have’t been subject to the filibuster since a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/6/10/5785938/life-after-the-nuclear-option-in-the-senate">2013 rule change</a> (and none are <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/3/15108140/neil-gorsuch-nuclear-
option-trump">as of 2017</a>), so it’s not technically possible for a single Republican senator to block the confirmation of a nominee outright. They can make it a grueling process, however, by denying unanimous consent to confirm nominations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S6G9ag">
Specifically, while a single senator doesn’t have the power to halt the process full stop — provided the nominee has the support of at least 50 senators with the vice president to break a tie — they <em>can</em> open up the floor for debate. That takes up significant time in the Senate, which would be a challenge at any time, but particularly when the confirmation backlog is so large and the chamber has other major priorities to address.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TguRiF">
“In past years, many of these nominees would have sailed through with consent and cooperation, but this year a handful of Republicans have hijacked the rules of the Senate to slow the process down,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1471515462035021824?s=20">said on the Senate floor Thursday</a>. “It’s cynical, it’s entirely pointless, and worst of all it’s damaging — seriously damaging — to our national security.”
</p>
<div id="ke2a5l">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="SenSchumer">@SenSchumer</span></a> on confirming Biden nominees: “A handful of Republicans have hijacked the rules of the Senate to slow the process down. It’s cynical, it’s entirely pointless, and worst of all, it is damaging, seriously damaging to our national security.” <a href="https://t.co/YzenPmylkg">pic.twitter.com/YzenPmylkg</a>
</p>
— The Hill (<span class="citation" data-cites="thehill">@thehill</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1471515462035021824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9uXEQ1">
Prior to Friday, Cruz tried to strike a deal with Schumer to exchange a vote on sanctions for <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/18/cruz-vote-russian-pipeline-sanctions-schumer-525334">Russia’s Nord Stream 2</a> gas pipeline for votes to confirm 16 ambassadors and State Department officials, without any luck. While the US isn’t in favor of Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Germany, the Biden administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/02/us/politics/senate-confirmation-cruz-nominations.html">rescinded sanctions </a>against the company building it <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-russia-chicago-germany-national-
security-cccf92c2d2efc2ec285590cf8b39729e">to preserve the US relationship with Germany</a>, a key ally which has approved the pipeline.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3V5pnF">
“I’ve made clear to every State Department official, to every state department nominee, that I will place holds on these nominees unless and until the Biden administration follows the law and stops this pipeline and imposes the sanctions,” <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-on-the-
senate-floor-i-will-use-all-options-to-stop-biden-putin-nord-stream-2-pipeline">Cruz said in August statement</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oK123J">
Ultimately, Cruz secured his vote — it’s scheduled for January 14 — and agreed to release his hold on <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/18/cruz-vote-russian-pipeline-sanctions-schumer-525334">dozens of diplomatic nominations,</a> which were confirmed overnight.
</p>
<div id="fpwzjo">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Also: This is precisely why Schumer didn’t take the Cruz offer to confirm 16 people. he got 41 ambassadors
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">— Jake Sherman (<span class="citation" data-cites="JakeSherman">@JakeSherman</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1472192736367460354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2021</a></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dTFVHd">
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/02/us/politics/senate-confirmation-cruz-
nominations.html">Hawley</a> has also tried Cruz’s stalling tactic, albeit with less success. After the US’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/videos/22652273/afghanistan-us-military-timeline-effects">disastrous pullout from Afghanistan</a> in August, Hawley <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/14/politics/josh-hawley-state-defense-
nominees/index.html">pledged to block all of Biden’s national security and Pentagon nominees</a> unless Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken resigned their posts. That hasn’t happened, but Hawley has threatened to hold up the confirmation process “as long as it takes,” as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/10/democrats-schumer-hardball-biden-nominees-524085">he said in early December</a>. “If I’m still on the floor doing this in 2023, so be it, 2024, so be it, until somebody is held accountable.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dAG1H5">
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/12/08/ambassador-
vacancies/">Hawley and Cruz in particular</a> may have broader reasons for their obstruction — both have been accused of blocking the nominations at least in part to position themselves as antagonists to Biden in potential 2024 runs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8kep9e">
Despite the challenges from Cruz and Hawley, Democrats pressed on with 56 total voice votes, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rahm-emanuel-japan-ambassador/2021/12/18/aabe873e-6000-11ec-
bda6-25c1f558dd09_story.html">according to the Washington Post</a>, as well as a floor vote to confirm Emanuel as ambassador to Japan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ttKRy9">
Schumer, for his part, seemed quite satisfied with the outcome of the long night of voting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lJUGfC">
“At the end of the day, we will have invoked cloture on two circuit judges, confirmed nine district court judges, confirmed 41 ambassadors, and confirmed five other members of President Biden’s team,” he said Saturday, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/586415-cruz-to-get-nord-stream-2-vote-as-part-of-deal-on-
biden-nominees">according to the Hill</a>. “It’s been a long day but a good day’s work. I thank my colleagues.”
