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<title>12 October, 2023</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Therapeutic Potential of Selective Medicinal Plants and Their Phytoconstituents Focusing the Prevention and Cure of COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
The spread of pandemic coronavirus disease-2019 has become a health emergency worldwide. Since the unprecedented outbreak, attention has been raised worldwide to develop and research for control options and treatments. Although several clinical trials are ongoing, no registered drugs or vaccines are available yet. As situation warrants for the exploration of a successful antiviral, there should be a search for the remedies in nature also. Medicinal plants and their metabolites have long been used as a treatment option for various life-threatening diseases with minimal or no side effects. Thus this review aims to summarize previous outcomes concerning the role of medicinal plants in treating several life-threatening diseases. Above all, this work intends to find the constituents of five selected medicinal plants and their possible working mechanisms in the management of COVID-19. Constituents of the presented medicinal plants possess excellent pharmacological properties, including significant antiviral and antimicrobial potential. Based on the traditional uses, pharmacological properties, and previous studies, these medicinal plants mentioned in this review can be considered as a possible therapeutic option for the management and treatment of COVID-19. However, further extensive researches and trials are suggested to discover specific effects and dosage for this pathogenic outbreak.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/ekf8n/" target="_blank">Therapeutic Potential of Selective Medicinal Plants and Their Phytoconstituents Focusing the Prevention and Cure of COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Snapshots from Cryo-ET of active SARS-CoV-2 virions</strong> -
<div>
Understanding the molecular properties of SARS-CoV-2 is crucial to tackle the continuing variant emergence as well as future outbreaks. Current structural knowledge of the trimeric spike protein is largely based on truncated recombinant proteins and inactivated full-length forms, which may suffer from overstabilization through designed mutations and chemical fixation. Here, we apply cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) at a Biosafety level 3 facility to study the virus structure in its native, active state. The virus particles show variable shapes with diffusible spikes. While the majority of spike proteins display typical prefusion trimer conformations, we identify atypical open-trimer prefusion states, revealing a hidden level of flexibility. The sub-tomogram averaged structure also suggests a loosely packed trimer structure. Spike dynamics reveal cryptic epitopes in conserved regions among coronaviruses that can be targeted for broadly effective vaccines. Therefore, the structural analysis of virus structures in their active forms will provide significant implications on fusion mechanism as well as vaccine and antibody/drug design.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.10.561643v1" target="_blank">Snapshots from Cryo-ET of active SARS-CoV-2 virions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>No evidence that analgesic use after COVID-19 vaccination negatively impacts antibody responses</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, showed high efficacy against symptomatic illness caused by the ancestral strain. Yet recent variants such as Omicron and its sublineages substantially escape vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies. In response, bivalent mRNA booster vaccines updated to better match the BA.4-5 lineages have been made available. Yet the reactogenicity of these vaccines might negatively impact willingness to receive the booster immunization. While serious side effects following vaccination are rare, mRNA vaccines frequently lead to mild adverse events such as injection site pain, lymphadenopathy, myalgia, and fever. Over-the-counter analgesics might mitigate some of these mild adverse events, but animal models of SARS-CoV-2 infection have shown that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) substantially reduce antiviral antibody responses, which are the best correlates of protection against COVID-19. It remains unknown whether these same inhibitory effects are seen in humans after mRNA vaccination. We surveyed 6,010 individuals who received COVID-19 vaccines regarding analgesic use and correlated these results with Spike-specific antibody levels. We found no negative impact of analgesic use on antibody levels, and in fact observed slightly elevated concentrations of anti-Spike antibodies in individuals who used painkillers. Logistic regression analyses demonstrated a higher proportion of those experiencing fatigue and muscle aches between NSAID users and those not taking pain medication, suggesting that the elevated antibody levels were likely associated with inflammation and mild adverse events rather than analgesic use per se. Together, our results suggest no detriment to painkiller use to alleviate symptoms after vaccination against COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.14.22281103v2" target="_blank">No evidence that analgesic use after COVID-19 vaccination negatively impacts antibody responses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Correcting COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation in Ten Countries</strong> -
<div>
What can be done to reduce misperceptions about COVID-19 vaccines? We present results from experiments conducted simultaneously on YouGov samples in 10 countries (N= 10 600), which reveal that factual corrections consistently reduce false beliefs about vaccines. With results from these 10 countries, we find that exposure to corrections increases belief accuracy by 0.16 on a 4-point scale, while exposure to misinformation decreases belief accuracy by 0.09 on the same scale. We are unable to find evidence that either misinformation or factual corrections affect intent to vaccinate or vaccine attitudes. Our findings on effect duration are less conclusive; when we recontacted participants two weeks later, we observed 39% of the initial accuracy increase, yet this result narrowly misses conventional thresholds of statistical significance ( p = 0.06). Taken together, our results illustrate both the possibilities and limitations of factual corrections. Evidence from 10 highly diverse populations shows that exposure to factual information reduces belief in falsehoods about vaccines, but has minimal influence on subsequent behaviours and attitudes.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/4stbm/" target="_blank">Correcting COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation in Ten Countries</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Senior care reforms in India: Reimagining the Senior care paradigm.</strong> -
<div>
Population ageing is a global phenomenon, and the number of people over 60 years has been rising rapidly across the world. With a decreasing fertility rate (less than 2.0) and increasing life expectancy (more than 70 years), India is also witnessing exponential growth in the number and proportion of elderly people, i.e., people over 60 years. The number of elderly currently comprises a little over 10% of the population, translating to about 104 million, and is projected to reach 319 million, comprising 19.5% of the total population by 2050.Despite the efforts by the government, private sector and civil society; the senior care system faces many challenges, including a lack of infrastructure and capacities to support the health and welfare of the elderly, a lack of evidence-based geriatric illness management and knowledge repository, absence of enabling frameworks and monitoring mechanisms, and inadequate emergency response infrastructure. A fragmented and narrow social support system, limited awareness, loss of social support, inaccessible physical infrastructure, and inadequate R&amp;D activities further add to these challenges. Further, challenges associated with financial insecurities like inadequate financial security nets, deficient financial planning and increased vulnerability to financial abuse and fraud also impact seniors in a negative manner. Additionally, digital inequalities have emerged as a significant challenge for seniors, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown experience.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/tnr98/" target="_blank">Senior care reforms in India: Reimagining the Senior care paradigm.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Face masks to control the source of respiratory infections: A systematic review of the scientific literature before and after COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: To examine the scientific literature on mask-use as source control to protect others from respiratory infections before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Systematic review. Methods: We examined primary research on mask usage as a means of source control to protect others by reducing the spread of respiratory diseases and contrasted the literature published before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with that published afterward. Articles were obtained through a search of PubMed and a review of article references. March 1, 2020 was selected as the cutoff date to distinguish between the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 periods. Results: 195 articles met our inclusion criteria. The sample included 55 articles on source control published before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 140 articles published after the pandemic began, representing a 154.5% increase. The percentage of randomized control trials (RCT) and cluster RCTs declined by 94.9% (p&lt;0.001), representing only 1.4% of the post-pandemic literature. The percentage of studies conducted on human subjects declined by 48.8% (p&lt;0.001), and the percentage of studies in healthcare facilities declined by 64.5% (p=0.019). One in 5 post-pandemic studies (21.4%) were conducted in real world settings; 1 in 10 post-pandemic studies (10.0%) were done with computer modeling. Study authors were significantly more supportive of masks as source control in the post-pandemic literature. Conclusions: The quality of evidence in the published literature on masks as source control is lower after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with notable shifts in methodologies, research subjects, setting, and author tone.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.05.23296616v1" target="_blank">Face masks to control the source of respiratory infections: A systematic review of the scientific literature before and after COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Social Media and Early Marriage During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia</strong> -
<div>
The covid-19 Pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the world community. Indonesia is one of the countries that has felt the impact of the Pandemic. Activities switch to online. Social media is the primary choice for teenagers. Unfortunately, these teenagers consume much harmful content. The novelty in this research is the high number of early marriages in Bantul, Indonesia, during the Pandemic, which is caused by consuming too often social media content that is not educational. This research method is descriptive qualitative. The data collection in this research is Observation, interview, and focus group discussion. The results showed that the number of early marriages during the Pandemic increased 100 percent. One of the causes of the increasing number of early marriages is social media. In addition to social media factors, several other factors cause early marriage during the Pandemic. Lack of positive activities, lots of free time, low education, low knowledge about the purpose of marriage, family economic factors, and promiscuity have led to an increase in the number of early marriages in adolescents during the Pandemic. In addition, early marriage has an impact on the high divorce rate. Researchers conducted socialization about the purpose of marriage from various points of view, both in terms of health, religion, Marriage Law, and family economy. After the researchers conducted FGDs and socialization, the youth of Bantul, Indonesia, understood the real purpose of marriage.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/ru8dt/" target="_blank">Social Media and Early Marriage During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Development and Validation of the Pandemic Fatigue Scale</strong> -
<div>
The existence and nature of pandemic fatigue––defined as a gradually emerging subjective state of weariness and exhaustion from, and a general demotivation towards, following recommended health-protective behaviors, including keeping oneself informed during a pandemic––has been debated. Herein, we introduce the Pandemic Fatigue Scale and show how pandemic fatigue evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic, using data from one panel survey and two repeated cross-sectional surveys in Denmark and Germany (overall N = 34,582). We map the correlates of pandemic fatigue and show that pandemic fatigue is negatively related to people’s self-reported adherence to recommended health-protective behaviors. Manipulating the (de)motivational aspect of pandemic fatigue in a preregistered online experiment (N = 1,584), we further show that pandemic fatigue negatively affects people’s intention to adhere to recommended health-protective behaviors. Combined, these findings provide evidence not only for the existence of pandemic fatigue, but also its psychological and behavioral associations.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/2xvbr/" target="_blank">Development and Validation of the Pandemic Fatigue Scale</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Occupational resilience factors among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a 2-year prospective cohort study</strong> -
<div>
Background. Healthcare workers (HCWs) in COVID-19 pandemic hotspots were exposed to workplace stressors. Structural occupational factors that prevent stressor exposure from translating into mental health problems (i.e., resilience factors) remain poorly understood. This study identifies resilience factors actionable at the workplace and examines the role of cumulative stressor exposure for developing depressive symptoms. Methods. We prospectively followed a convenience sample of HCWs working in Spain. We used a survey to collect self-reported data on (a) sociodemographic characteristics, (b) workplace and COVID-19-related stressors, (c) potential occupational resilience factors, and (d) depression symptoms, at three time points (2020, 2021 and 2022). We operationalised resilience as low stressor reactivity (SR), quantified as individual deviations from the normative relation between exposure to stressors and depressive symptoms. We performed linear and quadratic multiple regression analyses to examine the prospective association between (a) potential resilience factors and (b) prior stressor exposure, with SR across waves. Results. Our sample consisted of 1,872, 1,560, and 431 participants at time points 1, 2, and 3, respectively (median age 42-43 years, 77-80% female). The occupational factors support from colleagues (SOCwork), trust in the workplace (TRUSTwork), and perceived ability to recover from adversity (REC) were prospectively associated with resilience and thus identified as resilience factors. Stressor exposure at baseline was inversely associated with resilience at follow-ups. Conclusions. Occupational strategies that promote key resilience factors and reduce cumulative or prolonged stressor exposure may enhance resilience in times of crisis. The observational design and the large drop in response rates warrant further studies.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/8pf52/" target="_blank">Occupational resilience factors among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a 2-year prospective cohort study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SHIFTR enables the unbiased and multiplexed identification of proteins bound to specific RNA regions in live cells</strong> -
<div>
RNA-protein interactions determine the cellular fate of RNA and are central to regulating gene expression outcomes in health and disease. To date, no method exists that is able to identify proteins that interact with specific regions within endogenous RNAs in live cells. Here, we develop SHIFTR (Selective RNase H-mediated interactome framing for target RNA regions ), an efficient and scalable approach to identify proteins bound to selected regions within endogenous RNAs using mass spectrometry. Compared to state-of-the-art techniques, SHIFTR is superior in accuracy, captures close to zero background interactions and requires orders of magnitude lower input material. We establish SHIFTR workflows for targeting RNA classes of different length and abundance, including short and long non-coding RNAs, as well as mRNAs and demonstrate that SHIFTR is compatible with sequentially mapping interactomes for multiple target RNAs in a single experiment. Using SHIFTR, we comprehensively identify interactions of cis-regulatory elements located at the 5’ and 3’-terminal regions of the authentic SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome in infected cells and accurately recover known and novel interactions linked to the function of these viral RNA elements. SHIFTR enables the systematic mapping of region-resolved RNA interactomes for any RNA in any cell type and has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of transcriptomes and their regulation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.09.561498v1" target="_blank">SHIFTR enables the unbiased and multiplexed identification of proteins bound to specific RNA regions in live cells</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 antibodies cross-react and enhance dengue infection</strong> -
<div>
