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<title>19 June, 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>BUILDING RESILIENCE AGAINST HOAX: IMPROVING INTERNET MEDIA LITERACY IN THE ERA OF THE PANDEMIC COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
In facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of enhancing internet media literacy has become crucial in building resilience against misinformation. The dissemination of false information is increasingly worrisome, despite intensive social campaigns addressing hoaxes. This research aims to enhance internet media literacy in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study adopts a literature research or library research methodology. The data collection method involves two sources: primary data and secondary data. Primary data is obtained from reliable journals, articles, and readings that support this research. Meanwhile, secondary data is obtained from relevant books that pertain to the main issues addressed in the research. The findings of this study include the high prevalence of misinformation, the increase in internet media literacy, and the model for combating hoaxes.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/rpxdu/" target="_blank">BUILDING RESILIENCE AGAINST HOAX: IMPROVING INTERNET MEDIA LITERACY IN THE ERA OF THE PANDEMIC COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Identification and Attribution of Weekly Periodic Biases in Epidemiological Time Series Data</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
COVID-19 data exhibit various biases, not least a significant weekly periodic oscillation observed globally in case and death data. There has been significant debate over whether this may be attributed to weekly socialising and working patterns, or is due to underlying biases in the reporting process. We characterise the weekly biases globally and demonstrate that equivalent biases also occur in the current cholera outbreak in Haiti. By comparing published COVID-19 time series to retrospective datasets from the United Kingdom (UK) that are not subject to the same reporting biases, we demonstrate that this dataset does not contain any weekly periodicity, and hence the weekly trends observed both in the UK and globally may be fully explained by biases in the testing and reporting processes. These conclusions play an important role in forecasting healthcare demand and determining suitable interventions for future infectious disease outbreaks.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.13.23290903v1" target="_blank">Identification and Attribution of Weekly Periodic Biases in Epidemiological Time Series Data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Timing and Predictors of Loss of Infectivity among Healthcare Workers with Primary and Recurrent COVID-19: a Prospective Observational Cohort Study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: There is a need to understand the duration of infectivity of primary and recurrent COVID-19 and identify predictors of loss of infectivity. Methods: Prospective observational cohort study with serial viral culture, rapid antigen detection test (RADT) and RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal specimens of healthcare workers with COVID-19. The primary outcome was viral culture positivity as indicative of infectivity. Predictors of loss of infectivity were determined using multivariate regression model. The performance of the US CDC criteria (fever resolution, symptom improvement and negative RADT) to predict loss of infectivity was also investigated. Results: 121 participants (91 female [79.3%]; average age, 40 years) were enrolled. Most (n=107, 88.4%) had received ≥3 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses, and 20 (16.5%) had COVID-19 previously. Viral culture positivity decreased from 71.9% (87/121) on day 5 of infection to 18.2% (22/121) on day 10. Participants with recurrent COVID-19 had a lower likelihood of infectivity than those with primary COVID-19 at each follow-up (day 5 OR, 0.14; p&lt;0.001]; day 7 OR, 0.04; p=0.003]) and were all non-infective by day 10 (p=0.02). Independent predictors of infectivity included prior COVID-19 (adjusted OR [aOR] on day 5, 0.005; p=0.003), a RT-PCR Ct value &lt;23 (aOR on day 5, 22.75; p&lt;0.001), but not symptom improvement or RADT result. The CDC criteria would identify 36% (24/67) of all non-infectious individuals on Day 7. However, 17% (5/29) of those meeting all the criteria had a positive viral culture. Conclusions: Infectivity of recurrent COVID-19 is shorter than primary infections. Loss of infectivity algorithms could be optimized.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.16.23291449v1" target="_blank">Timing and Predictors of Loss of Infectivity among Healthcare Workers with Primary and Recurrent COVID-19: a Prospective Observational Cohort Study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evolving Trends in Neuropsychological Profiles of Post COVID-19 Condition: A 1-Year Follow-up in Individuals with Cognitive Complaints</strong> -
<div>
Background: Cognitive difficulties are reported as lasting sequelae within post COVID-19 condition. However, the chronicity of these difficulties and related factors of fatigue, mood, and perceived health have yet to be fully determined. More longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the trends of cognitive test performance and cognitive domain impairment following COVID-19 onset, and whether hospitalization influences outcomes. Methods: 57 participants who reported subjective cognitive difficulties after confirmed COVID-19 infection were assessed at baseline (~6 months post COVID-19) and follow-up (~15 months later) visits. Assessments included measures across multiple cognitive domains and self-report questionnaires of fatigue, mood, and overall health. Analyses were conducted in three stages: at the test score level (raw and adjusted scores), at the cognitive domain level, and stratified by hospitalization status during infection. Results: Impacts on cognitive test scores remain stable across assessments. Cognitive domain analyses indicate significant reductions in attention and executive functioning impairment, while memory impairment is slower resolve. On self-report measures, there was a significant improvement in overall health ratings at follow-up. Finally, those hospitalized during infection performed worse on timed cognitive measures across visits and accounted for a larger proportion of cases with short-term and working memory impairment at follow-up. Conclusions: Cognitive difficulties persist both at test score and cognitive domain levels in many cases of post COVID-19 condition, but evidence suggests some improvement in global measures of attention, executive functioning and overall self-rated health. An effect of hospitalization on cognitive symptoms post COVID-19 may be more discernible over time.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/bwgx8/" target="_blank">Evolving Trends in Neuropsychological Profiles of Post COVID-19 Condition: A 1-Year Follow-up in Individuals with Cognitive Complaints</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Regulation of coronavirus nsp15 cleavage specificity by RNA structure</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2, the etiologic agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, has had an enduring impact on global public health. However, SARS-CoV-2 is only one of multiple pathogenic human coronaviruses (CoVs) to have emerged since the turn of the century. CoVs encode for several nonstructural proteins (NSPS) that are essential for viral replication and pathogenesis. Among them is nsp15, a uridine-specific viral endonuclease that is important in evading the host immune response and promoting viral replication. Despite the established function of nsp15 as a uridine-specific endonuclease, little is known about other determinants of its cleavage specificity. In this study we investigate the role of RNA secondary structure in SARS-CoV-2 nsp15 endonuclease activity. Using a series of in vitro endonuclease assays, we observed that thermodynamically stable RNA structures were protected from nsp15 cleavage relative to RNAs lacking stable structure. We leveraged the s2m RNA from the SARS 3UTR as a model for our structural studies as it adopts a well-defined structure with several uridines, two of which are unpaired and thus high probably targets for nsp15 cleavage. We found that SARS-CoV-2 nsp15 specifically cleaves s2m at the unpaired uridine within the GNRNA pentaloop of the RNA. Further investigation revealed that the position of uridine within the pentaloop also impacted nsp15 cleavage efficiency, suggesting that positioning within the pentaloop is necessary for optimal presentation of the scissile uridine and alignment within the nsp15 catalytic pocket. Our findings indicate that RNA secondary structure is an important determinant of nsp15 cleavage and provides insight into the molecular mechanisms of recognition of RNA by nsp15.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.12.540483v2" target="_blank">Regulation of coronavirus nsp15 cleavage specificity by RNA structure</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Personality Psychology in Times of Crisis: Profile-specific Recommendations on how to deal with COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic posed a twofold global health threat: Besides the evident danger to human life, the corona crisis is also a psychological crisis. Psychologists worldwide have contributed to cushion the distress that is laid on many societies and enforce adaptive coping strategies. However, psychological support in the past has often been broadly applied, has not been particularly parsimonious and has often been focused on severe psychological stressors. In this brief report we describe the development and application of a low-threshold tool that generates personality-specific recommendations on how to functionally cope with the psychological challenges of the corona crisis. The tool gained widespread attention in Germany and many other countries and was well received by users. It demonstrates how psychological knowledge from personality and health psychology can be combined to be of very concrete use for many people in a threatening situation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/r9q6g/" target="_blank">Personality Psychology in Times of Crisis: Profile-specific Recommendations on how to deal with COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant Remains Viable in Environmental Biofilms found in Meat Packaging Plants</strong> -
<div>
To determine why SARS-CoV-2 appears to thrive specifically well in meat packaging plants, we used SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant and meat packaging plant drain samples to develop mixed-species biofilms on materials commonly found within meat packaging plants (stainless steel (SS), PVC, and ceramic tile). Our data provides evidence that SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant remained viable on all the surfaces tested with and without an environmental biofilm. We observed that SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant was able to remain infectious with each of the environmental biofilms, however, we detected a significant reduction in viability post-exposure to Plant B biofilm on SS, PVC, and on ceramic tile chips, and to Plant C biofilm on SS and PVC chips. The numbers of viable SARS-CoV-2 Delta viral particles was 1.81 - 4.57-fold high than the viral inoculum incubated with the Plant B and Plant C environmental biofilm on SS, and PVC chips. We did not detect a significant difference in viability when SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant was incubated with the biofilm obtained from Plant A on any of the materials tested and SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant had higher plaque numbers when inoculated with Plant C biofilm on tile chips, with a 2.75-fold difference compared to SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant on tile chips by itself. These results indicate a complex virus-environmental biofilm interaction which correlates to the different bacteria found in each biofilm. Our results also indicate that there is the potential for biofilms to protect SARS-CoV-2 from disinfecting agents and remaining prevalent in meat packaging plants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.15.545172v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant Remains Viable in Environmental Biofilms found in Meat Packaging Plants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>High-confidence placement of difficult-to-fit fragments into electron density by using anomalous signals - a case study using hits targeting SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 1</strong> -
<div>
