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The U.S. has suffered an immense loss of life during the pandemic, with the official death count at well more than half a million to date. But the real number is likely even greater. A new analysis has found major variations in the rates of deaths assigned to COVID among individual counties—likely a result of socioeconomic and political factors. Officially reported COVID deaths may not reflect the reality on the ground because of testing shortages, overwhelmed health care systems and differences in how deaths are registered....

Beneath the waves in the southwest Pacific Ocean lies a mostly hidden realm—dubbed Zealandia—that deserves to be called a continent, geologists say. Geophysical data suggest that a region spanning 5 million square kilometres, which includes New Zealand and New Caledonia, is a single, intact piece of continental crust and is geologically separate from Australia, a team of scientists from New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia argue in the March/April issue of GSA Today....

You and I haven’t met, but I feel as if I already know you. You’re pretty smart. Above average, in fact. And when you have a goal in front of you—whether it’s completing a work project by the deadline, writing that term paper or getting all the dinner-party details just right—you’re sure you’ll rise to the occasion. Me, too. Trouble is, we’re often so very wrong about our overconfident self-assessments—and we are blind to that ignorance because we can’t get a complete view of ourselves, as psychologists David Dunning, Chip Heath and Jerry M....

Swarm intelligence is a branch of artificial intelligence that attempts to get computers and robots to mimic the highly efficient behavior of colony insects such as ants and bees. Ants, for example, use pheromone trails to mark the routes they use to find food. The more traversed trails develop an accumulation of pheromone that attracts new ants, whereas pheromones deposited on paths less traveled will evaporate over time. With an eye on the potential that swarm intelligence holds for the development of information technology and robotics, the European Research Council (ERC) awarded a $2....

There’s a reason every government and corporation wants to hoard as much data on as many people as possible. Gather enough data, says Alex “Sandy” Pentland, director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Human Dynamics Laboratory, and you can achieve a “God’s-eye view of humanity”—which he’ll admit is a little scary. But, as he argues in the October issue of Scientific American, it is also extraordinarily promising. Used correctly, he says, big data can perform miracles as diverse as preventing pandemics and getting the federal government to function again....

The combined influence of climate change and expanding agriculture are causing insect populations to plummet in some parts of the world, according to a new study that determined the abundance of bugs has dropped by half in the hardest-hit places. That’s a big concern for both people and nature. Insects often help form the bedrock of natural ecosystems—they pollinate plants, including agricultural crops, and also provide an important food source for other animals....

Taking advantage of these new opportunities, I have recently started watching two science-heavy programs of relatively recent vintage: Dexter and Breaking Bad. Readers who don’t know the shows may be driven to try them by what follows. Readers who are up-to-date on the programs should not send me any spoiler information! Dexter is the story of scientist Vincent Masuka, the lead forensics expert for the Miami Metro Police Department. (The character called Dexter is a lesser forensics worker, who concentrates on blood spatter....

In October 2013 scientists working in South Africa announced that they had discovered a trove of fossil human remains in the pitch-black depths of an underground cave system. They began a rapid recovery effort that yielded some 1,550 specimens of bones and teeth—just a fraction of the material at the site, yet already the largest assemblage of human fossils ever found in all of Africa. Now the team has published its eagerly anticipated analyses of the remains, and the conclusions are startling....

Southern California suffered a number of big earthquakes in the early 1900s, a pattern that prompted experts to declare the state an earthquake hazard. But new work shows some of the biggest temblors might have been caused by oil and gas production, not nature. The finding could ultimately change scientists’ predictions for earthquakes in the Los Angeles Basin, and how well they understand man-made, or “induced,” earthquakes around the country. It is challenging enough for scientists to determine whether a modern-day quake is natural or induced, and even more so for one that occurred a hundred years ago....

One of the most challenging aspects of drug development is testing. Scientists are forced either to experiment on whole animals, which is expensive, raises ethical issues and may not predict effects in humans, or to perform tests on microscopic human cells found in tissue cultures, which have been altered to live forever and bear little relation to actual living, breathing people. But researchers are working on a new technique to help bridge that gap: microchips that simulate the activities and mechanics of entire organs and organ systems....