Dengue disease is highly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. However, its pathogenesis is still incompletely understood, particularly in comparison to other endemic viruses. Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) is a well-known phenomenon for dengue viruses. Given the recent surge in dengue cases and potential cross-reactivity with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, this study explores the impact of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies on DENV-2 infection. The study assessed the cross-reactivity of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies with the DENV-2 Virus. Human convalescent plasma samples collected during different waves of COVID-19 and monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies raised against SARS-CoV-2 were examined for their potential to cause ADE of DENV-2 infection using cell-based assays. The study found that anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies acquired from natural infection in humans or through experimental immunization in animals were cross-reactive with DENV-2 and had the potential to enhance DENV-2 infection in K562 and U937 cells. In-silico and in-vitro studies indicated a strong interaction between SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and DENV-2 E-protein, providing a molecular basis for these findings. This study is the first to demonstrate that anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies can cross-react with DENV-2 and can enhance its infection through ADE. These findings have implications for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development and deployment strategies in regions where dengue is endemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.09.557914v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 antibodies cross-react and enhance dengue infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Surrogate virus neutralisation test based on nanoluciferase-tagged antigens to quantify inhibitory antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and characterise Omicron-specific reactivity</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Virus-specific antibodies are important determinants of protective immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). While regarded as the gold standard for detecting functional antibodies, conventional virus neutralisation tests (VNT) or pseudotyped virus neutralisation tests (pVNT) require biosafety level 2 or 3 facilities. Alternatively, the virus-free surrogate virus neutralisation test (sVNT) quantifies inhibitory antibodies that prevent the spike protein from binding to its receptor, human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2). We evaluated secreted nanoluciferase (NLuc)-tagged spike (S) protein fragments as diagnostic antigens in the sVNT in the framework of a vaccination study. First, spike fragments of different lengths were tested for their suitability as diagnostic antigens in a capture enzyme immunoassay (EIA) using unprocessed culture supernatants of transfected cells, identifying the receptor binding domain (RBD) of S as the optimal construct. The sensitivity of the in-house sVNT relying on the NLuc-labelled RBD equalled or surpassed a commercial sVNT (cPass, GenScript Diagnostics) and an in-house pVNT four weeks after the first vaccination (98% vs. 94% and 72%, respectively), reaching 100% in all assays four weeks after the second and third vaccinations. Additionally, serum reactivity with spike constructs of Omicron BA.1 was tested. Compared with a capture EIA, the in-house sVNT and pVNT displayed superior discrimination between wild-type- and variant-specific reactivity of sera. Differences in reactivity were most pronounced after the first and second vaccinations, whereas the third vaccination resulted in robust, cross-reactive detection of Omicron constructs. In conclusion, assays utilising NLuc-labelled protein fragments permit the quantification and functional assessment of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and the detection of variant-specific differences in reactivity. Potential applications include monitoring therapy and vaccine efficacy and follow-up of prolonged disease courses in high-risk groups. Designed as straightforward, highly flexible modular systems, these tests can be readily adapted to further emerging viral variants.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.10.23296792v1" target="_blank">Surrogate virus neutralisation test based on nanoluciferase-tagged antigens to quantify inhibitory antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and characterise Omicron-specific reactivity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Scaling COVID-19 rates with population size in the United States</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We assessed Urban Scaling Theory using time-series data by quantifying allometric scaling relationships of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, deaths, and demographic cohorts within and across three major variant waves of the pandemic (first, delta, omicron). Results indicate that with county-level population size in the United States, the burden of cases disproportionately impacted larger-sized counties. In contrast, the burden of deaths disproportionately impacted smaller counties, which may be partially due to a higher proportion of older adults who live in smaller counties. Future infectious disease burden across populations might be attenuated by applying Urban Scaling Theory to epidemiological efforts through identifying disease allometry and concomitant allocation of medical interventions.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.10.23296807v1" target="_blank">Scaling COVID-19 rates with population size in the United States</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The impact of depression and childhood maltreatment experiences on psychological adaptation from lockdown to relaxation periods during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a significant challenge to societal mental health. Yet, it remains unknown which factors influence the mental adaptation from lockdown to subsequent relaxation periods, particularly for vulnerable groups. This study used smartphone-based monitoring to explore how 74 individuals with major depression (MDD) and 77 healthy controls (HCs) responded to the transition from lockdown to relaxation during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 21 to November 01, 2020) regarding interpersonal interactions, COVID-19-related fear (fear of participants9 own health, the health of close relatives, and the pandemics9 economic impact), and the feeling of isolation. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of a diagnosis of MDD and the experience of childhood maltreatment (CM) on adaptive functioning. During the transition from lockdown to relaxation, we observed an increase in direct contacts and a decrease in indirect contacts and self-perceived isolation in the study population. The diagnosis of MDD and the experience of CM moderated a maintenance of COVID-19-related fear: HCs and participants without the experience of CM showed a decrease in fear, while fear of participants with MDD and with an experience of CM did not change significantly. The finding that elevated COVID-19-related fear was sustained in vulnerable groups after lockdown measures were lifted could help guide psychosocial prevention efforts in future pandemic emergencies.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.10.23296796v1" target="_blank">The impact of depression and childhood maltreatment experiences on psychological adaptation from lockdown to relaxation periods during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Perceptions of access to harm reduction services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people who inject drugs in Chicago</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background The COVID-19 pandemic amplified the risk environment for people who inject drugs (PWID), making continued access to harm reduction services imperative. Research has shown that some harm reduction service providers were able to continue to provide services throughout the pandemic. Most of these studies, however, focused on staff perspectives, not those of PWID. Our study examines changes in perceptions of access to harm reduction services among PWID participating in a longitudinal study conducted through the University of Illinois-Chicago9s Community Outreach Intervention Project field sites during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Responses to a COVID-19 module added to the parent study survey that assessed the impact of COVID-19 on PWID participating in an ongoing longitudinal study were analyzed to understand how study participants’ self-reported access to harm reduction services changed throughout the pandemic. Mixed effects logistic regression was used to examine difficulty in syringe access as an outcome of COVID-19 phase. Results Most participants reported that access to syringes and naloxone remained the same as prior to the pandemic. Participants had significantly higher odds of reporting difficulty in accessing syringes earlier in the pandemic. Conclusions The lack of perceived changes in harm reduction access by PWID and the decrease in those reporting difficulty accessing syringes as the pandemic progressed suggests the efficacy of adaptations to harm reduction service provision (e.g., window and mobile service) during the pandemic. Further research is needed to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted PWIDs’ engagement with harm reduction services.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.10.23296820v1" target="_blank">Perceptions of access to harm reduction services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people who inject drugs in Chicago</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</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>Pharmacist Management of Paxlovid eVisits</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Quality of Care <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Pharmacist Care; Other: AFM Pool Care <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Kaiser Permanente <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Equity Evaluation of Fact Boxes on Informed COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination Decisions - Study Protocol</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Influenza <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Fact box <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Harding Center for Risk Literacy <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>tDCS in the Management of Post-COVID Disorders</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS); Behavioral: Motor Training; Behavioral: Cognitive Training <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; São Paulo State University <br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Early Awake Alterning Prone Positioning Combined With Non-invasive Oxygen Therapy in Patients With COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Pneumonia <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Prone position; Other: Standard treatment <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran <br/><b>Terminated</b></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>Effects of a Home-Based Exercise Intervention in Subjects With Long COVID</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID-19; Post-COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: home-based concurrent exercise <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Vienna <br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>ACTIVATE in Public Housing</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Pneumonia; Influenza; Varicella Zoster; Meningitis; COVID-19; Vaccine Hesitancy <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Increasing Willingness and Uptake of Influenza, Pneumonia, Meningitis, HZV, and COVID-19 Vaccination <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Study of the Vector Vaccine GamCovidVac-M (Altered Antigenic Composition)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: GamCovidVac-M vector vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 with altered antigenic composition <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Study of the Vector Vaccine GamCovidVac for the Prevention of COVID-19 With Altered Antigenic Profile With Participation of Adult Volunteers</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: GamCovidVac vector vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 (with altered antigenic profile) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Effects of Cacao FLAvonoids in LOng Covid Patients (FLALOC)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long Covid19; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Dietary Supplement: Flavonoids <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Guillermo Ceballos Reyes; Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado <br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Exercise Interventions in Post-acute Sequelae of Covid-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Exercise <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Virginia <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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 Efficacy of the 2023-2024 Updated COVID-19 Vaccines Against COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Vaccine-Preventable Diseases; SARS CoV 2 Infection; Upper Respiratory Tract Infection; Upper Respiratory Disease <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Novavax COVID-19 vaccine (2023-2024 formula XBB containing); Biological: Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (2023-2024 formula XBB containing) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Sarang K. Yoon, DO, MOH; Westat; Novavax <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety of RQ-01 in SARS-CoV-2 Positive Subjects</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Infectious Disease; Symptomatic COVID-19 Infection Laboratory-Confirmed; SARS CoV 2 Infection <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Combination Product: RQ-001; Other: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Red Queen Therapeutics, Inc.; PPD <br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Motivational Interviewing for Vaccine Uptake in Latinx Adults</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Vaccine Hesitancy <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: EHR alert; Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing; Behavioral: Warm hand off to nurse <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Boston College; East Boston Neighborhood Health Center; Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH); Boston Children’s Hospital; National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Study of “Sputnik Lite” for the Prevention of COVID-19 With Altered Antigenic Composition.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: “Sputnik Lite” vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 with altered antigenic composition <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Study Will Assess the Safety, Neutralizing Activity and Efficacy of AZD3152 in Adults With Conditions Increasing Risk of Inadequate Protective Immune Response After Vaccination and Thus Are at High Risk of Developing Severe COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Biological: AZD3152; Biological: Biological: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: AstraZeneca <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</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>Exploration of phenolic acid derivatives as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease and receptor binding domain: potential candidates for anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapy</strong> - Severe acute respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiological virus of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) which has been a public health concern due to its high morbidity and high mortality. Hence, the search for drugs that incapacitate the virus via inhibition of vital proteins in its life cycle is ongoing due to the paucity of drugs in clinical use against the virus. Consequently, this study was aimed at evaluating the potentials of natural phenolics against the Main…</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 Apolipoprotein E neutralizing antibody inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection by blocking cellular entry of lipoviral particles</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causal agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although vaccines have helped to prevent uncontrolled viral spreading, our understanding of the fundamental biology of SARS-CoV-2 infection remains insufficient, which hinders effective therapeutic development. Here, we found that Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), a lipid binding protein, is hijacked by SARS-CoV-2 for infection. Preincubation of SARS-CoV-2 with a neutralizing antibody…</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>Unnatural Endotype B PPAPs as Novel Compounds with Activity against <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</em></strong> - Pre-SARS-CoV-2, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death by a single pathogen. Repetitive exposure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis(Mtb) supported the development of multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant strains, demanding novel drugs. Hyperforin, a natural type A polyprenylated polycyclic acylphloroglucinol from St. John’s wort, exhibits antidepressant and antibacterial effects also against Mtb. Yet, Hyperforin’s instability limits the utility in clinical practice. Here, we present photo-…</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>In vitro reconstitution of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1-induced mRNA cleavage reveals the key roles of the N-terminal domain of Nsp1 and the RRM domain of eIF3g</strong> - SARS CoV-2 nonstructural protein 1 (Nsp1) is the major pathogenesis factor that inhibits host translation using a dual strategy of impairing initiation and inducing endonucleolytic cleavage of cellular mRNAs. To investigate the mechanism of cleavage, we reconstituted it in vitro on β-globin, EMCV IRES, and CrPV IRES mRNAs that use unrelated initiation mechanisms. In all instances, cleavage required Nsp1 and only canonical translational components (40S subunits and initiation factors), arguing…</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>Lipid droplets in Zika neuroinfection: Potential targets for intervention?</strong> - Lipid droplets (LD) are evolutionarily conserved lipid-enriched organelles with a diverse array of cell- and stimulus-regulated proteins. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that intracellular pathogens exploit LD as energy sources, replication sites, and part of the mechanisms of immune evasion. Nevertheless, LD can also favor the host as part of the immune and inflammatory response to pathogens. The functions of LD in the central nervous system have gained great interest due to their presence…</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>Tetherin antagonism by SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a and spike protein enhances virus release</strong> - The antiviral restriction factor, tetherin, blocks the release of several different families of enveloped viruses, including the Coronaviridae. Tetherin is an interferon-induced protein that forms parallel homodimers between the host cell and viral particles, linking viruses to the surface of infected cells and inhibiting their release. We demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes tetherin downregulation and that tetherin depletion from cells enhances SARS-CoV-2 viral titres. We investigate…</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>Characterization of pre-existing anti-PEG and anti-AGAL antibodies towards PRX-102 in patients with Fabry disease</strong> - Polyethylene glycol (PEG)ylated drugs are used for medical treatment, since PEGylation either decreases drug clearance or/and shields the protein from undesirable immunogenicity. PEGylation was implemented in a new enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease (FD), pegunigalsidase-alfa (PRX-102). However, exposure to PEG via life-style products and vaccination can result in the formation of anti-PEG antibodies. We demonstrate the de novo formation of functional anti-PEG antibodies in a healthy…</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>W254 in furin functions as a molecular gate promoting anti-viral drug binding: Elucidation of putative drug tunneling and docking by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics</strong> - Furins are serine endoproteases that process precursor proteins into their biologically active forms, and they play essential roles in normal metabolism and disease presentation, including promoting expression of bacterial virulence factors and viral pathogenesis. Thus, furins represent vital targets for development of antimicrobial and antiviral therapeutics. Recent experimental evidence indicated that dichlorophenyl (DCP)-pyridine “BOS” drugs (e.g., BOS-318) competitively inhibit human furin…</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 N-terminal peptide of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2, targeting dimer interface, inhibits its proteolytic activity</strong> - The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 cleaves 11 sites of viral polypeptide chains and generates essential non-structural proteins for viral replication. Mpro is an important drug target against COVID-19. In this study, we developed a real-time fluorometric turn-on assay system to evaluate Mpro proteolytic activity for a substrate peptide between NSP4 and NSP5. It produced reproducible and reliable results suitable for HTS inhibitor assays. Thus far, most inhibitors against Mpro target the…</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>Antcin-B, a phytosterol-like compound from Taiwanofungus camphoratus inhibits SARS-CoV-2 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CL<sup>Pro</sup>) activity in silico and in vitro</strong> - Despite the remarkable development of highly effective vaccines, including mRNA-based vaccines, within a limited timeframe, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is not been entirely eradicated. Thus, it is crucial to identify new effective anti-3CL^(Pro) compounds, pivotal for the replication of SARS-CoV-2. Here, we identified an antcin-B phytosterol-like compound from Taiwanofungus camphoratus that targets 3CL^(Pro) activity….</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>Designing peptides predicted to bind to the omicron variant better than ACE2 via computational protein design and molecular dynamics</strong> - Brought about by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in large numbers of worldwide deaths and cases. Several SARS-CoV-2 variants have evolved, and Omicron (B.1.1.529) was one of the important variants of concern. It gets inside human cells by using its S1 subunit’s receptor-binding domain (SARS-CoV-2-RBD) to bind to Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor’s peptidase domain (ACE2-PD). Using peptides to inhibit…</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>Porcine deltacoronavirus accessory protein NS6 harnesses VPS35-mediated retrograde trafficking to facilitate efficient viral infection</strong> - Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an emerging swine enteropathogenic coronavirus with the potential to infect humans. Accessory protein NS6, encoded by PDCoV, is a key factor required for optimal viral replication. However, the precise mechanism(s) used by PDCoV NS6 to function remains largely unclear. The retromer is an evolutionarily highly conserved protein complex that plays an important role in normal cellular biological processes and viral replication. In this study, we identified VPS35,…</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>Natto extract inhibits infection caused by the Aujeszky’s disease virus in mice</strong> - Aujeszky’s disease virus (ADV), also known as Suid alphaherpesvirus 1, which mainly infects swine, causes life-threatening neurological disorders. This disease is a serious global risk factor for economic losses in the swine industry. The development of new anti-ADV drugs is highly anticipated and required. Natto, a traditional Japanese fermented food made from soybeans, is a well-known health food. In our previous study, we confirmed that natto has the potential to inhibit viral infections by…</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>Molecular docking analysis of novel quercetin derivatives for combating SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Quercetin belongs to the flavonoid family, which is one of the most frequent types of plant phenolics. This flavonoid compound is a natural substance having a number of pharmacological effects, including anticancer and antioxidant capabilities, as well as being a strong inhibitor of various toxicologically important enzymes. We discuss the potential of newly recently synthesized quercetin-based derivatives to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 protein. ADMET analysis indicated that all of the studied compounds…</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>Native SEC and Reversed-Phase LC-MS Reveal Impact of Fab Glycosylation of Anti-SARS-COV-2 Antibodies on Binding to the Receptor Binding Domain</strong> - The binding affinity of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for their intended therapeutic targets is often affected by chemical and post-translational modifications in the antigen binding (Fab) domains. A new two-dimensional analytical approach is described here utilizing native size exclusion chromatography (SEC) to separate populations of antibodies and bound antibody-antigen complexes for subsequent characterization of these modifications by reversed-phase (RP) liquid chromatography-mass…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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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>Israel’s Calamity—and After</strong> - October 7, 2023, will be a date etched in Jewish history. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/israels-calamity-and-after">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Uyghurs Forced to Process the World’s Fish</strong> - China forces minorities from Xinjiang to work in industries around the country. As it turns out, this includes handling much of the seafood sent to America and Europe. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-uyghurs-forced-to-process-the-worlds-fish">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Israel May Decimate Hamas, but Can It “Win” This War?</strong> - The scale of the violence, death, and destruction has triggered alarm about a wider regional conflict. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/israel-may-decimate-hamas-but-can-it-win-this-war">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Numbing Sameness of War Footage</strong> - The proliferation of images via cell phones may have taken away the war photographer’s ability to create a single, arresting, and iconic image, but their accumulation will haunt us. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-numbing-sameness-of-war-footage">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Where the Palestinian Political Project Goes from Here</strong> - For decades, Hamas and Israel have maintained a violent equilibrium. How will the war change that paradigm? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/where-the-palestinian-political-project-goes-from-here">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>How a tiny island is adapting to climate change … on its dinner plates</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A yellowfin tuna fish on a rocky beach." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/70L64hJ-OInxRoyIz0XsYfbCd2s=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72747429/Lede_UmairIrfan_Vox_Yellowfishtuna.0.png"/>
<figcaption>
The island of Dominica faces some of the most acute threats from climate change. Residents have begun to adapt. | Umair Irfan/Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Dominica’s traditional foods are countering modern threats.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rtkiw6">
<strong>KALINAGO TERRITORY, Dominica</strong> — Inside a small yellow roadside shop on the edge of a lush hill, two sisters are reviving an ancient staple to serve modern tastes and stave off a future threat.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xN0Olt">
The sisters, Valary Antoine and Arnique Valmond, are members of the Kalinago people, the largest Indigenous community in the Caribbean, with <a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/415610_DOMINICA-2022-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf">almost<strong> </strong>3,000 residents</a> living on Dominica’s east coast. At <a href="https://www.facebook.com/people/Eezee-Side-Cassava-Delicacies/100057099053690/?paipv=0&amp;eav=AfYHEsw3dlINMHFI5jrr8mtxqhu5FlqYFAVHPRkgZRPl6wswB2tiB5y4jSfN9RZp0lg&amp;_rdr">Eezee Side Cassava Delicacies</a>, they are refining cassava, a brown tuber with white flesh. Processing cassava, also known as manioc or yuca, is hard work. You have to peel the bark-like skin, cut it up, press out the excess water, dry it, mill it, and sieve it. The result is a versatile white flour that is naturally gluten-free.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A woman in yellow shirt and a hair covering standing near a tub full of flour in a small commercial kitchen." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XkvybzfFiwKNy_hfXXGO29XNzxg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992911/01_UmairIrfan_Vox_Anique.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Arnique Valmond inspects some cassava flour.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iQDrrF">
Cassava is one of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23072569">earliest crops</a> ever cultivated on the island as it spread throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. It’s a good source of vitamin C and produces <a href="https://ripe.illinois.edu/news/research-shows-how-grow-more-cassava-one-worlds-key-food-crops">more calories per acre than wheat or rice</a>. Antoine and Valmond learned the business of harvesting, processing, and cooking with cassava from their grandfather, though the skills have been in the family for generations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="95OKBX">
“He got it from his grandparents so then his knowledge of that was passed on to us,” Valmond said. “They only knew the cassava plain, or with just coconut. But right now we have added other things to the menu.” The sisters now use cassava to make breads, wraps, pizza, and desserts, which they sell across the island.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uA0b85">
For Dominica, cassava is more than a local staple. The humble root vegetable is part of the country’s strategy for enhancing food security, promoting its culture, and adapting to <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a>.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A man bends over a barrel as he works to process cassava flour in the work area of a shop." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EX1_sCYZXg3lXb9LTCOcZnk9_cE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24983524/DSC08424_1.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Processing cassava into flour can be labor-intensive.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZCRFkU">
While no country has escaped the effects of rising average temperatures, Dominica is one of the most vulnerable. Some <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Dominica">16 miles wide, 29 miles long</a>, and home to <a href="https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/dominica/">74,000 people</a>, the small, rocky, jungle-covered island nation already bears the scars of heat waves, sea level rise, and hurricanes that have killed dozens of residents and devastated its <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a>. These ongoing threats are poised to get worse for Dominica, and many island countries and coastal communities around the world are close behind in the line of fire.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EBfbEk">
Nearly <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-prisms-coastal-futures/article/population-development-as-a-driver-of-coastal-risk-current-trends-and-future-pathways/8261D3B34F6114EA0999FAA597D5F2E2">one-third of humanity</a> lives within 60 miles of a coastline, which makes Dominica a critical case study in how to endure a warmer world. “The island is a sort of a Petri dish for all island developing states,” said <a href="https://news.gov.dm/information/cabinet/item/41-minister-for-the-environment-rural-modernisation-kalinago-upliftment-and-constituency-empowerment">Cozier Frederick</a>, Dominica’s environment minister.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ihFbhB">
Dominica’s government has responded with a suite of policies to reduce its contributions to the problem and prepare for what lies ahead. The island currently gets <a href="https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Statistics/Statistical_Profiles/Central%20America%20and%20the%20Caribbean/Dominica_Central%20America%20and%20the%20Caribbean_RE_SP.pdf">80 percent of its electricity from diesel</a> and 20 percent from hydroelectric power. Dominica is aiming to switch to 100 percent <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy">clean energy</a> with a big investment in <a href="https://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/dominica-reiterates-financial-commitment-to-transformative-geothermal-project/">geothermal power</a>, harnessing the volcanic energy of the island. It’s also deploying <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23886118/climate-change-disaster-warning-hurricane-maria-dominica-caribbean">early warning systems</a> to get residents out of the path of disasters and updating its building codes to better survive severe weather.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8rrpvc">
The goal is to make Dominica, a country facing some of the most severe harms from global warming, into <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/dominica-on-track-to-be-worlds-first-climate-resilient-nation">a climate-resilient nation</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yIMBzB">
That’s where cassava comes in. Dominica has a footprint of 300 square miles and the majority of that land is <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/br515e/br515e.pdf">too mountainous for many types of industrial agriculture</a>. But cassava actually thrives in Dominica’s hilly terrain. As an underground tuber, it can withstand intense storms that would otherwise wipe out grains growing above. It can survive in the soil untouched for years, if need be.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" In the front, a woman and man laugh together, while in the background, another woman smiles. All three are inside a cassava food shop." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/h8YTPFr4rMnzqI3IjVcF_h3IrUM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992948/03_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Valary Antoine (front) and her sister Arnique Valmond turn cassava into bread, wraps, and desserts.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FJ8NrV">
Through reviving ancient traditions and leveraging modern technology, Dominicans hope to better withstand a scenario like the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017. “We were wiped out,” said <a href="https://www.creadominica.org/about-us">Samuel Carrette</a> of the Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica. “The statistics will tell you that.” The storm damaged <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/nov/01/it-feels-like-dominica-is-finished-life-amid-the-ruins-left-by-hurricane-maria">95 percent of structures</a> on the island, exacting a toll of <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/11/28/a-360-degree-look-at-dominica-post-hurricane-maria">224 percent of the country’s gross domestic product</a>.<strong> </strong>Airports and seaports were out of commission for weeks, leaving Dominicans without food imports.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VgbjbZ">
With more domestic food production, Dominicans also want to cultivate a unique food culture that is as much of a draw for tourists as snorkeling in the bubbling champagne reef or relaxing in Wotten Waven’s hot springs. Dominica is a place where a fish fresh out of the sea can be on a plate in minutes. And residents say this all adds up to a lifestyle on the island that has enormous benefits: Dominica boasts one of the highest per capita populations of centenarians in the world, with currently 12 Dominicans who are over the age of 100, according to the Dominica Council on Ageing.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A stack of green breadfruits sits amid other produce at a market stall in Dominica." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3BLI6GC1V_QYxMNhXZmEH4mt4H8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992969/05_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Breadfruit, another Caribbean kitchen staple, for sale in Roseau.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Piles of cassava, yams, and other root vegetables sit on a blue tarp covering the ground by the side of a busy market street, with shoppers walking up and down." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/asoGtYXkoCOLyCbEanvJg6Jh5dg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992970/04_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Root vegetables for sale in the market in Roseau, Dominica.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wNnPDe">
But Dominica can only endure so much on its own. Like many island countries, it contributes a miniscule amount of greenhouse gas emissions to the global total, yet is facing some of the most direct consequences of warming. Already, extreme weather has <a href="https://www.adaptation-undp.org/explore/caribbean/dominica">hurt crop yields</a>. The changing chemistry of the ocean and rising water temperatures are strangling coral reefs, altering where fish reside, and diminishing catches. And the ocean itself is rising up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aZKF2e">
It’s a challenge many other countries are facing as well in a year where record-breaking heat, torrential downpours, and drought have <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/food-security-update">shrunk harvests around the world</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UYRgWL">
Dominica’s survival thus also depends on actions far beyond its borders, both in curbing greenhouse gas emissions and in adapting to the unavoidable changes underway. However, from its soils and its seas, Dominica has many of the ingredients it needs to endure, and thrive, in a warming world, preparing for the future by drawing on its ancient roots.