The identification of multiple simultaneous orientations of small molecule inhibitors binding to a protein target is a common challenge. It has recently been reported that the conformational heterogeneity of ligands is widely underreported in the Protein Data Bank, which is likely to impede optimal exploitation to improve affinity of these ligands. Significantly less is even known about multiple binding orientations for fragments (&lt; 300 Da) although this information would be essential for subsequent fragment optimisation using growing, linking or merging and rational structure-based design. Here we use recently reported fragment hits for the SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 1 (nsp1) N-terminal domain to propose a general procedure for unambiguously identifying binding orientations of 2-dimensional fragments containing either sulphur or chloro substituents within the wavelength range of most tunable beamlines. By measuring datasets at two energies, using a tuneable beamline operating in vacuum and optimised for data collection at very low X-ray energies, we show that the anomalous signal can be used to identify multiple orientations in small fragments containing sulphur and/or chloro substituents or to verify recently reported conformations. Although in this specific case we identified the positions of sulphur and chlorine in fragments bound to their protein target, we are confident that this work can be further expanded to additional atoms or ions which often occur in fragments. Finally, our improvements in the understanding of binding orientations will also serve to improve the rational optimisation of SARS-CoV-2 nsp1 targeting fragment hits.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.16.545251v1" target="_blank">High-confidence placement of difficult-to-fit fragments into electron density by using anomalous signals - a case study using hits targeting SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 1</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluation of 3-D printed swabs for respiratory sampling and testing for SARS-CoV-2 during the early pandemic period</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Appropriate collection of respiratory samples is essential for accurate diagnostic testing of respiratory pathogens such as, SARS-CoV-2. Early in the pandemic, there was a shortage of nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs and difficulty in sampling suspected cases. Therefore, we developed a 3D printed nasal swab for anterior nares, paired with in-house viral transport medium (VTM). The utility of this 3D swab kit was investigated in comparison with the standard NP commercial swab and VTM, in 200 individuals between August and September 2021. Subjects were those presenting for diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 using the RT- PCR (cobas Roche assay) assay. NP samples were taken from each subject using the standard NP and 3D swabs followed by RT-PCR on paired specimens. CT values for amplification of gene targets were evaluated to determine assay parameters based on viral load cut offs of ≤ CT 35 or, ≤ CT 37. For high to medium viral loads, 3D swab based PCR testing had a sensitivity of 93%, specificity of 99%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 98.5% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 96.2% respectively. For low viral loads, 3D swab testing had a sensitivity of 88%, specificity of 99%, with a PPV of 98.5% and NPV of 93.2%.%. 3D swab sampling of anterior nares was comparable with NP sampling using standard swabs for SARS-CoV-2 specimens with a medium to high viral load. Therefore, 3D swab based sampling is a reliable and convenient local solution for collecting respiratory samples for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.14.23291367v1" target="_blank">Evaluation of 3-D printed swabs for respiratory sampling and testing for SARS-CoV-2 during the early pandemic period</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Determinants of post-acute COVID-19 syndrome among hospitalized severe COVID-19 patients: a 2-year follow-up study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Abstract Background: Coronavirus disease–19 (COVID–19), emerged as a public health threat in December 2019. The number of COVID–19 cases worldwide is now more than 765 million with more than 6.9 million dead. During follow–up visits following discharge, a large percentage of patients were discovered to still be suffering from health issues that lower their quality of life and ability to return to work. This study assessed the prevalence and associated risk factors of post-acute COVID–19 syndrome (PACS) among severe COVID–19 patients who were discharged from Millennium COVID–19 care center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: A cross–sectional study using data collected from patient charts and a follow–up telephone interview after two years of discharge. Systematic random sampling was used to select a total of 400 patients. A structured questionnaire developed from the case report form for PACS of WHO was used. Frequency and cross–tabulation were used for descriptive statistics. Predictor variables with a p–value &lt;0.25 in bivariate analyses were included in the logistic regression. Result: Out of the 400 patients, 20 patients were dead, 14 patients refused to give consent, and 26 patients could not be reached because their phone was not working. Finally, 340 were included in the study. The majority (68.5%) were males and the mean age was 53.9 (±13.3 SD) years. Most of the patients (60%) has one or more comorbidity. The most common symptom at presentation was cough (93.5%), followed by shortness of breath (82.1%) and fatigue (69.7%). The mean duration of hospital admission was 12.3 (±6.5 SD) days. More than a third (38.1%) of the patients reported the persistence of at least one symptom after hospital discharge. The most common symptoms were fatigue (27.5%) and Cough (15.3%). older age (AOR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02 – 1.07), female sex (AOR 1.82, 95% CI 1.00 – 3.29), presence of comorbidity (AOR 2.38, 95% CI 1.35 – 4.19), alcohol use (AOR 3.05, 95% CI 1.49 – 6.26), fatigue at presentation (AOR 2.18, 95% CI 1.21 – 3.95), and longer hospital stay (AOR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02 – 1.10) were foundto increase the odds of developing post–acute COVID-19 syndrome. Higher hemoglobin level was found to decrease the risk of subsequent post–acute COVID–19 syndrome (AOR 0.84, 95% CI 0.71 – 0.99). Conclusion: establishing a dedicated PACS followup clinic, especially for those with a higher risk can help to provide comprehensive care for the patients and improve their quality of life. Keywords: Post –acute COVID –19 syndrome, Long COVID, Chronic COVID –19
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.13.23290674v1" target="_blank">Determinants of post-acute COVID-19 syndrome among hospitalized severe COVID-19 patients: a 2-year follow-up study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Omicron vs. the Rest: Assessing the Competitive Dynamics and Coinfection Scenarios of COVID-19 Strains on a Social Network</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The rapid spread and evolving nature of COVID-19 variants have raised concerns regarding their competitive dynamics and coinfection scenarios. In this study, we assess the competitive interactions between the Omicron variant and other prominent variants (Alpha, Beta, and Delta) on a social network, considering both single infection and coinfection states. Using the SIRS model, we simulate the progression of these variants and analyze their impact on infection rates, mortality, and overall disease burden. Our findings demonstrate that the Alpha and Beta strains exhibit comparable contagion levels, with the Alpha strain displaying higher infection and mortality rates. Moreover, the Delta strain emerges as the most prevalent and virulent strain, surpassing the other variants. When introduced alongside the less virulent Omicron strain, the Delta strain results in higher infection and mortality rates. However, the Omicron strain9s dominance leads to an overall increase in disease statistics. Remarkably, our study highlights the efficacy of the Omicron variant in supplanting more virulent strains and its potential role in mitigating the spread of infectious diseases. The Omicron strain demonstrates a competitive advantage over the other variants, suggesting its potential to reduce the severity of the disease and alleviate the burden on healthcare systems. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring and understanding the dynamics of COVID-19 variants, as they can inform effective prevention and mitigation strategies, particularly with the emergence of variants that possess a relative advantage in controlling disease transmission.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.13.23291332v1" target="_blank">Omicron vs. the Rest: Assessing the Competitive Dynamics and Coinfection Scenarios of COVID-19 Strains on a Social Network</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The relative effectiveness of a high-dose quadrivalent influenza vaccine vs standard-dose quadrivalent influenza vaccines in older adults in France: a retrospective cohort study during the 2021-22 influenza season</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<b>Background:</b> High-dose quadrivalent influenza vaccine (HD-QIV) was introduced during the 2021/22 influenza season in France for adults aged ≥65 years as an alternative to standard-dose quadrivalent influenza vaccines (SD-QIV). This is the first study to estimate the relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) of HD-QIV versus SD-QIV against influenza-related hospitalizations in France. <b>Methods:</b> Community-dwelling individuals aged ≥65 years with reimbursed influenza vaccine claims during the 2021/22 influenza season were included from the French national health insurance database. Individuals were followed up from vaccination day to 30 June 2022, nursing home admission or death date. Baseline socio-demographic and health characteristics were identified from medical records over the 5 previous years. Hospitalizations due to influenza and other causes were recorded from 14 days after vaccination to end of follow-up. HD-QIV and SD-QIV vaccinees were matched using 1:4 propensity score matching with an exact constraint on age group, sex, week of vaccination and region. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) were estimated using zero-inflated Poisson or zero-inflated negative binomial regression models. <b>Results:</b> We matched 405,385 (99.9%) HD-QIV to 1,621,540 SD-QIV vaccinees. HD-QIV was associated with a 23.3% (95%CI: 8.4–35.8) lower rate of influenza hospitalizations compared to SD-QIV. Post-matching, we observed higher rates in the HD-QIV group for hospitalizations non-specific to influenza and for negative control outcomes, suggesting residual confounding by indication. <b>Conclusions:</b> HD-QIV was associated with lower influenza-related hospitalization rates versus SD-QIV, consistent with existing evidence, in the context of high SARS-CoV-2 circulation in France and likely prioritization of HD-QIV for older/more comorbid individuals.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.15.23291345v1" target="_blank">The relative effectiveness of a high-dose quadrivalent influenza vaccine vs standard-dose quadrivalent influenza vaccines in older adults in France: a retrospective cohort study during the 2021-22 influenza season</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Tracking SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in rural communities using blood-fed mosquitoes</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The spread of SARS-CoV-2 cannot be well monitored and understood in areas without capacity for effective disease surveillance. Countries with a young population will have disproportionately large numbers of asymptomatic or pauci-symptomatic infections, further hindering detection of infection in the population. Sero-surveillance on a country-wide scale by trained medical professionals may be limited in scope in resource limited setting such as Mali. Novel ways of broadly sampling the human population in a non-invasive method would allow for large-scale surveillance at a reduced cost. Here we evaluate the collection of naturally bloodfed mosquitoes to test for human anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the laboratory and at five field locations in Mali. Immunoglobulin-G antibodies were found to be readily detectable within the mosquito bloodmeals by a bead-based immunoassay at least through 10 hours post-feeding with high sensitivity (0.900 STD=0.059) and specificity (0.924 STD=0.080), respectively, indicating that most blood-fed mosquitoes collected indoors during early morning hours (and thus, have likely fed the previous night) are viable samples for analysis. We find that reactivity to four SARS-CoV-2 antigens rose during the pandemic from pre-pandemic levels. Consistent with other sero-surveillance studies in Mali, crude seropositivity of blood sampled via mosquitoes was 6.3% in October/November 2020 over all sites, and increased to 25.1% overall, with the town closest to Bamako reaching 46.7% in February of 2021. Mosquito bloodmeals a viable target for conventional immunoassays, and therefore country-wide sero-surveillance of human diseases (both vector-borne and non-vector-borne) is attainable in areas where human-biting mosquitoes are common, and is an informative, cost-effective, non-invasive sampling option.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.13.23291267v1" target="_blank">Tracking SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in rural communities using blood-fed mosquitoes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>(PREPRINT PAPER) A Moderated Mediation Model of Self-Construal, Social Trust, and Compliance on Covid-19 Public Health Regulation: A Cross-country Analysis</strong> -
<div>