</p>
<h3 id="7aIQiX">
Ambassadorships are critical diplomatic positions
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ghZaFb">
In addition to Friday’s confirmation spree, the Senate also <a href="https://www.axios.com/senate-china-ambassador-nicholas-
burns-1244e013-a5f7-441f-a1ce-c5a2dc715948.html">confirmed</a> one of Biden’s highest-profile ambassadorial nominees on Thursday after Rubio agreed to allow the confirmation of Nicholas Burns as ambassador to China to proceed smoothly.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HxCrbz">
Burns, a career diplomat who served under both Republicans and Democrats over a 30-year career, including as undersecretary of state from 2005 to 2008 and as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-senate-backs-biden-
nominee-burns-be-ambassador-china-2021-12-16/">US ambassador to NATO</a>, was <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/20/president-biden-announces-his-intent-to-
nominate-three-individuals-to-serve-as-ambassadors/">nominated in August</a>; until this week, his position had gone <a href="https://www.axios.com/senate-china-ambassador-nicholas-burns-1244e013-a5f7-441f-a1ce-c5a2dc715948.html">unfilled for the past 14 months</a> amid increasing US-China tensions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1RnnY7">
Rubio had been holding Burns’s nomination hostage pending a vote on his legislation to sanction goods made by <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-
highlight/22632448/xinjiang-cotton-ban-china-uyghurs-fast-fashion">slave labor</a> in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The <a href="https://www.axios.com/uyghur-forced-labor-china-nicholas-burns-
cf503f53-3031-4a84-9320-eaa7309cf535.html">Senate passed the bill unanimously on Thursday</a>, and Biden has indicated he will sign it into law.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l9PuMm">
But the logic of holding key nominations over individual legislative priorities, even when they’re related, is opaque at best, and potentially damaging at worst.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0AOETa">
As <a href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-rubio-strike-bipartisan-deal-to-pass-legislation-to-
end-complicity-with-the-genocide-in-china-confirm-key-national-security-nominees-critical-to-implementing-us-china-
policy">Sen. Chris Murphy</a> (D-CT) pointed out <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCaplan/status/1441189912817012744?s=20">on the Senate floor in September</a>, that kind of obstruction prevents professionals who could help accomplish those priorities, or at least manage diplomatic relationships, from doing their jobs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jsj0Re">
“It just takes a lot of chutzpah for my colleagues to stand here on the floor and criticize the president’s conduct of foreign policy at the same time that they are refusing to allow the President to have staff to conduct foreign policy,” <a href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-
releases/murphy-blasts-senate-republicans-unprecedented-efforts-to-block-state-department-nominations-gop-obstruction-
causing-a-growing-national-security-crisis">Murphy said</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3SwS9g">
Similarly, according to <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-too-brussels-also-hates-ted-cruz/">Politico</a>, European politicians had reportedly also grown frustrated by Cruz’s obstruction prior to Friday’s confirmations. “Cruz is blocking everything,” one senior EU official lamented.
</p>
<h3 id="ZYlMtD">
What happens next?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cpe3ei">
After filing for cloture on 22 Biden nominees up for confirmation, Schumer <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/news/press-releases/majority-
leader-schumer-floor-remarks-on-filing-cloture-on-twenty-two-of-president-bidens-nominations-and-the-need-to-confirm-
president-bidens-nominees-despite-republican-obstruction">warned Thursday</a> that “we could be back here in the near future doing this whole thing over again.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZhUWpe">
That’s because, despite the number of nominees confirmed Friday, many of those still pending will have to go back to Biden’s desk to be be <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46664/2#:~:text=Rule%20XXXI%2C%20Paragraph%206,-Rule%20XXXI%2C%20paragraph&amp;text=The%20rule%20does%20so%20in,for%20more%20than%2030%20days.">re- nominated</a> in the new year — going through the same committee process and potentially giving Republicans more chances to slow-walk their confirmation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VIG7gb">
Currently, the Senate is set to reconvene January 3, and will vote on the confirmation of Gabriel Sanchez to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AXZs5p">
In the long term, however, the confirmation process could be revised to prevent long delays. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/14/democrats-cruz-hawley-biden-ambassadors-524220">According to Politico’s Andrew Desiderio</a>, some senators are pushing for a rule change to prevent this sort of confirmation lag from happening again. A bipartisan group met Monday to discuss potential rule changes to prevent the kind of obstruction that contributed to the current confirmation backlog, but it’s unclear what those changes might look like.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZtKDbK">
In the interim, Murphy told Desiderio he is worried about future confirmation fights.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AUyn0h">
“My worry is that this is not going away, not just on ambassadors,” Murphy said. “I mean, everybody’s got a hold on every agency. So it just doesn’t feel like the rules, as they stand now, work for nominees.”
