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<title>06 March, 2022</title>
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<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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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>Using routine emergency department data for syndromic surveillance of acute respiratory illness in Germany, week 10-2017 and 10-2021</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic expanded the need for timely information on acute respiratory illness on the population level. Aim: We explored the potential of routine emergency department data for syndromic surveillance of acute respiratory illness in Germany. Methods: We included routine attendance data from emergency departments who continuously transferred data between week 10-2017 and 10-2021, with ICD-10 codes available for &gt;75% of the attendances. Case definitions for acute respiratory illness (ARI), severe ARI (SARI), influenza-like illness (ILI), respiratory syncytial virus disease (RSV) and COVID-19 were based on a combination of ICD-10 codes, and/or chief complaints, sometimes combined with information on hospitalisation and age. Results: We included 1,372,958 attendances from eight emergency departments. The number of attendances dropped in March 2020, increased during summer, and declined again during the resurge of COVID-19 cases in autumn and winter of 2020/2021. A pattern of seasonality of acute respiratory infections could be observed. By using different case definitions (i.e. for ARI, SARI, ILI, RSV) both the annual influenza seasons in the years 2017-2020 and the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 were apparent. The absence of the 2020/2021 flu season was visible, parallel to the resurge of COVID-19 cases. The percentage SARI among ARI cases peaked in April-May 2020 (17%) and November 2020-January 2021 (14%). Conclusion: Syndromic surveillance using routine emergency department data has the potential to monitor the trends, timing, duration, magnitude and severity of illness caused by respiratory viruses, including both influenza and SARS-CoV-2.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.19.21262303v2" target="_blank">Using routine emergency department data for syndromic surveillance of acute respiratory illness in Germany, week 10-2017 and 10-2021</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Review of COVID-19 in Children Admitted to King Fahad Hospital, Albaha, Saudi Arabia in 2020</strong> -
<div>
Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first identified at the end of 2019 in Wuhan City, China and then spread worldwide. Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate COVID-19 symptoms, signs, management, and outcomes in admitted children. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at King Fahad Hospital, Albaha, Saudi Arabia, which is designated as the center for COVID-19 patients. Data were collected retrospectively between Apr 2020 and Mar 2021. The protocols of health authorities in Saudi Arabia were used for the diagnosis and management of all patients. Results: Positive test results were confirmed in 95 patients. Of these, 44 (46%) were males and 51 (54%) were females. Fever, cough, nasal congestion, sore throat, myalgia, and upper respiratory tract infections were the most common symptoms. The common comorbidities in this cohort were respiratory diseases (19%), type1 diabetes mellitus (16%), followed by obesity (11%), chronic kidney disease (4%), congenital heart diseases (2%), while in (48%) pts no comorbidity factors were reported. Fever was the most frequent symptom, reported in 95% of patients. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) has been reported in one patient. Guillain-Barre syndrome was reported in one female patient and Kawasaki symptoms in one male patient. No mortality was reported. Conclusion: Most children with COVID-19 presented with mild clinical manifestations and good outcomes. No mortality was reported in this study. Obesity is a serious comorbidity and risk factor for severe diseases.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/u9fmr/" target="_blank">Review of COVID-19 in Children Admitted to King Fahad Hospital, Albaha, Saudi Arabia in 2020</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Precision recruitment for high-risk participants in a COVID-19 research study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Studies for developing diagnostics and treatments for infectious diseases usually require observing the onset of infection during the study period. However, when the infection base rate incidence is low, the cohort size required to measure an effect becomes large, and recruitment becomes costly and prolonged. We describe an approach for reducing recruiting time and resources in a COVID-19 study by targeting recruitment to high-risk individuals. Our approach is based on direct and longitudinal connection with research participants and computes individual risk scores from individually permissioned data about socioeconomic and behavioural data, in combination with predicted local prevalence data. When we used these scores to recruit a balanced cohort of participants for a COVID-19 detection study, we obtained a 4- to 7-fold greater COVID-19 infection incidence compared with similar real-world study cohorts.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.03.22271504v1" target="_blank">Precision recruitment for high-risk participants in a COVID-19 research study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Association between COVID-19 Risk-Mitigation Behaviors and Specific Mental Disorders in Youth</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Importance: Although studies of adults show that pre-existing mental disorders increase risk for COVID-19 infection and severity, there is limited information about this association among youth. Mental disorders in general as well as specific types of disorders may influence their ability to comply with risk-mitigation strategies to reduce COVID-19 infection and transmission. Objective: To examine associations between specific mental disorders and COVID-19 risk-mitigation practices among 314 female and 514 male youth. Design: Youth compliance (rated as Never, Sometimes, Often, or Very often/Always) with risk mitigation was reported by parents on the CoRonavIruS Health Impact Survey (CRISIS) in January 2021. Responses were summarized using factor analysis of risk mitigation, and their associations with lifetime mental disorders (assessed via structured diagnostic interviews) were identified with linear regression analyses (adjusted for covariates). All analyses used R Project for Statistical Computing for Mac (v.4.0.5). Setting: The Healthy Brain Network (HBN) in New York City Participants: 314 female and 514 male youth (ages 5-21) Main Outcome(s) and Measure(s): COVID-19 risk mitigation behaviors among youth Results: A two-factor model was the best-fitting solution. Factor 1 (avoidance behaviors) included avoiding groups, indoor settings, and other peoples homes; avoidance was more likely among youth with any anxiety disorder (p=.01). Factor 2 (hygiene behaviors) included using hand sanitizer, washing hands, and maintaining social distance; practicing hygiene was less likely among youth with ADHD (combined type) (p=.02). Mask wearing, which did not load on either factor, was not associated with any mental health disorder. Conclusion and Relevance: Findings suggest that education and monitoring of risk-mitigation strategies in certain subgroups of youth may reduce risk of exposure to COVID-19 and other contagious diseases. Additionally, they highlight the need for greater attention to vaccine prioritization for individuals with ADHD. Keywords: risk mitigation, COVID-19, youth, CRISIS, anxiety, ADHD
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.03.22271787v1" target="_blank">Association between COVID-19 Risk- Mitigation Behaviors and Specific Mental Disorders in Youth</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid-19 Exposure Assessment Tool (CEAT): Easy-to-use tool to quantify exposure based on airflow, group behavior, and infection prevalence in the community</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The COVID-19 Exposure Assessment Tool (CEAT) allows users to compare respiratory relative risk to SARS-CoV-2 for various scenarios, providing understanding of how combinations of protective measures affect exposure, dose, and risk. CEAT incorporates mechanistic, stochastic and epidemiological factors including the: 1) emission rate of virus, 2) viral aerosol degradation and removal, 3) duration of activity/exposure, 4) inhalation rates, 5) ventilation rates (indoors/outdoors), 6) volume of indoor space, 7) filtration, 8) mask use and effectiveness, 9) distance between people,</p></div></li>
</ul>
<ol start="10" type="1">
<li>group size, 11) current infection rates by variant, 12) prevalence of infection and immunity in the community, 13) vaccination rates of the community, and 14) implementation of COVID-19 testing procedures. Demonstration of CEAT, from published studies of COVID-19 transmission events, shows the model accurately predicts transmission. We also show how health and safety professionals at NASA Ames Research Center used CEAT to manage potential risks posed by SARS-CoV-2 exposures.
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.22271806v1" target="_blank">Covid-19 Exposure Assessment Tool (CEAT): Easy-to-use tool to quantify exposure based on airflow, group behavior, and infection prevalence in the community</a>
</div></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><strong>The relationship between BMI and COVID-19: exploring misclassification and selection bias in a two-sample Mendelian randomisation study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: To use the example of the effect of body mass index (BMI) on COVID-19 susceptibility and severity to illustrate methods to explore potential selection and misclassification bias in Mendelian randomisation (MR) of COVID-19 determinants. Design: Two-sample MR analysis. Setting: Summary statistics from the Genetic Investigation of ANthropometric Traits (GIANT) and COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (HGI) consortia. Participants: 681,275 participants in GIANT and more than 2.5 million people from the COVID-19 HGI consortia. Exposure: Genetically instrumented BMI. Main outcome measures: Seven case/control definitions for SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity: very severe respiratory confirmed COVID-19 vs not hospitalised COVID-19 (A1) and vs population (those who were never tested, tested negative or had unknown testing status (A2)); hospitalised COVID-19 vs not hospitalised COVID-19 (B1) and vs population (B2); COVID-19 vs lab/self-reported negative (C1) and vs population (C2); and predicted COVID-19 from self-reported symptoms vs predicted or self-reported non-COVID-19 (D1). Results: With the exception of A1 comparison, genetically higher BMI was associated with higher odds of COVID-19 in all comparison groups, with odds ratios (OR) ranging from 1.11 (95%CI: 0.94, 1.32) for D1 to 1.57 (95%CI: 1.57 (1.39, 1.78) for A2. As a method to assess selection bias, we found no strong evidence of an effect of COVID-19 on BMI in a 9no-relevance9 analysis, in which COVID-19 was considered the exposure, although measured after BMI. We found evidence of genetic correlation between COVID-19 outcomes and potential predictors of selection determined a priori (smoking, education, and income), which could either indicate selection bias or a causal pathway to infection. Results from multivariable MR adjusting for these predictors of selection yielded similar results to the main analysis, suggesting the latter. Conclusions: We have proposed a set of analyses for exploring potential selection and misclassification bias in MR studies of risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 and demonstrated this with an illustrative example. Although selection by socioeconomic position and related traits is present, MR results are not substantially affected by selection/misclassification bias in our example. We recommend the methods we demonstrate, and provide detailed analytic code for their use, are used in MR studies assessing risk factors for COVID-19, and other MR studies where such biases are likely in the available data.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article- link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.03.22271836v1" target="_blank">The relationship between BMI and COVID-19: exploring misclassification and selection bias in a two- sample Mendelian randomisation study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Request for Immediate Intervention by the Public Health Authorities to Counter the Infodemic Related to the Russian Attack in Ukraine</strong> -
<div>
The growing infodemic related to the Russian attack in Ukraine risks creating a similar or even worse scenario than what happened with the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the evidence from this letter, we suggest that Google Trends be employed by public health authorities to monitor the infodemiological situation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article- html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/frjtx/" target="_blank">Request for Immediate Intervention by the Public Health Authorities to Counter the Infodemic Related to the Russian Attack in Ukraine</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effect of Yoga on the stress, anxiety, and depression of COVID-19 positive patients. A pre-post quasi randomized study.</strong> -
<div>
Background and aim: - Due to the spread of COVID-19 there have been reports of increase in stress, anxiety, and depression across the society, especially so in the affected people, impacting the mental health and well-being. This paper reports a quasi-randomized control study conducted in covid wards of a hospital, to examine the efficacy of add-on yoga intervention in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression in the covid affected patients under quarantine. The oxygen saturation level (SPO2) and heart rate (HR) of the covid affected patients were also measured along with the stress. Experimental procedure: - A total of sixty-two COVID-19 positive patients participated in the study. The participants were randomized into the control group (n=31) which received conventional medical treatment alone and the yoga intervention group (n=31) which additionally received 50 minutes of yoga intervention along with conventional medical treatment. Standardized scales of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-14), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) were administered at the beginning as well as at the end of the quarantine period. Results: - A significant decrease in stress, anxiety and depression were observed in the patients who undertook the add-on yoga intervention. Also, improvement in SPO2 and HR levels were observed in the group of patients who were practicing yoga. Conclusion- Findings of this study suggest that add-on Yoga intervention can be an effective add-on practice in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression level of COVID-19 patients.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/2cswy/" target="_blank">Effect of Yoga on the stress, anxiety, and depression of COVID-19 positive patients. A pre-post quasi randomized study.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Initial Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Exhaled Breath Aerosol</strong> -
<div>
From December 16 through 21 of 2021, we collected exhaled breath aerosol (EBA) from five members of a University campus community infected with SARS-CoV-2 viruses displaying an S-gene target failure when assayed using the TaqPath COVID-19 Real Time PCR Assay (Thermo Scientific).