To address the global Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world require on the collective cooperation of their citizens to comply with public health regulation. Earlier studies examined the extent to which self-construal has an impact on individual compliance to law. However, existing literature has paid little significant attention to behavioural outcome of self-construal in the pandemic context across countries and cultures. The aim of this study was; 1) to determine whether interdependent self-construal predicts compliance of Covid-19 public health regulation, 2) to examine if the association was mediated by individual social trust, and 3) to test whether these associations were moderated by respondent’s country of residence (US x Indonesia). General adult respondents from US (N=231) and Indonesia (N=440) were voluntary participated in a survey measuring their trust to the government, interdependent self-construal orientation and compliance toward Covid-19 public health regulation. While our moderated mediation model involving respondent’s country residence did not support the hypothesis, the mediation analysis demonstrated significant association between interdependent self-construal and compliance via social trust. Our additional simple moderation analysis on direct effect of interdependent self-construal and compliance showed significant findings. Further, theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed in the following paper.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/hjz6n/" target="_blank">(PREPRINT PAPER) A Moderated Mediation Model of Self-Construal, Social Trust, and Compliance on Covid-19 Public Health Regulation: A Cross-country Analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>M3NetFlow: a novel multi-scale multi-hop modular graph AI model for multi-omics data integration and signaling network inference</strong> -
<div>
The integration and interpretation of multi-omics data play a crucial role in systems biology for prioritizing key molecular targets and deciphering core signaling pathways of complex diseases, such as cancer, covid-19 and Alzheimer's disease. However, it remains a challenge that has not been adequately addressed. Graph neural networks (GNN) have been emerged as powerful artificial intelligence models for analyzing data with a graphical structure. Nevertheless, GNN models have not been sufficiently designed for integrative and interpretable analysis of multi-omics data. In this study, we propose a novel multi-scale multi-hop modular GNN model, M3NetFlow, to integrate and interpret multi-omics data to rank key targets and infer core signaling pathways. Specifically, we applied the M3NetFlow model to infer cell-line specific core signaling networks explaining drug combination response. The evaluation and comparison results on drug combination prediction showed that the M3NetFlow model achieved significantly higher prediction accuracy than existing GNN models. Furthermore, M3NetFlow can predict key targets and infer essential signaling networks regulating drug combination response. It is critical for investigating mechanisms of synergy, and guiding the development of personalized precision medicine for patients with drug resistance. This model can be applied to general multi-omics data-driven research.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.15.545130v1" target="_blank">M3NetFlow: a novel multi-scale multi-hop modular graph AI model for multi-omics data integration and signaling network inference</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>Community-engaged Optimization of COVID-19 Rapid Evaluation And TEsting Experiences</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   COVID-19 Pandemic<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: COVID-19 walk-up, on-site testing strategy;   Behavioral: Community Health Worker (CHW) leading testing navigation and general preventive care reminders;   Behavioral: No-cost self-testing kit vending machines<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of California, San Diego;   San Ysidro Health Center<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>Influence of Manual Diaphragm Release on Pulmonary Functions in Women With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: manual therapy;   Other: breathing exercise and prone position alone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Completed</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>Safety Study of COVID19 Vaccine on the Market</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Recombinant new coronavirus vaccine (CHO cell)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co., Ltd.;   Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention;   Guizhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention;   Hainan Center for Disease Control &amp; Prevention<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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm F (Montelukast)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Placebo;   Drug: Montelukast<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm B (Fluvoxamine)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Fluvoxamine;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<br/><b>Completed</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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm D (Ivermectin 600)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<br/><b>Completed</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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm E (Fluvoxamine 100)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Fluvoxamine;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<br/><b>Completed</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 Evaluating SHEN26 Capsule in Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: SHEN26 capsule;   Drug: SHEN26 placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Shenzhen Kexing Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.<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>Pycnogenol® in Post-COVID-19 Condition</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post COVID-19 Condition;   Long COVID<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Pycnogenol®;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Zurich<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>Efficacy of Bailing Capsule on Pulmonary Fibrosis After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Pulmonary Fibrosis;   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Bailing capsule<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University<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>Evaluating Emetine for Viral Outbreaks (EVOLVE)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Emetine Hydrochloride;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Johns Hopkins University;   Nepal Health Research Council;   Bharatpur Hospital Chitwan;   Stony Brook University;   Rutgers University<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>A Study to Investigate the Safety, Immunogenicity of a Bivalent mRNA Vaccine RQ3025 as a Booster Dose in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: RQ3013;   Biological: RQ3025<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan University;   Yunnan University;   Kunming Medical 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>A Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) Transfusion to Prevent COVID-19 in Adult Recipients Following Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: COVID Convalescent Plasma<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Institute of Hematology &amp; Blood Diseases Hospital<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>Cupping Therapy on Immune System in Post Covid -19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid-19 Patients<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Combination Product: Cupping therapy with convential medical treatment;   Drug: Convential medical treatment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Completed</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>To Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of Sequential Booster Immunization of Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine (CHO Cells) for SARS-CoV-2</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Recombinant Novel Coronavirus vaccine (CHO Cells)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Completed</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>2’,3’ cyclic-nucleotide 3’-phosphodiesterase (CNP) inhibits SARS-CoV-2 virion assembly by blocking infection-induced mitochondria depolarization</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 6.5 million lives worldwide and continues to have lasting impacts on the world’s healthcare and economic systems. Several approved and emergency authorized therapeutics that inhibit early stages of the virus replication cycle have been developed however, effective late-stage therapeutical targets have yet to be identified. To that end, our lab identified 2’,3’ cyclic-nucleotide 3’-phosphodiesterase (CNP) as a late-stage inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 replication….</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>An evolutionarily conserved strategy for ribosome binding and inhibition by β-coronavirus non-structural protein 1</strong> - An important pathogenicity factor of SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses is Nsp1, which suppresses host gene expression and stunts antiviral signaling. SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1 binds the ribosome to inhibit translation through mRNA displacement and induces degradation of host mRNAs through an unknown mechanism. Here we show that Nsp1-dependent host shutoff is conserved in diverse coronaviruses, but only Nsp1 from β-CoV inhibits translation through ribosome binding. The C-terminal domain of all β-CoV…</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>Green and rapid and instrumental one-pot method for the synthesis of imidazolines having potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 main protease activity</strong> - The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for ongoing epidemics in humans and some other mammals and has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. In this project, several small non-peptide molecules were synthesized to inhibit the major proteinase (M^(pro)) of SARS-CoV-2 using rational strategies of drug design and medicinal chemistry. M^(pro) is a key enzyme of coronaviruses and plays an essential role in mediating viral replication…</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>Pharmacokinetic analysis of vilobelimab, anaphylatoxin C5a and antidrug antibodies in PANAMO: a phase 3 study in critically ill,  invasively mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: This analysis shows that vilobelimab efficiently inhibits C5a in critically ill COVID-19 patients. There was no evidence of immunogenicity associated with vilobelimab treatment. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04333420. Registered 3 April 2020, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04333420.</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>Covalent-reversible peptide-based protease inhibitors. Design, synthesis, and clinical success stories</strong> - Dysregulated human peptidases are implicated in a large variety of diseases such as cancer, hypertension, and neurodegeneration. Viral proteases for their part are crucial for the pathogens’ maturation and assembly. Several decades of research were devoted to exploring these precious therapeutic targets, often addressing them with synthetic substrate-based inhibitors to elucidate their biological roles and develop medications. The rational design of peptide-based inhibitors offered a rapid…</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>Hybrid immunity in older adults is associated with reduced SARS-CoV-2 infections following BNT162b2 COVID-19 immunisation</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Hybrid immunity in older adults was associated with considerably higher antibody titres, neutralisation and inhibition capacity. Instances of high anti-RBD titre with lower inhibition suggests antibody quantity and quality as independent potential correlates of protection, highlighting added value of measuring inhibition over antibody titre alone to inform vaccine strategy.</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>Multivalent bicyclic peptides are an effective antiviral modality that can potently inhibit SARS-CoV-2</strong> - COVID-19 has stimulated the rapid development of new antibody and small molecule therapeutics to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here we describe a third antiviral modality that combines the drug-like advantages of both. Bicycles are entropically constrained peptides stabilized by a central chemical scaffold into a bi-cyclic structure. Rapid screening of diverse bacteriophage libraries against SARS-CoV-2 Spike yielded unique Bicycle binders across the entire protein. Exploiting Bicycles’ inherent…</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>Tocilizumab for the treatment of COVID-19</strong> - INTRODUCTION: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the repurposing of medicines has been pursued to find interventions effective in preventing fatal outcome of the disease. One of these drugs was tocilizumab, an interleukin-6 inhibiting monoclonal antibody, previously used to treat several immune-related disorders.</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>Preventative and therapeutic potential of animal milk components against COVID-19: A comprehensive review</strong> - The global pandemic of COVID-19 is considered one of the most catastrophic events on earth. During the pandemic, food ingredients may play crucial roles in preventing infectious diseases and sustaining people’s general health and well-being. Animal milk acts as a super food since it has the capacity to minimize the occurrence of viral infections due to inherent antiviral properties of its ingredients. SARS-CoV-2 virus infection can be prevented by immune-enhancing and antiviral properties of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 PCR: frequency of internal control inhibition in clinical practice</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a low percentage of inhibition using RNase P as an internal control in COVID-19 PCRs using the CDC protocol, thus proving the effectiveness of this protocol for identification of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples. Re-extraction was efficacious for samples that showed little or no fluorescence for the RNase P gene.