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>You might get a breakthrough case of Covid-19 this winter. Here’s how to prepare.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Illustration of a snowy scene containing a huge box of tissues, a blister pack of pills, a
large warm hat, and a small person blowing their nose." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/fStLx5jzcfjYp1zQ4zWY0rz9z9M=/651x0:5984x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70290836/covid.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Getty Images/iStockphoto
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
If you’re hoping for the best but still want to plan for the worst, there are things you can do now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f8EBfd">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="46oasS">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f6XK0u">
As case numbers increase in the US and <a href="https://www.vox.com/22824183/omicron-variant-covid-19-vaccine-south-africa-pfizer-vaccine">a new variant of concern circulates</a>, it’s hard to feel optimistic about our upcoming Covid-19 season. Among people who are vaccinated and who have been fairly cautious thus far, a dark feeling of inevitability may be beginning to settle in — a sense that even if you’ve avoided the coronavirus until now, that might not hold through the winter.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XUTcIF">
While it can be anxiety-inducing to see a cluster of storm clouds gathering and know there’s a very good chance you’re in their direct path, there is still time to do a bit of weatherproofing, so to speak — or at least put on a raincoat and grab an umbrella, so that you’re not caught totally off guard when it starts to pour.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vPzil0">
Being prepared for a Covid-19 infection in your household is just plain practical. Even if omicron turns out to be less dangerous than previous variants, the US is also still looking at its first winter with delta, which we know is highly transmissible compared to last winter’s dominant Covid-19 variant. This means people who have tested positive or are symptomatic and waiting for PCR test results need to be especially prepared to tend to their illness without leaving the house, reducing the likelihood of infecting others. Keep in mind that <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22791746/us-
covid-19-cases-deaths-race-inequities-vaccine-antiviral">underserved groups are likely to bear the burden of this and future phases of the pandemic</a>; even if you have a case that feels truly mild, it’s still crucial to do your part to mitigate exposure and keep the pandemic from worsening.
</p>
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</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eD14mL">
It’s also wise to get physically and mentally ready on a personal level. During uncertain times, it can be helpful to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22828161/how-to-deal-with-omicron-covid-uncertainty-holiday-planning">gain some small semblance of control</a>. While we wait to learn more about omicron, doing something lightly productive — even just restocking your now-expired cold meds — can offset <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22839842/covid-
omicron-variant-us-response-hospitalizations">feelings of powerlessness</a> or anxiety you may be experiencing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XEsZZ1">
Lastly, getting a positive diagnosis can be unmooring, even if you’re vaccinated and not afraid of a scary outcome. You might feel mostly okay physically, but it’s unlikely you’ll want to do a ton of research or make a lot of decisions in that moment. The more time you can spend resting and healing — versus, say, trying to find the most up-to- date info on testing and treatments — the better.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q9V55F">
If you’re hoping for the best but still want to plan for the worst, here’s advice from one health expert on what you can do right now.
</p>
<h3 id="LfSGvq">
Get boosted (and get a flu shot)
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OPThEm">
Plain and simple. As Vox has previously reported, <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2021/12/1/22809878/covid-19-omicron-variant-vaccine-booster-shots">booster shots today could fight omicron tomorrow</a>, and getting a flu shot <a href="https://www.vox.com/21356160/flu-shot-
vaccine-covid-coronavirus-influenza-season-pandemic">will help keep hospitals from being overwhelmed</a> (and reduce the risk of co-infection).
</p>
<h3 id="VGITGs">
Make a plan for how and where you’ll get tested if you have symptoms or an exposure
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nJJoRH">
“It’s really important for people to get tested, because it’s really hard to differentiate between seasonal flu, Covid, or just a regular cold,” says <a href="https://twitter.com/syramadad">Syra Madad</a>, the senior director of system-wide special pathogens for NYC Health + Hospitals. “There are a lot of overlapping signs and symptoms, and they’re nonspecific. You can have a fever, cough, or runny nose with any of those three.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0pesfk">
Depending on how you’ve been utilizing testing thus far, you may not have put much thought into how or where you’ll get tested if you start showing symptoms or if you need results ASAP. (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/index.html">According to the CDC</a>, vaccinated people should get tested five to seven days after an exposure or as soon as symptoms develop. Be aware, however, that omicron <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/12/omicron-breakthrough-vaccine-testing/621014/">may have a quicker onset</a> than other variants.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i49toD">
It’s wise to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22814390/omicron-
covid-19-vaccine-rapid-test-antigen-pcr-vaccine">figure out a testing plan now</a>, including at-home and lab tests, when you’re presumably healthy. Determine the closest testing site(s) to you and how you’ll get there if you need a lab test; ideally, you’d avoid public transportation and ride-sharing services, but if that’s not possible, think about what you might do to minimize the risk to other people. Also make note of the testing site’s hours, whether it’s open on weekends, and whether it’s walk-in only or if you can make an appointment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w94X4w">
Know that getting tested when you know there’s a fairly high probability that you have Covid-19 — versus getting tested as a formality or prophylactically — can be a stressful experience. In those moments, you’re likely going to want your results quickly. So you may also want to figure out where you’ll be able to get a rapid PCR test near you, if available, and add that to the “Covid dossier” (a.k.a. Google Doc) you’re building out. <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22790673/home-
covid-tests-molecular-antigen-winter-holidays">As Vox has previously reported</a>, it’s also a good idea to stock up on rapid at-home antigen tests.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nA08mJ">
Finally, if you’re going to be traveling for an extended period of time over the holidays or in the new year, make sure you know where you can get tested while you’re at your destination.
</p>
<h3 id="GAjOFI">
Step up your mask game
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="67bvTA">
It can be difficult to think of yourself as contagious, especially when you feel great or just “not <em>that</em> sick.” But it’s important to internalize the reality that, at any point, you could unwittingly pose a much bigger threat to others than you realize. That means taking extra precautions to protect your community, especially if you’ve gotten a little lax about this since getting vaccinated.