</p>
<h3 id="JZ7uQ9">
Dominica has a long tradition of eating local, but climate change is shrinking the catch
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HYiWdy">
An hour before the sun comes up, residents near the Layou River on Dominica’s west coast begin to check their nets, placed where the island’s longest river runs into the ocean. Their target is a tiny fish called the titiwi. They look like translucent minnows, and dozens can fit into the palm of your hand.
</p>
<div class="p-fullbleed-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A man holds a handful of tiny translucent fish." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8uKj72x5juoUQng3JnWeHSjSPmI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24983543/DSC07922.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
The tiny titiwi fish are a local favorite in Dominica.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HhVluT">
The fish run into the sea at regular intervals timed with the cycles of the moon. At the right time of the month, the whole community gathers, and the fisherfolk — both men and women — wade into the waist-deep stream and gather up their nets to collect their catch.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eND4pb">
The fish is a local favorite and even has an annual festival in its honor. It’s served dried, stewed, fried, or baked into fritters called accra. Some of the fishers even sample their catch raw.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A shirtless man in blue shorts gathers a fishing net from the surface of a river, standing nearly waist-deep in the water." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9GLk8xOzIrlO6JUcn6VsPCrei9o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992987/07_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Dominica’s titiwi fisherfolk get up before dawn to catch the tiny fish as they run from the river into the ocean.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DeesJZ">
Fishing — in rivers, on shores, and out to sea — is a critical safety net for Dominica. On paper, it accounts for about 2 percent of its economy. However, a <a href="https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/bb/Dominica-Blue-Economy-Scoping-Study_Final_January-2019.pdf">2019 United Nations report</a> noted that “small scale fisheries in Dominica have always contributed to the food security of the island’s small population, although this appears not to be accounted for in official statistics.” Most locals fish for subsistence, and much of the local seafood trade is informal, making it hard to track. But in times of trouble, Dominicans count on what they reel in on their lines and nets to feed their communities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LItq15">
That was especially evident in the wake of disasters like Hurricane Maria, when shipping and <a href="https://www.vox.com/travel">air travel</a> to Dominica came to an abrupt halt. “We interviewed quite a few fishermen about how they were impacted, and this revealed a few surprises,” said <a href="https://www.cefas.co.uk/about-us/people/john-pinnegar/">John Pinnegar</a>, director of the Cefas Marine Climate Change Centre, in an email. “Apparently, the rapidly recovering … fisheries helped to alleviate food insecurity when other sources were disrupted.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two women holding plates full of titiwi accra, fried golden fritters, on a Dominica beach." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sEVW9sUWsavuEHJaFyVLLX8OPh0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993047/08_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Two local fishers hold plates of accra, a dish made from fried titiwi fish.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RYrVaT">
Dominica’s tuna, marlin, mahi mahi, and even the tiny titiwi are now facing the effects of global warming. Catching titiwi requires closely monitoring the temperature, the seasons, and the tides that locals have observed over generations. The fishers say they’ve noticed that their hauls have declined slowly over the past 10 years as temperatures have gone up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SxHeQ4">
The titiwi fishers have begun to adapt. One challenge they’ve faced is in storing their catch when it’s abundant so they can save it for when times are lean. Development groups have been working to provide smokers and other preservation tools to the fishers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MWEYSQ">
However, there are more profound changes underway under the sea. Because of dissolved carbon dioxide, the ocean has become 30 percent more acidic since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. That has “osteoporosis-like effects on shellfish,” according to the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/insight/understanding-ocean-acidification">NOAA</a>. Ocean acidification also weakens <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/news-release/scientists-identify-how-ocean-acidification-weakens-coral-skeletons/">coral skeletons</a>, making them slower to grow and more vulnerable to disease, threatening the survival of all the sea life that depends on reefs.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Piles of brown seaweed sit on a beach, with lush green mountains in the distance on the other side of a small bay." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fh06eYbBgX5_zpOp2hgeSvYqwg0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992990/09_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Fertilizer runoff and high water temperatures have led to large blooms of sargassum seaweed washing ashore in Dominica.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xFwDQ4">
At the same time, these shifts have become an invitation for invasive species like lionfish. They eat smaller creatures that feed on the algae growing on coral. Without them, algae runs rampant, choking off coral growth. Lionfish also compete with native sea life for food. A single lionfish can reduce the native fish population on a coral reef by <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/southeast/ecosystems/impacts-invasive-lionfish">79 percent</a>, according to NOAA. Local conservation efforts have helped contain lionfish, but now Dominica’s corals are falling ill with stony coral tissue loss disease, an epidemic sweeping the Caribbean.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A man wearing blue shorts filets a fish with a narrow, thin knife, resting the fish on his leg." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ETwgxk3_yL_eo0AgN3N2-66-_QU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992996/10_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Winston Luis, a fisher on the Layou River, prepares his catch.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Aj7DOE">
To make matters worse, the oceans are warming fast. This year, the Caribbean saw the <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23801858/caribbean-heat-wave-dominica-ocean-marine-sea-coral-fish">highest water temperatures in at least a century</a>. Hotter water can slow down the ocean’s <a href="https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/how-climate-works/ocean-upwelling">upwelling process</a> that lifts nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, toward the surface from deeper waters to nourish fish. Warmer sea surface temperatures have also contributed to record-sized blooms of <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2023/5/11/23716884/florida-caribbean-beaches-seaweed-sargassum">sargassum</a>, an algae that’s been washing up on beaches where it emits smelly, toxic hydrogen sulfide gas as it rots.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two men carry a large fish onto shore on a rocky beach, with two small fishing boats in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hXQbpwv0qmPHGNFtjiX_VuCgfhE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992998/11_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Fishers haul in a large marlin in Soufrière, Dominica.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A white plate rimmed in a floral pattern sits on a wooden table, full of a variety of food, with a napkin-wrapped fork next to it." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/92OMmankiWCxas5i-_M8mpK6xVw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993000/12_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Curried marlin, root vegetables, beans, and cassava balls served in the Kalinago Territory.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qFF8d7">
The whole planet will feel these shifts in the seas. The <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/oceans-fisheries-and-coastal-economies">World Bank</a> reports that 600 million people’s livelihoods depend in some way on fisheries, and according to the <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cc0461en/online/sofia/2022/consumption-of-aquatic-foods.html">UN Food and Agriculture Organization</a>, 3.3 billion people get at least 20 percent of their animal protein from the water.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7bFZLB">
It will take more time to grapple with the full impacts of the recent extreme heat on Dominica’s fisheries, but some residents say they have already felt the impact.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ivd3AB">
Jesse Hoffman, the chef of Lacou Melrose House in Roseau, said he works with local farmers and fishers to source all of his ingredients from within the island. That was tougher to do this year. “It’s been an unseasonably hot and dry spring over here, and there was a while when you couldn’t really get much fish at all for a few weeks,” Hoffman said. “They were saying the water is too hot.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A man wearing a blue apron and orange shirt prepares food in a restaurant kitchen." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IqfY7fjkwJtmJi0c5JU4taSRP5E=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993001/13_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Chef Jesse Hoffman prepares a loin of tuna at Lacou Melrose House in Roseau.
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1hb2Hg">
“When basically the normal seasonal temperature averages are going out of flux, it starts with the growers — they have all kinds of headaches with that, and obviously it trickles down to what we’re able to get and serve,” he added.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BSFBUc">
Dominica’s farmers and fishers are trying to anticipate how further changes in the climate will affect them and how they can prepare, but it’s been a struggle. One obstacle is that there isn’t enough regional climate data, according to <a href="https://apps.ipcc.ch/outreach/programme.php?q=95&amp;e=5">Shobha Maharaj</a>, a climate scientist who co-authored the chapter on small island states for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). That makes it harder to deliver practical information to the people who are producing food.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QFYgaY">
So the demand for more local knowledge has revived interest in traditional farming and fishing methods as rising temperatures create an environment that no one has experienced before.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A woman wearing an orange shirt holds a crab in two hands." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/I7orWyAaP8Alsvnd6_O84itD1lE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993014/19_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Many Dominicans fish for subsistence and as a backup food source during disasters.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h3 id="VMkalD">
Dominica can’t hold the rest of the world at bay forever
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="amddR8">
To cope with these challenges, Dominica needs to bring in more money as well, and that means inviting more visitors.<strong> </strong>Tourism already makes up <a href="https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/7276af45227db85e778cd1586c68e040-0350082021/original/mpo-dma.pdf">25 percent of its economy</a>, according to the World Bank.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2fHLmS">
Dominica bills itself as the Caribbean’s <a href="https://discoverdominica.com/en/dominica">nature island</a>, leveraging its pristine mountains, rainforests, 365 rivers, and shorelines as draws for tourists. The country is especially popular with scuba divers. To allow more visitors, the country is currently in the process of building a new airport that can accommodate airliners from Europe, as well as building new resorts. Giant cruise ships already fill Dominica’s port on a regular basis, and more may soon dock.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KZIqq0">
But all this development has exposed a tension. It runs counter to the idea of the island as a natural oasis. “We’re trying to balance with keeping nature intact, but also, we’re mindful that it may not grow if there’s no one outside seeing it and appreciating it and learning from it,” said environment minister Frederick.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7HKzX2">
Locals also worry about the climate impacts of all this additional travel from overseas. More visitors from afar means more greenhouse gases.