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/mtdx9/" target="_blank">Initial Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Exhaled Breath Aerosol</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Positive and negative risk-taking in adolescence and early adulthood: A citizen science study during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
Sensation seeking is an important underlying factor of both positive and negative forms of risk-taking during adolescence and early adulthood. However, macro-factors such as the global Covid-19 pandemic may influence sensation seeking opportunities and risk-taking behaviors that are considered negative and positive. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to examine the associations between sensation seeking and behaviors that are considered positive or negative forms of risk-taking during the Covid-19 pandemic in a sample of adolescents and early adults (N = 660, Mage = 22.91, SD = 3.14). Using citizen science methods, negative risk-taking was defined as taking unaccepted risks, such as falsifying vaccination reports or deliberately contracting Covid-19. Positive risk-taking was defined as taking socially accepted risks, such as balancing between the risk to infect elderly people and the need to socialize with peers. Results showed that participants with higher levels of sensation seeking took more positive and negative Covid-19 related risks. An additional finding was that sensation seeking was positively associated with the experienced need to contribute to society. This indicates that during adolescence and early adulthood, sensation seeking may be a driving factor for both positive (i.e., socially accepted) and negative (i.e., socially unaccepted) risk-taking in the context of a high-stake global pandemic, arguing against a one-direction negative relation between sensation seeking and risk-taking.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/n8g9m/" target="_blank">Positive and negative risk-taking in adolescence and early adulthood: A citizen science study during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immunogenicity of an Ad26-based SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Vaccine in Naïve Mice and SARS-CoV-2 Spike Pre-immune Hamsters</strong> -
<div>
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant sparked concern due to its fast spread and the unprecedented number of mutations in the spike protein that enables it to partially evade spike-based COVID-19 vaccine-induced humoral immunity. In anticipation of a potential need for an Omicron spike-based vaccine, we generated an Ad26 vector encoding an Omicron (BA.1) spike protein (Ad26.COV2.S.529). Ad26.COV2.S.529 encodes for a prefusion stabilized spike protein, similar to the current COVID-19 vaccine Ad26.COV2.S encoding the Wuhan-Hu-1 spike protein. We verified that spike expression by Ad26.COV2.S.529 was comparable to Ad26.COV2.S. Immunogenicity of Ad26.COV2.S.529 was then evaluated in naive mice and SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-Hu-1 spike pre-immunized hamsters. In naive mice, Ad26.COV2.S.529 elicited robust neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (BA.1) but not to SARS-CoV-2 Delta (B.1.617.2), while the opposite was observed for Ad26.COV2.S. In pre-immune hamsters, Ad26.COV2.S.529 vaccination resulted in robust increases in neutralizing antibody titers against both SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (BA.1) and Delta (B.1.617.2), while Ad26.COV2.S vaccination only increased neutralizing antibody titers against the Delta variant. Our data imply that Ad26.COV2.S.529 can both expand and boost a Wuhan-Hu-1 spike-primed humoral immune response to protect against distant SARS-CoV-2 variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.04.482636v1" target="_blank">Immunogenicity of an Ad26-based SARS- CoV-2 Omicron Vaccine in Naïve Mice and SARS-CoV-2 Spike Pre-immune Hamsters</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Highly Thermotolerant SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Elicits Neutralising Antibodies Against Delta and Omicron in Mice</strong> -
<div>
As the existing vaccines do not completely prevent infections or community transmission of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), there is an unmet need for vaccines that can better combat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern (VOC) and also eliminate cold chain requirements. We show that highly thermo-tolerant monomeric and trimeric receptor binding domain derivatives that can withstand 100C for 90 minutes and 37C for four weeks elicit high antibody titres in mice that received prime-boost immunization on Days 0 and 21; and that these antibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants VIC31 (containing the Spike D614G mutation), Delta and Omicron (BA.1.1) VOC. Compared to VIC31, there was an average 14.4-fold reduction in neutralization against BA.1.1 for the three monomeric, and 16.5-fold re-duction for the three trimeric antigen-adjuvant combinations; the corresponding values against Delta were 2.5 and 3.0. Our findings suggest that monomeric formulations are suitable for the upcoming Phase I human clinical trials, and that there is potential for improving efficacy with vaccine matching to improve responses against emerging variants. These findings are consistent with in silico modelling and AlphaFold predictions which show that while oligomeric presentation can be generally beneficial, it can make important epitopes inaccessible.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.03.481940v1" target="_blank">Highly Thermotolerant SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Elicits Neutralising Antibodies Against Delta and Omicron in Mice</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Impact of Population Mixing Between a Vaccinated Majority and Unvaccinated Minority on Disease Dynamics. Implications for SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The speed of vaccine development has been a singular achievement during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, though uptake has not been universal. Vaccine opponents often frame their opposition in terms of the rights of the unvaccinated. Our objective was to explore the impact of mixing of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations on risk among vaccinated individuals. Methods: We constructed a simple Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) compartmental model of a respiratory infectious disease with two connected sub-populations: vaccinated individuals and unvaccinated individuals. We simulated a spectrum of patterns of mixing between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups that ranged from random mixing to like-with-like mixing (complete assortativity), where individuals preferentially have contact with others with the same vaccination status. We evaluated the dynamics of an epidemic within each subgroup, and in the population as a whole. Results: The relative risk of infection was markedly higher among unvaccinated individuals than among vaccinated individuals. However, the contact-adjusted contribution of unvaccinated individuals to infection risk during the epidemic was disproportionate, with unvaccinated individuals contributing to infections among the vaccinated at a rate higher than would have been expected based on contact numbers alone. As assortativity increased, attack rates among the vaccinated decreased, but the contact-adjusted contribution to risk among vaccinated individuals derived from contact with unvaccinated individuals increased. Interpretation: While risk associated with avoiding vaccination during a virulent pandemic accrues chiefly to the unvaccinated, the choices of unvaccinated individuals impact the health and safety of vaccinated individuals in a manner disproportionate to the fraction of unvaccinated individuals in the population.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.14.21267742v2" target="_blank">Impact of Population Mixing Between a Vaccinated Majority and Unvaccinated Minority on Disease Dynamics. Implications for SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Modeling on Wastewater Treatment Process in Saudi Arabia: a perspective of Covid-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had devastating effects on healthcare systems and the global economy. Moreover, coronavirus has been found in human feces, sewage, and in wastewater treatment plants. In this paper, we highlight the transmission behavior, occurrence, and persistence of the virus in sewage and wastewater treatment plants. Our approach follows the process of identifying a coronavirus hotspot through existing wastewater plants in major cities of Saudi Arabia. The mathematical distributions, including the log-normal distribution, Gaussian model, and susceptible exposed infected recovery (SEIR) model, are adopted to predict the coronavirus load in wastewater plants. We highlight not only the potential virus removal techniques from wastewater treatment plants, but also methods of tracing SARS-CoV-2 in humans through wastewater treatment plants.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.22.21266599v3" target="_blank">Modeling on Wastewater Treatment Process in Saudi Arabia: a perspective of Covid-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Identifying SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern through saliva-based RT-qPCR by targeting recurrent mutation sites</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) continue to pose a public health threat which necessitates a real-time monitoring strategy to compliment whole genome sequencing. Thus, we investigated the efficacy of competitive probe RT- qPCR assays for six mutation sites identified in SARS-CoV-2 VOCs and, after validating the assays with synthetic RNA, performed these assays on positive saliva samples. When compared with whole genome sequence results, the SΔ69-70 and ORF1aΔ3675-3677 assays demonstrated 93.60% and 68.00% accuracy, respectively. The SNP assays (K417T, E484K, E484Q, L452R) demonstrated 99.20%, 96.40%, 99.60%, and 96.80% accuracies, respectively. Lastly, we screened 345 positive saliva samples from December 7-22, 2021 using Omicron-specific mutation assays and were able to quickly identify rapid spread of Omicron in Upstate South Carolina. Our workflow demonstrates a novel approach for low-cost, real-time population screening of VOCs.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.22271785v1" target="_blank">Identifying SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern through saliva-based RT-qPCR by targeting recurrent mutation sites</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>EPIC-Peds: Study of Oral PF-07321332 (Nirmatrelvir)/Ritonavir in Nonhospitalized COVID-19 Pediatric Patients at Risk for Severe Disease</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: nirmatrelvir;   Drug: ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Pfizer<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>Anti-inflammatory Drug Algorithm for COVID-19 Home Treatment</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Recommended treatment schedule;   Drug: Usual care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research;   Family physicians<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>Transcranial Direct Stimulation for Persistent Fatigue Treatment Post-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: Active tDCS;   Device: Sham tDCS<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hospital San Carlos, Madrid<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>Evaluation of Full Versus Fractional Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine Given as a Booster for the Prevention of COVID 19 in Adults in Mongolia- Mongolia, Indonesia, Australia Coronavirus (MIACoV).</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Tozinameran - Standard Dose;   Biological: Tozinameran - Fractional Dose<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Murdoch Childrens Research Institute;   Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations;   PATH;   The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity<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>Vale+ Tu Salud: Corner-Based Randomized Trial to Test a Latino Day Laborer Program Adapted to Prevent COVID 19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: COVID-19 Group Problem Solving;   Behavioral: Control Group-standard of care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston;   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)<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 Phase III, Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of TD0069 Capsule as a Combination Regimen With Standard Treatment for Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: TD0069 hard capsule;   Drug: TD0069 Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Sao Thai Duong Joint Stock Company;   Clinical Training Company<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>Nebulised Heparin in Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Unfractionated heparin<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Lady Reading Hospital, Pakistan<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>Nutrition and LOComotoric Rehabilitation in Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Intervention group<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel;   Vrije Universiteit Brussel<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>Immuno-bridging and Broadening Study of a Whole, Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine BBV152 in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: BBV152<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ocugen<br/><b>Active, not 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>Reparixin as add-on Therapy to Standard of Care to Limit Disease Progression in Adult Patients With COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia;   Sars-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Reparixin;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Dompé Farmaceutici S.p.A<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>COVID-19 Prevention Trial: Effect of Prophylactic Use of TAFFIX™ on Infection Rate by SARS-COV-2 VIRUS (COVID-19).</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Upper Respiratory Tract Infections<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: TaffiX™<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Nasus Pharma<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>An Open-label, Randomized, Parallel-arm Study Investigating the Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous Administration of Pamrevlumab Versus Standard of Care in Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection;   COVID-19 Pneumonia;   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:  <br/>