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ycrhgL">
“No one wants to experience a breakthrough infection,” Madad says. “We know that even fully vaccinated people can transmit the virus, obviously at a lower extent, to fully vaccinated individuals. I think that’s really important for people to understand. It’s not just about you. I know here in America, it’s a lot about me, me, me, but we need to make sure we’re also looking at <em>we</em>, collectively.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LrPI46">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22251362/mask-fit-coronavirus-best-cloth-n95">The best mask is one that fits</a>, so make sure yours does, and think about <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/3/22607777/cdc-mask-guidance-covid-19-delta-
variant">replacing your cloth masks with N95, KN95, or surgical masks</a>. If you want to stick with cloth, consider whether it’s time to replace your current supply. (<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-
goods/21358558/covid-19-masks-n95-washing-laundry-germs">Vox reported</a> in September 2020 that a cloth mask likely needs to be replaced after 100 rounds in the washer or 50 in the dryer because the fabric will start to break down and become more porous.)
</p>
<h3 id="v6AJbi">
Determine who will be your main source of medical care if you get sick
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oJ6VtC">
A lot of people in the US simply <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2757495?resultClick=3">don’t have a primary care provider</a> they see regularly — even people who are <a href="https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M19-1834">insured</a>. That’s a tough spot to be in when you’re sick and everything you’re reading is telling you to “talk to your doctor” about symptoms, and treatments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KtVCxa">
“I would definitely encourage people to make sure that they have a primary care physician,” Madad says. Of course, many people don’t, and can’t, for a slew of structural and systemic reasons. Madad says she’d like to see more centralized hotlines that people can call about symptoms, for guidance on what types of treatments (like monoclonal antibodies) they might qualify for, and to know whether or not to go to the hospital. Until that happens, the best thing for you personally to do is to spend some time on your public health department’s website and the nearest public hospital’s website to find additional resources and information about free or low-cost telehealth options.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7htOcB">
If you do have the resources to get a primary health care provider and have simply been procrastinating doing the research to find one, make that a priority in the next couple of weeks. The good news is that the advent of telehealth means this might be considerably easier, since you won’t need to worry as much about the doctor being a long car or bus ride away.
</p>
<h3 id="wiazHp">
Have a plan for how you’ll isolate if you test positive
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uxXbH7">
The Covid-19 vaccines are so effective at reducing hospitalization and death that it’s possible to start to feel like we’re post-pandemic or that getting Covid-19 is no big deal. It might not be a death sentence if you’re young, vaccinated, and generally healthy, but it’s still not the same as, say, getting a cold (even if it literally feels like you just have a cold). Plus, plenty of people are simply not young or generally healthy and very much want to avoid getting Covid-19 entirely. Which is all to say: It’s important to take isolation seriously.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cpM99h">
With that in mind, take some time to familiarize yourself with <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-
sick.html">the current CDC recommendations</a> for the Covid-positive. Plan that, per current recommendations, you’ll likely need to be at home for 10 days — and not just mostly at home, but literally <em>not leaving your home</em>, except to get medical care, for 10 days. (Also keep in mind the current guidance <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22841477/covid-19-omicron-variant-tests-symptoms-isolation">could change with omicron</a>.) Here are some other things to think about:
</p>
<ul>
<li id="FpKtQu">
Are there any steps you could take to mitigate spread to family members or housemates? For example, can you confine yourself to one room or even one floor? If you live in an apartment, does it make sense to buy an air purifier and a couple of fans to help with ventilation? Madad also pointed to <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/site/helpnownyc/get-help/covid-19-hotel-
program.page">New York City’s free hotel program for people and/or families who need to isolate</a>. Not all cities will have options like this, of course, but it’s absolutely worth knowing that ahead of time.
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c0JFJu">
If you have young kids, what might you do in terms of child care if you have to self-isolate and can’t send your kid to day care or school?
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qDT4Jx">
How might you get food and medicine if you can’t leave the house? Do any drug stores or grocery stores near your home offer delivery? Are there any local mutual aid groups you can join now, in case you need a supply drop-off from a neighbor later?
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YZJ2fU">
What is your workplace’s sick leave or PTO policy and how will that affect you, especially if you’re employed outside the house? Even companies with generous leave policies might require you to take short-term disability if you need to use more than five days of sick leave in a row, which is not something you want to learn for the first time mere hours after a Covid-19 diagnosis.
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tQHCeN">
If you live in an apartment and have a dog you need to take outside, who could pick up your pet and watch it while you isolate?
</li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="akWv44">
The answer to some of these questions might be, “Well, I guess I’m screwed!” which absolutely does not represent a moral failing on your part. But facing the bleak reality that things like sick leave and child care in the US are not built for a pandemic (or for a non-pandemic, to be frank) is a tiny bit easier and less overwhelming when you’re feeling relatively healthy.