</p>
<div>
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A freshly caught mahi mahi fish lies next to another fish in Soufriere, Dominica." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gYG0_wIcIBANYlmCg5jSG1geSPo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993006/14_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Fish like mahi mahi are abundant in Dominica’s waters, but the changing chemistry of the ocean is contributing to declines in the catch.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A platter of golden breaded fried fish and French fries, with glasses and people in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-goCFWNRNAXv9eaw4fK_YzmtkGM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993007/15_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Battered and fried mahi mahi served in Roseau, Dominica.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CdrUyr">
“Every person flying to Dominica burns … fuel,” said Samuel Raphael, the proprietor of the Jungle Bay resort in Soufrière, south of Roseau. “It’s true that there’s a conflict. There’s an opportunity cost for everything.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jw8jTS">
At the same time, Dominica’s tastes have already begun to change. There’s a growing appetite for imported packaged and processed foods which are often less healthy than fresh local options. And as they move away from subsistence farming and fishing and into the service sector, the island’s residents are becoming more sedentary. Extreme weather that damaged boats and uprooted crops further accelerated these trends as people resorted to food from boxes, bags, bottles, and cans.
</p>
<div class="p-fullbleed-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A white plate holds lobster over yellow rice." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/B4RjUPg3GT15rjOqKHzJ7RWSfUI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993009/16_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Lobster served at the Coulibri Ridge resort in Dominica.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A partially eaten fish sits covered in yellow sauce on a white plate, with a fork nearby." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iuHbpqKzBKzqhMLlfisKATmfR2A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993010/17_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Some resorts and restaurants in Dominica emphasize getting their ingredients from the island itself rather than through imports.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dx4apJ">
“What I realized after Maria, for example, we had an increase of persons reporting high blood pressure and diabetes,” said Casius Darroux, a former minister for Kalinago affairs in Dominica. “Personally, I think it is because of the imported products or the stuff that we’ve got after Maria and may have triggered it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1m3Fhy">
One way Dominica is seeking to increase its food security and promote its cuisine is by collaborating more with its neighbors in the Caribbean. “We share common history,” Frederick said. “We have a national flag, a national song, a national food, a national plant, but we’re able to create synergies among ourselves.” Already, some of Dominica’s fishers are working with neighbors on islands like Saint Vincent to share techniques on how to increase yields for species like titiwi.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A man in a gray jacket and white shirt smiles and raises both hands while talking. He is seated at a desk with a laptop computer and a stack of folders on it, with the Dominica flag hanging in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kv00nIf2zojf2gJRfQPoViSjYJM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24993013/18_UmairIrfan_Vox.jpeg"/> <cite>Kreig Harris/UN Foundation</cite>
<figcaption>
Dominica Environment Minister Cozier Frederick in his office in Roseau.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="byTpcO">
The task is not only to protect food security as temperatures rise, but also to preserve what makes Dominica’s cuisine unique against the bland homogeneity of globalization. Dominica teaches some of the most important lessons in how to eat on a baking planet as farmers, fishers, cooks, chefs, and diners around the world contend with the consequences of climate change. The biggest obstacle, though, is cultivating a taste for more sustainable economies and whetting appetites for bigger bites out of global greenhouse gas emissions. Without a concerted effort to reduce warming, far more dire outcomes will be on humanity’s menu.
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<em>This story was supported by a grant from the UN Foundation.</em>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X1nnjn">
</p></li>
<li><strong>The true story of how humans are searching for intelligent alien life</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="The Milky Way over a radio telescope at the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LsUwQVfhKnh-4YzZzqGiEmZGjyI=/0x0:4949x3712/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72747401/GettyImages_976736932.0.jpg"/>
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We’re listening. Is anyone trying to contact us? | Getty Images
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Real scientists are searching for alien life. Don’t let the kooks distract you.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sYcjMc">
This summer, a stony-faced David Grusch, a former US Air Force intelligence officer, sat before a House Oversight subcommittee and made some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/are-5-memorable-moments-congress-ufo-hearing-rcna96476">extraordinary</a> <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/27/key-takeaways-from-the-us-congressional-hearing-on-ufos">claims</a>. Chief among them is that the American government has a clandestine program that locates then reverse engineers unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) — an ostensibly less-silly way of saying unidentified flying objects, or UFOs — and that US operatives were in possession of nonhuman biological matter.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LnzxXo">
His audience of congressional representatives was skeptical, dismissive, and cynical. But just as they were about to mockingly dismiss him, Grusch played his ace. He took out several high-resolution photographs of dismembered creatures, clearly not of this world, being carefully extracted from the wreckage of their spaceships by scientists in hazmat suits. That was it — the moment everything changed. People gasped in shock. The camera flashes went off like fireworks. Aliens were real. Nothing would ever be the same.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0cdKvu">
Just kidding.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j9gJIs">
Grusch didn’t provide an ounce of verifiable evidence, citing only anonymous sources telling him vague things. When pressed for confirmation, he said because this was all <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/6/10/23753777/congress-ufo-hearing-recap-david-grusch-whistleblower-kean-blumenthal">so exceedingly classified</a>, he was unable to provide specific details while under oath.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c7h0hi">
It would be tempting to think such displays of kookiness are rare. But just weeks later, a similar UAP session at the Mexican Congress involved the appearance of a coffin-like box containing the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23875671/aliens-mexican-congress-real-or-hoax-peru-nazca-mummies-jaime-maussan-fraud-scam">purported remains of aliens</a>. (Spoiler alert: They weren’t aliens).
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SVGYJ4">
Let’s get something straight: Congressional hearings are not the way we are going to discover the existence of intelligent alien life. They are a distraction from the bona fide alien-hunting work — the sort that doesn’t involve grandstanding individuals and showy stunts, but scientists searching a sea of stars for the sounds or sights of extraterrestrial intelligence.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="kOzB7q">
<q>“Yes, it’s hard and frustrating. But at the end of the day, you’re uncovering the greatest mystery in the universe.”</q>
</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fbkEUC">
Because space is inconveniently enormous and traversing it so intensely time-consuming (without bending the fabric of space-time to your will, anyway), it’s exceedingly more likely that humanity’s first brush with extraterrestrials (ETs) will come in the form of eavesdropping on radio transmissions they’ve sent, or seeing a sign of technological civilization with a telescope, than recovering a pancaked little green wayfarer from a crashed capsule.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y1NW3B">
So that’s where scientists are focusing their work: listening, and watching the stars above.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1nz5Rf">
This endeavor is exhaustive and exhausting, and the multitude of false positives can make it feel Sisyphean. But the prospect of success makes it worthwhile. A confirmed ET signal detection would be a moment that “divides history into before we knew there was somebody out there, and after,” says <a href="https://www.seti.org/senior-staff">Seth Shostak</a>, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zk9aPZ">
Discovering the existence of ET intelligence would also instantaneously teach us something profound about the sustainability of life across the universe.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9NjWKd">
“If we detect a civilization, that means civilizations can exist for a reasonable amount of time and overcome their issues and problems,” says <a href="https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/ravikumar.kopparapu">Ravi Kumar Kopparapu</a>, a planetary habitability researcher at NASA. “That means there’s great hope for us.” (Or, if the grim history of colonization has anything to say about it, great peril.)
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OP8yXL">
This is not simply a matter of pointing technological ears and eyes at the night sky and hearing the whispers or music of a distant intelligence. The cosmos is a noisy place, brimming with energetic bursts — including the hubbub from Earth itself — that drown out, and occasionally mimic, potential alien transmissions. It makes possible signs of ET intelligence tricky to spot and harder to confirm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="irLjRk">
That prompts the question: One day, we may get a message from, or see the signs of, intelligent alien life. So how would we know it’s real?
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<h3 id="NYhjCt">
Why search for extraterrestrial intelligence?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YnNHXG">
Are we alone? It is a question that many of us inherently feel is worth tackling. But why does trying to answer it actually matter?
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qfsVYt">
SETI — the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — is something any astronomer or astrophysicist can do if they have access to the right kind of observatories. The best-known place that engages in it is the SETI Institute, a privately funded nonprofit research organization in Silicon Valley. Inaugurated in 1984, its <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/nasa-should-start-funding-seti-again/">funders</a> and specific functions have shifted over time, but it has always been interested in looking out for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. Other SETI research groups at other institutions and universities around the world share that same elemental goal.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c1u0Am">
And if you ask any of their members to explain their motivations, a common refrain is that the scientific revelations of discovering ET would be unparalleled.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T61kBJ">
If they were to discover that there is life out there — intelligent life that has forged a civilization — it would first mean that biology is not a fluke. Instead, it is something that can take root on many worlds; something that does not merely arise but repeatedly produces thinking, technological, curious creatures, those that may wish to share their knowledge of the universe, and their way of traversing or surviving it, with others. And if this civilization existed on a world very different from Earth, it would demonstrate that the largely unlivable cosmos is populated by myriad different isles of habitability.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uyGkv9">
Like many initially avant-garde scientific disciplines, from <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2021/2/17/22286229/nasa-mars-perseverance-rover-mars-landing-live-stream-mission">astrobiology</a> to <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/9/27/23374653/nasa-asteroids-dart-existential-risk-extinction-planetary-defense-didymos">planetary defense</a>, “there was a bit of suspicion about the credibility of the field by some of our colleagues” for many years, says <a href="https://astro.berkeley.edu/people/andrew-siemion/">Andrew Siemion</a>, the director of the University of California Berkeley SETI Research Center. It sounded a little too sci-fi, something seemingly untethered from reality, more <em>X-Files </em>than X-ray astronomy. But those dedicated to the cause didn’t mind. “I wonder what kind of mentality it takes to <em>not</em> be interested in SETI?” says Siemion. “What kind of a person is that?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p69PZd">
The giggle factor hasn’t been helped by ignominious public displays like the recent congressional UAP hearings. But the skeptical perception over SETI research has “changed immeasurably over the last seven years,” says Siemion. This is partly because of the <a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/1">Breakthrough Listen program</a>, a splashy, attention-grabbing $100 million drive for SETI research, one funded by the foundation established by philanthropic couple Yuri and Julia Milner. Far from being yet another eccentric pet project of society’s uppermost economic echelons, the program —of which Siemion is the principal investigator — vigorously supports <a href="https://www.seti.org/press-release/quest-alien-signals-heart-milky-way-takes">serious SETI research</a> and is helping to <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acdee0">advance the field</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fet2zz">
Whatever the institute or source of funding, and whether researchers are exclusively dedicated to the search or devote a mere fraction of their time to it, the goal is always the same: to find evidence of a technosignature — empirical evidence of something produced by a non-natural, technological source.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="28IH6R">
But how best to look for one?