Drug: Pamrevlumab<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS<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, Reactogenicity, and Immunogenicity Trial of CV2CoV mRNA Vaccine Against SARS-CoV-2 in Seropositive Adult Participants</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: CV2CoV (2 µg);   Biological: CV2CoV (4 µg);   Biological: CV2CoV (8 µg);   Biological: CV2CoV (12 µg);   Biological: CV2CoV (16 µg);   Biological: CV2CoV (20 µg)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   GlaxoSmithKline;   CureVac AG<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>Immunogenicity and Safety Study of the 3rd Booster Dose Using the High or Medium Dose of Inactivated Vaccine in Healthy Adults in in Hong Kong</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated (Medium-dose);   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated (High-dose)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Effect of Mobile Health Application Based on Omaha System on Symptoms and Quality of Life in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Symptoms and Signs;   Quality of Life<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: COVOS app;   Other: Standard Care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Kocaeli University;   Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa;   The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Early reduction of SARS-CoV-2-replication in bronchial epithelium by kinin B(2) receptor antagonism</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to enter the host via the ACE2 receptor which is part of the kinin-kallikrein pathway. This complex pathway is only poorly understood in context of immune regulation but critical to control infection. This study examines SARS-CoV-2-infection and epithelial mechanisms of the kinin-kallikrein-system at the kinin B(2) receptor level in SARS-CoV-2-infection that is of direct translational relevance. From acute SARS-CoV-2-positive study participants and -negative controls,…</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>Recombinant human interleukin-7 reverses T cell exhaustion ex vivo in critically ill COVID-19 patients</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Severe COVID-19 patients present with features of profound T cell exhaustion upon ICU admission which can be reversed ex vivo by rhIL-7. These results reinforce our understanding of severe COVID-19 pathophysiology and opens novel therapeutic avenues to treat such critically ill patients based of immunomodulation approaches. Defining the appropriate timing for initiating such immune-adjuvant therapy in clinical setting and the pertinent markers for a careful selection of patients are…</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>Antiviral Effect of Selenomethionine on Porcine Deltacoronavirus in Pig Kidney Epithelial Cells</strong> - Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an emerging porcine intestinal coronavirus in recent years, which mainly causes different degrees of vomiting and diarrhea in piglets and has caused great harm to the swine husbandry worldwide since its report. Selenium is an essential trace element for organisms and has been demonstrated to have antiviral effects. In this study, pig kidney epithelial (LLC-PK) cells were used to study the antiviral activity of selenomethionine (Se-Met) (2, 4, 8, and 16 μM)…</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>Role of Dexamethasone and Methylprednisolone Corticosteroids in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Hospitalized Patients: A Review</strong> - The WHO announced coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic disease globally on March 11, 2020, after it emerged in China. The emergence of COVID-19 has lasted over a year, and despite promising vaccine reports that have been produced, we still have a long way to go until such remedies are accessible to everyone. The immunomodulatory strategy has been kept at the top priority for the research agenda for COVID-19. Corticosteroids have been used to modulate the immune response in a wide…</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>Evaluation of a commercial ELISA as alternative to plaque reduction neutralization test to detect neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - High-throughput detection of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 presents a valuable tool for vaccine trials or investigations of population immunity. We evaluate the performance of the first commercial surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT, GenScript Biotech) against SARS-CoV-2 plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) in convalescent and vaccinated individuals. We compare it to five other ELISAs, two of which are designed to detect neutralizing antibodies. In 491 pre-vaccination…</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>Association between FIASMA psychotropic medications and reduced risk of intubation or death in individuals with psychiatric disorders hospitalized for severe COVID-19: an observational multicenter study</strong> - The acid sphingomyelinase (ASM)/ceramide system may provide a useful framework for better understanding SARS-CoV-2 infection and the repurposing of psychotropic medications functionally inhibiting the acid sphingomyelinase/ceramide system (named FIASMA psychotropic medications) against COVID-19. We examined the potential usefulness of FIASMA psychotropic medications in patients with psychiatric disorders hospitalized for severe COVID-19, in an observational multicenter study conducted at Greater…</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>Network pharmacology-based predictions of active components and pharmacological mechanisms of Artemisia annua L. for the treatment of the novel Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19)</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that A. annua may prevent and inhibit the inflammatory processes related to COVID-19.</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>HDAC inhibition as neuroprotection in COVID-19 infection</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 virus is responsible of COVID-19 affecting millions of humans around the world. COVID-19 shows diverse clinical symptoms (fever, cough, fatigue, diarrhea, body aches, headaches, anosmia and hyposmia). Approximately 30% of the patients with COVID-19 showed neurological symptoms, these going from mild to severe manifestations including headache, dizziness, impaired consciousness, encephalopathy, anosmia, hypogeusia, hyposmia, psychology and psychiatry among others. The neurotropism…</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>Trace element homeostasis in the neurological system after SARS-CoV-2 infection: Insight into potential biochemical mechanisms</strong> - CONCLUSION: Trace elements play important roles in viral infections, such as helping to activate immune cells, produce antibodies, and inhibit virus replication. However, the relationship between trace elements and virus infections is complex since the specific functions of several elements remain largely undefined. Therefore, there is still a lot to be explored to understand the biochemical mechanisms involved between trace elements and viral infections, especially in the brain.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In silico analysis highlighting the prevalence of BCL2L1 gene and its correlation to miRNA in human coronavirus (HCoV) genetic makeup</strong> - The ongoing pandemic that resulted from coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), had been spiraling out of control with no known antiviral drugs or vaccines. Due to the extremely serious nature of the disease, it has claimed many lives, with a mortality rate of 3.4% declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 3, 2020. The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the regulatory nature of the proteins…</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>Anti-inflammatory and anti-viral actions of anionic pulmonary surfactant phospholipids</strong> - Pulmonary surfactant is a mixture of lipids and proteins, consisting of 90% phospholipid, and 10% protein by weight, found predominantly in pulmonary alveoli of vertebrate lungs. Two minor components of pulmonary surfactant phospholipids, phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and phosphatidylinositol (PI), are present within the alveoli at very high concentrations, and exert anti-inflammatory effects by regulating multiple Toll like receptors (TLR2/1, TLR4, and TLR2/6) by antagonizing cognate…</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>ACE2-Fc fusion protein overcomes viral escape by potently neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern</strong> - COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, emerged globally in early 2020 and has remained a serious public health issue. To date, although several preventative vaccines have been approved by FDA and EMA, vaccinated individuals increasingly suffer from breakthrough infections. Therapeutic antibodies may provide an alternative strategy to neutralize viral infection and treat serious cases; however, the clinical data and our experiments show that some FDA-approved monoclonal…</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>Rapid and Quantitative In Vitro Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies and Nanobodies</strong> - Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and nanobodies have shown promising results as potential therapeutic agents for COVID-19. Identifying such antibodies and nanobodies requires evaluating the neutralization activity of a large number of lead molecules via biological assays, such as the virus neutralization test (VNT). These assays are typically time- consuming and demanding on-lab facilities. Here, we present a rapid and quantitative assay that evaluates the neutralizing efficacy of an antibody…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Complement Activation via the Lectin and Alternative Pathway in Patients With Severe COVID-19</strong> - Complement plays an important role in the direct defense to pathogens, but can also activate immune cells and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, in critically ill patients with COVID-19 the immune system is inadequately activated leading to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and acute kidney injury, which is associated with higher mortality. Therefore, we characterized local complement deposition as a sign of activation in both lungs and kidneys from patients with severe…</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>Modulation of Innate Antiviral Immune Response by Porcine Enteric Coronavirus</strong> - Host’s innate immunity is the front-line defense against viral infections, but some viruses have evolved multiple strategies for evasion of antiviral innate immunity. The porcine enteric coronaviruses (PECs) consist of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (TGEV), and swine acute diarrhea syndrome-coronavirus (SADS-CoV), which cause lethal diarrhea in neonatal pigs and threaten the swine industry worldwide. PECs…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING IMPROVED GENERALIZED FUZZY PEER GROUP WITH MODIFIED TRILATERAL FILTER TO REMOVE MIXED IMPULSE AND ADAPTIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE FROM COLOR IMAGES</strong> - ABSTRACTMETHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING IMPROVED GENERALIZED FUZZY PEER GROUP WITH MODIFIED TRILATERAL FILTER TO REMOVE MIXED IMPULSE AND ADAPTIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE FROM COLOR IMAGESThe present invention provides a new approach is proposed that includes fuzzy-based approach and similarity function for filtering the mixed noise. In a peer group, the similarity function was adaptive to edge information and local noise level, which was utilized for detecting the similarity among pixels. In addition, a new filtering method Modified Trilateral Filter (MTF) with Improved Generalized Fuzzy Peer Group (IGFPG) is proposed to remove mixed impulse and Adaptive White Gaussian Noise from Color Images. The modified trilateral filter includes Kikuchi algorithm and loopy belief propagation to solve the inference issues on the basis of passing local message. In this research work, the images were collected from KODAK dataset and a few real time multimedia images like Lena were also used for testing the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN351884428">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A STUDY ON MENTAL HEALTH, STRESS AND ANXIETY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING COVID-19</strong> - SARS-Cov-2 virus causes an infectious disease coronavirus(COVID-19).The Students life is made harder by COVID-19.The human reaction that happens normally to everyone through physical or emotional tension is stress. Feeling of angry, nervous and frustration caused through any thought or events leads to stress. As college closures and cancelled events, students are missing out on some of the biggest moments of their young lives as well as everyday moments like chatting with friend, participating in class and cultural programme. For students facing life changes due to the outbreak are feeling anxious, isolated and disappointed which lead them to feel all alone. We like to take the help of expert adolescent psychologist to find out the techniques to practice self-care and look after their mental health. We would like to find out whether techniques used reduce the anxiety and stress among Engineering Students. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN351884923">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A METHOD FOR THE TREATMENT OF COVID-19 INFECTIONS WITH PALMITOYLETHANOLAMIDE</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU351870997">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A CENTRAL TRANSACTION AUTHENTIC SYSTEM FOR OTP VERIFICATION</strong> - The present invention relates to a central transaction authentic system (100) for OTP verification. The system (100) comprises one or more user display units (102), one or more financial units (104), an account deposit unit (106), an OTP authentication unit (108) and a service server unit (110). The central transaction authentic system (100) for OTP verification work as Anti-money laundering measure. The system (100) also helpful for minimizing rate of cybercrime. The central transaction authentic system (100) for OTP verification that can neutralize digital financial fraud. The present invention provides a central transaction authentic system (100) for OTP verification that can monitor and analyze every transaction and customer interaction across its customer base for suspicious and potentially criminal activity. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN350377210">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FORMULATIONS AND METHOD FOR PREPARATION OF HERBAL MEDICATED TRANSPARENT SOAP</strong> - ABSTRACTFORMULATIONS AND METHOD FOR PREPARATION OF HERBAL MEDICATED TRANSPARENT SOAPThe present invention provides formulations for herbal medicated transparent soaps and method of preparation of the same. Transparent soaps are prepared by saponification of mixture of non-edible oils to get the desired consistency and cleaning action. Nonvolatile alcohols and other transparency promoters are used to get good transparency and binding properties. Herbal extracts of different herbs are added to get medicated properties. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN350377796">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SOCIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR MOBILE ROBOTS IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT TECHNOLOGY</strong> - The emergency department (ED) is a safety-critical environment in which healthcare workers (HCWs) are overburdened, overworked, and have limited resources, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. One way to address this problem is to explore the use of robots that can support clinical teams, e.g., to deliver materials or restock supplies. However, due to EDs being overcrowded, and the cognitive overload HCWs experience, robots need to understand various levels of patient acuity so they avoid disrupting care delivery. In this invention, we introduce the Safety-Critical Deep Q-Network (SafeDQN) system, a new acuity-aware navigation system for mobile robots. SafeDQN is based on two insights about care in EDs: high-acuity patients tend to have more HCWs in attendance and those HCWs tend to move more quickly. We compared SafeDQN to three classic navigation methods, and show that it generates the safest, quickest path for mobile robots when navigating in a simulated ED environment. We hope this work encourages future exploration of social robots that work in safety-critical, human-centered environments, and ultimately help to improve patient outcomes and save lives. Figure 1. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN349443355">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种新型冠状病毒核酸检测试剂盒</strong> - 本发明公开了一种新型冠状病毒核酸检测试剂盒，属于生物检测技术领域。本发明使用实时荧光定量交叉引物等温扩增技术检测新型冠状病毒，设计了两组适用于这一技术的引物。两组引物分别针对型冠状病毒基因组中的ORF1ab基因和型冠状病毒基因组中的S基因进行检测。本发明新型冠状病毒核酸检测试剂盒特异性强，灵敏度高，不仅可以对样品进行定性定量的检测，还可以实时观测数据的变化，有利于对样品数据的全面收集，方便进行下一步的研究。因此本发明不仅适用于现场快速检测，还适用于以科研为目的的检测。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN351915848">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种新型冠状病毒核酸纯化试剂及纯化方法</strong> - 本发明公开了一种新型冠状病毒核酸纯化试剂及纯化方法，属于核酸纯化技术领域，核酸纯化试剂包括包覆有硒代赖氨酸改性壳聚糖的纳米磁珠、结合液、洗涤I液、洗涤II液和洗脱液。纯化方法包括，将待纯化样本、磁珠和结合液加入离心管中，混匀，磁分离，弃上清；将离心管中加入洗涤I液，清洗，磁分离，吸净管盖及管底的残液；将离心管中加入洗涤II液，清洗，磁分离，吸净管盖及管底的残液；将离心管中加入洗脱液，60‑70℃下放置10‑15min，每隔1‑2min轻摇混匀，磁分离，小心吸取上清液至新的离心管中，放入‑20℃冰箱保存。本发明方法纯化过程快速、结果准确、精密度高，能够提高核酸纯化的产量、纯度、重复性和稳定性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN351915839">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种全人源抗新冠病毒广谱中和抗体ZW2G10及应用</strong> - 本发明公开了一种抗SARS‑CoV‑2的全人源单克隆抗体ZW2G10，所述抗体具有独特的CDR分区，其抗原识别表位位于S1蛋白的RBD区。所述抗体中和新冠病毒野生型、Alpha、Beta、Gamma、Delta和Omicron变异株假病毒的EC50分别是14.19、14.12、18.41、15.59、36.18、19.26ng/mL。ZW2G10对目前的主要变异株具有广谱高效中和活性。本发明公开的单克隆抗体还具有高表达、全人源、稳定性好的特点，适合产业化生产，对于应对新冠变异株导致的爆发流行具有重大应用价值。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN351915789">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种抗新冠病毒全人源广谱中和抗体ZWC12及应用</strong> - 本发明公开了一种抗SARS‑CoV‑2的全人源单克隆抗体ZWC12，所述抗体具有独特的CDR分区，其抗原识别表位位于S1蛋白的RBD区。所述抗体中和新冠病毒野生型、Alpha、Beta、Gamma、Delta、Omicron变异株假病毒的EC50分别是1.041、0.124、0.162、0.136、0.411、0.093μg/mL，该抗体对目前主要变异株具有广谱高效中和活性。所述抗体还具有高表达、全人源、稳定性好的特点，适合产业化生产，对于应对新冠变异株导致的爆发流行具有重要应用价值。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN351925790">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
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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>An Outpouring of Support for Ukrainian Refugees and Resistance</strong> - An ad-hoc network in Europe is helping Ukrainians flee—and fight—the Russian invasion. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/an-outpouring-of-support-for-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inside Kyiv’s Metro, a Citywide Bomb Shelter</strong> - Across Ukraine, especially in the cities where Russia’s onslaught has been particularly intense, underground spaces have become precious. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/14/inside-kyivs-metro-a-citywide-bomb-shelter">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Bipartisan Thank-You to Breyer Masks the Brawling Already Under Way</strong> - Ketanji Brown Jackson is eminently qualified, but her confirmation hearings will reflect the pernicious and, at times, unhinged discourse in Washington. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-bipartisan-thank-you-to-breyer-masks-the-brawling-already-%20under-way">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What My Grandmother Knew About Dying</strong> - As a physician, I trained in the delicate art of preparing people for death. Losing Harriet made me see the work differently. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/what-my-grandmother-knew-about-dying">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Did Mark Meadows Register to Vote at an Address Where He Did Not Reside?</strong> - In September, 2020, Donald Trump’s then chief of staff claimed to live in a mobile home in North Carolina. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-did-mark-meadows-register-to-vote-at-an-address-where-he-did-not-%20reside">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The loss of insects is an apocalypse worth worrying about</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Butterflies, beetles, and moths pinned to a light blue background." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/2cjSmUGdoA2fcqhlEpLYndGvd1Y=/315x0:4935x3465/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70585378/GettyImages_904637674.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Getty Images/Mint Images RF
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A world without bugs is a world we don’t want to live in.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SByNXp">
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S72MXA">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dJnVB7">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3goqvK">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8NfOTT">
When European colonists first brought cattle and horses to Australia in the late 1700s, they learned a foul-smelling lesson about how useful certain species of beetles could be. As the hoofed animals ate and defecated, manure began piling up across the continent. Without any European dung beetles to break it down, the cow dung in Australia had nowhere to go.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U0NI4S">
Perhaps you don’t think much about the value of dung beetles. But without them crawling around farms, stables, and wild savannas today, the world would be pretty, er, shitty. What about the importance of small, mosquito-like flies called midges? Without them, there’d be no chocolate and likely no ice cream because they pollinate both cacao and the plants that feed dairy cows.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Snboph">
“There are lots of tiny little things in this world that hold aloft everything that we value,” said Oliver Milman, an environmental journalist at the Guardian and author of a new book called <em>The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World</em>.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<pre><code> &lt;img alt="The cover of the book “The Insect Crisis” by Oliver Milman." src="https://cdn.vox-</code></pre>
cdn.com/thumbor/WBsn3gFt07d8sEjdX4onyfuky_A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox- cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285723/TheInsectCrisis_9781324006596.jpg" /&gt; <cite>W. W. Norton &amp; Company</cite>
<figcaption>
A new book by Oliver Milman, a journalist at the Guardian, explores why insects are in decline and how that affects our everyday lives.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z87Dnh">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pb9kqK">
A world without insects is a world we don’t want to live in, Milman told Vox. Yet we don’t seem to pay these critters much attention — even as many of them <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/2/11/18220082/insects-
extinction-bological-conservation">slip toward extinction</a>. Science is increasingly showing that insects, on the whole, are declining quickly, he said. Some populations have fallen by <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2023989118">more than 70 percent</a> in just a few decades.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4FwgMW">
Averting an insect apocalypse starts with understanding why these famously uncharismatic critters matter — that’s one lesson he hopes his book can convey. Then there’s the question of how to help them. Fortunately, he writes, it’s pretty simple: We don’t need an action plan, we need an inaction<em> </em>plan. Insects love overgrown lawns, empty lots, and other untended spaces.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5j6FtR">
“Perhaps it’s time to sit back and see what could blossom in front of us if we just give it the chance,” Milman writes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kbLlbO">
Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
</p>
<h3 id="QYHFAj">
The dramatic collapse of insect populations
</h3>
<h4 id="UAiClb">
Benji Jones
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gu2dGf">
People tend to equate insects with so-called pests like cockroaches and mosquitoes. How small of a sliver of the insect world do pests represent?
</p>
<h4 id="qhUVjQ">
Oliver Milman
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FfWrVz">
“Pest” is such a subjective term. Certainly, you can find a lot of people who consider every insect to be either irrelevant or a pest — other than bees, because they’re nice, buzzy things that make honey and provide us with food, and butterflies, because they’re pretty. That’s part of the problem: We’re not starting from a baseline of fondness for these animals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mzKCPR">
Three-quarters of all the known animals in the world are insects. There’s roughly 1 million named species — but there might be 5 million or maybe 10 million, or even up to 30 million species. In peoples’ day-to-day interactions, they might see an ant or a bee if they’re lucky and that’s not really representative of the insects that are out there.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UTPy2L">
As one scientist put it, you’ve got one researcher studying 50,000 insects and 50,000 researchers studying one monkey. That’s the kind of imbalance you have in the scientific world when it comes to insects.
</p>
<h4 id="tk2PAR">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GWmstW">
How universal is the decline? Does it include the ones that we encounter in our homes, like cockroaches and mosquitoes?