</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>A suitable drug structure for interaction with SARS-CoV-2 main protease between boceprevir, masitinib and rupintrivir; a molecular dynamics study</strong> - In recent years, more than 200 countries of the world have faced a health crisis due to the epidemiological disease of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It had a huge impact on the world economy and the global health sector. Researchers are studying the design and discovery of drugs that can inhibit SARS-CoV-2. The main protease of SARS-CoV-2 is an attractive target for the study of antiviral drugs against coronavirus diseases. According to the docking results, binding energy for…</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>Combining virtual screening with cis-/trans-cleavage enzymatic assays effectively reveals broad-spectrum inhibitors that target the main proteases of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV</strong> - The main protease (M^(pro)) of SARS-CoV-2 is essential for viral replication, which suggests that the M^(pro) is a critical target in the development of small molecules to treat COVID-19. This study used an in-silico prediction approach to investigate the complex structure of SARS-CoV-2 M^(pro) in compounds from the United States National Cancer Institute (NCI) database, then validate potential inhibitory compounds against the SARS-CoV-2 M^(pro) in cis- and trans-cleavage proteolytic assays….</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>Structure-Based Drug Design of RdRp Inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a worldwide pandemic since 2019, spreading rapidly and posing a significant threat to human health and life. With over 6 billion confirmed cases of the virus, the need for effective therapeutic drugs has become more urgent than ever before. RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is crucial in viral replication and transcription, catalysing viral RNA synthesis and serving as a promising therapeutic target for developing…</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>An allosteric inhibitor of sirtuin 2 deacetylase activity exhibits broad-spectrum antiviral activity</strong> - Most drugs used to treat viral disease target a virus-coded product. They inhibit a single virus or virus family, and the pathogen can readily evolve resistance. Host-targeted antivirals can overcome these limitations. The broad-spectrum activity achieved by host targeting can be especially useful in combating emerging viruses and for treatment of diseases caused by multiple viral pathogens, such as opportunistic agents in immunosuppressed patients. We have developed a family of compounds that…</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>Recent advances in RNA sample preparation techniques for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva and gargle</strong> - Molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 in gargle and saliva complements the standard analysis of nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) specimens. Although gargle and saliva specimens can be readily obtained non-invasively, appropriate collection and processing of gargle and saliva specimens are critical to the accuracy and sensitivity of the overall analytical method. This review highlights challenges and recent advances in the treatment of gargle and saliva samples for subsequent analysis using reverse…</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>“I Am the Only One”: Trump’s Messianic 2024 Message</strong> - Under threat of prison, the master of fear and anger takes another dark political turn. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/i-am-the-only-one-trumps-messianic-2024-message">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine’s Counter-Offensive, and What Comes After</strong> - Zelensky has mounted a major effort to take back territory seized by the Russians. But he’ll have to do more than prevail on the battlefield. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/ukraines-counter-offensive-and-what-comes-after">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is Donald Trump Scared?</strong> - At the former President’s arraignment in Miami on Tuesday, it was impossible to say whether his fate was more likely to be a return to the White House—or prison. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/is-donald-trump-scared">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Isn’t Joe Biden Getting More Credit for a Big Drop in Inflation?</strong> - Throughout the past year, the rate at which prices are rising has fallen dramatically, but public perceptions are lagging, perhaps because many prices are still a lot higher than they were in 2020. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-isnt-joe-biden-getting-more-credit-for-a-big-drop-in-inflation">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Can Joe Biden Do About Benjamin Netanyahu?</strong> - The President is clearly displeased by the Prime Minister’s anti-democratic turn but seems wary of testing his influence. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-can-joe-biden-do-about-benjamin-netanyahu">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>What you should know about buying a used EV</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A 2019 pre-owned Nissan Leaf SV at a dealership in Massachusetts." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ni2RiQJq1XIMVsECyVYdGUS_e_c=/677x0:6168x4118/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72382412/GettyImages_1241982253.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
Used electric cars are poised to become a huge market. | Pat Greenhouse/Boston Globe via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The first electric car for most people will be a used one.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CIj6Ik">
Did you know that since January of this year, thanks to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/28/23281757/whats-in-climate-bill-inflation-reduction-act">Inflation Reduction Act</a>, you can get up to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/used-clean-vehicle-credit">$4,000 back on your federal taxes</a> if you buy a used electric car? And depending on where you live, <a href="https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/electric-vehicle-rebates-by-state/">your state</a> will also knock thousands of dollars off the sticker price? And if you’re really lucky, your power utility might offer up to a <a href="https://www.alamedamp.com/407/Rebates-and-Incentives">$6,000 rebate</a> as well?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aJoOtY">
With the <a href="https://www.kbb.com/car-news/despite-soaring-prices-americans-bought-record-number-of-used-cars-in-2021/">supply chain shocks</a> of the Covid-19 pandemic wearing off and a fresh buffet of juicy enticements, a used EV right now can be one of the best bargains on the road, especially if you can pay cash. That is, if you can get your hands on one, and if your dealer knows about all the perks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6GmaNy">
“Overall, used EVs can actually be a pretty good deal for consumers because someone else has already taken the biggest hit on the depreciation of that vehicle,” said <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/about-us/our-people/our-experts/chris-harto/index.htm">Chris Harto</a>, a senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports. “But they still deliver the same fuel savings and can maybe even often offer greater maintenance and repair savings over time compared to a used gasoline vehicle.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rlIgeX">
As some buyers have learned, however, sellers don’t always know about all the sweeteners available.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W20v4K">
“The Hyundai dealership knew next to nothing about the car,” said Jeremy Conrad, who bought a 2019 Hyundai Ioniq plug-in hybrid car earlier this year in Pennsylvania. “They didn’t even know if there was a tax credit. I had to show them the list of <a href="https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/manufacturers-and-models-of-qualified-used-clean-vehicles">eligible used cars</a> on the government’s website, and even then they said to check with whoever does my taxes to ask about the tax credit.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MZLZfU">
Joseph Wall ran into the same problem buying a used Chevrolet Bolt in North Carolina. “My local CarMax had no idea about the used EV tax credit,” he said. “I had to talk to the business manager who asked corporate and got informed on it that way.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An orange Bolt EV all-electric car at a Chevrolet dealership in Fremont, California." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rx1P2Kf4qyW2rVG-UUzLccVR5hg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24731427/GettyImages_1408790133.jpeg"/> <cite>Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Some EV buyers have had a hard time availing themselves of tax breaks.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PHxcBr">
Confusion around tax credits is just one of several speed bumps ahead of buying used EVs, even as new electric car sales are accelerating. About <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/evs-made-up-10-of-all-new-cars-sold-last-year-11673818385">one in 10 new cars</a> sold last year around the world was electric. But to truly graduate from a luxury bauble to a reliable workhorse and to shift light-duty vehicles off of fossil fuels, electrics have to take over the used car market.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tf8wku">
This transition is also critical for the US strategy to limit climate change: Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, and light-duty vehicles comprise 57 percent of this sector’s carbon dioxide output. The average car stays on the road for 12 years, so for EVs to win the race to decarbonization, they need to outrun the existing fleet on cost and performance.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lxNlzO">
However, even as carmakers are offering more electrics in their lineups, they’re also making them bigger and more expensive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ci6u3s">
The average new electric car <a href="https://electrek.co/2022/07/25/average-electric-car-price-hit-66000-us-whole-story/">cost $66,000 last year</a>, compared to the overall average new car at $48,000. Some EVs are now so pricey that they don’t qualify for tax credits. The <a href="https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/credits-for-new-clean-vehicles-purchased-in-2023-or-after">IRS set a price cap</a> of $80,000 for new electric vans, trucks, and SUVs and a $55,000 limit for all other vehicles. For used electrics, the ceiling is $25,000.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DWG2Fs">
And many new car buyers don’t need the help. <a href="https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-percent-of-us-car-sales-are-electric">According to J.D. Power</a>, two-thirds of plug-in hybrid and battery EV owners earn more than $100,000.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9y1vf9">
The key to starting the engine of electrification and revving up EV market share is to help people buy more used EVs. Americans purchase roughly <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/06/2022-us-auto-sales-are-worst-in-more-than-a-decade-.html">17 million new cars</a> each year and <a href="https://www.kbb.com/car-news/despite-soaring-prices-americans-bought-record-number-of-used-cars-in-2021/">40 million used cars</a>. The used EV market poised to become massive too, as new cars diffuse into secondhand car lots.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VycoEv">
“Even expensive new cars become affordable used cars,” Harto said. “It’s just a matter of time.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aAXKrX">
Right now, though, used EVs currently make up a tiny fraction of total car sales. Of the 250 million light-duty vehicles on the road in the US — cars, minivans, SUVs, and light trucks — only around <a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AUTOS-ELECTRIC/USA/mopanyqxwva/">1 percent is electric</a>. The majority of EVs are still in the driveways of their first owners. Drivers bought more than <a href="https://www.coxautoinc.com/news/rapid-growth-sales-of-used-electric-vehicles-increase-by-32-in-q1-according-to-cox-automotive-estimates/">42,000 used EVs</a> at dealerships last year, but most <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/23713040/ev-car-dealer-dealership-electric-sales-gm-ford-tesla-rivian">car dealers don’t have any electric offerings</a> on their lots, new or used.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="klKqJQ">
So if you’re in the market for a pre-owned electric car, it can be tricky to find one, to take advantage of the tax breaks, and to figure out whether the car is reliable. But experts have some tips to make sure you’re getting the best deal, and there are strategies to make more EVs available on used car lots.