</p>
<h3 id="NNoP3s">
Stock up on essentials
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wkip8u">
One thing that will make it massively easier to isolate and to focus on getting better is a well-stocked medicine chest and pantry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kIdMiH">
To tend to your symptoms, you’ll likely want to have a variety of cold and cough medicines, pain relievers and fever reducers (like acetaminophen and ibuprofen), cough drops, a thermometer, and a few boxes of tissues. Madad says a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/well/live/covid-pulse-
oximeter.html">pulse oximeter</a> to monitor changes in your oxygen levels also isn’t a bad idea, though the reliability of this tool varies somewhat, especially for those with dark skin. Think about what you like to eat when you’re sick and/or don’t have much appetite (jello, popsicles, instant ramen, soup, etc.) and consider bulking up your grocery list for a few weeks with pantry staples and freezer meals for the benefit of Future You.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UsGY7T">
For extra credit, here are two items that unexpectedly made my own bout of Covid-19 much easier: a <em>big</em> water bottle with a straw (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Medegen-Roommates-Pitcher-Insulated-
Translucent/dp/B0013YBCVS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2G8TCZ4L6LZI8&amp;keywords=1%2BX%2BMedegen%2BRoommates%2BPitcher%2BInsulated%2BW%2FStraw%2BTranslucent%2BW%2FGranite%2BAnd%2BHandle%2B32%2BOz%2B-%2BModel%2Bh206-01&amp;qid=1639689390&amp;sprefix=1%2Bx%2Bmedegen%2Broommates%2Bpitcher%2Binsulated%2Bw%2Fstraw%2Btranslucent%2Bw%2Fgranite%2Band%2Bhandle%2B32%2Boz%2B-%2Bmodel%2Bh206-01%2Caps%2C64&amp;sr=8-1&amp;th=1">like this</a>), which made it much easier to stay hydrated, and a small trash receptacle to put next to the bed or couch, because having a runny nose and taking lots of individually wrapped cold meds generates a ton of trash, which quickly takes over your nightstand and adds to the generally rotten vibe of having a respiratory illness.
</p>
<h3 id="Dnt1PF">
Mentally prepare for how much rest you’ll need when you’re sick
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7I2ahv">
One of the big benefits of planning ahead like this is that it’ll make it easier to do nothing after you’ve tested positive — something that is critical to the healing process.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LAYi5j">
During <a href="https://www.justgoodshit.com/blog/things-to-do-for-
a-mild-covid-case">the mild case of Covid-19 I had last January</a>, I immediately took time off work, but I didn’t totally understand what it means to truly rest, in the doctor-prescribed sense. I thought I could do light chores if I felt mostly up to them, for example, or read a book. I even, somewhat inexplicably, set my alarm for a normal wake-up time every morning, like it was an average weekend instead of … time off to deal with the respiratory illness I’d spent a year avoiding. It took me a few days to accept that doing anything but lying down and watching TV was draining, and even if I felt okay in the moment, I’d pay for it by feeling awful in the hours that followed. If you’ve been healthy your whole life, it can be difficult to comprehend how physically wiped you might feel after doing your typical version of “doing nothing.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lPmJcX">
“We want to give our bodies time to recover,” Madad says. “You’re not going to get that healing time or recovery time if you’re going to constantly be active and on your feet and doing things that we do on a daily basis. I know so many of us live active lives, and to just stay in bed is something that’s really hard for many of us. But it’s really important.” And know that if you can’t take it easy — because, say, your boss expects you to get back to work or you have to take care of your kids, or both — it might take you longer to feel like yourself again. “If you are not giving that time to your body, then it probably will take longer for you to deal with Covid,” Madad says.
</p>
<h3 id="RxlmvI">
Pick up the phone if/when the health department calls you
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FdZbva">
If you’re not one to answer phone calls from unknown numbers, consider making an exception in the days following your positive test — it could very well be the local health department getting in touch. Depending on where you live, they could be calling to get your help with contact tracing, or they might want to ask you some questions about your symptoms, answer any questions you have, and provide you with important info and resources. (On the other hand, Madad says a lot of states are currently overwhelmed, so you may not get a call at all.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tpBkI5">
Madad says that people might feel hesitant to share their friends’ or coworkers’ personal information with the health department, but stresses that contact tracing is still a critical piece of preventing future outbreaks. “Oftentimes, I hear, ‘I’m not going to give out my personal information,’ or ‘I’m not going to give information of who I have been in contact with because it’s none of their business,’” she says. “But, again, I would look at it as a form of community service. If you get that call, give that information, because their goal is to end this pandemic. By giving that information, you’re contributing to helping reduce the spread of this virus, which ultimately will help end this pandemic eventually.”
</p>
<h3 id="IC2dkI">
Be ready to feel a wave of emotions
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wBrPRY">
Even if you’ve told yourself you’ll likely get Covid-19 eventually and it’s probably not a big deal, it’s still totally reasonable to feel overwhelmed and upset by a positive test. (It’s also completely reasonable to think it is a very big deal, and to feel afraid.) “It’s okay to be concerned, it’s okay to have those types of feelings,” Madad says. “No one wants to experience illness of any kind, whether we’re talking about Covid-19 or any type of a virus — no one wants to get sick. That’s not a condition that anybody wants to experience, especially when you talk about a variant that we’re still learning more about.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ckTJRz">
It’s also very normal to feel a sense of shame or guilt, but Madad says it’s important to not let those feelings stop you from taking necessary steps to protect others. “Regardless of how you got infected, you want to do the right thing in terms of preventing other people from getting sick and contributing to that community transmission that is happening,” she says. That means telling close contacts they need to get tested and taking isolation seriously. “I think there should be no shame, no embarrassment,” Madad says. “You’re doing community service — you’re letting people know to protect themselves, because you’re infected, and you want to make sure that you’re staying away from them.”