</p>
<h3 id="CYhijO">
Tuning the galactic radio
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sdx6JX">
In 1959, two physicists, Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison, authored a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/184844a0"><em>Nature</em> paper</a> that attempted to make an aspect of science fiction something decidedly factual. It was titled “Searching for Interstellar Communications.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z9VcHb">
The paper made the point that our habitable corner of space, and thus our human civilization, might be obvious to spot via an observatory from another world — and if that is true, then aliens might be trying to contact us. “We shall assume that long ago they established a channel of communication that would one day become known to us,” they wrote. “What sort of channel would that be?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qNrBAK">
That paper marks “the beginning of modern SETI,” says Siemion. That is because it suggested a concrete, scientific way to search: do the astronomic equivalent of turning the dial on an analog radio, ultimately finding the frequency that contains a message from aliens. This is the mainstay of SETI research to this day.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="St20uF">
We are drowning in an ocean of radio waves cascading at the speed of light through the cosmos. They come from pretty much everything, including <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/14/1111471532/space-science-stars-radio-waves-signals-galaxy-lightyears-mit">collapsing stars</a>, the <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/cassini-data-solves-jupiter-and-saturns-energy-mystery-20210622/">auroras of gas giant planets</a> — and communications technology. Pretty much anything that causes the hyperactive motion of electrons can emit radio waves. Importantly, each radio wave carries with it some clues about its source. By analyzing their frequencies, and chronicling how the signal’s properties change over time, scientists can tell the difference between a civilization’s radio transmission and, for example, an <a href="https://public.nrao.edu/radio-astronomy/black-holes/#:~:text=When%20the%20black%20hole%20has,hole%20pulling%20gas%20from%20it.">erupting black hole</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Several large satellite dishes in a field, with snowy mountains in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VoQdin4rufzfC8ZV8PPorpfjvM0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992100/107730681.jpg"/> <cite>Marc Kaufman/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
These 20-foot-wide instruments are part of the Allen Telescope Array. They are designed and operated to consistently and systematically scan the skies for radio signals possibly sent by advanced civilizations from distant star systems and planets.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8IvJux">
Natural sources of radio waves have distinct fingerprints. Namely: Those sources broadcast across a wide range of frequencies, explains <a href="https://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/">Jason Wright</a>, an astronomer at Penn State University. They emit signals that can be picked up on many stations of an astronomer’s (jacked-up) radio dial.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2cCQJ4">
An artificial source of radio waves (i.e., an alien transmitter beaming out a message) would look very different. Think about humanity’s own radio communications. When you want to listen to a particular radio station, you must tune into a very specific frequency. That is essentially what radio SETI research is: a hunt for coherent transmissions broadcast on an extremely narrow range of frequencies (dubbed “narrowband”). “Nature just cannot do that,” says <a href="https://seti.ucla.edu/jlm/">Jean-Luc Margot</a>, a radio astronomer and technosignature researcher at the University of California Los Angeles. Narrowing down a broadcast to a particular frequency, or a few frequencies, requires machinery — with essentially no exceptions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0vQDK1">
That means this quest is fundamentally straightforward. Scientists are looking for “stuff you don’t see normally coming from stars and galaxies,” says <a href="https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/michael.garrett">Michael Garrett</a>, the director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. “Anything that you don’t expect nature to produce.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LdfZco">
But that’s easier said than done. Nature has temporarily hoodwinked astrophysicists in the past. Take pulsars. Today, scientists know that they are the rapidly spinning, hyperdense corpses of stars, emitting beams of radiation from two poles like a deity’s lighthouse. But that wasn’t always the case.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3wdoFu">
The flamboyant behavior of pulsars was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/216567a0">first theorized about in 1967</a>. In 1968, a different group of scientists <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/217709a0">discovered the signal</a> from a pulsar for the very first time, but they <a href="https://www.nature.com/collections/fmnhltzzlj/pulsars">didn’t know exactly what it was</a>; the regularity of the radiation bursts seemed so nonrandom that, for a moment, astronomers could not entirely rule out an artificially generated signal as a possibility, even dubbing the source <a href="https://www.space.com/38916-pulsar-discovery-little-green-men.html">LGM1</a> — “little green men 1”. But later that year, another scientist <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/218731a0">connected</a> the regular rhythm of LGM1 with the pre-existing star carcass lighthouse theory, and LGM1 was understood to be a natural phenomenon, not a beacon of an alien design.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hgBx08">
There are always caveats, and nature is always capable of surprises. But a nonrandom narrowband radio signal coming from space is an excellent place to start. Siemion likens it to seeing the Great Pyramid of Giza amid a vast field of rocks. Sure, it’s technically possible some natural process could have resulted in a pyramid, but the likelihood of crafting this sort of order out of such chaos is infinitesimally small — and even if you find one, you can check to make sure it isn’t a fluke of nature.
</p>
<h3 id="1RK9Qt">
The technosignature checklist
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="phTXJD">
Theoretically, anyone doing regular radio astronomy — gawping at supermassive black holes, for instance — could stumble upon one of these seemingly nonnatural radio signals. But it’s very unlikely. This sort of radio astronomy requires opening your instrument’s mechanical ears to a huge range of frequencies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s4xp1X">
Looking for a radio technosignature means very carefully searching for signals amid the storm of natural noise. Fortunately, contemporary radio SETI searches levy the power of supercomputers and, increasingly, <a href="http://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/ai-accelerate-seti/">machine</a> <a href="https://www.livescience.com/8-possible-alien-technosignatures-detected-around-distant-stars-in-new-ai-study">learning</a> programs to simultaneously twiddle the dials of many different radio receivers, scouring for narrowband signals of interest.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2NgZR2">
But lest we forget, space is gargantuan. Even if signal searches are more efficient these days, there’s a lot of space to peruse. And most SETI researchers won’t always do targeted research — for example, listening in on tranquil stars known to have potentially habitable rocky worlds orbiting them. “You don’t know what an advanced civilization would do,” says Margot. They might build a radio beacon far from their homeworld, perhaps around a more hostile star, one they monitor remotely. “I think the best approach is to look over the entire celestial sphere,” he says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gBmAxc">
If we are lucky, there may be a way to cut some corners. In their 1959 paper, Cocconi and Morrison noted that the most abundant stuff in the universe is hydrogen. Hydrogen gas is everywhere, and it naturally produces radio emissions at a specific frequency: 1,420 MHz. Other astronomy-practicing civilizations would almost certainly know this, and realize that other civilizations would also know this — so why not broadcast a transmission at that exact frequency?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uoUxG9">
“If you have to look for somebody you don’t know at the airport, you go to the rendezvous point,” says Margot. “1,420 MHz may be the rendezvous point for civilizations trying to advertise their presence.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W1NrSs">
Even if that turns out to be the case, humanity’s radio transmissions are obfuscating our efforts to look for the alien equivalents. Earth itself, and the many satellites orbiting it, generate a hurricane of radio waves. Sometimes, SETI researchers can pick up signals from space that are our own robotic spacecraft, or terrestrial signals bounced back from the moon.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pMVp22">
“It’s really annoying,” says Wright.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H1Ijok">
That’s why some researchers are (ambitiously) calling for a SETI-focused radio observatory on the far side of the Moon, which would avoid much of this noise — at least while the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis/">soon-to-be-permanen</a>t human presence on the lunar surface remains small.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ddo15N">
But let’s say you can rule out humanity’s own radio interference. Scientists must then determine it’s coming from somewhere else in space. One or a handful of radio observatories could be used to get a decent idea of where that signal was coming from. But if you use a huge number of radio dishes at once — the 64-dish <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/powerful-observatory-studying-formation-galaxies-getting-massive-54-million-expansion">MeerKAT radio telescope</a> in South Africa, for example, or even <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Observations_Very_Long_Baseline_Interferometry_VLBI">combining multiple observatories</a> and arrays across the planet — you get a major boost in sensitivity that could allow you to locate the planet around a star from which the signal is broadcasting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FkgR7z">
Tick all these boxes and you have something extremely promising on your hands. But it can get even better: If the signal changed its structure during the transmission — something known as modulation — then that would blow everyone’s socks off. “If there was some obvious modulation there, then we would know that it was also conveying information,” says Garrett. This is the difference between hearing a constant dial tone on the phone versus hearing hold music or someone speaking.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cOrWqU">
“It’s not clear you’d ever understand them any more than cavemen would understand the London newspapers,” says Shostak, of the SETI Institute. But we could recognize the modulations are representative information of some sort — anything from mathematical sequences to sounds that represent a spoken language — without being able to translate the content.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GkooXE">
At this point, so long as multiple research groups all came to the same conclusion independently, it would be difficult to doubt that a technosignature (a.k.a. intelligent life) has been identified. As you’ve probably guessed, this is yet to transpire, although there have been <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/the-wow-signal-one-mans-search-for-setis-most-tantalizing-trace-of-alien-life/253093/">several moments</a> in which, for a second, things looked mighty promising.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fs1ciC">
In 2020, for example, a seemingly nonrandom narrowband radio signal was <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/alien-hunters-discover-mysterious-signal-from-proxima-centauri/">detected</a> by the Breakthrough Listen project. Dubbed BLC1, it was especially tantalizing as it was thought to be emanating from the closest star to the sun, Proxima Centauri, a system thought to have rocky (and potentially habitable) worlds in its orbit. But <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01479-w">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01508-8">studies</a> eventually concluded the signal was Earth-based <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/26/alien-false-alarm-extraterrestrial-radio-signals-turn-out-to-be-human">interference of some kind</a>, nothing alien.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cRUDZR">
“It was a roller coaster, I guess you could say,” says Siemion. “It was really exciting.” And by interrogating the signal so rigorously, it proved to be a great educational experience. “We’re looking forward to BLC2,” he adds.
</p>
<h3 id="PemUht">
Video killed the radio star
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DWgZoX">
As is often said, seeing is believing, and there is a chance that our first technosignature will come about not by listening to the universe’s radio stations but by peering down the sights of a telescope.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kAEYoz">
One way astronomers search for other planets is the <a href="https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/ways-to-find-a-planet/#/2">transit method</a>. If a star’s brightness temporarily dips, then something probably passed in front of it as seen from Earth. If it dips in regular intervals and by the same amount each time, that’s usually caused by a planet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RLBOAp">
If, during a transit, a star’s light passes through a world’s skies, then it carries information about the <a href="https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/discovery/how-we-find-and-characterize/">chemical makeup of that planet’s atmosphere</a> — information that, with the right instruments, astronomers can decode. This is useful for all sorts of reasons, including working out if a world is potentially habitable to biology of any variety, or even to search for hints of <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22807575/venus-hot-hellscape-climate-change-earth">possible</a> <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/2023/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18b">biosignatures</a> themselves — chemicals that can be produced (sometimes exclusively) by life.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lM7ZeU">
This technique could also be used to find the pollution from an alien civilization. Nitrogen dioxide, for example, is made by forest fires, volcanoes, lightning, and other natural sources. But much of Earth’s nitrogen dioxide comes from the burning of fossil fuels, particularly from road vehicles. Detecting that on an exoplanet may hint at the presence of a fossil fuel-burning civilization that has yet to move exclusively onto sources of futuristic clean energy, like <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23505995/fusion-energy-breakthrough-announcement-ignition-nif">nuclear fusion</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zSjRsC">
Like many biosignatures with both natural and artificial sources, the detection of plenty of nitrogen dioxide wouldn’t be a slam-dunk confirmation of an alien intelligence.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IJE_Vb8xWcoa9OA2KwyanvR3xtc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992117/Screen_Shot_2023_10_10_at_1.20.56_PM.png"/> <cite>NASA Ames</cite>
<figcaption>
Astronomers can tell a lot about the size and composition of a planet just by observing the light it blocks as it orbits its star.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nPQvr5">
Other chemicals would sound a clearer alarm, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These are found in aerosol sprays, packing materials, solvents, refrigerants, and more; they <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01147-w">ate away at the ozone layer</a> before being broadly banned across the globe by the Montreal Protocol. “There is no natural process that can produce CFCs,” says Kopparapu, the NASA planetary habitability researcher. It is not inconceivable that, as the James Webb Space Telescope is examining an exoplanet for biosignatures, it detects the presence of CFCs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YmmGWw">
SETI scientists are not just interested in the information carried by that starlight; they are also curious about the total amount of starlight they are receiving. When an object passes in front of the star, its apparent brightness dips. And it’s possible the dip could be caused by something other than a planet — something much more implausible but considerably more fantastic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S6djtC">
Science fiction is full of alien megastructures, unfathomably giant objects like world-sized space stations or <a href="https://www.space.com/dyson-sphere.html">colossal orbs surrounding stars</a> to siphon off an almost endless supply of solar energy. There is always a chance that a transit reveals the existence of something decidedly nonnatural around a distant star — a detection that could be followed up by targeted radio SETI work.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Px2z0n">
Some transits have <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/have-astronomers-found-another-alien-megastructure-star/">already raised</a> astronomers’ eyebrows. The chaotic, sporadic dimming around <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/have-aliens-built-huge-structures-around-boyajian-rsquo-s-star/">Tabby’s Star</a> (named after an American astronomer who led the team that <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.03622">discovered</a> the star’s weird light fluctuations), for example, cannot be explained by the periodic orbit of a planet. Nobody can confidently explain the cause of these shenanigans, but various hypotheses have been suggested, including the shattered remnants of a planet, swarms of comets, and, yes, an alien megastructure — a type of optical technosignature. Although few scientists are betting on an extraterrestrial intelligence explanation, ongoing work has still to conclusively rule it out.