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="
" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kb-Ns0PW-tGH8YPyWtFrWKHkcMc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23286183/GettyImages_1238172363.jpg"/> <cite>Sanka Vidanagama/NurPhoto via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A monarch butterfly caterpillar.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h4 id="USaWxn">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mime1T">
We don’t know the full picture of the declines. In some places, insects are actually increasing. The range of mosquitoes, for example, is expanding — an extra billion people could be exposed to disease-carrying mosquitoes, which like warm and damp conditions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uvxo8A">
But there are so many studies showing these startling declines [in many species]<strong> </strong>— these eye-watering numbers that you just wouldn’t normally see in scientific studies. We should also be thinking about the composition of what’s out there. We are stripping away a world of bees, butterflies, and beetles, which we rely on for many things including food, medicines, and so on. And we’re replacing them with insects that can adapt to the changes we’ve set in motion. We are creating a world of mosquitoes and cockroaches, just like we’re creating a world of rats and crows and raccoons.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FLjeJH">
The natural world doesn’t care if the world is populated with lions and butterflies. If the conditions are ripe for cockroaches and mosquitoes, that’s what we’re gonna get.
</p>
<h4 id="6xQwtS">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YWSXPS">
How severe is the decline of insects compared to other animal groups?
</p>
<h4 id="d5a65b">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2OEdHT">
There was a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-10-three-
quarters-total-insect-population-
lost.html#:~:text=Over%20the%20past%2027%20years%2C%20they%20found%20an%20average%20decline,Caspar%20Hallmann%20from%20Radboud%20University.">big study</a> in Germany in 2017, which found that the annual average weight of flying insects caught in traps was down 76 percent since 1989 in protected nature reserves. There was also an incredible study by the scientist Anders Pape Møller who’s been driving up and down the same stretch of road in Denmark each summer since 1997 and counting the bugs that get smushed on his windshield. They had declined by as much as 97 percent. You don’t see those kinds of figures normally in conservation biology.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ggI8NLITaa1WDvO8__wFIsJ7UA8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285745/Oliver_Milman__c__Lyndal_Stewart.jpg"/> <cite>Lyndal Stewart</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Oliver Milman is an environmental reporter at the Guardian and the author of <em>The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World</em>.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E6GnRJ">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PXS94p">
Over a long time, we’ve wiped out a good chunk of tigers, for example, but in just a short period of time — we’re talking just a few decades — we’ve wiped out an enormous range of insects from seemingly stable, well-protected, well-regulated parts of the world. One meta study from 2019 found that 40 percent of insect species are declining around the world. They compared that to other creatures and found that the extinction rate for insects is eight times faster than it is for mammals or birds.
</p>
<h4 id="okU5nl">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FFv3Of">
Are there ways to sample insects without killing them?
</p>
<h4 id="fkgqNB">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ImKHkV">
All the methods that I learned about involve killing them — trapping them in sticky traps or these funnel-like tents that push them into alcohol. The traditional way was to go up to the bottom of a tree and fog it with insecticide. The insects would fall down and you would catch them on the forest floor.
</p>
<h3 id="zRnRpv">
Pesticides have become more, not less, harmful
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RF4tqs">
<strong>Benji</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LhMXmy">
What is the single largest reason for these declines?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LeSwBu">
<strong>Oliver</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uNfFlP">
Habitat loss is an enormous one. We’ve removed about a third of all the world’s forested areas in the industrialized era. We’ve changed much of the planet into monocultural farmland. We’ve expanded highways, urban areas, and so on, creating a landscape that’s very hostile to insects.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AHxyJ3">
We’ve dominated the world in a very boring way. Insects like diversity and color and a range of different plants and we tend to like uniformity and tidiness. Culturally, we like very neatly trimmed lawns. We like fields of crops that are not diversified and have tidy edges. We dislike weeds in general. We’ve created a monotonous world that isn’t favorable to insects.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MQIaK27NuEKAmoDg0d9BHMgqeoU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23289408/GettyImages_1233000364.jpg"/> <cite>Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A honeybee flies to the blossom of an apple tree to collect nectar and pollinate the flowers.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h4 id="uLuzpK">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ud2i7R">
What does an abandoned plot of land that might not look very nice to us mean for these critters?
</p>
<h4 id="fCPl3Q">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hYtVfS">
If you start to let things go a little bit — stop tending your backyard, leave a building abandoned — it may look terrible to us but it’s a joyful place for insects. They can feed upon the weeds and use them for shelter.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y8Dp4D">
During pandemic lockdowns in various countries, insects actually came back because of the lack of traffic, the lack of people. A lot of local authorities stopped cutting grass and insects really benefited from that. Plants sprung up that we hadn’t seen in years. Then the insects came back. And once the insects come back, the birds come back. So you start having these mini-ecosystems springing up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FK90e7">
That’s one of the more hopeful things I think about — you just need to give insects a bit of a chance and they can bounce back. One scientist compared what’s happening to insects to a log in water that we’re pushing down with our foot. If we just take our foot off it, the log will rise up. That’s what insects can do if we give them a chance.
</p>
<h4 id="hvh6qh">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uYxWCj">
People know that pesticides are a problem for insects — by design. What did you learn about pesticides through your reporting that surprised you?
</p>
<h4 id="kYJy1t">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WjjGxR">
I had a general understanding of pesticide use and believed the trend was getting better — new chemicals and techniques were coming that were a little less harmful to wildlife and a little bit more effective. But what you find is an absolute mess.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LjkQAs">
Think about the days of <em>Silent Spring </em>by Rachael Carson. It was a seminal book on the dangers of the pesticide DDT, which was pushing bald eagles toward extinction in the US. It helped rally support to ban DDT. But neonicotinoids, a widespread insecticide used now by US farmers, is 7,000 times more toxic to bees than DDT. So we’ve actually substituted this infamous chemical for one that’s far worse for bees. A single teaspoon of the stuff is enough to kill as many honeybees as there are people in India. It’s just deadly.
</p>
<h4 id="5CO9hR">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JVUNTo">
That really shows how little value we have for insects compared to charismatic animals like eagles.
</p>
<h4 id="RNwL9i">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JpWZko">
That’s right. Insects have been allowed to slip into this silent catastrophe that we’re only just waking up to now.
</p>
<h4 id="iOkC16">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HBaK4c">
Climate change affects the environment in very complicated ways. How is it impacting insects?
</p>
<h4 id="FbOAQN">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iwh7vj">
Climate change is generally pretty good for mosquitoes. Cockroaches don’t really care that much either. But for lots of other types of insects, it’s pretty disastrous.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X8jDDn">
There was an assumption a few years ago that insects would fare better than other kinds of animals because they have these huge populations that can rebound quickly. They’ve managed to get through five mass extinctions relatively unscathed. But there is research showing that the range of insects is going to shrink quite dramatically. Insects are more restricted in terms of their movement. They exist in fairly stable bands of temperature, and once that’s pushed beyond their limits, they are in big trouble.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="A pair of
dung beetles rolling a ball of dung that is bigger than they are." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/SLi_AzLQ_odisIPWY2AAs8FtPO8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23289421/GettyImages_534978726.jpg"/> <cite>Paul Souders/Getty Images</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Dung beetles in South Africa.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2g815G">
Climate change is also scrambling the seasons. Spring is arriving much earlier now. In the UK, moths and butterflies are emerging from their cocoons about six days earlier, per decade, on average. In the US, spring is arriving 20 days earlier in some places compared to 50 or 60 years ago. You have plants not aligned with insects, which are then not aligned with birds. So you have this whole cascade of problems going through the ecosystem.
</p>
<h3 id="Revzuz">
To save ourselves, we must save insects
</h3>
<h4 id="LhKnHN">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nlFJ07">
It’s hard to win people over with insects. What is your best argument for why we need them?
</p>
<h4 id="oXgtaf">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XDg6HN">
Selfishly, to save ourselves it would be a good idea to save insects. As much as it would be a terrible shame if we lost rhinos or elephants or orangutans — these big charismatic creatures — it wouldn’t trigger a food security crisis. It wouldn’t cause the loss of potential medicines that could save us from antibiotic resistance. It wouldn’t cause whole ecosystems to collapse. That is what would happen if we lost insects.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w5jkAM">
We are heading toward a world where there are far more mouths to feed at a time when insect pollination is under severe strain. Some parts of the world are either going to have far more expensive food or no nutritious food at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hek6uy">
Insects also have intrinsic value. Butterflies are beautiful, for example. A garden filled with insects is alive, and it’s a place you want to be.
</p>
<h4 id="pqcDin">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w4MHnv">
Is there one particular insect that you found especially fascinating?
</p>
<h4 id="m3IC8t">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xu8eSn">
I love this water beetle [called Regimbartia attenuata] that’s a superhero. It can survive being eaten by a frog because it can … <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/beetles-eaten-alive-observed-escaping-frogs-
end/story?id=72244006">jump out of its ass</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cDr8uV">
Bees’ abilities amaze me. You can teach a bee how to play soccer. They can add and subtract. They can recognize each other by their faces. They almost have a sense of consciousness.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cWjQla">
Cockroaches are incredible. Anything that can survive two weeks after being beheaded is a pretty formidable creature. As much we hate them, we’ve got to at least tip our hats to them.
</p>
<h4 id="VATvlB">
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qAFVY8">
It doesn’t give me a ton of hope that we struggle to save even some of the most charismatic species. Tell me there’s a relatively easy way to avert catastrophe for insects.