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Can a new approach to funding scientific research unlock innovation?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IlG1UVC_tXu_VeXGyV1Uj-
mpWMU=/0x0:3556x2667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70290678/1237285331.0.jpeg"/></figure></li>
</ul>
<figcaption>
A technician works at the African Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, on December 15. | Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images
</figcaption>
<pre><code>&lt;/figure&gt;</code></pre>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
How we fund research is stifling creativity. Here’s one potential fix.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CFB3Y3">
Ask a bunch of scientists what’s wrong with their field, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12016710/science-challeges-research-funding-peer-review-process#1">as Vox did a few years ago</a>, and one thing nearly all of them will name is the funding process. You might think that top scientists at top universities are paid by those universities for the research they do, but for the most part, you’d be wrong: Nearly all academic researchers in the sciences rely on outside grants in order to pay salaries, buy their equipment, and run their experiments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zduucS">
Those grants end up powerfully shaping the academic sciences. By <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12016710/science-challeges-research-funding-peer-review-process#1">some estimates</a>, many top researchers spend 50 percent of their time writing grants. <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v534/n7609/full/nature18315.html">Interdisciplinary research</a> is less likely to get funding, meaning critical kinds of research don’t get done. And scientists argue that the constant fighting for funding undermines good work by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376168/">encouraging researchers to overpromise and engage in questionable practices</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/policy-nih-
plans-to-enhance-reproducibility-1.14586">overincentivizing publication in top journals</a>, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/14162686/A_tragedy_of_the_academic_commons_interpreting_the_replication_crisis_in_psychology_as_a_social_dilemma_for_early-
career_researchers">disincentivizing replications of existing work</a>, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1745691616687745">stifling creativity and intellectual risk- taking</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NBaLQF">
A new biomedical research institute, <a href="https://arcinstitute.org/">called the Arc Institute</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1471156220425871360">announced on Wednesday</a> as a nonprofit in collaboration between Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco and funded by some of the biggest names in tech, is meant to address some of those problems — and show what could be a better way<strong> </strong>to fund science.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L8BIoR">
Arc is “an institutional experiment in how science is conducted and funded,” Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe and one of the Institute’s funders, told me. Researchers get eight-year grants to do whatever they want, instead of three-year grants tied to a specific project.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B2OcZl">
The institute is also hiring for people who want to work on improving key biological research tools instead of on conducting experiments and writing papers. It’s an expensive approach that can, even at best, only solve the problems with our current system for a tiny fraction of the researchers affected by it. But its founders hope it can at least show that solutions are possible — and inspire further experimentation.
</p>
<h3 id="boK1B4">
Arc, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c4O112">
The key idea behind Arc is that the current system for biomedical scientists has enabled a lot of great research. But there’s an overwhelming sentiment among scientists that some key work is falling through the cracks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q6E11e">
Top investigators “spend over half of our time fundraising. The rest of that time we’re shouldering serious managerial, operational, logistical things,” Patrick Hsu, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of California Berkeley and one of Arc’s founders, told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HpJOZn">
The system “doesn’t empirically seem to enable people to pursue what they themselves think is their best idea,” Collison said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vCmWF3">
Last year, Collison was involved in funding a major scientific grantmaking endeavor called <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-
perfect/2020/4/21/21228156/coronavirus-fast-grants-tyler-cowen-patrick-collison">FastGrants</a> — an effort to get money out to researchers doing critical work on Covid-19. With the funds, they sent a survey. One question included was “if you have the same amount of funding but you could use it however you want, and it was stable, would you change your research program,” Silvana Konermann, an assistant professor of biochemistry at Stanford and the new executive director of Arc, told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="goJA8j">
Eighty percent of the scientists who answered said they would change their research program substantially.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UV4P6m">
Arc is a bet on doing exactly that. The researchers it brings on as core investigators will get less restricted, eight-year grants. The idea is that they’ll spend less time fundraising and feel secure to switch course and focus on whatever they believe is most essential, giving them what Konermann said is the “flexibility and freedom to pursue the research they’re the most passionate about and take risks and take on projects that might fail.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZLGPvu">
The institute is also hoping to better support those scientists with “technology development centers” that focus on inventing better tools and processes for biomedical research. It’s the kind of work that is essential to science but that doesn’t lead to academic papers and that is therefore not seen as a viable career path.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9GFy3f">
With the current system, “there aren’t long-term careers for the people doing it,” Hsu told me. “It should be possible to work for 20 years on refining some super-useful technology” — for cutting and pasting DNA, for example, or something similarly fundamental. Right now there aren’t good career options in the academic biosciences for people who want to work on slow, slight engineering improvements on a key problem. It’d be nice to change that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZRPYRD">
Arc will operate out of Palo Alto, California, where Stanford is located, as an independent nonprofit collaborating with Stanford, Berkeley, and UCSF — all institutions with highly regarded biomedical programs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qHrnY4">
It’ll be expensive — part of why no one has fixed biomedical science is that it isn’t cheap. The venture<strong> </strong>has funding commitments from — along with Patrick Collison (who is Konermann’s husband) and his brother and Stripe co-founder John Collison — cryptocurrency billionaire Vitalik Buterin, and Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna (whose <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/4/24/8457895/givewell-open-philanthropy-
charity">ambitious philanthropy</a> crops up <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21728843/best-charities-donate-
giving-tuesday">frequently</a> here on Future Perfect), among others.
