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Great Science Trips, on Earth 0 8. 1 3 . 20 2 1

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DOOMSDAY va r i a n t COVID keeps mutating into scary new threats.

How worried should we be?

AUGUST 13, 2021 _ VOL.177 _ NO.04

FEATURES NEXT STOP BETA

Technology has transformed how virtually everything gets invented, designed, built, tested and reɿned The movement toward oSen, Sractical collaboration and learning-by-doing is now changing how science and engineering are taught COVER CREDIT

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The Doomsday Variant

Best Maker Schools 2021

Delta has shown how destructive new virus strains can get. Scientists fear future mutations could be even worse.

Newsweek teamed up with Make: to find the leading hands-on schools around the world for inventors, engineers, artisans, tinkerers and hackers of all descriptions.

BY DAVID H. FREEDMAN

1

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DEPARTMENTS P. 18

In Focus

Periscope

06 Plumas County,

10 Whitmer Weighs In

08 Weihui, China REPRESENT

“There was a whole new set of stories that needed to be told, and The L Word was a great frameworN from which to do that Ť

Biblical-Level Deluge Chiba, Japan Golden Jab Pasuruan, Indonesia Tiger Twins

Michigan’s Governor on Gender Politics and her State’s COVID Recovery 16 Misinformation

Monitor Pushing the Big Lie About Arizona

23 Talking Points

Simone Biles, Liz Cheney and More Culture 42 The New Suicide

Squad Is the Same as the First— but Different The Movie’s Stars and Director on Their ‘Rebootquel’ 46 Uncharted

Citizen Science Trips 48 Parting Shot

Jennifer Beals

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18 What Russia, China

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THE NEWS IN PICTURES

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In Focus

6

NEWSWEEK.COM

AUGU S T 13, 2021

PLUMAS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

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A TOUGH YEAR

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has grappled with verbal abuse from opponents, would-be kidnappers and personal scandals. She says: “This is the horrible, destructive climate ZH ɿQG RXUVHOYHV LQ Ť

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AUGU S T 13, 2021

“The situation is rapidly deteriorating,” Russia says. » P.18

THE INTERVIEW

Whitmer Weighs In

T + E :AS+ , 1GT21 P 2STʔG E T T Y T2 P 5 , G+ T P&ʔG E T T Y

The Michigan governor talks to Newsweek about gender politics, COVID recovery, the sentencing of one of her would-be kidnappers and more

michigan governor gretchen whitmer mate we find ourselves in,” Whitmer tells Newsweek. says she’s been in a pensive mood lately, hav- “Certainly, the vice president is treated differently ing spent time recently writing a victim-impact because of racial politics and gender politics—and statement ahead of the sentencing of an anti-govit’s just not fair.” ernment extremist who took part in a plot to kidIndeed, Whitmer, who turns 50 this month, views many of the political dramas she and othnap and kill her last year. Her statement, which ers have faced in recent months as a product of will be revealed in federal court on sentencing day that viciousness. A year ago, she was one of the this month, has forced her, she says, to take stock of what she’s been through over the past year and fastest-rising political stars of the pandemic era, what it portends for the country going forward. enjoying the highest approval ratings of her ca“We’ve come to a dangerous moment in our nation reer; most Michiganders polled said they were apwhere it’s not just about disagreement, it’s about preciative of the decisive, if restrictive, actions she threats of violence,” she tells Newsweek. took to curb the spread of COVID-19. Not everyA one-time short-lister for vice president on the one, though—an angry and vocal minority resent2020 Democratic ticket, she’s espeed what they viewed as intrusions on cially sensitive to the intense, angry their personal liberty, including a and personal attacks visited every day group that marched on the state capBY upon the actual person who became itol with guns, hanging effigies of her. the first female veep, Kamala Harris.

And as she rounds the corner toward STEVE FRIESS “This is the horrible, destructive cli@stevefriess her 2022 re-election, her popularity

Photog raph b y B R I T T A N Y G R E E S O N

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T H E N E W S W E E K I NT E RV IE W

has cooled: She’s still above water with a 50 percent approval rating compared to 44 percent disapproval, but that’s a clear erosion from the 63 percent who approved of her leadership at the height of the crisis.

COVID politics became more complicated as the pandemic wore on. Her administration repeatedly lost in court as she tried to extend and retain her ability to impose some of the nation’s more draconian restrictions, including prolonged business shutdowns and even, at one point, restrictions on whether Home Depot could sell gardening supplies.

An impromptu trip to Florida in March to see her ailing father led to a monthlong scandal over whether she’d violated any of her own COVID orders by traveling out of state (she hadn’t) and whether the taxpayers would foot the bill for the private jet she traveled on (they didn’t; her campaign committee did). She had to apologize in May after a Facebook post showed her maskless and packed in at an indoor restaurant table with 12 friends in contravention of a state order requiring 6 feet of social distance and much smaller groups of patrons. “I am human,” she said in response to the uproar. “I made a mistake, and I apologize.”