</p>
<h4 id="QhkgEn">
<strong>Oliver Milman</strong>
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vSkNZw">
Unlike solving a pandemic, where you need a new vaccine, or climate change, where you might need new technologies, we don’t really need to invent anything new or do anything radically innovative to save insects. One scientist told me that we need more of an inaction plan rather than an action plan. It’s about just letting things slide a little bit. Maybe don’t rake the leaves in your yard, or don’t apply as much or as many insecticides. Maybe let the grass grow a little bit — because insects love that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ek4LA0">
Fixing the larger agricultural machine [expansive monocultures, pesticides, and so on] requires more systemic change. But there are signs of optimism. Farmers are looking at establishing corridors of wildflowers at the edge of their fields, for example, because they realize the importance of insects in helping their crops grow. There is a model we can follow to bring them back, but we need to start doing it quickly because the pressures on insects are only growing.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Russia is deploying brutal siege tactics in Ukraine</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A Ukrainian soldier carries a child while assisting people crossing a destroyed bridge near the
city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling on March 5, 2022." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/dwwFkG9WuQYxVFOfZg5_p7b4PzM=/305x0:7644x5504/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70584093/1238943461.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A Ukrainian soldier carries a child while assisting people crossing a destroyed bridge near the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling on March 5, 2022. | Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Mass bombardments and cluster munitions are reminiscent of the wars in Syria and Chechnya.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bkjPjY">
The Russian assault on Ukraine is ongoing, with Russian forces moving on major population centers including Mariupol in the southeast and the capitol, Kyiv. As the war moves into major cities, Russia has started to deploy brutal siege tactics — like using cluster munitions and bombing civilian infrastructure — which its military previously utilized in conflicts in Syria and Chechnya.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HS0D0T">
Such tactics could be a prelude to costly street-to-street fighting as Russia attempts to take Ukraine’s major cities, though tactical blunders on the ground, particularly outside of Kyiv, have in some cases stalled Russian ground advances.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M8jSQU">
Ukrainian armed forces, combined with the Territorial Defense Forces protecting individual cities and a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22956752/ukraine-resistance-volunteers-russia-
invasion">civilian population</a> armed with rifles and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/26/22952073/ukraine-
civilian-volunteers-kyiv-war-effort">determined to resist occupation</a>, have thus far had unexpected success in fending off Russian assaults. Western efforts to arm, train, and fund the Ukrainian military, too, have given it<strong> </strong>the capacity to punch far above its weight — something the Russian government, in an effort to downplay the seriousness and scale of the invasion, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/27/22953539/ukraine-invasion-putin-russia-
baffling-war-strategy">didn’t deploy forces to counter</a>, Mason Clark, the lead Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Vox last week.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6vDuEU">
But that’s changed in recent days: Russian ground troops are still stalled outside Kyiv, but they have managed to make significant headway in Kharkiv and Mariupol, in addition to capturing the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/03/nuclear-
power-plant-fire-ukraine-zaporizhzhia/">the Zaporizhzhia facility</a>, on Friday. Russian forces are also attempting to move on Odessa, another port city in the southwest.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KMqQyN">
According to Rita Konaev, the associate director of analysis at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Russia’s evolving military tactics underscore a new direction for the conflict.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CONoWR">
“The Russian approach to urban warfare very much emphasizes priming and prepping the ground for any sort of ground operation with this destruction from the air. It’s to break morale, it’s to cause significant damage to the infrastructure of cities, it’s to cause high levels of displacement from the cities,” Konaev told Vox. “That air campaign is an integrated and important part of the way that Russia sees warfare.”
</p>
<h3 id="oThsPn">
Russia is deploying devastating siege tactics against Ukrainian cities
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QxFLw5">
Analysts say Russia is currently preparing the ground in Ukraine’s cities by trying to raze as much infrastructure as possible by air in order to make the ground assault easier.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QwLm29">
“The key thing that we’ve been watching in the last 72 hours is, they’ve been starting to directly shell major cities, primarily Kharkiv, but we’re now seeing it in Mariupol as well, that they refrained from doing in the early days of the war,” Clark told Vox in an interview Thursday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8CNNNE">
Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city and has already seen heavy fighting, including rocket attacks resulting in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/28/ukraine-several-
killed-by-russian-rocket-strikes-in-civilian-areas-of-kharkiv">civilian casualties</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QlKYHZ">
Now, according to Clark, those attacks are likely to be stepped up from the early days of the conflict, when Russia “likely did not use these higher-scale artillery fires and airstrikes and those sorts of assets because they expected a quick victory” <strong>— </strong>which hasn’t occurred <strong>—</strong> “and didn’t want the portrayal in international and domestic Russian media of destroying Ukrainian cities.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vS3osV">
In a small village near Kharkiv, which is close to Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia, civilians have been caught up in intense shelling, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/4/its-hell-civilians-caught-in-russian-shelling-around-kharkiv">Al Jazeera </a>reported Friday. The most recent attacks reportedly killed three civilians. Although the city of Kharkiv is still under Ukrainian control, it’s been under heavy and indiscriminate shelling since the beginning of the war, with significant escalation starting February 28, according to a report by the Digital Forensic Research Labs’s Michael Sheldon, published by <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/mapped-russias-shelling-of-
civilians-in-kharkiv/">Atlantic Council</a>. That report found that Russia had used BM-30 300mm multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), which can <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/03/01/russian-rockets-are-falling-
indiscriminately-on-ukrainian-cities">launch cluster munitions</a> — essentially bombs containing smaller munitions, which can cause extreme devastation when used in civilian areas.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cuVMKf">
“Cluster munitions have a relatively high failure rate, meaning that a bunch of them don’t explode, they don’t detonate [after] impact. So in addition to that initial impact, all of that unexploded ordnance remains, on massive areas where people used to live, and want to continue living, and then they’re basically like landmines,” Konaev said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kr9aEW">
In addition to ongoing shelling, Russia is also attempting to cut off resources to key cities. In Mariupol, a city of more than 400,000, water, heat, and electricity have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/04/ukraine-russia-
siege-tactics-mariupol/">shut off for days</a> throughout a ferocious Russian bombardment campaign.<strong> </strong>According to Konaev, urban areas are dependent on a “pretty fragile grid system of life-saving and life- necessity utilities. If you damage one pipe, it can damage water access or heating for thousands of people.” The kind of destruction Russia is unleashing, therefore, could affect millions as the war continues.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YmOxL1">
“It will be devastating,” Konaev said, “because it’s going to depend on whether they’re going to still allow that humanitarian corridor where people are allowed to leave, and how are they going to be treating those movements?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YElN8Z">
Thus far, humanitarian ceasefires to allow evacuations haven’t been successful, despite an <a href="https://www.axios.com/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-belarus-938faa52-5f99-41a3-aae1-1dcd42c9583c.html">ostensible agreement</a> between Russia and Ukraine; Mariupol and the city of Volnovakha halted evacuations on Saturday as Russian attacks on civilian targets resumed, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-and-russia-agree-to-open-
corridors-for-civilians-to-evacuate-mariupol-11646470358">Wall Street Journal’s Yaroslav Trofimov reported</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tu8Bsg">
“These will be real sieges,” a US official told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-
security/2022/03/04/ukraine-russia-siege-tactics-mariupol/">Washington Post’s Paul Sonne and Ellen Nakashima</a> Friday. “They will be almost medieval in their approach. They will cordon cities. They will bombard them until the ground bounces. And then they will go in, and they’ll go street to street.”
</p>
<h3 id="wRebB7">
The Russian military has used these same strategies in Syria and Chechnya
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZA3sU1">
Past conflicts paint an alarming picture of where Russia’s siege tactics could be headed, experts told Vox. Though it’s unclear how far Russia might go in Ukraine, the most extreme version of such tactics can result in mass civilian casualties.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q0VCOl">
“In Syria, Russia’s predominant role was as part of the air campaign, so an air bombardment that just targeted cities, that’s where you saw the [extensive use of] cluster munitions,” Konaev told Vox. “Most of the heavy lifting that the Russians did was concentrated on aerial bombardment,” which <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/5/syrians-recount-horror-
under-russian-air-attacks">decimated parts of Aleppo</a> and other Syrian cities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I23jX3">
“They used everything they could in Aleppo, and as much as I don’t want to see this, I wouldn’t be surprised if they started using the same planes, bombs and missiles to target civilians in Ukraine,” Mustafa al-Qaseem, a Syrian refugee from Aleppo who settled in Germany, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/5/syrians-recount-horror-under-russian-air-
attacks">told Al Jazeera</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QD30ww">
Syria isn’t the only parallel; in the first Chechen War, in 1994 and 1995, Russian forces attacked the Chechen capitol, Grozny, flattening it with aerial bombardments before withdrawing in</p></li>
</ul>
<ol start="1997" type="1">
<li>Then, in December 1999, Russia went back and destroyed what remained, until Grozny was so decimated that the UN declared it <a href="https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2022/03/02/putin-grozny-chechen-ukraine-russia-military-past">the most destroyed city on Earth</a>.
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XjMOwn">
In both Syria and Chechnya, the Russian military was able to hone the devastating — and possibly illegal — tactics it is now beginning to deploy in Ukraine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vr6TOY">
“Health workers were targeted, medical facilities were bombed, there have been confirmed reports where doctors and humanitarian convoys did not want to have their location be shared during the deconfliction process [in Syria],” Sahr Muhammedally, the director for the MENA region and South Asia at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, told Vox. ”Russia bombed these facilities, even knowing that these were hospitals.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mlXY6U">
Hospitals and ambulances have reportedly been hit in Ukraine, too; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/politics/blinken-russia-ukraine/index.html">US Secretary of State Antony Blinken</a> condemned Russia for the attacks on Tuesday, while advocating for the Russian Federation to be removed from the UN Security Council. US officials have so far declined to say that Russia is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, but the lack of discernment by Russia in the war so far is having brutal effects.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O3S5ot">
“It is really horrific to see this, this intentional targeting of civilians to submit them, to get them to give up,” Muhammedally told Vox. “We saw this in Homs, we saw this in Aleppo, and even neighborhoods were bombed, markets were hit.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lD6oMW">
Now, Ukrainian cities could be facing the same kind of destruction.
</p>
<h3 id="FmRuJo">
The future of the Ukrainian war includes much more devastation
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="csxu6g">
Ukrainians aren’t fighting like they intend to give up any time soon — which will almost inevitably lead to further destruction as the fight shifts to ground warfare.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SSt5nj">
“We tend to think about urban warfare as this door-to-door, building by building, street by street fight, which is a predominantly ground battle, reliant on infantry and artillery, which is correct,” Konaev said. “But it’s also a multi-domain battle that involves this air bombardment element, especially for Russia.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rFCP0Z">
Some analysts, Konaev included, have pointed to the battle for Mosul in 2017 as an indicator of the brutal morass that such urban ground assaults can become.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n2ge7k">
While there are obvious differences — among other things, Ukraine is a sovereign country fighting against an unprovoked invasion, rather than a brutal terrorist group — there are also some parallels with the nine-month-long battle for Mosul.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zAV1uV">
“It took nine months because ISIS was well-trained, well supplied, and very dedicated to its cause,” Konaev said — a situation reflected by the Ukrainian armed forces and civilian resistance. What’s more, she said, defenders have an unquestioned advantage in urban fighting, and it will be more challenging for the invading force to hold a city, in part because they lack intimate knowledge of the area.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DZr5y7">
“You have the power but you have to fight smart,” <a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/news/urban-warfare-expert-offiers-ukraine-tips-battling-russia-urban-combat/">John Spencer</a>, the chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerGuard/status/1497583308976189443?s=20&amp;t=d4YS1dnnt7goOOc5KTO2Ug">tweeted last month</a> in a thread explaining his advice to the Ukrainian resistance. “The urban defense is hell for any soldier. It usually take 5 attackers to 1 defender. Russians do not have the numbers.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X9yNxt">
As Russia’s siege tactics indicate, though, Putin is intent on taking Ukraine’s cities — and whether or not he succeeds, history suggests the next phase of the war could cause even more civilian casualties.