</p>
<h3 id="gKzy4M">
The used EV market is volatile, but it’s beginning to settle down
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CMbslE">
While used EVs are a tiny market right now, they aren’t new. The Tesla Model S is now in its 11th year of production and its earliest generations are in the hands of second or third owners.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F3kafR">
However, the electric car market has gone through some wild swings. During the Covid-19 pandemic, some buyers actually managed to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/secondhand-new-evs-price-rise/">sell used EVs for more</a> than the new sticker price. But prices have <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/news/used-car-prices-are-falling-again-for-now">begun to fall</a> over the past few months, including for <a href="https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1139159_tesla-model-3-leads-a-nosedive-in-used-ev-prices">popular electrics</a> like the Tesla Model 3, the Toyota Prius Prime, the Hyundai Ioniq, and the Nissan Leaf. With interest rates rising, however, it’s now more costly to get a loan to buy a car, new or used, so cash buyers have an advantage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rkqN0a">
Another concern is how EVs fare in the real world over a long time. In terms of reliability, used EVs have a big advantage over internal combustion engines because they have fewer mechanical parts. There’s less that can go wrong, reducing the rising upkeep costs often associated with older cars.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gMLngU">
The big, unique maintenance worry with EVs and plug-in hybrids is the battery. Although they’re increasingly sophisticated, EV batteries, like all batteries, lose capacity over time and can wear out faster with extensive fast-charging. That, in turn, can eat into the overall range of the car. Replacing the battery can cost <a href="https://www.currentautomotive.com/how-much-does-a-tesla-model-3-battery-replacement-cost/">half the sticker price of an EV — if not more</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YWhUpl">
Battery range worries can dissuade some buyers, but aside from a <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/9/23546461/bmw-recall-ix-i4-i7-ev-battery-software-power-loss">few</a> <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/national-highway-traffic-safety-investigation-vehicle-batteries-recalls/">high-profile</a> <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/biggest-ev-recalls">recalls</a>, most EV batteries have proven quite durable.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vCpn4f">
<a href="https://www.recurrentauto.com/about">Recurrent</a>, a research firm that studies the performance of EVs, tracked the performance of more than 15,000 of these vehicles in the real world, looking at how their range changed over time as a proxy for battery health.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Electric vehicles charging in a parking lot in Sweden." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/axSLTLVoJiOHm37qqTgSiU51G2w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24731457/GettyImages_1253939197.jpeg"/> <cite>Sergei Gapon/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
EV batteries typically retain most of their capacity after a few years of use.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vn9Ydj">
“We’ve been really surprised to see how well most batteries are holding up,” said Liz Najman, lead researcher at Recurrent. “Most cars still have 85 to 90 percent of their original battery capacity.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bKoK1a">
Battery replacements actually tend to be pretty rare. At the same time, many manufacturers offer far more generous warranties for electric components than they do for combustion systems. Ford, for instance, offers a warranty for <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/car-warranty/ford-warranty/">five years or 60,000 miles</a> on conventional drivetrains but raises it to eight years or 100,000 miles for electric drives. Chevrolet also offers an <a href="https://www.chevrolet.com/certified-service/ev-maintenance">eight-year or 100,000-mile warranty</a> on EV battery components. Tesla’s battery warranty starts at <a href="https://www.tesla.com/support/vehicle-warranty">100,000 miles or eight years</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tTmJw9">
These warranties are usually transferable when the vehicle is resold. That can offer buyers some peace of mind. “To be as covered as possible in a used car, I targeted the Bolt EV specifically because it would get a new eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty with the battery replacement,” said Wall.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sLrTK2">
But many other drivers are still anxious about battery performance over time, according to Najman. “I don’t think there’s a ton of awareness of how long these battery warranties are,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VJqLMX">
In fact, despite the more robust warranties, EVs tend to have lower resale values than conventional cars, according to <a href="https://www.kbb.com/author/brianmoody/">Brian Moody</a>, executive editor for Kelley Blue Book. After 36 months, an electric car retains about 63 percent of its value, compared to 66 percent for an internal combustion engine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y5sDDV">
“But when you go out to five years, an internal combustion engine car would retain 46 percent of its value, while the electric car would only retain 37 percent of its value,” Moody said. For most EVs, that’s well within manufacturers’ warranties.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="netAIa">
It’s not clear why there’s such a big gap. One factor could be that used car buyers at lower incomes are also <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/08/electric-vehicle-charging-stations-equity">less likely to have chargers at home</a>, meaning they would have to rely on the fledgling public charging system. In many areas, these chargers can be sparse and unreliable.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lnsHUo">
That’s one reason why plug-in hybrids are in such demand among used car buyers, even as manufacturers are moving away from them. That includes Conrad, who bought a plug-in Ioniq. “I regularly drive 180 to 200 mile round trips on the weekend, and I worried that especially in the winter an older EV might not make the trip. And there aren’t many public charging stations in central Pennsylvania,” Conrad said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="msq36i">
Over time, though, Kelley Blue Book’s Moody expects that electric vehicles will close the gap in resale values. Potential used EV buyers should look for cars and trucks that are lightly used, under warranty, and ideally certified pre-owned from a nearby dealer. The odometer reading isn’t as important as how the battery has been treated, since frequent fast-charging and extreme weather conditions tend to cause more wear than topping up slowly in a garage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CgJrrl">
“It’s not exactly about the miles only,” Moody said. “It’s about how the battery is charged and cared for up until that point.”
</p>
<h3 id="oOPOd8">
How to take advantage of tax breaks for used EVs
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="06KMFQ">
Tax breaks and discounts can help close the equity gap for cleaner cars and direct the benefits to where they’re needed the most. For instance, EVs lead to <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/23583500/ev-electric-car-california-air-pollution-asthma-health">near-term air quality improvements</a>. That’s a huge upside for low-income people, especially if they live in areas that already suffer higher pollution.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p20rKm">
“The incentives for used vehicles are more important because that’s where more moderate-income and lower-income households enter the vehicle markets,” said <a href="https://its.ucdavis.edu/people/scott-hardman/">Scott Hardman</a>, a researcher at the Plug-in Hybrid &amp; Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis. “They will need help making this jump.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PnKsWM">
The trouble is that many dealers don’t know what’s out there, and the incentives change depending on your state, your income level, and your vehicle.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8qsn4R">
The process proved so frustrating for Jonathan Seiden that he put together his own <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZLwd0Nm31RacfXLBE9zXwwUO_Zk4TliJuyLuW108vhI/edit">guide for used EV tax credits</a>. He even created a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pel0MRPTNFllQeZKE-XB3kPsL5ZRzeIa/edit">template form for dealers</a> to send to the IRS because he couldn’t find an official one from the government.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A visitor uses a touchscreen panel showing a Hyundai Motor Company Ioniq hybrid sedan at a company dealership in the Gangnam district of Seoul, South Korea." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IZc18Z_E_MtUYb3zXdWh8Q8AIYA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24731434/GettyImages_506771422.jpeg"/> <cite>SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Plug-in hybrids like the Hyundai Ioniq have proved popular with used EV buyers.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jb1zsj">
“I was kind of shocked that no one had ever heard of it. Everyone was just saying ‘oh, you’re wrong, it’s only for new vehicles, it’s only for vehicles assembled in North America,’” said Seiden, who ended up buying a used Hyundai Ioniq in Virginia. “That caused me to kind of go down the rabbit hole of the IRS documentation around it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VsHgfz">
To see if you’re eligible for a federal used EV tax credit, check the IRS’s <a href="https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/used-clean-vehicle-credit">list of qualifications</a> and its list of <a href="https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/manufacturers-and-models-of-qualified-used-clean-vehicles">eligible car models</a>. The tax credit of up to $4,000 only applies to used EVs and plug-in hybrids that cost less than $25,000. Only joint filers making less than $150,000 or individuals making less than $75,000 can avail it. Since it’s a tax credit, if your tax bill is less than $4,000, you don’t get the full amount. And be sure to file <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8936">Form 8936</a> with your returns.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rXo27H">
Next, check to see what state-level incentives are available and see if your power provider offers any discounts as well. <a href="https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/electric-vehicle-rebates-by-state/">Kelley Blue Book</a> has a helpful list of what’s out there.