Now the Republican-run legislature is poised later this year to use an unusual signature-gathering process that cannot be vetoed by the governor to pass restrictive voting legislation that would reduce voting hours and ballot dropbox availability and strip the governor’s office of the emergency powers she used to respond to the pandemic.

Whitmer spoke to Newsweek about the pace of Michigan’s COVID recovery, her personal pandemic protocol, the sentencing of one of her wouldbe kidnappers, the unique challenges

facing women in political office and more. (This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.)

12

NEWSWEEK.COM

/DVW WLPH ZH VSRNH \RX VDLG \RXU FORVH WLHV WR 3UHVLGHQW -RH %LGHQ ZRXOG KHOS WKH VWDWH 7KHQ LQ $SULO 0LFKLJDQ KDG D ELJ &29,' VSLNH DQG \RX DVNHG WKH administration for more doses of YDFFLQH EXW ZHUH GHQLHG 'LG \RX call the president about that and GLG WKH H[FKDQJH JR EHWWHU WKDQ ODVW \HDU ZKHQ \RX FRPSODLQHG DERXW D ODFN RI SHUVRQDO SURWHFWLYH equipment and President Donald 7UXPS UHVSRQGHG E\ FDOOLQJ \RX ţWKH ZRPDQ IURP 0LFKLJDQŤ ZKR ţKDV QR LGHD ZKDW VKHŠV GRLQJ"Ť I did. They understood that I was making the case to surge vaccines to a hotspot, which was Michigan at the time. They had a different strategy. I respect that, but they also respect the fact that I’m just trying to do my job and protect the people of my state. $ UHFHQW UHSRUW IURP WKH ZHEVLWH :DOOHW+XE IRXQG WKDW 0LFKLJDQ KDV KDG WKH VORZHVW UHFRYHU\ IURP &29,' RI DQ\ VWDWH 7KH\ EDVHG WKDW RQ KRVSLWDOL]DWLRQV &29,' SRVLWLYLW\ UDWHV XQHPSOR\PHQW DQG RWKHU IDFWRUV 6RPH RI WKDW GDWD ZDV RXWGDWHGŜFDVH QXPEHUV and hospitalizations had fallen

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dramatically by the time the report came out—but are you VDWLVɿHG ZLWK WKH UHFRYHU\" There have been a lot of rankings over the last year. Michigan also got the Golden Shovel Award [from the construction trade magazine Area Development] with regard to manufacturing investment because we’ve announced thousands of jobs even in the middle of a pandemic. We have seen our GDP grow 7.6 percent in the first quarter of 2021, which is faster than any of our fellow Midwestern states. Taking a picture from one aspect is certainly not telling the whole story. I recognize there’s always more work to do. But we’ve come a long way and we’re going to put our foot on the gas with $300 million in grants to small businesses that raise wages to $15 per hour, $370 million for child care for low-income Michiganders and $100 million for grants to particularly hard-hit small businesses like restaurants.

The state is at about 62 percent of DGXOWV YDFFLQDWHG QRZ DQG VHHPV WR KDYH KLW D VWXEERUQ FHLOLQJ IDOOLQJ VKRUW RI WKH SUHVLGHQWŠV JRDO RI SHUFHQW E\ -XO\ Yeah, we always knew there would come a time when we would have more vaccines than demand. It means we transition to mobile efforts and smaller neighborhood efforts and partnerships with churches and other community organizations. It’s important to recognize that the legislature hasn’t been a whole lot of help on this front.

Many have resisted getting vaccinated themselves, so this is part of the climate we’re navigating. If we could all embrace the science and the incredible promise of these vaccines, we would be able to move faster.

AUGU S T 13, 2021

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Periscope

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Clockwise, from top: Whitmer, getting her COVID shot; VP Kamala Harris, who the governor strongly supports; and one of the Michigan voters who Whitmer wants to protect from efforts to restrict ballot access.

'R \RX VWLOO ZHDU PDVNV" I follow the house rules. And that’s what I’ve encouraged everyone else to do. So if I go into an establishment where people are wearing masks, I wear a mask. If I am at an establishment where they don’t require people to wear masks, knowing that I’ve got the full benefit of vaccination, I don’t wear a mask. But I anticipate that I’ll keep a mask in my bag for quite a while. And if there are small, crowded spaces, I may put it on on occasion.

But at this point, I feel very safe and comfortable having been vaccinated.

It’s a relief.