</p>
<h3 id="AOqFQn">
What’s missing from our scientific funding system
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bii90Q">
If you’re a tenured professor doing academic research in many scientific fields, you’ll be responsible for running a lab. That means you’ll need to hire graduate students and postdocs, as well as pay for equipment, supplies, and publication fees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qxhpg5">
Universities pay a share of these expenses, but the bulk is expected to come from research grants. In the US, most of those grants <a href="https://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/who_pays">come from the federal government</a>: Biomedical research is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and much other research is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zGjsV1">
Grant applications tend to be long and complicated, and often require “preliminary work” on a project, which means a lab has to already commit significant resources toward it before they can even apply for future work on it to be paid for, Hsu told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Skq9Nr">
And the number of grant applications to institutions like the NIH has been going up, while funding hasn’t necessarily kept pace, so grant rejection rates are sky-high. In the 1970s when the program got started, the share of NIH grant applications that are approved was <a href="https://report.nih.gov/funding/nih-budget-and-spending-data-past-fiscal-years/success-rates">about 35 to 40 percent — now it’s about 20 percent</a>. That means most of the time and effort on writing grant applications is effectively wasted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3jKjVW">
The process isn’t just time-consuming — it’s also stunningly capricious. One study found <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/13323">very little correlation</a> between how a grant was scored in the NIH process for grant approvals and whether the research it produced was eventually cited.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o5h7L2">
Another study, looking at high-quality proposals, found there was <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/02/27/1714379115">virtually no agreement on their merits</a> — two researchers might come to vastly different conclusions about whether the grant should be approved. <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4797?ijkey=1fa4befcca754a1a3a9cb2e45306f3694cc84639&amp;keytype2=tf_ipsecsha">Another analysis</a> looked at successful grants and found that 59 percent of them could have been rejected due to random variability in scoring. Watching how NIH grants were reviewed was “very eye-opening for me,” Hsu told me — and not in a good way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qLffqn">
Then there’s the fact that grants tend to expire after a few years. As John Pooley, a neurobiology postdoc at the University of Bristol, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12016710/science-challeges-
research-funding-peer-review-process">told Vox</a>, that inclines researchers toward tackling something that they can address in a few years. But some of the most important problems in medicine will take much longer to crack.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1639443378.009900">
To be clear, a lot of incredible biomedical research is happening in academic laboratories today. The US leads the world in biomedicine, and key inventions like <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/23/17594864/crispr-
cas9-gene-editing">CRISPR</a> happened in US laboratories. While the system certainly needs improvement, no one wants to lose what makes US biomedicine already lead the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DoJfTP">
“It’s not that the current model is really bad for everyone — I think the current model actually works really well for some people,” Konermann told me. “The hope is not that everything will be like Arc, but that each of these models will have their own downsides and their own upsides,” making for a “healthier overall ecosystem.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TSdML8">
Of course, even if there are flaws in the current system, Arc might not necessarily<strong> </strong>address them. For one thing, it’s really small and not an option for most biomedical researchers, no matter how much they’d like it. For another, Arc represents a bet on what conditions produce good science — and while their case for their bet is compelling, they could be wrong that giving scientists more flexibility and more autonomy actually produces the lifesaving cures we hope for from biomedicine.
</p>
<h3 id="TpHGDX">
Experimenting with our scientific process
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QrROM6">
A wide range of ideas have been aired for how to fix the scientific grant process, from <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/18/18183939/science-
funding-grant-lotteries-research">lotteries</a> to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16923379/">limiting applications to one page</a>. There have been private attempts to do better — like <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-
perfect/2020/4/21/21228156/coronavirus-fast-grants-tyler-cowen-patrick-collison">FastGrants</a>, which aimed to get out Covid-19 research money in 48 hours instead of weeks or months, and which has moved more than <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02111-7">$50 million</a> to date.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3NiitL">
But one key thing, Collison emphasized to me, is simply having more options. There’s nothing wrong with the NIH grant process as one way that researchers can secure money for an idea. But when it’s the only way, any science that doesn’t fit neatly into the NIH process won’t get done at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="anen8l">
Arc is one more option, but it will only be able to fund a few core investigators and a limited number of full-time careers working on developing new tools in its technology development centers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PFRvZ9">
That’s why Collison says one<strong> </strong>measure of Arc’s success — alongside the more obvious ones, like whether its researchers report that they’re able to focus on science, and whether they discover new things that make the world a better place — is whether “other funders, other institutions, other stakeholders in our prevailing systems, are compelled to themselves pursue other experiments and other models.” If Arc works, then that raises new questions — what else might work? What other potential is going untapped in the current system?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OfLV6V">
It’s an experiment that the beneficiaries of biomedical research — which is to say, everyone — ought to watch with interest.
