Variants including B.1.617 have been linked to India’s surge in infections. Researchers are hurrying to determine how much of a threat they pose. Scientists are working to understand several coronavirus variants now circulating in India, where a ferocious second wave of COVID-19 has devastated the nation and caught authorities unawares. The country recorded nearly 400,000 new infections on 9 May, taking its total to more than 22 million (see ‘Surging cases of COVID-19’). Evidence is growing that one variant first detected in India might be more transmissible and slightly better at evading immunity than existing variants. Animal models also hint…

Back in the 1880s, the mathematician and theologian Edwin Abbott tried to help us better understand our world by describing a very different one he called Flatland. Imagine a world that is not a sphere moving through space like our own planet, but more like a vast sheet of paper inhabited by conscious, flat geometric shapes. These shape-people can move forwards and backwards, and they can turn left and right. But they have no sense of up or down. The very idea of a tree, or a well, or a mountain makes no sense to them because they lack the…

Here's What You Need to Remember: The B-1 proved to be popular in Afghanistan, where its combination of high speed, long-range, and high payload capacity meant that it could serve as a ground-attack-support platform, despite being originally designed as a nuclear bomber.   The B-1 Lancer is an impressive long-range, supersonic heavy bomber with variable-geometry wings designed for both supersonic and subsonic speed. Its nickname is The Bone.   New Engines General Electric developed a new turbofan design for the Lancer that has an afterburner, meaning the airframe can dump additionally fuel into the rear of the engine for greatly increased thrust, albeit…

marter testing, faster vaccinations and health equity are cornerstones of the 200-page COVID-19 strategy released by US President Joe Biden’s administration on 21 January, as the country surpassed 420,000 deaths due to the coronavirus. The plan pledges to “listen to science” — a shift from the approach of former president Donald Trump, who, at times, politicized scientific evidence and ignored public health recommendations. Many researchers posted messages on Twitter expressing relief that scientific evidence would play a central role in Biden’s plan. They also celebrated the existence of a coordinated national pandemic strategy, complaining that Trump’s failure to enact one impaired testing, tracing and other responses required to tame…

Brazil has changed. As well as the COVID-19 pandemic killing more than 170,000 of its citizens so far, 2020 has seen almost one-third of the Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland in the world, on fire. Four million hectares of forest, savannah and shrub-land (an area bigger than the US state of Maryland) have gone up in flames since January (see go.nature.com/2jtw6va). Almost all the Indigenous territories and conservation facilities were burnt, as was much private land. Conservation areas such as Encontro das Águas State Park have been devastated — it contained one of the largest populations of jaguars in the world.…