<RX ZHUH FRQVLGHUHG IRU YLFH SUHVLGHQW DQG QRZ ZH GR KDYH RXU ɿUVW ZRPDQ LQ WKDW RIɿFH :KDW GR \RX PDNH RI KRZ PXFK FULWLFLVP VKH JHWV" You know, I’ve been a target of white supremacists’ efforts to kidnap me, put me on some sort of a sham trial and execute me. This is the horrible, destructive climate we find ourselves in. Certainly, she’s treated differently because of racial politics and gender politics—and it’s just not fair. She’s doing an incredible job as our vice president, she is carrying the mantle of this administration, she’s a full

partner to the president. And I think she’s someone of whom we should all be proud.

'R \RX WKLQN WKH FRQWURYHUV\ VXUURXQGLQJ \RXU WULS WR )ORULGD ZDV DOVR XQIDLU RU ZDV LW IDLU JDPH" :RXOG \RX KDYH GRQH DQ\WKLQJ GLIIHUHQWO\" You know what? I violated none of the rules. I followed the ethics laws.

I went for two days to check in on a parent who’s got serious health issues.

I am a daughter as well as a mother and wife and governor. The problem is that we’ve got a Republican Party in Michigan that wants to politicize every little thing. I suppose that it’s just something that we have to accept in this environment, but it certainly was not based on any genuine failure to follow the law or follow ethics rules.

It was simply a daughter needing to check it up on her dad. And that’s what it was.

Are you concerned about the HIIRUWV WR FKDQJH WKH HOHFWLRQ ODZV DQG VWULS \RX RI HPHUJHQF\ SRZHUV" I think everyone should be concerned when voting rights or powers to keep people safe are in jeopardy—in Michigan and everywhere. I think about how much more we could accomplish if the party leaders at the Capitol would focus on getting the federal dollars deployed to help businesses and to help get our kids back in school. Instead, they’re spending their time making it harder for people to vote and taking away emergency powers of the office of the governor. Neither one of those things helps solve the problem for a business that was left out of one of the federal programs that they needed to simply survive. None of their actions are helping students who need to get

NEWSWEEK.COM

13

back in the classroom. They not only don’t solve the problems that are real, but they create other problems that we will all pay a price for. $UH \RX VXUSULVHG DW KRZ 5HSXEOLFDQV KDYH UHVSRQGHG WR WKH -DQXDU\ ULRWV RQ WKH &DSLWRO" It’s really sad, and it’s disturbing what this could mean for our democracy.

It used to be when a party lost the presidency and the Senate and the House—all three things happened in the last four years—the party would recalibrate. Every report shows there wasn’t a scintilla of fraud in the 2020 election, so it shows how cynical and destructive they’re willing to be to win a future election. In Michigan, the Senate Republicans did their own assessment of the election. Their own report says there was no fraud in the

T H E N E W S W E E K I NT E RV IE W

election. But they released that report on the same day that they moved these barrier-to-voting bills. This could have consequences not just for Michiganders, but for the nation. As Michigan goes, so goes the rest of the country. :KDW LV \RXU PLQGVHW QRZ WKDW \RXŠYH KDG VRPH GLVWDQFH IURP WKH ZKROH NLGQDSSLQJ SORW WKLQJ"

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You know, [with] the sentencing of the first plotter coming up, I was asked to give a victim-impact statement. I wasn’t sure whether I was going to do that, frankly, but I did. This last year and a half has been hard on every single one of us, and some of us haven’t quite processed at all, I can tell you that. Going through that process of writing that victim-impact statement was a moment where I kind of checked in. I know the burden I carry is a lot lighter than that which many people carry every day.

But certainly, this last year and a half has taken a toll on all of us in our own way.

'R \RX WKLQN WKDW WKH WKLQJV \RXŠYH H[SHULHQFHG RYHU WKH SDVW \HDU RU VRŜIURP WKH NLGQDSSLQJ SORW WR WKH ZD\ 7UXPS DQG RWKHU RSSRQHQWV WDON DERXW \RX WR WKH FXUUHQW HIIRUWV WR GHSRZHU \RXU RIɿFHŜDUH XQLTXH WR \RX DV D SURPLQHQW ZRPDQ" I think my experience is different than my male counterparts, yes.

There’s a layer of misogyny on top of all of the other stuff that every governor in the nation is confronting that is unique to women officeholders.

But whether it is a public health official like Dr. Fauci or an election official like [Michigan Secretary of State] Jocelyn Benson or her counterpart in Georgia, or municipal officeholders who upheld election laws, we’ve come to a dangerous moment in our nation where it’s not just about disagreement, it’s about threats of violence.

And that’s not right. It’s downright dangerous for the individual, but it’s dangerous for our democracy, too.