</p></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><strong>How the war in Ukraine could change history</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/ybjWjWp0dID7xcfnePDO5bCuI0k=/33x0:561x396/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70582651/gettyimages_1238720016_594x594__1_.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A man sits outside his destroyed building after bombings on the eastern Ukraine town of Chuguiv on February 24, 2022. | AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A political scientist on why the fate of the global political order hangs in the balance.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3x64Vx">
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a world-historical event and the effects of it will likely ripple out for years to come.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eEGhL9">
Since 1945, the world has done a remarkably good job of preventing wars between great powers and making the costs of unprovoked aggression extremely high. In a matter of days, Russia has upended this system. A major war, if not probable, is at least plausible — and that’s a significant shift.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uv4hp6">
Countries across the globe — <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/28/putins-war-ukraine-
europe-hard-power/">especially in Europe</a> — are already rethinking their entire foreign policy, and that’s just the beginning. Every government will be watching closely to see what unfolds in Ukraine and whether the global response to Russia is able to deter even greater escalation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ooAjMs">
It’s worth remembering that we’re only a week into this war and things are changing by the day. And that is perhaps the scariest thing about this conflict: No one really knows how it will play out.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yyPQe5">
Is this the end of the global order? Are we entering a new era of great power conflict? Are we already looking at World War III?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ccKbM4">
To get some answers, I reached out to William Wohlforth, a professor of international politics at Dartmouth. Wohlforth studies the post-Cold War world and he’s a close observer of Russian foreign policy. I wanted to know what he thinks is truly at stake in this conflict, and if one of humanity’s greatest achievements — a rules-based system that nearly abolished the idea that nations can use brute force to take whatever they want — has come to an end.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rCHtXL">
A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.
</p>
<h4 id="zNttAc">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R7LjWf">
When people say that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-dmytro-kuleba-united-nations-russia-2022-2">end of the global order,</a> what does that mean?
</p>
<h4 id="dbKvFx">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xozpnQ">
When the Soviet Union fell, we saw a revived and expanded order based on pretty liberal principles in most respects. And that was grounded on America’s unprecedented position of power in the international system. Vladimir Putin has never liked this order and the best way of interpreting what’s happening in Ukraine and Europe today is a struggle over that order.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iRON7Q">
I hate to say it, but the fate of the global order hangs in the balance. That is what is being contested in Ukraine, because the post-Cold War order has been built on an architecture of security in Europe, based on NATO. And it was grounded on the principle that any state neighboring NATO could join it, except Russia.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v14ehU">
Russia never liked this, and it especially didn’t like the idea of extending this order to Ukraine. To be clear, I’m not justifying Russia’s behavior, I’m just explaining it. If they can succeed in at least forcing this order to stop, that will be, to some degree, a change from what existed after the end of the Cold War.
</p>
<h4 id="4QaweP">
Sean Illing
</h4></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bw1dmo">
Can they succeed?
</p>
<h4 id="bp0FzV">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dubVWn">
It’s not clear. We’re seeing a fateful confrontation of different kinds of power with different actors, all concentrated on this struggle. There’s obviously the Ukrainians fighting <a href="https://www.vox.com/22954833/russia-ukraine-invasion-strategy-putin-kyiv">way better than we thought</a>, and the Russians are fighting worse than we thought. But there’s also this gigantic clash of economic statecraft happening between the United States and a huge array of allies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZWdkNH">
How that all pans out is still up in the air. What the terms of the settlement of this war will ultimately be are still up in the air. But underlying all of this is this question of whether Russia has the power to end the European order that it has faced essentially since 1991.
</p>
<h4 id="OJVj6W">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GmuI2N">
Does Russia have that kind of power?
</p>
<h4 id="zicXxd">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nqjsaN">
I don’t think they do. I don’t think they can achieve the grandiose aims they’ve laid out prior to this invasion. Their maximal aims are not just “No Ukraine in NATO,” but “No NATO in Ukraine,” meaning no military cooperation with Ukraine. And that NATO would essentially withdraw its military position back to what existed in 1997 before the first round of its session.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bpoGY8">
Essentially, what they were asking for is a completely revised European security order. They’re not going to get that. Did they ever think they were going to get that? I doubt it, but I think this has always been about more than Ukraine.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="13YmRY">
<q>“The world has lived for 30 years in a historically peaceful period and that’s absolutely at stake”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<h4 id="W8mMLQ">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UcHhgU">
What would you say is truly at stake in this conflict? I’m asking for the average person watching it from a distance who doesn’t think much about the “global order,” who’s probably horrified by what they’re seeing, but just not sure how significant it is or why it matters beyond Ukraine.
</p>
<h4 id="t9Z6t7">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="31MdbD">
Obviously the fate of Ukraine is at stake. The right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own cultural and geopolitical orientation is at stake — that’s the fundamental thing that’s being fought over in the streets and in the skies of Ukraine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MuHtp2">
But for the rest of the world, what’s at stake is a confrontation between two countries, the US and Russia, which together possess 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons. Even though Russia seems insignificant economically, a festering contest between these two countries that continues to intensify would create the risk of serious escalation and that would be a threat to people everywhere.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ueNFOo">
This is a very different kind of conflict than we’re used to. There will be major economic consequences, like inflation and rising energy prices and that sort of thing. But there is also potential insecurity if this develops into major cyber competition between the two sides. The freedom to travel, the sense of openness in the world, our sense of our collective economic prospects — that would all change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hqaL92">
The world has lived for 30 years in a historically peaceful period and that’s absolutely at stake here. We’ve had devastating wars. We had them in the Global South. We had them even in the Balkans in the early 1990s. But we have not had a serious conflict between superpowers with vast arsenals of nuclear weapons looming in the background. Not even Al-Qaeda’s horrific attacks in the United States could produce the level of existential crisis we’re talking about here.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ss6lpe">
We’re talking about the shadow of an extremely dangerous and unpredictable great power war hovering over the world, unless this thing finds some settlement that doesn’t leave the two sides completely and totally alienated and holding swords over each other’s heads.
</p>
<h4 id="tcF8DJ">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nhMHHo">
One of the great achievements of the modern age — maybe the greatest — is an international order that nearly abolished the idea that “might makes right,” that a strong country can take whatever it wants from a weaker country just because it has the power to do so. Is that over now?
</p>
<h4 id="P4sQIX">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DQlT4n">
Again, I hate to answer this way, but the best I can say is that it hangs in the balance. If Russia succeeds in Ukraine, if they accomplish their maximal objectives, then that’s a major dent in that order.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6NTUGj">
For a long time, if a state was going to do something like this to a country, it had to come up with reasons that resonate with the rest of international society. There’s really good research on this by political scientists and historians showing how, even in the previous political age, most countries, when they went to war, they tried to find a reason that would somehow legitimate it in the eyes of other interlocutors. Sometimes they even put off military operations and waited for a time when it would look like they were really defending themselves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KrHqaU">
Russia has just blown this away completely. They’re trying to get the world to believe that Ukraine, having sat there for eight years, witnessing these breakaway republics, suddenly chose to invade them and commit genocide against ethnic Russians, and that they waited to do this until there were 170,000 Russian troops around their country. You have to be a complete idiot to believe that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GxwqVc">
So if they succeed here, if this use of force without any justification is allowed to stand, then yes, the global order we’ve lived under for 30 years will have taken a massive hit.
</p>
<h4 id="rP72P4">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VqodGR">
Are you surprised by the unanimity of the response from the rest of the world?
</p>
<h4 id="DoVhNT">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cNi5pV">
I am not surprised given the failure of Russia’s original vision of the operation. If the operation had gone the way they thought, if Ukraine fell quickly, you would have seen a different reality. People would have said, “Well, what are we going to do? We still have to deal with Russia, it’s very important.” But the Ukrainians, to their everlasting historical credit, ruined that Russian plan, and the result is you’ve seen this huge coalition develop.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IpNDCH">
I’ll add that several countries are still hedging their bets big time, and they include major players like China and India. They’re still trying to preserve their relationships with Russia and somehow trying to thread the needle between their valid commitment to the principle of sovereignty on the one hand, and their strategic relationship with Russia on the other.
</p>
<h4 id="fbHwjN">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SPDk7i">
What do you make of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/world/europe/germany-ukraine-russia.html">Germany’s decision</a> to bolster its military spending in response to Russia?
</p>
<h4 id="F6pIor">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P2VuBf">
It’s a historic increase. There was always a debate, in Germany and elsewhere, over just how antagonistic Russia’s preferences really were, over how deep its resentment against the European order really was, over how willing it was to take major risks. Well, those questions have been answered. So Germany is making this great turnaround because they just learned a lot about Russia and they’re updating their foreign policy and their whole approach to defense and security.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VhhF45">
Before the war, Germany and France were discounting the American intelligence saying that this invasion was imminent. And I think it was a widely held belief in German circles that Russia could be managed. The war in Ukraine has upended that argument.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="0qZPQa">
<q>“We have a tremendous national interest in trying to keep this thing from spiraling out of control”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<h4 id="3wdTwb">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fDIIWf">
And now countries like <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/finland-sweden-brush-off-
moscows-warning-joining-nato-83126927">Finland and Sweden</a> are talking openly about joining NATO, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sweden-send-military-aid-ukraine-pm-andersson-2022-02-27/">Sweden</a> is even sending military aid to Ukraine — that seems like a big deal.
</p>
<h4 id="9pScCh">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OEjbaW">
It’s a big deal. This debate has been going on in Sweden and Finland forever, but it really picked up back in 2014. The authorities in those countries always thought this was a card they could play if they had to. The question was always, why deploy it? And the thinking was, “Let’s wait until things are serious.” Now things are serious.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VwNX9s">
So yeah, these are very significant events. Sweden is shipping military hardware and this is a country that maintained a neutral stand all throughout the Cold War, although they were always pretty pro-America. Despite that affiliation with the West, they always stayed away from things like this.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bOc2ac">
And then there’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/world/europe/switzerland-russian-assets-freeze.html">Switzerland’s decision</a> to freeze Russian assets. This really is unprecedented, and it surprised the heck out of people who closely follow financial matters. It shatters the image of Switzerland as the ultimate neutral actor. So this is all a huge deal and speaks to what a bad strategic move this was by Putin.
</p>
<h4 id="3PJ61M">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MkvjQ9">
How worried are you about what international relations scholars often call a “security dilemma,” where you have these European powers increasing their defensive capabilities in order to protect themselves, but instead of making everyone safer, it produces a chain of reactions that ultimately makes conflict more likely?