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Data | How good is Stephen Curry, the shooter?</strong> - Steph Curry has not only shot the most number of three-pointers in the NBA but has also managed to do it in merely 789 games</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India thrash Japan 6-0 in Asian Champions Trophy</strong> - Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India tour of South Africa | Hope fast bowlers can give us 20 wickets in every Test against South Africa, says Pujara</strong> - “Our fast bowlers are our strength and I hope that they will be able to utilise these conditions”</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ashes | Australia snare Root to close in on Adelaide Test victory</strong> - England are chasing a target of 468</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Not yet ready for Tour-level play: Woods</strong> - Tiger Woods is looking forward to his first competitive rounds since the career-threatening leg injuries he suffered in a car crash, but he said on Fr</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rajya Sabha productivity plunges to 37.60% during 3rd week of Winter Session</strong> - Three bills were passed and returned during the week.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CPI(M), LDF helping fundamentalist forces unleash violence in Kerala, says BJP</strong> - BJP Kerala president K. Surendran alleges that the Popular Front of India is preparing for a communal riot in the State</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Subramanian Swamy seeks ban on Popular Front of India</strong> - The BJP leader says law and order situation in Kerala has collapsed and the Union government should be ready to dismiss the State government headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Opposition MPs flag unsatisfactory answers to their questions in Parliament</strong> - They are full of rhetoric and read more like a pean to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they say</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Akhilesh Yadav accuses Yogi Adityanath of ‘tapping’ his telephones</strong> - Samajwadi Party chief also asked reporters to “remain alert, if you are speaking to me”</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid: Dutch go into Christmas lockdown over Omicron wave</strong> - Non-essential shops, schools, bars, restaurants and other public venues will be closed until at least mid-January.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wagner Group: Why the EU is alarmed by Russian mercenaries in Central Africa</strong> - The shadowy Russian mercenary group, allegedly linked to the Kremlin, has been accused of rights abuses.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UK troops will not be deployed to Ukraine to defend against Russia</strong> - Britain’s defence secretary says this is because Ukraine is not a member of the Nato military alliance.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid: French ski season in disarray as UK tourists banned</strong> - Snow on the slopes of Mont Blanc is the best Chamonix has seen in years - but few Brits will enjoy it.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UK Brexit minister resigns</strong> - He says he hopes Boris Johnson will not be tempted by “coercive measures” to tackle Covid.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>YouTube TV loses ESPN, ABC, and all other Disney-owned channels</strong> - YouTube TV can’t strike new deal with Disney, lowers price from $65 to $50. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1821766">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best deals: Epic Games Store holiday sale, Apple devices, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also includes good noise-canceling headphones and Philips Hue lights. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1821507">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mask up! The best face masks for use against COVID-19 [Updated]</strong> - Finding masks that meet CDC and WHO guidelines is tough. We did the work for you. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1722673">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google warns that NSO hacking is on par with elite nation-state spies</strong> - ForcedEntry is “one of the most technically sophisticated exploits.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1821631">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Anti-5G “quantum pendants” are radioactive</strong> - Dutch authority for nuclear safety issues warning, bans 10 scammy “negative ion” products. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1821525">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>what’s the fastest way to get banned from r/conservative?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
source?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/connie-lingus38"> /u/connie-lingus38 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjeri4/whats_the_fastest_way_to_get_banned_from/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjeri4/whats_the_fastest_way_to_get_banned_from/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Me: The earth isn’t flat</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Me: The earth isn’t flat.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Fiat earther: Correct.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Me: huh?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Fiat earther: It’s shaped like an Italian car.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Me: what?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Fiat earther: You read my name wrong, didn’t you?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/whomikehidden"> /u/whomikehidden </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjmaho/me_the_earth_isnt_flat/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjmaho/me_the_earth_isnt_flat/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>The IRS suspected a fishing boat owner wasn’t paying proper wages to his Deckhand, so they sent an agent to investigate him.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
IRS AGENT: “I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Boat Owner: “Well, there’s Clarence, my deckhand, he’s been with me for 3 years. I pay him $1,000 a week plus free room and board. Then there’s the mentally challenged guy. He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of the work around here. He makes about $30 per week, pays his own room and board, and I buy him a bottle of Bacardi rum and a dozen Budweisers every Saturday night so he can cope with life. He also gets to sleep with my wife occasionally”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
IRS AGENT: “That’s the guy I want to talk to - the mentally challenged one”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Boat Owner: “That would be me. What would you like to know”?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Waitsfornoone"> /u/Waitsfornoone </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjfr91/the_irs_suspected_a_fishing_boat_owner_wasnt/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjfr91/the_irs_suspected_a_fishing_boat_owner_wasnt/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>An old man was walking on a park adjoining the cliff famous for suicide and saw a young woman standing at the edge contemplating suicide</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He approached her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She: “Dont come near me!!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Old man :" Since you are anyway going to die,why cant you make this old man happy with a quickie?"
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She shrieked “Over my dead body,you filthy pervert”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Old man “Ok,if thats the case, I will walk down and wait for you at the bottom” and then he walked away.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The woman stood for another 10 minutes and came back to her car and left.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The old man who was watching her from the bushes sighed “7 suicide attempt saved this month”.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Indianfattie"> /u/Indianfattie </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjt9w1/an_old_man_was_walking_on_a_park_adjoining_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjt9w1/an_old_man_was_walking_on_a_park_adjoining_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>English is hard</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
ok just hear me out there are 2 silent Ks in “knock”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
4 silent Ks in “knick knack”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
and there are 3 silent Ks in republican
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
edit: typing is hard too
</p>
</div>
<!--
SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/idontwanttobeavirgin"> /u/idontwanttobeavirgin </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjuged/english_is_hard/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rjuged/english_is_hard/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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