92&$/ 23321(176 “Michiganders $JDLQVW ([FHVVLYH 4XDUDQWLQHŤ SURWHVWHUV make their views known on the steps of the State Capitol in Lansing last year.

14

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AUGU S T 13, 2021

J E F F .2:ALS. YʔA FPʔG E T T Y

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The audit, which was authorized by the Republican-controlled state Senate, reviewed the county’s approximately 2.1 million ballots and found 182 cases of potential fraud, according to the Associated Press. The effort was widely seen as partisan and aimed at sowing doubts about the election results, echoing former U.S. President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election was marred by massive fraud.

Earlier official hand count and electronic equipment audits found no evidence of fraud or vote switching in Maricopa County.

M I S IN FO R MA T ION MON ITOR

The Site Pushing the Big Lie About Arizona ’s Election Audit The Gateway Pundit, which has a history of advancing IDOVH FODLPV KDV EHHQ WKH PRVW SUROLɿF RQOLQH SXEOLVKHU promoting the audit in Maricopa County as purveyors of mis- and disinformation related to the 2020 elections have turned their attention to a partisan audit of ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona, one website played an outsized role promoting the story and spreading related false claims, The Gateway Pundit.

According to NewsGuard’s analysis of data from NewsWhip, a social media intelligence company, The Gateway Pundit, a Red-rated (mean-

16

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ing generally unreliable) conservative news and commentary website with a history of false claims, published 263 articles about the audit of Maricopa County election results between when U.S. President Joe Biden took office on January 20, 2021, and BY June 20, 2021, making it the most prolific MELISSA GOLDIN online publisher on AND the topic.

KENDRICK MCDONALD

According to NewsWhip, The Gateway Pundit’s articles received significant social media engagement and sparked further coverage by other outlets, including by other Red-rated sites. Ơ In comparison to The Gateway Pundit’s 263 articles, the Green-rated Arizona Republic (AZCentral.com) published 159 articles about the audit in the same time frame. Unlike the St. Louis-based Gateway Pundit, the Arizona Republic is based in Maricopa County. Ơ Other Red-rated sites published an additional 485 articles about the audit from January 20, 2021, to June 20, 2021 that explicitly referenced The Gateway Pundit by attributing information to the outlet or republishing its stories. The combination of The Gateway Pundit and other Red sites referencing its coverage represents 6 percent of all articles about the audit during that time frame, NewsGuard found. Ơ Green-rated sites also published articles naming The Gateway Pundit, including fact-checks or other coverage of audit misinformation.

Including these stories, articles about the audit either by, or naming, The Gateway Pundit make up 12 percent

AUGU S T 13, 2021

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By the numbers:

A Gateway Pundit article falsely claimed that “someone ordered the ballots to be shredded.” of all audit coverage in the same time frame, demonstrating the outlet’s significant influence.

Breaking it down: The Gateway Pundit published a wide variety of falsehoods about the Arizona audit, and the substance of those articles was frequently spread and further amplified by other sites around the internet. Ơ For example, a March 6, 2021 article about the audit claimed that “someone ordered the ballots to be shredded.” Ơ However, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, whose office maintains voter files and works with the county’s Elections Department to hold elections, told the Associated Press: “I can say with 100% certainty that the 2.1 million legally voted ballots from the November General Election are safe and accounted for in the Elections Department vault, under 24/7 surveillance.” Ơ This false story received about 29,300 social media interactions (shares, likes and comments) since it was first published, the most interactions received by any article about the audit that the site published.

‘Deleted Files’: On May 12, 2021 The Gateway Pundit published an article whose headline falsely claimed, “Maricopa County Elections Officials DELETED ENTIRE DATABASE DIRECTORY from Voting

Machines.” Citing a letter that Arizona Senate President Karen Fann wrote to Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers, the article stated: “On Wednesday afternoon, it was discovered that ‘the entire database’ showing the ‘Results Tally and Reporting’ for the 2020 election had been deleted from the Maricopa County voting machines!” Ơ However, Sellers said in a May 12th statement that “the claim that our employees deleted election files and destroyed evidence is outrageous, completely baseless and beneath the dignity of the Arizona Senate.” Ơ A technical memo from the Maricopa County Elections Department confirmed that the database to which The Gateway Pundit referred had not “been spoiled or deleted.” Ơ The Gateway Pundit’s article TRUE BELIEVERS Trump supporters

protesting outside the Maricopa &RXQW\ (OHFWLRQV 'HSDUWPHQW RIɿFH in Phoenix on November 5, 2020.

received 23,600 interactions, making it the second-most popular Gateway Pundit audit story.

The Gateway Pundit, which was founded in St. Louis in 2004 by conservative blogger Jim Hoft, has promoted myriad other false claims and debunked conspiracy theories.