</p>
<h4 id="Z4Xmer">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RP8h7n">
I’m very worried about a spiral. Again, every statement I make, in the back of my mind, I’m seeing these images from Ukraine and I’m remembering that this is what’s happening on the ground and anyone who doesn’t feel for what that country’s going through has got no heart. But I’m also remembering that we have to continually think about how to avoid a dramatic intensification of the Russia-West spiral.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="snpwac">
We have a tremendous national interest in trying to keep this thing from spiraling out of control. We need to have enough of a relationship with Russia that we can begin to establish red lines and guardrails to this competition, to mirror some of those that developed during the course of the Cold War. A lot of those don’t exist and they’re hard to create because there’s a new strategic reality created by such things as cyber [warfare].
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IoOsI6">
If we don’t maintain some kind of relationship with Russia, we can’t keep the rivalry within bounds that don’t escalate. I think this is within our capacity, but passions and emotions are hard to control. All of these things conspire against our effort to impose firewalls.
</p>
<h4 id="GjCDus">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EG3XQk">
If the international community continues to hold the line and punish Russia, is it possible that this war might actually affirm the rules-based system and in that sense strengthen it?
</p>
<h4 id="GTdBxV">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CxShYF">
Some analysts are arguing that if the outcome is like what you described, an unambiguous reaffirmation of how bad it was to do this, then that might be the case. But if Russia emerges a winner — actually, I don’t even want to go down that route because it’s a disaster.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BzpcYi">
To stay with your question, if all that happens as a result of this strong unanimity, it could result in the strengthening of the very order Russia is challenging. The problem with that is the timing. There have never been sanctions like this against a country as important to the global economy as Russia, which means we have no idea what’s going to happen. But most experts will tell you that it’s going to take a while for the sanctions to really take effect.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mN2nk3">
The military side of this is moving at a different speed than the economic statecraft. Russia is hoping to get some kind of resolution on the ground in Ukraine before these sanctions have a chance to completely crater the Russian economy if that is indeed what these sanctions are capable of doing. So we really don’t know the outcome of this thing yet.
</p>
<h4 id="U0E9xT">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eiguKt">
Are we closer to World War III than we’ve been in 80 years?
</p>
<h4 id="5hUktF">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A0DOa0">
I don’t think so, but that’s such a hard thing to measure. I think we were very close during the Cold War. I still think nuclear escalation in this particular crisis is unlikely, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-business-europe-moscow-2e4e1cf784f22b6afbe5a2f936725550">despite Putin’s decision</a> to raise the alert level of his nuclear forces. We’re still parsing exactly what’s happening operationally on the ground. I think he just wants to remind people that his country’s a nuclear power, and for all practical purposes, basically equal to the US in terms of the number of weapons. But we should be very careful when it comes to crossing certain red lines.
</p>
<h4 id="FuuDfQ">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iPP476">
What are the red lines?
</p>
<h4 id="fAV8j0">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rkNG5A">
That’s the crucial question. I still think they’re mainly about direct use of force in the Ukrainian theater against Russia. I don’t regard a nuclear threat in response to economic sanctions as a credible one, even if those sanctions hit pretty deep. So, right now, I don’t think that threat of the World War III is as high as it was back in the Cold War at crucial junctions like the Cuban Missile Crisis.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="uum064">
<q>“There have never been sanctions like this against a country as important to the global economy as Russia … We have no idea what’s going to happen”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<h4 id="xmcQGO">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6vLmgx">
One of my biggest worries is the lack of off-ramps for Putin. He can’t be seen as outright losing this war and he has the capacity to burn everything down if he wants to, so where does that leave us?
</p>
<h4 id="PyytEm">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ODyJkt">
I’m extremely worried. There’s a debate among Russia watchers over whether this is the same Putin we’ve been dealing with all these years or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/28/putin-bizarre-isolation/">whether the isolation</a> or something else has changed him. Does he really think he personifies and exemplifies the Russian state to such a degree that he’s willing to destroy Ukraine rather than allow it to fold into the West? Or will he realize that maybe plan A didn’t work and then fall back to plan B and accept more modest concessions?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ClrGyh">
Frankly, I think the neutrality pledge is probably the easiest concession of the ones that Russia’s currently demanding. They’re going to want autonomy for these republics. Of all the demands put forward by Russia, this may be the easier for the Ukrainians to swallow. But if Putin isn’t updating his expectations about what he’s going to get out of this crisis, then we’re potentially facing a really awful situation.
</p>
<h4 id="qmROQK">
Sean Illing
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I8krlJ">
I can’t help but think of that Sun Tzu line about “building your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across” and given the stakes and the asymmetries here, that seems like an important piece of wisdom.
</p>
<h4 id="oJUGKC">
William Wohlforth
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bYOm56">
Yeah, and nobody’s seeing that bridge right now, partly because we’re all reacting in real time. Sanctions have been put on without any statement about what would it take to end them. Personally, if I were running a foreign policy, I would be very clear about the conditions. I’d signal to Putin, “If you withdraw your forces in Ukraine, all of this comes to an end immediately.” I’ve not heard that statement yet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cpokbY">
People are right to worry about backing Russia too much into a corner. That’s why this diplomacy has to combine pain with potential reward if they take an offer. There has to be some kind of inducement to entering into negotiations. That’s the only way forward. We have to put things on the table in order to avoid a truly hopeless situation.
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2022 to start from March 26; CSK to face KKR in lung-opener</strong> - All IPL games will be played across four venues – Wankhede Stadium and Cricket Club of India in Mumbai, DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai and Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune</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>Ashwin goes past Kapil Dev's 434 wickets; becomes India's second-highest wicket-taker in Tests</strong> - Ashwin got to the mark with the wicket of Charith Asalanka in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Mohali</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>Jadeja’s all-round brilliance helps India to innings and 222-run win against Sri Lanka inside three days</strong> - India shot Sri Lanka out for 178 in 60 overs in their second innings after the visitors were asked to follow-on</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Invitation Cup celebrates the best of Indian horse racing</strong> - Chennai’s marquee event and awards night brought together the top names in the sport</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>Women’s World Cup | Vastrakar-Rana rescue act sets up huge win for India against Pakistan</strong> - Chasing a tricky target of 245, Pakistan fell way short of the mark and was all out for 137 in 43 overs, losing its 11th straight game against neighbours India in the 50-over format</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>Disha app to fetch discount on Women’s Day</strong> - It is an initiative launched by the police department</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>Water level</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lokesh urges Governor to recall Andhra University V-C</strong> - TDP MLC seeks probe into allegations of irregularities in the university</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>Kashmiri migrant pandits demand hike in monthly relief, stage protest in Jammu</strong> - They also demand an employment package for unemployed youths of the community besides interest-free bank loans for those who have crossed the age limit for government jobs</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>PM Modi’s personal ties with leaders of Ukraine's neighbours made evacuation possible: Adityanath</strong> - The UP CM interacted with 52 students evacuated from Ukraine and their parents at his official residence</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>War in Ukraine: Zelensky urges Ukrainians to go on the offensive</strong> - In a rallying cry, the Ukrainian president says the country has withstood the invasion “together”.</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>War in Ukraine: Thousands march in Kherson against occupiers</strong> - The Black Sea port is Ukraine’s only big city to have been captured by Russia in the war so far.</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>Putin says sanctions over Ukraine are like a declaration of war</strong> - The Russian president also warned against any attempt to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.</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>Ukraine war: Boris Johnson urges renewed world push to halt Russia’s invasion</strong> - The PM wants a renewed effort from world leaders to tackle Vladimir Putin’s “barbarous assault” on Ukraine.</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>Siege of Mariupol: Fresh Russian attacks throw evacuation into chaos</strong> - Mass evacuation postponed because of continued Russian shelling.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The war in Ukraine is keeping Chinese social media censors busy</strong> - Posts that glorify war and those that criticize Russia are getting quietly deleted. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1838387">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Report: Apple mulling bid for NFL Sunday Ticket package</strong> - Cash-flush Apple has been exploring a move into live sports. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1838582">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A few simple rules determine how floating fire ant rafts change shape over time</strong> - Agent-based model describes how “treadmilling” behavior can spontaneously emerge - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1838394">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best deals: Nintendo eShop gift cards, Paramount Plus, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also has AMD Ryzen CPUs, Fully standing desks, and the Google Nest Hub Max. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1838329">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Orbiting robots could help fix and fuel satellites in space</strong> - Machines will soon have a go at maintaining fleet of small spacecraft orbiting Earth. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1838406">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>My wife complains to me about constantly being sexually harassed at work​</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I told her she can stop working from home and go back to the office
</p>
</div>
<!--
SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/revalki"> /u/revalki </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7t77w/my_wife_complains_to_me_about_constantly_being/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7t77w/my_wife_complains_to_me_about_constantly_being/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I will never forget my grandpa’s last words</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He said, “quit shakin the ladder you little shit!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Rw88-_"> /u/Rw88-_ </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7nxka/i_will_never_forget_my_grandpas_last_words/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7nxka/i_will_never_forget_my_grandpas_last_words/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A man went into the confessional and said to his priest, ‘I almost had an affair with another woman.’</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The priest said, ’What do you mean, almost? The man said, ’Well, we got undressed and rubbed together, but then I stopped! The priest said, Rubbing together is the same as putting it in. You’re not to see that woman again. For your penance, say five Hail Mary’s and put $50 in the poor box!
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The man left the confessional, said his prayers, and then walked over to the poor box. He paused for a moment and then started to leave.
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The priest, who was watching, quickly ran over to him saying, ’I saw that. You didn’t put any money in the poor box!
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The man replied, Yeah, but I rubbed the $50 on the box, and according to you, that’s the same as putting it in!
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/forko23"> /u/forko23 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7ekha/a_man_went_into_the_confessional_and_said_to_his/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7ekha/a_man_went_into_the_confessional_and_said_to_his/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>John and David were both patients in a Mental Hospital. One day, while they were walking, they passed the hospital swimming pool and John suddenly dove into the deep end. He sank to the bottom and stayed there.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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David promptly jumped in and saved him, swimming to the bottom of the pool and pulling John out.
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The medical director came to know of David’s heroic act. He immediately ordered that David be discharged from the hospital as he now considered him to be OK. The doctor said, “David, we have good news and bad news for you! The good news is that we are going to discharge you because you have regained your sanity. Since you were able to jump in and save another patient, you must be mentally stable. The bad news is that the patient that you saved hung himself in the bathroom and died after all.”
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David replied, “Doctor, John didn’t hang himself. I hung him there to dry.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SalesAutopsy"> /u/SalesAutopsy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7rfnd/john_and_david_were_both_patients_in_a_mental/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7rfnd/john_and_david_were_both_patients_in_a_mental/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A priest, a lawyer, and a rabbit walk into a blood bank…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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… and the nurse asks, “what types are you?”
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The rabbit says, “I’m probably a Type O.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/donttalktomycat"> /u/donttalktomycat </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7pueb/a_priest_a_lawyer_and_a_rabbit_walk_into_a_blood/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t7pueb/a_priest_a_lawyer_and_a_rabbit_walk_into_a_blood/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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