As complex as the chemistry of life may be, the conditions for the vigorous growth of plants often boil down to three numbers, say, 19-12-5. Those are the percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, prominently displayed on every package of fertilizer. In the 20th century the three nutrients enabled agriculture to increase its productivity and the world’s population to grow more than sixfold. But what is their source? We obtain nitrogen from the air, but we must mine phosphorus and potassium....

A CHEMICAL RED FLAG Regarding “How Packaged Food Makes Girls Hyper,” by Aimee Cunningham [Head Lines], it is possible that a high level of BPA in the mother is a symptom of a different underlying problem, rather than the cause of the behavioral issues in young children. The sources of BPA in humans are commonly packaging from processed foods and beverages that may themselves contain many other additives. High BPA levels probably correlate with poor diet and nutrition, as well as with higher levels of caffeine, artificial sweeteners, colors and flavors, all of which some studies link causally with behavioral problems in children....

QUESTION OF SCOPE The title of the single-topic issue “Beyond the Limits of Science” left me scratching my head. To my eyes, the issue was packed with accounts of topics firmly within the limits of science. Science does have its limits, but I cannot understand why Scientific American would portray indisputably scientific endeavors as being beyond them. Zachary Miller Fleetwood, Pa. SQUARE ROOT OF NOT In “Beyond the Quantum Horizon,” David Deutsch and Artur Ekert describe how a π/2-pulse—a pulse of light with the same frequency but half the duration or amplitude of a π-pulse that would change the state of an atom’s electron from 0 to 1, or vice versa—works in the computation for finding the square root of NOT (a logic gate in which inputting 0 or 1 results in the opposite figure)....

Scientists may have a false sense of security about the safety of their laboratories, according to early results from the first international survey of researchers’ workplace attitudes and practices. Some 86% of the roughly 2,400 scientists who responded said that they believe their labs are safe places to work. Yet just under half had experienced injuries ranging from animal bites to chemical inhalation, and large fractions noted frequent lone working, unreported injuries and insufficient safety training on specific hazards (see ‘A question of safety’)....

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 could offer a home button fingerprint sensor to compete with Apple’s iPhone 5S. (Credit: Scott Stein/CNET) With Samsung expected to unveil its new Galaxy S5 next week, Sammobile has published a self-described explanatory report saying it’s “confirmed” that the new device will come with a fingerprint sensor to unlock the smartphone. According to Sammobile, people familiar with the upcoming device said the fingerprint sensor works with a vertical swipe of the pad of the finger while keeping the finger flat and swiping at medium speed....

From the beginning of the Deepwater Horizon crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have been responsible for carrying out every attempt to stop the flow of oil, and their mixed record of success—installing lower marine riser package (LMRP) cap on June 3 but damaging the gas venting system on June 23, for example—reflects just how difficult is it to operate more than a mile below the surface....

In April, Vice President Mike Pence violated COVID-19 safety protocols at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, refusing to don a mask when he toured the hospital. In May, President Donald Trump similarly eschewed a mask—while visiting a mask-making facility. Pence said he wanted to look health care workers in the eye, even though masks don’t cover the eyes. Trump has simply said more than once that he is choosing not to do it....

Cosmeticians probably won’t agree, but scientists say eyelashes have an optimal length: a third of the width of the eye. This ratio helps keep the eyes wet, according to a new study that attempts to answer the question: What are eyelashes for anyway? “They’ve been hypothesized to act as sun shades, dust catchers and blink-reflex triggers,” said David Hu, a mechanical engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. “But there’s been no really systematic study of what their true benefits are....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Aztec society was hierarchical and divided into clearly defined classes. The nobility dominated the key positions in the military, state administration, judiciary, and priesthood. While traders could become extremely wealthy and powerful, even their prosperity was based on their class, and most citizens remained simple farmers. Within Aztec society, there was a limited opportunity for individuals to better their social position, especially in the military and religious spheres....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The Battle of Crécy on 26 August 1346 CE saw an English army defeat a much larger French force in the first great battle of the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453 CE). Edward III of England (r. 1327-1377 CE) and his son Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376 CE) led their professional army to victory thanks to a good choice of terrain, troop discipline in the heat of battle, use of the devastating weapon the longbow, and the general incompetence of the French leadership under King Philip VI of France (r....