NewsGuard sent founder and editor Hoft three emails inquiring about the site’s coverage of the audit, but did not receive a response.

Why we should care: Misinformation about the Arizona audit, which perpetuates the myth that the 2020 election was rigged, sows distrust in democratic processes. Plus, all the falsehoods being published about the “discoveries” of fraud in Arizona have now given other states controlled by disappointed followers of President Trump the idea to pursue their own partisan audits.

Additional reporting by Sam Howard

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GE OPOLI T I C S

What Russia, China and Iran Want in Afghanistan After U.S. Troops Leave

russia, china and iran are received support from Pakistan, Saudi preparing for the U.S. military Arabia and the United States. The colto leave Afghanistan at a time of aggralapse of the government that eventuvated tensions and soaring violence in ally emerged from the strife led to a civil war in the 1990s, in which the the war-torn nation with which they have unique and historical ties.

Taliban was born and ultimately swept As these plans take form, Newsweek through Afghanistan, taking control has contacted officials from the three of most of the country until the 2001 countries with respect to their plans massive U.S.-led military campaign to balance the risks and opportunities after 9/11. associated with the volatile developRussia, which backed the embatments in Afghanistan. tled Northern Alliance in Kabul at the All three seek to ensure stability time, initially supported the exploin Afghanistan and its periphery sive U.S. campaign, which targeted while securing their own interests as both the Taliban and its Al-Qaeda ally, friendly ties with Kabul also a product of the war are tested by a desire to against the Soviets. In engage with the powerthe two decades since, BY ful Taliban movement during which Russian that has retaken much President Vladimir TOM O’CONNOR @ShaolinTom of the country.

Putin has been in power as president or prime Russia minister, the Kremlin has frequently for russia, this means stepping up criticized the way Washington hanto a longstanding engagement in a dled the conflict. country where it has a modern hisToday, Russia is speaking out tory of intervention and withdrawal. against how the U.S. exit is playing out, The 1980s Soviet attempt to defend as the Taliban makes rapid advances in a communist government in Kabul the absence of progress in peace talks.

“The situation is rapidly deteriorating,” was met with fierce resistance by local and foreign mujahideen fighters, who the Russian embassy in Washington,

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D.C., recently told Newsweek. “We attribute it to the hasty pullout of the U.S. and other NATO countries’ troops.”

But even throughout the 20-year war effort, the longest in U.S. history, the Taliban managed to regain significant ground. Citing recent remarks

by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the embassy said “the West had not achieved any visible results in stabilizing Afghanistan and failed in its mission there.”

But the Russians still see a U.S. role in Afghanistan going forward.“Our criticism of the U.S. policy is aimed

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The trio look for stability in Afghanistan while securing their own interests, as friendly ties with Kabul are tested by a desire to engage with the Taliban

DIFFERENT VIEWS Iran’s Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Khamenei, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping each have their own goals in Afghanistan.

at encouraging Washington to take a more comprehensive approach on addressing the issues in Afghanistan,” the embassy said.

Russia continues to engage on the issue internationally through the “extended Troika” format that also involves the U.S., China and Pakistan, which has the closest ties to the Taliban of the four nations.

Elsewhere in the region, Russia has shored up its close ties with the so-called “Central Asian five,” comprised of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and

Photo illust rat ion b y G L U E K I T

“What I want from you is to seize this opportunity and end the war in Afghanistan as soon as possible and provide the people of Afghanistan with an opportunity for development.”

Uzbekistan, all former Soviet republics.

The first three are already treaty allies of Russia under the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that also includes Armenia and Belarus.

Moscow also maintains military bases in Kyrgyzstan, from which Russia will conduct joint air drills next week with Uzbekistan, as well as in Tajikistan, the only Russian ally to border Afghanistan directly.

In an interview with the Russia Today outlet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko praised the “strategic partnership and alliance” between his country and Uzbekistan, which left the CSTO in 2012 but still preserves robust ties with Moscow.

And he revealed “a confidential dialogue” with Turkmenistan, a neutral nation that also borders Afghanistan, “in the field of security” as it relates to “common threats and challenges.”

Rudenko noted that “the ongoing degradation of the situation in Afghanistan poses a direct threat to Central Asia,” and that Russian officials “share the corresponding concerns of our neighbors in the region.”

On tracking the potential blowback in Central Asia, the Russian embassy said “we closely monitor the situation in the region and take all necessary measures to strengthen the potential of our allies to prevent and counter external threats.”