</p>
<h3 id="kq9tw9">
The complicated economics of getting more EVs on the road
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6D6Joh">
EV prices are coming down for buyers, but that’s just a first step. Beyond lowering the sticker price for buyers, Hardman suggested it might be worth making subsidies more readily available for EV leases. Incentives tend to be a bigger factor for people who lease cars than those who buy them, and leased cars are typically held for three years before being resold. “That is quite a good way to increase the supply of used vehicles,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5pUOFP">
Another hurdle to clear is <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/23713040/ev-car-dealer-dealership-electric-sales-gm-ford-tesla-rivian">car dealers</a>. According to the Sierra Club, of the dealers they surveyed that didn’t sell any electrics last year, 45 percent said that they wouldn’t sell one even if they had the opportunity to do so. That’s due in part to the fact that dealers can generate up to half of their revenue with repairs and maintenance, something EVs don’t need as much. Many manufacturers also want dealerships to make expensive upgrades like installing fast chargers and training mechanics to work on EVs before they will give dealers a crack at selling electrics.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f5KtP1">
That means the car-buying process needs to change. Manufacturers like Ford will let you search for dealers that are <a href="https://www.ford.com/dealerships/">EV certified</a> on their website and see their inventory online. All-electric companies like Tesla, Lucid, Rivian, and Polestar are trying to bypass dealers altogether and sell directly to customers, but some states still have laws that prevent direct-to-consumer purchases. Getting rid of these barriers could help these companies lower costs and reach more customers.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A pedestrian walks past a Tesla showroom displaying a Tesla Model 3 with its gull-wing doors open." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nVjDiQb6Q-072BZ58WfT7yyS5qU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24731422/GettyImages_1181128642.jpeg"/> <cite>Soeren Stache/Picture Alliance via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Tesla famously sells its cars directly to customers rather than through dealerships.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Worl5l">
It’s worth stepping back to remember why there’s such an interest in deploying electric cars and trucks to begin with: They’re a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. But they’re not always the most effective way of achieving this goal.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8JH4Z0">
“Our policies are currently not well-suited to maximizing the environmental value,” said <a href="https://rapson.ucdavis.edu/">David Rapson</a>, a professor of economics at the University of California Davis who studies vehicle electrification.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F3iT2k">
Incentives for used EVs are a case in point. They’re effectively a second subsidy for a single car, making them one of the more costly ways to curb emissions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EfA6u5">
“Maybe we want to make EVs more affordable in the used market, but the trade-off is we’re getting fewer carbon savings per dollar of subsidy spent when we do that,” said Rapson, who is also a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. “An alternative policy that’s going to be much more effective from a carbon reduction perspective is putting a price on carbon.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wThC06">
Another tactic is to reduce the need to drive altogether. Better public transit and smaller electric vehicles like bicycles could yield more bang for the buck than EV subsidies. Electrifying government fleets like school buses and <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23518852/postal-service-electric-mail-truck-usps-ngdv-dejoy">postal trucks</a> can achieve higher economies of scale than private cars.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tugChq">
Still, the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/commute-america-sustainability-cars/">majority of Americans drive to work</a> every day and until there’s an alternative, there will be a massive market for EVs. The question is when electric cars will cross the tipping point where they’re cheap and abundant, with plenty of places to charge up and no more subsidies are required, creating a cycle that will ripple through the whole auto sector. So when EVs do finally take over the road, most drivers will be the second owner of their first electric car.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Why every generation thinks people were nicer in the past</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Five children in a line with their arms over each others’ shoulders." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/D96UKoD7mrz54u_eMTbtJrVZ_es=/289x0:4836x3410/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72382372/GettyImages_503848161.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
The kids are all right. | Getty Images/Tetra images RF
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Reports that we’re becoming crappier humans over time are greatly exaggerated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hfEiZ1">
Pretty much every generation seems to believe that morality is declining. In ancient Judaism, the rabbis had a saying: “The earlier generations are to the current generation as men are to donkeys.” The Victorians imagined that people living before the Industrial Revolution were more respectful, civil, and honest. After World War I, Europeans looked back to the Victorians as paragons of moral superiority.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p1MmxU">
And in this century, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2002/12/04/what-the-world-thinks-in-2002/">surveys</a> have shown that people in at least 60 countries around the globe believe that morality is declining.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="15oQlZ">
But that idea is just an illusion, according to a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06137-x">new paper</a> published in <em>Nature</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gqw8xk">
Its lead author, the psychologist Adam Mastroianni, says the paper was born out of his own emotional reaction to constantly hearing people grumble about how humanity is going downhill — “Back in the day, you could leave your door unlocked at night,” “Used to be you could trust someone’s word,” “Kids these days!” — without any real evidence for thinking that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SwTCV6">
“I had a lifetime of spite build-up!” he told me, laughing. But, more seriously, he added, “If people are less kind than they used to be, that’s a disaster. Interpersonal morality is the glue that holds our society together; lose that glue and it all falls apart. If that’s really going on, then that’s the story of the century and social scientists should be trying to get to the bottom of it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RQNqh7">
So together with Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert, Mastroianni decided to find out: Has morality actually declined? And if it hasn’t, why do people think it has?
</p>
<h3 id="HR7Cme">
Nope, morality hasn’t declined
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fc4iQk">
For starters, we should clarify that “morality” means different things to different people.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t6y5hW">
Mastroianni and Gilbert are not using it to refer to sweeping changes, like the abolition of slavery or the granting of rights to women and LGBTQ people. (By that standard, there’s no doubt most societies, including the US, have improved morally.) They’re using the word to mean something like everyday kindness, honesty, and basic human decency.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g68q9F">
That tracks with the definition used in the many, many surveys covering this topic since 1949. In US surveys alone, Mastroianni and Gilbert found 177 questions asking a total of 220,772 Americans things like: “Do you think that over the last few decades our society has become less honest and ethical in its behavior, more honest and ethical, or has there been no change?” On 84 percent of the questions, a majority of participants said morality had declined.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2SugEw">
This isn’t an American exception. In dozens of other nations, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2002/12/04/what-the-world-thinks-in-2002/">surveys</a> have found similar results. So, people all over the world believe that humanity is becoming less kind and ethical over time. And as Mastroianni and Gilbert discovered by running their own surveys, it’s not just old people or conservatives who believe this. Liberals believe it, as do young people, who don’t even have first-hand memories of how people used to be.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eWiihZ">
When Mastroianni and Gilbert asked respondents what was causing the supposed moral decline, they didn’t attribute it all to “kids these days!” It’s not just that old nice people are dying and being replaced by young selfish people — it’s also that humans in general are becoming less nice in everyday interactions, they said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="140UNK">
But is that true?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7gY4B1">
The answer, as best we can tell, is no.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WJHTKi">
There’s no measuring device, like a thermometer for morality, that we can use to objectively determine shifting levels of morality over the centuries. So Mastroianni and Gilbert pored over the next best thing: decades’ worth of surveys. If morality had been declining for years, as respondents in every generation claim, then meaningful changes over time should be visible in people’s answers to questions like, “Were you treated with respect all day yesterday?” and, “Are people generally helpful, or are they looking out for themselves?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b2VMef">
But the researchers found no significant changes. Not in the US surveys, and not in the surveys of other countries, either.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Chart of moral satisfaction over time" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/RTZjMsG_mj6PipStmzUj3L2HpXs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24730349/1.png"/> <cite>Courtesy Adam Mastroianni</cite>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Chart of moral satisfaction over time" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/psHGChk31WBZLUTKuGv_5C8OV5M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24730352/3.png"/> <cite>Courtesy of Adam Mastroianni</cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4vTNSa">
We also have a lot of data from economists, who for decades have been bringing people into the lab to participate in the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/prisoner-dilemma/">Prisoner’s Dilemma</a> or the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/public-goods/#PublGoodGame">Public Goods Game</a>, where you can make a generous choice or a greedy choice, like giving some money away or keeping it for yourself.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oIItVn">
In 2022, a separate research team published <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giuliana-Spadaro/publication/362089532_Did_cooperation_among_strangers_decline_in_the_United_States_A_cross-temporal_meta-analysis_of_social_dilemmas_1956-2017/links/62ffb9c1aa4b1206fac1a09a/Did-Cooperation-Among-Strangers-Decline-in-the-United-States-A-Cross-Temporal-Meta-Analysis-of-Social-Dilemmas-1956-2017.pdf">a meta-analysis of over 500 of these social dilemmas</a>, going back to 1956. They suspected they’d find that cooperation rates had declined, with people becoming greedier over time. Instead, they found that cooperation rates have increased by about 10 percentage points over the past six decades.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q9Lnxp">
Mastroianni acknowledges that these lab games take place in an artificial environment and they may not perfectly reflect how people act in the real world. Still, he told me, “It’s certainly at odds with the idea that people are fundamentally less prosocial today than they were a generation ago.”