</p>
<h3 id="paKEBv">
Interstellar interlopers
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q5taTe">
It is possible that the first confirmation of ET intelligence will be from a detection much closer to home, possibly within our own solar system. Astronomers are looking out for strange objects near our sun’s orbit. And sometimes they find them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dP1Wy2">
On October 19, 2017, astronomers detected something deeply unusual soaring through our solar system: A pancake or cigar-shaped, extremely reflective body that was accelerating as it was leaving the solar system, a speed uptick that its gravitational slingshot around the sun alone could not apparently explain.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="acsXmZ">
The object was dubbed <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/oumuamua/">‘Oumuamua</a>, and it was the first confirmed sighting of an interstellar object, something that originated from another star system.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TRdgsX">
Its exotic disposition was initially inexplicable, but the idea that it was a natural entity with unusual characteristics was quickly accepted by astronomers — with one notable exception.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P83fXY">
<a href="https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/people/avi-loeb">Avi Loeb,</a> a Harvard astronomer known for making provocative (and unsubstantiated) claims about alien technology that much of the scientific community finds both <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/24/science/avi-loeb-extraterrestrial-life.html">exhausting and loathsome</a>, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/astronomer-avi-loeb-says-aliens-have-visited-and-hes-not-kidding1/">concluded</a> that the most plausible explanation for ‘Oumuamua is that it’s the product of an extraterrestrial intelligence. Perhaps it was a type of reconnaissance craft, a vessel propelled by the wind-like push of starlight on its reflective sail. He wrote a bestselling book about it titled <em>Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FdQ6T0">
Six years on, there is still <a href="https://noirlab.edu/public/news/gemini1710/">considerable</a> <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/mystery-our-first-interstellar-visitor-may-be-solved#:~:text=%27Oumuamua%20was%20first%20spotted%20on,messenger%20from%20afar%20arriving%20first.%E2%80%9D">debate</a> as to the true nature of the object. But astronomers are in lockstep about one thing: Loeb’s theory about ‘Oumuamua doesn’t pass the smell test.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lF1CYw">
It has been thoroughly debunked by multiple researchers, including Wright, whose <a href="https://medium.com/@astrowright/oumuamua-natural-or-artificial-f744b70f40d5">co-authored breakdown</a> of the key claims ends with a more rational conclusion, one that the wider community shares: It’s a comet (or asteroid) whose shape is no weirder than many of the objects found in the outer solar system and whose odd acceleration can, in fact, be explained by several different natural processes, including the vaporization of ices acting like an ephemeral rocket booster. (Researchers at the SETI Institute and members of Breakthrough Listen also found no radio signals coming from ‘Oumuamua.)
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OHEBLTKfphwLGdFbn-24nzTDXjs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24992125/RubinSunset.jpg"/> <cite>Rubin Obs./NSF/AURA/W. O’Mullane</cite>
<figcaption>
The sun sets behind Rubin Observatory, which is under construction on Cerro Pachón in Chile.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HAenMU">
Like those UAP hearings in Congress, this sort of breathless hype is distracting from the real work that SETI researchers conduct.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MuDNgv">
Optical SETI is an increasingly popular field of research — and it’s about to get even easier to do, thanks to the under-construction Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, a machine equipped with a next-generation telescopic eye that can see vast swaths of space while also spying faint objects very far away. Most observatories can only do one or the other. But Rubin will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/science/space-asteroids-rubin-heliolinc3d.html">find millions of new objects</a> in the solar system every single year, including comets, asteroids, and even <a href="https://rubinobservatory.org/news/visitors-from-distant-stars">interstellar objects</a> visiting our galactic backwater.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y9iAFz">
Its forensic 10-year census will provide astronomers with a visual encyclopedia of the solar system’s menagerie, from the regular, round-ish asteroids and comets to the odder ones that look like <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/new-photos-dog-bone-asteroid-reveal-s-truly-weird-rcna2006#:~:text=Kleopatra%20was%20discovered%20in%201880,radar%20about%2010%20years%20ago.">dog bones</a>, <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/oumuamua/in-depth/">cigars</a>, or <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/arrokoth-2014-mu69/overview/">snowmen</a>, from those close to Earth to those at the fringes of the solar system.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pJj87t">
From then on, scientists would be able to quickly spot an object that, compared to the hundreds of millions of others on record, looks genuinely unnatural. “If the Death Star was sitting out at 200 au [200 times the Earth-sun distance], probably we would see it,” says <a href="https://megschwamb.com/">Meg Schwamb</a>, an astronomer at Queen’s University Belfast. Not only that, but if an object isn’t orbiting the sun in a way that can be explained by conventional physics, the Rubin Observatory would be able to spy it acting weirdly. “It’s a reasonable question to ask: Did anything move in the wrong direction?” says Schwamb.
</p>
<h3 id="GaarPL">
If you know, you know
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TLtWyp">
SETI research is grueling work. No matter how scientists do it, it takes time, effort, and heapings of healthy skepticism. Those looking for the tangible gratification of a classic UFO are almost certainly going to be very disappointed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7q9N7e">
Of course the US military is hiding things, says <a href="https://www.astro.princeton.edu/~dns/">David Spergel</a>, an astrophysicist at Princeton. But that doesn’t mean it’s hiding aliens.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s6AzAl">
The way Spergel sees things, an alien intelligence visiting Earth either wants to be seen — in which case it would be rather flamboyant about it, showing itself to governments and citizens alike — or it doesn’t, in which case it will remain inscrutable to everyone, even spies. They would not attach blinking lights to their interplanetary spacecraft, just as Ukraine’s drones do not announce their existence to Russian forces with flashing underside lights.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2NeQQf">
Spergel quips that the only way that bright lights on an alien reconnaissance spacecraft make even the tiniest bit of sense is if an extraterrestrial intelligence is pranking us. “What if the aliens we see are basically teenagers <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tipping">cow tipping</a> — and we’re cows?” he says, smirking.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MMHOso">
Spergel is also the chair of a recently inaugurated <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-announces-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-study-team-members/">NASA committee on UAPs</a>, one whose members have been discussing ways in which the space agency and its commercial partners can (unlike the US military) transparently gather and share data to assist the American government’s analyses of potential UAP sightings.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9QtFQ6">
That transparency is emblematic of SETI research as a whole. Those conducting it want to be public about it, to share their excitement, to nix the daydreams of conspiracy theorists — and to underscore that it is tough work that comes with no guarantees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WwSrdS">
In that 1959 paper, Cocconi and Morrison noted that “the probability of success is difficult to estimate; but if we never search, the chance of success is zero.” More than half a century later, that feeling is still commonplace among SETI researchers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gJfNK9">
“Yes, you have to be patient. Yes, it’s hard and frustrating,” says Siemion. “But at the end of the day, you’re uncovering the greatest mystery in the universe.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="knbow6">
To him, the most interesting part of the search for alien intelligence is as philosophical as it is scientific. Channeling the late Carl Sagan, he says the “most interesting property of the universe by a wide margin is that somehow it has evolved a capacity to know itself, to ask questions about itself.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wAZxCP">
In other words, billions of years of unconscious physics and chemistry created biology, and another few billion years have resulted in at least one species (i.e., us humans) that wonders aloud how everything came to be, effectively giving the cosmos self-awareness.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="czSC1V">
Wouldn’t it be nice to know that we aren’t the only ones capable of that? Everyone needs some alone time, but nobody likes to be truly, permanently alone. SETI scientists are simply applying that notion on a species-wide scale. We could potentially join other intelligent species on a quest for self-understanding. They might not know the answers to the Big Questions — the “why are we here” category of queries — any more than we do, but we can join them in figuring it out.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Don’t believe everything you see and hear about Israel and Palestine</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A photograph of a palm-tree-lined street in Ashkelon, in southern Israel. The light is dimmed by smoke from a nearby fire." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NmXvX0ubRNzXRci257jlmUM4TeE=/454x0:7739x5464/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72747303/1719127335.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Smoke from a fire that broke out after a rocket attack from Gaza fills the streets of the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, on October 11, 2023. | Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war is easy to find online. Here’s how to avoid spreading it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aO8LgR">
After <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/10/7/23907323/israel-war-hamas-attack-explained-southern-israel-gaza">Hamas</a> militants launched a surprise attack on <a href="https://www.vox.com/israel">Israel</a> on October 7, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/10/09/israel-hamas-hostage-death/">killing at least 1,000 and taking at least 150 hostages</a>, and Israel declared war against Hamas and retaliated, photographs and videos of violence flooded out of the region and onto social media. Some of the images were posted by victims on the ground at the attacks. Some were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/technology/hamas-violent-videos-online.html">reportedly</a> seeded by Hamas, but others were years old, taken from conflict zones in other parts of the world, or even from a fictional video game. For the average internet user, knowing what information to trust online has never been more challenging.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dtySpn">
As someone who has covered misinformation through dozens of major news events, I know that people flock to social media during a crisis for many reasons. Maybe it’s because the mainstream news doesn’t feel fast or immediate enough, or because the crisis has put them or someone close to them in harm’s way and they need help. Perhaps they want to see and share and say something that captures the reality of an important moment in time because they don’t know what else to do when the world is on fire. Misinformation and manipulation often spread for the same reasons, slipping into the feeds of those who believe it can’t hurt to share a startling video or gruesome photograph or call for aid, even if they’re not sure of the reliability of the source.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<div id="Vp5BeW">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cO6N1t">
When war goes online, the churn of good and bad information is supercharged by the stakes. While state-sponsored information wars existed well before the invention of the internet, social media has enabled all kinds of propaganda and dangerous falsehoods to rapidly reach millions. During the <a href="https://www.vox.com/russia-invasion-ukraine">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a> in 2022, for example, livestreamers and scammers reposted <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/live-blog/russia-ukraine-conflict-live-updates-n1289655#ncrd1289789">old videos to TikTok</a>, claiming they showed the latest from the front lines, in order to get views and trick people into donating to fake fundraisers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6XNhFr">
Last year, I wrote <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/25/1046495/how-to-share-information-russia-ukraine-invasion/">a guide to being online in wartime to help people navigate the misinformation</a> around <a href="https://www.vox.com/russia">Russia</a>’s war in Ukraine. A lot of the advice about how to quickly evaluate a river of online information hasn’t changed much over the years. But social media has changed quite a bit in just a few months; in the days since the Hamas attack, it has become clear that some of the old tricks for verifying unreliable posts need to be modified or unlearned altogether.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DZoCCf">
This is particularly true on X, formerly known as Twitter, which was once a central destination for those who wanted to follow major news events in real time. <a href="https://www.vox.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>, the platform’s owner and CTO, spent the hours after Hamas attacked Israel <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-israel-hamas-war-disinformation-x/">spreading misinformation about the conflict</a> and even <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/08/israel-hamas-disinfo-musk-twitter-x/">told his 150 million followers</a> to get news on the attack from two verified accounts that have a clear history of sharing false information. Musk’s recommendation had at least 11 million views before it was deleted, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/08/israel-hamas-disinfo-musk-twitter-x/">according to the Washington Post</a>. This is after Musk spent months diminishing the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-07/elon-musk-cuts-more-twitter-staff-overseeing-content-moderation">platform’s capacity</a> to moderate against misinformation and hate speech.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gN521V">
Since the initial attack, X users <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-israel-hamas-attack-biden-aid-512553356968">circulated a fabricated White House memo</a> that claimed the US government was sending $8 billion in aid to Israel. An account <a href="https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2023/10/09/x-is-flooded-with-israel-hamas-war-misinformation">posing as the Jerusalem Post</a> fueled a false rumor that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the hospital. And because Twitter’s verification system <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/12/12/23506109/elon-musk-twitter-blue-verified-checks-gold-gray">has been repurposed</a> into a premium badge for paying subscribers, who also get boosted engagement with their tweets, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90964693/the-israel-hamas-war-shows-how-bad-x-has-gotten-at-handling-breaking-news">it’s now relatively easy to buy eyeballs</a> on X and imitate expertise on the platform.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HKEmKK">
Misinformation is an exhausting topic, one that’s difficult to define, and on some platforms, including X, tackling misinformation is no longer a company priority to address. So, increasingly, it’s up to you to sort through the mess. No online guide will fully protect you against the bad and untrue stuff online. But there are things you can do to navigate the online chaos that follows a major news event.