The assurances came as Moscow officials dismissed the notion of U.S. military bases in a region to which Russia has already firmly established links. Within Afghanistan, the Russian embassy said, “we conduct extensive political contacts with Afghan

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GEOPOLITICS

parties,” which includes hosting delegations from both the Afghan government and the Taliban, including separate talks earlier this month in Moscow on Afghanistan’s future and Russia’s potential role there.

during a trip to Tajikistan. “Second, restart intra-Afghan negotiation as soon as possible to achieve political reconciliation; Third, prevent all kinds of terrorist forces from taking advantage of the situation to grow in Afghanistan and not allow Afghanistan to again become a gathering ground for terrorists.”

Like Russia and Iran, China initially welcomed the U.S. intervention in 2001 against an Afghanistan that was at the time mostly controlled by the Taliban, with other groups such as Al-Qaeda and ETIM operating there as well. But Beijing’s view grew negative over time, as did those of Moscow, Tehran and many other international powers. Now Chinese officials have made clear they would consider Washington responsible for any turmoil that emerged in the wake of the U.S. pullout.

“The U.S.-launched war in Afghanistan has lasted for 20 years, but peace has not yet arrived,” Wang said recently. “During this time, tens of thousands of Afghan civilians have lost their lives in U.S. military operations, and tens of millions have been displaced and become refugees.”

However, like Russia, China sees the U.S. playing a role in Afghanistan going forward. “As the U.S. pulls out of Afghanistan, it should reflect on the role it has played on the Afghan

China china’s history with afghanistan dates back even further than Russia’s.

Centuries ago, Kabul was a hub on the Silk Road that spanned through Asia. Today, Chinese President Xi Jinping has set out to renew the ancient trade route with his intercontinental Belt and Road Initiative. Afghanistan was among the earliest of the roughly 140 countries now involved to sign on to the global network of Chinese investment deals.

But it’s not just money at stake for China in Afghanistan. The two countries share a border in a stretch of Central Asia where separatist Islamist movements have been known to operate. Beijing has expressed concern over unrest leaking across international boundaries. These concerns are especially pronounced given the newfound Western scrutiny over China’s policy in the Afghanistan-adjacent Xinjiang region, where the U.S. estimates more than a million ethnic Uighurs have been detained, as China fears their links to outlawed forces such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement or Turkestan Islamic Party, which have operated in Afghanistan.

In comments shared with Newsweek by the Chinese embassy in Washington, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi laid out a three-point agenda of what he identified as “the most pressing priorities” for Afghanistan.

“First, avoid further expansion of the conflict in Afghanistan and in particular, an all-out civil war,” Wang said in remarks originally delivered

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“The situation is rapidly deteriorating.

We attribute it to the hasty pullout of the U.S. and other NATO countries’ troops.”

issue,” Wang said, “and think about how to fulfill its obligations to the reconciliation and reconstruction in Afghanistan.”

But China also seeks a more proactive part to play beyond the extended Troika in efforts to resolve the outstanding conflict between the Afghan government and Kabul. Whereas Russia’s diplomatic capital has afforded the opportunity to bring together the rival Afghan factions, China’s economic influence has also proven attractive to both sides. And Beijing sees potential for the Taliban, as long as it makes good on promises to cut ties to transnational militants.

“Over the years, the Afghan government has made great efforts to maintain national unity and social stability and to improve people’s livelihood, which should be recognized fairly,” Wang said during his remarks in Dushanbe. “The Taliban, as a major military force in Afghanistan, should recognize its responsibility toward the country and the nation, make a clean break with all terrorist forces and return to Afghanistan’s political mainstream with a sense of responsibility for the country and the people.”

A day after Wang’s remarks, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)—a regional bloc that includes China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan—released a joint statement that included an emphasis on curbing the aspirations of militant groups. “We note that the activity of international terrorist organizations remains a key factor of instability in that country,” the statement, also referred to Newsweek by the Chinese embassy in Washington, said. “We are deeply concerned by the growing tension in Afghanistan’s Northern Provinces caused by the increased concentration of various terrorist,

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GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES: Left: Soviet soldiers celebrate coming back home from Afghanistan. Below: Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

separatist and extremist groups. We consider it important to step up joint efforts by SCO Member States to counter terrorism, separatism and extremism.”

This trifecta of threats is a familiar concept in Chinese remarks on the region. They are often categorized as “the three evils” by officials and considered the primary risks to Chinese interests, which the Taliban, for their part, have pledged to respect.

In an interview earlier this month with South China Morning Post’s This Week in Asia, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen touted “good relations” with China, and vowed to safeguard the country’s economic footprint in Afghanistan.

“We welcome them,” Shaheen said.

“If they have investments of course we ensure their safety. Their safety is very important for us.”

Iran iran’s connections to neighboring Afghanistan are in some ways deeper still, imbued not only with historic links, but cultural and even linguistic connections as well.

But while both countries consider themselves Islamic Republics, they differ vastly in ideology and governance, a gap that is likely to expand with greater Taliban control over Afghanistan.