</p>
<h3 id="0Xwa8z">
Why people wrongly believe that humanity is becoming less moral
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5O8FoK">
Okay, so everyday morality isn’t really declining. Then why do people believe it is?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hxdZts">
​Mastroianni and Gilbert hypothesize that two well-known psychological phenomena are working together to produce the illusion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bCrHoR">
First is the biased exposure effect. We know from previous studies that humans pay <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23596969/bad-news-negativity-bias-media">more attention to negative information</a> than to positive information, and the media reinforces that tendency by focusing on bad news. (As the newsroom expression goes, “If it bleeds, it leads.”) Because we’re mostly exposed to negative data about society, we get the impression that moral behavior is at a low.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jtZlYz">
Second, we’ve got the biased memory effect. When people think of positive and negative events from the past, they’re more likely to forget the negative ones or misremember them in a positive light. The negative events are also more likely to lose their emotional potency over time. This could be partly why we have such a rosy view of morality in the past — we’ve quite literally forgotten the bad times.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xta25w">
Put these two biases together, and you can see how we might end up with the illusion of moral decline. The hypothesis also accurately predicts that both old and young people will perceive moral decline and that people will perceive more decline over longer spans of time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VA05lV">
So next time someone starts bemoaning “kids these days” — or, more importantly, next time you hear a politician claim, “Our country is garbage right now, but elect me and I’ll make our country great again!” — remember this. You’ll be ready with your comeback, and you’ll have the evidence to back it up.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The “edgy” sex at the center of HBO’s The Idol is the least interesting part</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A young woman sits at a stage dressing table mirror looking dazed while wearing a barely there costume." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0oiXR8k_dOJKVDVzwOMuTNk0_nI=/0x290:768x866/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72381878/lily_rose_depp_2.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
Lily-Rose Depp in HBO’s <em>The Idol.</em> | Eddy Chen/HBO
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The “edgy” sex at the center of The Idol is the least interesting part of the show.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mIVfSy">
There was a time before porn was widely available on the internet when horny teenage boys had to be resourceful. Stealing <em>Playboys</em> and <em>Penthouses</em> from older siblings; ruining their eyesight watching scrambled, discolored, wavy boobs on the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/90s/comments/jhs3st/the_spice_channel_no_one_had_it_but_we_all/">Spice Channel</a>; mentally cataloging which R-rated movies had nudity; staying up past midnight and tuning into Cinemax After Dark.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hHSdie">
Watching<em> The Idol</em>, which premiered on HBO this month, it’s easy to believe these virgin gremlins are exactly who created the hour-long drama.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E6htQJ">
Officially, Sam Levinson (<em>Euphoria</em>, <em>Malcolm &amp; Marie</em>), Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. the singer The Weeknd), and <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/reza-fahim-refugee-story">nightlife entrepreneur</a> Reza Fahim are behind this supposedly “prestige” drama about the jagged, gory bits of stardom. The show premiered two episodes at the <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/photos/2023/05/exclusive-the-idol-takes-cannes">Cannes Film Festival,</a> which added to its edgy reputation, while Tesfaye’s involvement invites a meta-narrative, as he himself is a pop star who <a href="https://variety.com/2021/music/news/the-weeknd-bandages-super-bowl-plastic-surgery-1234898743/">has visually and musically</a> tried to break and reinvent his image multiple times.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0nYsJm">
The three, however, have <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/review-thing-shocking-idol-shockingly-bad/story?id=99907096">been</a> <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/the-idol-is-all-smoke-and-mirrors">criticized</a> for not creating a show with something specific to say about idol worship or how simultaneously valuable and worthless fame can be, so much as a nipple-forward, soft-core porn series that thinks itself too serious to be called that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KmxjrF">
Given the handful of shallowly written episodes we’ve seen so far, <em>The Idol</em> is actually both shows at once. Underneath its desperate, pulsating, virgin horniness is a canny, bleak comedy about the nefarious people in a pop star’s orbit — the people whose talent is to manage, support, create, and make money off the actual talent. They’re vampires who walk in the Bel Air sun, horrendously greedy and relentlessly disappointed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tccBk9">
That’s a far better show, and one that, frustratingly,<em> The Idol</em> seems less interested in being.
</p>
<h3 id="98QpqG">
<em>The Idol</em> is <em>Phantom of the Opera</em>, but with more boobs
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lKR40O">
Even though she possesses a name that’s destined for an office job, the swarm of publicists and managers and Live Nation promoters who orbit Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) tell us that she is the brightest star in the music universe, even as she’s coming back to music after a mental breakdown and the death of her mother.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kCow5g">
Jocelyn’s team has orchestrated a sexy single called “<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7dnixpDdQlIOX1L7O0pdFM?si=4c7baa94214f481b">World Class Sinner</a>” that they hope, and Jocelyn hopes, will affirm the return of pop music’s bad-girl princess. Though she and her team both crave success, they have disparate views of what that looks like. Jocelyn wants to be an artist that resembles something closer to her true self. Her team wants Jocelyn to sell records. <strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RdBQZ2">
Being “bad” in pop music, of course, is very different from real-life villainy: It’s almost always expressed in sexual naughtiness. No one can really be that bad or that wild if they’re in the business of selling music to millions of consumers. Levinson and Tesfaye drive this home with Jocelyn’s painfully innocuous single (which Tesfaye co-wrote). “I’m a good girl gone bad,” Jocelyn purrs. “Get in the car, drive fast, get on the road, and take off my clothes.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bHcOUrIDBsYbZ3OQ1d6qZJdgoNo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24730375/abel_the_weeknd_tesfaye_lily_rose_depp.jpeg"/> <cite>Eddy Chen/HBO</cite>
<figcaption>
The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp in <em>The Idol</em>.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CAeN4V">
Even Jocelyn admits to the hollowness of her song. She wonders to her best friend-slash-personal assistant Leia (Rachel Sennott) if the whole thing is cheesy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="15vupm">
What Jocelyn wants is to be badder — badder than this song and what the people around her will tolerate. Jocelyn smokes cigarettes. Jocelyn has sex. Jocelyn takes nudes, one of which goes viral in the first episode. Jocelyn also seems to enjoy having her nipples out, facing the world. This isn’t brilliant writing but it is, alas, what we’re given.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SNXDBV">
Good girls would also never go to a club and have a one-night stand with a rat-tailed dude named Tedros (Tesfaye). But Jocelyn does. Jocelyn has never met a man like Tedros before because usually men with rat tails aren’t as confident, and, I guess, they usually aren’t as knowledgeable about music. The club owner even has a line about Prince’s pop music genius, which seems absolutely profound to Jocelyn (and exponentially less profound to anyone not Jocelyn).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xHMEpu">
The whole tale is a hornier version of the <em>Phantom of the Opera,</em> the Andrew Lloyd Webber spectacular about an ingénue<strong> </strong>named Christine who becomes a star singer under the tutelage of a guy who’s literally an underground producer. Lloyd Webber’s gothic extravaganza explores the idea of psychosexual obsession, perversion, and darkness as part of an artistic seduction. The Phantom wants Christine for himself, manipulating her with each visit — much to the ire of her high-society circle.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CWnDg3">
Tedros = Phantom. Jocelyn = Christine. <strong> </strong>But instead of teaching her how to become a better singer by crooning at her, Tedros introduces her to what Levinson and Tesfaye want you to believe is kinky sex. The illicitness of the sex Jocelyn is having with Tedros, according to the show’s logic, unlocks a better understanding of Jocelyn’s own identity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TeS9GQ">
In what’s been dubbed “<a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/the-idol-episode-2-sex-scene">the worst sex scene of all time,</a>” Tedros blindfolds Jocelyn and proceeds to bark commands at her — sentences peppered with phrases like “suffocate you with my cock.” This scene is scored with a swooning sax solo, ooo-ooo-ing up and down octaves. Meanwhile, Tedros’s acquaintance and acolyte (it’s hinted that Tedros is running a cult) Chloe (Suzanna Son) secretly watches and fondles herself.<strong> </strong>According to the closed captioning, “Jocelyn gagging” sounds are also woven in.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PTfrNs">
<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/the-weeknd-respond-rolling-stone-the-idol-1234736289/">Levinson and Tesfaye</a> have been adamant in the press surrounding <em>The Idol</em> that the show is purposely <a href="http://nytimes.com/2023/06/03/arts/television/the-idol-the-weeknd-sam-levinson-lily-rose-depp.html">edgy and controversial</a>, and is somehow pushing the boundaries of sex and nudity on TV. There’s even a moment in the first episode that makes an intimacy coordinator the butt of a joke.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZNv2ql">
In an interview about this specific sex scene, <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/the-weeknd-abel-tesfaye-the-idol-hbo-tedros-interview?utm_source=twitter&amp;mbid=social_twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_social-type=owned&amp;utm_brand=gq">Tesfaye slightly walked that notion back</a>, asserting that the sex scene was supposed to be cringey and purposely bad. It was supposed to cause discomfort, he claimed. Tesfaye’s about-face feels like a pivot in response to the critiques, waving away the failure to thrill as purposeful camp instead of an intentionally kinky sex scene. It feels neither kinky nor campy but rather like it was conceived by someone who’s only ever had awful sex.