</p>
<h3 id="3lTNVz">
Understand the platform you’re on<strong> </strong>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4cACfP">
Many large social media platforms <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-10/hamas-war-shows-facebook-twitter-have-pivoted-from-news?leadSource=uverify%20wall">have shifted back to prioritizing engagement over reliability</a> for the posts their users see on their feeds. That has created a friendlier environment for online nonsense and coordinated disinformation. The situation is certainly made worse by the transformation of Twitter, once a useful news feed, into X, something drastically different.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lqe3pq">
X is much less trustworthy and useful these days during breaking news, and evaluating sources on the platform is trickier. On X, a blue check mark once meant that the platform had verified the identity of the person or people behind the account, or that the account officially belonged to an organization. But the badge no longer serves as a verification of identity; it’s now a feature for X’s paying users, who also get better engagement and features, putting their posts in front of more people. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/13/twitter-creators-payments-right-wing/">Some verified users</a> are also part of a program that pays them based on their engagement on X, <a href="https://mashable.com/article/x-twitter-creator-monetization-will-lead-to-engagement-bait">so for them, going viral literally pays off</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iMEAzx">
Plenty of blue-checked X users have indeed been <a href="https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1711663630683443628">sharing misinformation</a> about the Israel-Hamas war. Some claim to be sharing footage of the war in action when in fact they are just repurposing clips from a video game and getting millions of views. Those videos <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/arma-3-video-game-clips-israel-hamas-conflict-1234849405/">are also getting views</a> on <a href="https://www.vox.com/tiktok">TikTok</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D2u5IS">
TikTok has, in some ways, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/10/21/more-americans-are-getting-news-on-tiktok-bucking-the-trend-on-other-social-media-sites/">stepped into the role Twitter once had</a> as the key social media app that people turn to in order to follow a major news event. The app, which many think of as an entertainment platform, is very different from Twitter in the 2010s, when it was a must-read for breaking news. While Twitter anointed its share of expert <a href="https://www.vox.com/influencers">influencers</a>, creators are the main conduit for news on TikTok. The app’s news creators build fandoms around their personalities and promise of independence from, say, mainstream sources. All that said, TikTok also has <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/7/29/23811639/tiktok-borax-challenge-dangerous-laundry-detergent">issues with misinformation</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zqzekp">
And then there’s Telegram, one of the platforms Hamas is using to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/technology/hamas-violent-videos-online.html">release violent footage</a>. Telegram, which is part group chat and part social media platform, is popular globally, has few moderation practices, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22238755/telegram-messaging-social-media-extremists">has long been a home</a> for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/13/holocaust-denial-telegram-history-distortion-content-moderation/">extremists and conspiracy theorists</a> who have left or been banned from more mainstream platforms. More on that later.
</p>
<h3 id="R5sFsc">
Learn to SIFT
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AGnpOQ">
The SIFT method, developed by digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield, is a <a href="https://hapgood.us/2019/06/19/sift-the-four-moves/">good framework</a> for learning how to evaluate emotionally charged or outrage-inducing online posts in the middle of an unfolding crisis. There are two reasons I like it: First, it’s adaptable to a lot of situations. And second, the goal here isn’t a full fact-check. SIFT is meant to be a quick series of checks that anyone can do in order to decide how much of your attention to give what you’re seeing and whether you feel comfortable sharing a post with others.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DNvCuK">
The SIFT method breaks down to four steps: “Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, and Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.” That “Stop” step can do a lot of work during a major, violent conflict like the Israel-Hamas war. People get engagement on questionable or untrue posts during breaking news by tugging on your emotions and beliefs. So if a video, photograph, or post about the war seems to confirm everything you’ve ever believed about a topic or makes you immediately furious or hopeful or upset, stop yourself from instantly sharing it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3sIQsc">
Then, investigate the source. This can be done pretty quickly. Click on the account sharing the thing you saw and glance at their information and previous posts. You’re not launching a full-scale investigation here. You’re just trying to get a sense of who has ended up in your feed. Next, find better coverage. That means you open up a bunch of tabs. Is this being reported anywhere else by trustworthy news sources? Has this claim been fact-checked? And finally, trace the source. Open up the news article and run a search for a phrase in the quote you’re about to share. See if you can find that image attributed elsewhere, and make sure the captions describe the same thing.
</p>
<h3 id="h0fiBI">
Check in with yourself
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="STVXBx">
During acts of unfathomable violence, videos of death and maiming circulate online with the imperative to witness. Please understand that you <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/04/bystanders-share-videos-el-pasos-violent-aftermath-strangers-online-beg-them-stop/">do not have to view </a>violent footage circulating online in order to process a horrible event, whether you feel you can handle seeing it or not.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qYogBZ">
Check in with yourself and think critically about the role you want to play on- and offline in a moment like this. That might mean resisting the impulse to become an <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/25/1046495/how-to-share-information-russia-ukraine-invasion/">instant breaking news reporter in your group chat</a>. If you don’t have the skill set to evaluate for accuracy the videos of on-the-ground footage in a neighborhood you’ve never visited, you’re not likely to develop it in a matter of minutes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Eoxsve">
I’ve tried to avoid giving specific instructions in this guide in terms of what platforms to use or not use as a regular person trying to get news. I’m going to make one now: Especially if you’re unfamiliar with Telegram, now is not the time to indulge in your curiosity and dive into the app looking for “raw” footage and live updates. In addition to the risk of encountering and engaging with literal propaganda, Telegram is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/telegram-israel-gaza-facts-difficult-to-verify-for-elon-musk-2023-10">notoriously bad at surfacing good information</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="5u8Tsz">
Your attention is valuable
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PckXoP">
Online falsehoods need attention and amplification to work. You might not have a big account with a ton of followers, but every reshare matters, both to the circle of people who see your posts online and to the engagement numbers for the original post. Interacting with something on social media — whether a cautious share “in case” it’s true or a repost to point out that something definitely isn’t — signals to the site’s algorithms that you’re interested in that content. In other words, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2018/02/23/algorithms-are-one-reason-a-conspiracy-theory-goes-viral-another-reason-might-be-you/">outrage shares are still shares</a>, even if you’re talking about a bad analysis, an unsourced photograph, or an outright lie.
</p></li>
</ul>
<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>World Cup 2023: Aus vs SA | Australia wins toss, elects to field against South Africa</strong> - While Australia made two changes to their side, South Africa only one change in the playing XI.</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>World Cup 2023: Shubman Gill reaches Ahmedabad ahead of India’s clash against Pakistan</strong> - However, even though Shubman Gill has reached Ahmedabad, his inclusion in the first eleven is still not confirmed by the apex body of Indian cricket</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>ICC Cricket World Cup: Meet The Bharat Army that travels the world to cheer Team India</strong> - The Bharat Army started with four members in 1999 and now has 1,60,000 registered members</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>Ind vs Afg ODI World Cup | I’ve taken a leaf out of Gayle’s book: Rohit Sharma after smashing sixes record</strong> - During the match against Afghanistan, Rohit hammered five sixes to reach 556 maximums across three formats, three more than the West Indian left-hander.</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>Morning Digest | ‘Operation Ajay’ set to evacuate Indian nationals from Israel; 4 dead, more than 70 injured as train derails in Bihar</strong> - Here is a select list of stories to start the day</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>Juvenile Justice Board office in Ooty to be shifted to court complex</strong> -</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>President Murmu visits Vaishno Devi; inaugurates skywalk, remodelled Parvati Bhawan</strong> - The President, who is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, was accompanied by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on the visit to the shrine.</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>Express train derails in Bihar’s Buxar district</strong> -</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>230 Indians expected to be brought back from Israel in first chartered flight tomorrow</strong> - On the attacks by Hamas on Israeli cities, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India considers them as terrorist strikes</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 ranks 111 out of a total of 125 countries in Global Hunger Index</strong> - Mirroring global trend, the country’s performance has stagnated since 2015 with its score improving only by 0.5 points</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>Israel-Gaza: French Jewish politicians put under police protection</strong> - France’s interior minister says more than 100 antisemitic acts have been recorded since Saturday.</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>Poland election: Bitter campaign splits country ahead of key vote</strong> - It’s seen as the most important vote since communism’s end in 1989. What direction will Poland take?</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>Slovakia elections: Populist winner signs deal to form coalition government</strong> - Robert Fico - who pledged to end support for Ukraine - has teamed up with a centre-left and nationalist party.</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>Petr Pavlensky: Six-month sentence for Russian behind Macron ally sex video</strong> - Controversial artist Petr Pavlensky’s online post scuppered Benjamin Griveaux’s candidacy for mayor of Paris.</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>Finland investigates suspected sabotage of Baltic-connector gas pipeline</strong> - It is still unclear what caused a leak on the Baltic-connector, which is shared with Estonia.</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>Kia EV5 revealed, but US future is uncertain for this electric crossover</strong> - The new compact electric SUV will go on sale in China and South Korea first. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1975385">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kia EV3, EV4 concepts look like the future, will soon be a reality</strong> - This small SUV and sedan-hatch-thing will be crucial to Kia’s future global EV sales. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1975414">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The data and puzzling history behind California’s new red food dye ban</strong> - The risk of red dye No. 3 is considered low, but its regulation is a head-scratcher. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1975625">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Amazon Prime Day is here: All the best deals on day 2 of the big sale</strong> - This is your last chance to shop Prime Day this year. We’ll update this post with new deals throughout the day. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1968974">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>25 of the most popular Amazon Prime Day deals with Ars Technica readers</strong> - AirPods, docking stations, Switch games, and more. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1975555">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I saw my dwarf neighbor standing at the bus stop this morning so I stopped..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I said, “Jump in! I’ll give you a lift!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Fuck off!” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I thought to myself, “What an ungrateful shit” So I zipped up my backpack and kept walking home.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Spiritual_Ear_3456"> /u/Spiritual_Ear_3456 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/175n0hc/i_saw_my_dwarf_neighbor_standing_at_the_bus_stop/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/175n0hc/i_saw_my_dwarf_neighbor_standing_at_the_bus_stop/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man goes to see the doctor about a serious cough…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The doctor examines him, runs some tests, and leaves the room. A few minutes later, the doctor returns.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I’ve got some bad news for you,” the doctor says. “You don’t have much longer to live.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Oh my god,” the man replies. “How much time do I have?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The doctor says, “Ten.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What do you mean, ‘Ten’?” the man asks. “Ten months? Ten weeks? Ten days?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The doctor looks at his watch and says, “Nine.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/No-BrowEntertainment"> /u/No-BrowEntertainment </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/175tqux/a_man_goes_to_see_the_doctor_about_a_serious_cough/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/175tqux/a_man_goes_to_see_the_doctor_about_a_serious_cough/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Worried boy goes to doctor</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A teenager worried about having three testicles goes to a urologist. The urologist assures him that it’s nothing to worry about.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Relieved from tension, the boy goes to a stranger and says, “Did you know that there are 5 testicles among the two of us.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The stranger says, “I’m very sorry that you have only one”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
(My first post. Read this years ago on a site, but never read it on reddit. Maybe not written properly, sorry for that.)
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ThisIsSidam"> /u/ThisIsSidam </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1761lb7/worried_boy_goes_to_doctor/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1761lb7/worried_boy_goes_to_doctor/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Wife, the Husband and the Genie</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A husband and wife in their sixties were coming up on their 40th wedding anniversary. Knowing his wife loved antiques, he bought a beautiful old brass oil lamp for her. When she unwrapped it, a genie appeared. He thanked them and gave each of them one wish. The wife wished for an all expenses paid, first class, around the world cruise with her husband. Shazam! Instantly she was presented with tickets for the entire journey, plus expensive side trips, dinners, shopping, etc. The husband, however, wished he had a female companion who was 30 years younger. The genie smiled and… Shazam! Instantly he turned 93 years old.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Legitimate_Otaku7082"> /u/Legitimate_Otaku7082 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/175uajf/the_wife_the_husband_and_the_genie/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/175uajf/the_wife_the_husband_and_the_genie/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An elderly man is stopped by the police around 2 a.m. and is asked where he is going at this time of night. The man replies, “I am on my way to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body, as well as smoking and staying out late.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The officer then asks, “Really? Who is giving that lecture at this time of night?” The man replies, “That would be my wife.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/nnn_rrr"> /u/nnn_rrr </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/175fonk/an_elderly_man_is_stopped_by_the_police_around_2/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/175fonk/an_elderly_man_is_stopped_by_the_police_around_2/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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