When the Taliban first rose to power in the 1990s, Iran was a pivotal backer of the Northern Alliance, along with Russia and a host of regional nations across West, Central and South Asia. Much as in the war a decade earlier, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan backed the Taliban.

But this time around, the U.S. largely stayed on the sidelines until taking economic actions against the Taliban after Al-Qaeda’s 1998 bombings of Washington’s embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and then intervening militarily on behalf of the Northern Alliance in 2001.

The same year the U.S. first shifted its stance on Afghanistan, another incident took place that remains deeply embedded in Iran’s collective national memory. As the Taliban advanced into Mazar-i-Sharif, militants laid siege to the Iranian consulate and ultimately killed 11 people, including eight Iranian diplomats and an Iranian journalist.

When the U.S. did get involved, Iran offered assistance. Little goodwill was earned, however, as the country ended up on former President George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil” along with Iraq and North Korea.

Iran again pursued cooperation with the U.S., this time in the open, as part of the multilateral nuclear deal reached in 2015 under former U.S. President Barack Obama. But it was rebuffed again three years later when former President Donald Trump abandoned the agreement and reinstituted sanctions, which remain in place today under yet another American president, Joe Biden, as Washington and Tehran struggle to

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coordinate a reentry into the accord.

Today, Iran has fielded its own answer to Bush’s infamous speech, a so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which includes a network of friendly militias operating in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. One of these groups, known as the Fatemiyoun, hails from Afghanistan’s predominantly Shiite Muslim Hazara community, an ethnic minority that today has taken up arms against Taliban gains.

But despite mounting speculation, both Iran and the Fatemiyoun have denied any concerted effort to redeploy the paramilitaries from the fight against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in Syria to Afghanistan.

In recent remarks sent to Newsweek, Shahrokh Nazemi, head of the media office of Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations, said

GEOPOLITICS

Tehran first and foremost sought a diplomatic solution in Afghanistan.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, and that includes our good neighbor Afghanistan,” Nazemi said. “However, Iran has on several occasions reaffirmed its support for holding talks aimed at establishing peace and ending the conflict in Afghanistan.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran does not interfere in the LQWHUQDO DɼDLUV RI other countries, and that includes our good neighbor Afghanistan.”

Like Russia, Iran has hosted intra-Afghan meetings, including a round of discussions earlier this month in which Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the two sides to make “difficult choices” to achieve lasting peace for their country.

“What I want from you,” the top Iranian diplomat said, “is to seize this opportunity and end the war in Afghanistan as soon as possible and provide the people of Afghanistan with an opportunity for development.”

Referring to this format, Nazemi said that “any issues of common interest can be addressed within the framework of these talks.”

Iran’s recent overtures to the Taliban have proven deeply controversial at home, however, and the country’s policymaking echelon has yet to come to a clear consensus on how to proceed. This is particularly important as Tehran weighs the needs of fellow Shiite Muslims attempting to rout the advances of the powerful, mostly Sunni Muslim Taliban, along with the broader interest of maintaining a working relationship with the group now reportedly fully in control of the Afghan-Iran border.

Ultimately, Iran, already home to a massive Afghan refugee and immigrant population due to decades of unrest, seeks stability for the nation across its eastern border above all.

“It should not be forgotten that Iran has been (and is today) host to millions of Afghan refugees,” Nazemi said, “and peace is important to Iran as a neighboring country and to those who wish to return to their homeland to rebuild their lives there.”

QUIET FOR NOW An Afghan militia ɿJKWHU NHHSV ZDWFK DW DQ RXWSRVW against Taliban insurgents in the Charkint district of Balkh province.

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N EW SM A KE RS

Talking Points “In my experience, there's no more spiritual moment than an audience laughing.

It's almost as meaningful as prayer.”

—TV PRODUCER NORMAN LEAR

“ I L OV E MY T EA M M AT E S. I L OV E T H E C I T Y, L OV E MY C OAC H E S. IT IS A LOT OF F U N T O B E BAC K H E R E .”

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— quarterback a aron rod ger s on the green bay packer s

“AT THE END OF THE DAY, WE’RE HUMAN TOO, SO WE HAVE TO PROTECT OUR MIND AND OUR BODY RATHER THAN JUST GO OUT THERE AND DO WHAT THE WORLD WANTS US TO DO.”

“It is not a welcome piece of news that masking is going to be a part of people’s lives who have already been vaccinated.

This new guidance weighs heavily on me.”

—Simone Biles

Simone Biles

“Do we hate our political adversaries more than we love our country and revere our Constitution?”