</p>
<h3 id="dJul2P">
The most fascinating parts of the show have nothing to do with sex
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TE6dEe">
Tedros’s bad romance threatens everything Jocelyn has worked for and, by extension, everyone that works for Jocelyn. Jocelyn is, yes, a person, but she represents far more than that. She’s a multimillion-dollar brand that has been carefully created, cultivated, marketed, and strategized to maximize album sales, song streams, and concert revenue. Every move Jocelyn makes is closely watched by her assistant, a creative director, a manager, another manager, a publicist, and a record label executive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uFV514">
Examining this dynamic, through satire and blistering comedy, is where the show actually gets clever.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aQmlzr">
At the top of Jocelyn Inc.™ is Nikki Katz (Jane Adams), the monstrously cynical record label executive in charge of Jocelyn’s new album. One moment she’s explaining how mental illness is that little push that makes unattainable women sexier to the sort of people who live in flyover states, and the next, she tells a Vanity Fair reporter (Hari Nef) that mental health is truly so important and that Jocelyn is prioritizing hers like “that Black girl in the Olympics.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/I0W_8Hpobu4YWTDC_ohu6wrKTko=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24730377/jane_adams_0.jpeg"/> <cite>Eddy Chen/HBO</cite>
<figcaption>
Jane Adams is the best thing about <em>The Idol</em>. It’s a shame the show doesn’t think so.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mVZ35L">
Nikki’s presence raises a bigger question: What if Jocelyn is just clever marketing? What if the biggest pop star on the planet is only the biggest pop star on the planet because a bunch of ghoulish people in a room decided years ago that her waist-to-hip proportion, the symmetry of her face, and the tone of her voice — though the only voice the audience hears is lip-synced and auto-tuned<strong> —</strong> fit some kind of golden ratio?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SVUON4">
With Nikki and the rest of Jocelyn’s entourage, <em>The Idol</em> shrugs off its uber-serious tone for a comedic one. Adams, who just about slithers away with the entire show, delivers Nikki’s cruel lines with a whisper of humor, sliding into absurdity, which ultimately allows the show to really tap into something sinister. She doesn’t care who Jocelyn is, nor does she see her as a person. Jocelyn exists to pay the bills. When Jocelyn no longer sells out arenas, Jocelyn no longer exists.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gbPoLE">
It’s possible for someone as awful as Nikki to elicit laughs because the reality — that the music industry is actually full of Nikkis ready to run their wards into the ground — is scarier than Tedros and his ChatGPT sexual commands.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rBk89J">
Sennott’s performance as Leia also leans into the idea of pop star as farce. Jocelyn is housing Leia in a mansion and paying her to do menial tasks like open the curtains in her room and make her coffee. Despite being Jocelyn’s bestie, she’s just as much an instrument of the management team, always saying yes and always telling Jocelyn she’s great. (Leia’s only input in the first episode is explaining that the taxonomy of bukkake is the presence of multiple men.) Like the rest of them, Leia depends on Jocelyn’s success for her livelihood. If Jocelyn really can’t trust her best friend to be honest with her, there’s really no one she can trust.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="obfk5c">
<em>The Idol </em>wants to be about the ways a pop star breaks, not to mention the way pretty, perfect pop princesses have always been an illusion. Beneath the scrim of glamour, it’s a world of monsters. That’s not a bad idea, given the way society is re-examining how we <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22350286/2000s-pop-culture-misogyny-britney-spears-janet-jackson-whitney-houston-monica-lewinsky">treated Britney and Christina</a>, and how we still might be treating the likes of<a href="https://variety.com/2020/music/news/taylor-swift-eating-disorder-netflix-documentary-miss-americana-1203478047/"> Taylor Swift</a>, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/leylamohammed/ariana-grande-weight-comments-body-shaming-chadwick-boseman">Ariana Grande</a>, and<a href="https://www.instyle.com/selena-gomez-lupus-medication-weight-gain-tiktok-7111008"> Selena Gomez</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PRq7hX">
The problem is that <em>The Idol</em> is deeply infatuated with using serious, kinky, shocking (!) sex as a shorthand for rebellion and its own depth. That, along with Tefaye’s corny performance, becomes its undoing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fUiYgn">
Each time <em>The Idol</em> delves into how provocative sex and light cultism unlocks Jocelyn’s artistic side — or, rather, what she thinks artistry is — Levinson’s and Tesfaye’s storytelling gets in its own way, squandering any kind of emotional impact.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0Jbmqt">
The better, scarier version of <em>The Idol</em> is on a parallel track with the one it’s giving us: a bleak comedy about a pop star who might not be that talented, sexy, or artistic but can be engineered to appear to be all of those things. The manager strategizing how to parlay mental illness into album sales is far more sinister than the creep and his creepy sex. It’s a shame that <em>The Idol</em> is so much more interested in the latter.
</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>Junior Men’s hockey forward Boby recollects how father’s tragic accident shaped his career</strong> - A member of the winning Indian team at the Junior Asia Cup 2023, Boby Singh Dhami says his belief in the phrase “Everything happens for a reason” has been revitalised He feels the triumph has not only set him up for bigger things in his career but it has also reinstated his belief in the phrase</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>Bhavani Devi creates history, become first Indian fencer to win medal in Asian Championships</strong> - Bhavani stunned reigning World Champion Misaki Emura of Japan 15-10 in the quarterfinals to script history and assure herself of a medal</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>Dutch footballer Promes sentenced to jail in stabbing incident</strong> - Dutch footballer Qunicy Promes has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for stabbing his cousin at a family birthday party in 2020</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>H.S. Prannoy to lead India’s challenge in Taipei Open badminton</strong> - World No. 9 H.S. Prannoy is seeded third and will take on a qualifier in the Men’s singles opening round of the BWF World Tour Super 300 event</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>Watch | Is it tennis? Is it squash? No, it’s Padel</strong> - A video explaining the popular sport of Padel, which combines tennis and squash</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>Will call for a meeting with pulp factories in two days, Collector tells mango farmers</strong> - Mango farmers led by BJP leaders submit a memorandum to Collector seeking a hike in MSP</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>Bus overturns in Uttarakhand’s Champawat, 25 pilgrims from Punjab injured</strong> - The accident occurred on NH-9 near Dhaun on June 18 night when the bus carrying around 50 pilgrims was on its way to the Ropar district in Punjab</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>With deadline nearing, Aadhaar seeding of 93.4% MGNREGS workers completed in Kerala</strong> - Under the new system, the wages will have to be paid to a bank account linked with Aadhaar. The change was proposed with an intent to bring about transparency and ensure that payments are made to the correct accounts and on time</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>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Nalme Nachiyar.</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>IIT Madras records 64% rise in donations, nets ₹231 crore in 2022-23</strong> - Technology-driven social initiatives in energy, environment, health and education and collaborating for research under corporate social responsibility were the key areas that received funding</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>Ukraine war: BBC on the front line as Ukraine attacks Russian trenches</strong> - Quentin Sommerville joins troops pushing eastward from a recaptured village in Donetsk.</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>Greece boat disaster: BBC investigation casts doubt on coastguard’s claims</strong> - The BBC finds evidence an overcrowded fishing vessel was not moving for at least seven hours before it capsized.</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>Switzerland referendum: Voters back carbon cuts as glaciers melt</strong> - A new law will require less dependence on imported oil and gas and more use of renewable sources.</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>Pirelli: Italy blocks Chinese control of tyre giant</strong> - It comes as tensions between Beijing and the West are in focus as the US secretary of state visits China.</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>Vienna Pride parade attack foiled, Austrian police say</strong> - Police say the three people arrested - one a boy of 14 - were suspected Islamist sympathisers.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Parker Solar Probe images the launch of the solar wind</strong> - This discovery is literally the hottest thing in a while. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1948679">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The sleeper hits of Summer Game Fest 2023</strong> - Games about time travel, foam spraying guns, and… space hospitals? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1948256">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Scientists conduct first test of a wireless cosmic ray navigation system</strong> - System could be used to guide underwater or underground robots. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1948491">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Neanderthal adhesives were made through a complex synthesis process</strong> - Birch bark was heated in underground chambers to create a tougher adhesive. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1948666">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The US Navy, NATO, and NASA are using a shady Chinese company’s encryption chips</strong> - US government warns encryption chipmaker Hualan has suspicious ties to China’s military. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1948695">link</a></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reddit is killing third-party applications (and itself). Read more in the comments.</strong> - submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JokeSentinel"> /u/JokeSentinel </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://i.redd.it/1j5nee06kx5b1.png">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1490rmv/reddit_is_killing_thirdparty_applications_and/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: “Ugh, that’s the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen!”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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The woman walks to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: “The driver just insulted me!” The man says: .
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“You go up there and tell him off. Go on, I’ll hold your monkey for you.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/determined-person"> /u/determined-person </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14d3r8l/a_woman_gets_on_a_bus_with_her_baby_the_bus/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14d3r8l/a_woman_gets_on_a_bus_with_her_baby_the_bus/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>TIFU for making an incest joke around my gf</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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She got so mad she told our mom about it.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME"> /u/ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14d02xz/tifu_for_making_an_incest_joke_around_my_gf/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14d02xz/tifu_for_making_an_incest_joke_around_my_gf/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gertrude was a very devout woman who had 17 children</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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One day her husband passed away and Gertrude remarried the next month and had 19 children with her second husband.
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After several years her second husband died and she passed away herself some months afterwards.
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During the funeral the priest finished the service with the words “they are finally together”.
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One of the attendees went to the priest after the service and asked him “when you said “they are finally together” were you referring to Gertrude and her first husband or her second husband”?
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The priest replied: “neither, I was talking about her legs!!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/GlomerulaRican"> /u/GlomerulaRican </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14d3t2j/gertrude_was_a_very_devout_woman_who_had_17/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14d3t2j/gertrude_was_a_very_devout_woman_who_had_17/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What is 6.9?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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A good thing ruined by a period.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Different-Tie-1085"> /u/Different-Tie-1085 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14daian/what_is_69/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14daian/what_is_69/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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