— CENTERS FOR

—representative liz cheney

DISE ASE CONTROL DIRECTOR ROCHELLE WALENSK Y Aaron Rodgers

“Anybody who done ever been effected by AIDS/HIV y’all got the right to be upset, what I said was insensitive even though I have no intentions on offending anybody. So my apologies” —DaBaby

“SOME OF THE LANGUAGE WAS INEXCUSABLE AND UNACCEPTABLE, AND I WAS NOT GOING TO JUST SIT THERE AND TAKE IT. SO, YES, I STOOD UP FOR MYSELF, AND I DON’T REGRET IT.” —Lucy Liu on clashing with Bill Murray on the set of Charlie’s Angels

Rochelle Walensky

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Delta has shown how destructive new virus strains can get. Scientists

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BY DAVID H. FREEDMAN

GETTY

fear future mutations could be even worse

Art work by X I A Y U A N

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is driving up infection rates in every state of the U.S., prompting the CDC to once again recommend universal mask-wearing.

The Delta outbreak is going to get much worse, warns Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who leads the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “The number of intensive-care beds needed could be higher than any time we’ve seen,” he says. He adds that his team’s analysis shows that almost every single one of the 100 million unvaccinated Americans who hasn’t had COVID-19 yet will likely get it in the coming months, short of taking the sort of strong isolation and masking precautions that seem unlikely in the vaccine-hesitant population.

The variant is so contagious that it’s set to smash

The Delta variant, which spreads faster than any previous strain of SARS-CoV-2, is driving up infection rates in the U.S. Above: A COVID-19 patient in the ICU at Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon, Virginia. Right: Electron micrograph image of a COVID-19 infection.

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cientists keep underestimating the coronavirus. In the beginning of the pandemic, they said mutated versions of the virus wouldn’t be much of a problem—until the more-infectious Alpha caused a spike in cases last fall. Then Beta made young people sicker and Gamma reinfected those who’d already recovered from COVID-19. Still,

by March, as the winter surge in the U.S. receded, some epidemiologists were cautiously optimistic that the rapid vaccine rollout would soon tame the variants and cause the pandemic to wind down.

Delta has now shattered that optimism. This variant, first identified in India in December, spreads faster than any previous strain of SARSCoV-2, as the COVID-19 virus is officially named. It

P UB LIC H E AL TH

through every previous prediction of how soon future variants expand their attack from the lungs the U.S. might reach herd immunity. “We’ve failed to the brain, the heart and other organs? Will they to shut this down as we have other pandemics,” take a page from HIV and trick people into thinking says Jonathan Eisen, a biologist at the University they’ve recovered, only to make them sick later? Is of California, Davis, who studies how pathogens there a Doomsday variant out there that shrugs off evolve. “It may be around forevermore, leaving us vaccines, spreads like wildfire and leaves more of its continually trying to figure out what to do next.” victims much sicker than anything we’ve yet seen?

Delta, like most of the other variants, blindsided The odds are not high that we will see such a triple-threat, but experts can’t rule it out. Delta us, worsening and extending the pandemic. When has already shown how much worse things can the damage from Delta starts to subside, what other get. Its extreme contagiousness, with room to variants will be lurking just behind it to pull us back run freely through the tens of millions of Amerdown again? The World Health Organization is alicans who haven’t been vaccinated and millions ready keeping an eye on several: Eta, which is now more who have no access to vaccines in developing in several countries; Kappa, which arose in India; countries, has good odds of turning into someIota, which first popped up in New York City—and thing even more troublesome. “The next variespecially Lambda, which has torn through Peru and ant,” says Osterholm, “could be Delta on steroids.” shows signs of having unusual success in infecting fully vaccinated people, according to one early study. It has spread to Argentina, Chile, Ecuador as “A virus’ job is just to well as Texas and South Carolina. keep propagating. Any mutation It’s too soon to say whether that helps the virus survive Lambda will turn out to be the and spread will make it more next big, bad thing that COVID-19 unleashes on us. But it’s a good SUCCESSFUL AS A VARIANT.” time to wonder: Just how destructive can these variants get? Will

Caught Off-Guard it wasn’t supposed to happen this way. early in the pandemic, most experts closely studying COVID-19 mutations downplayed the notion that variants would cause such serious problems. “They don’t seem to make much of a difference,” said Richard Neher, an evolutionary biologist at Switzerland’s University of Basel, in August last year. “We probably only need to worry about it on a timescale of about five years.” Today he calls Delta and other COVID-19 variants “the pandemic within the pandemic.”

Delta, more than any other variant, has reset scientists’ understanding of how quickly a virus can evolve into devastating new forms. “All coronaviruses mutate, and we knew this one was mutating, too,” says Sharone Green, a physician and infectious disease researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “But we didn’t think the mutations would so strikingly affect transmissibility and possible evasion of immunity.”

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It may seem surprising that scientists were caught off-guard by the rapid emergence of a more dangerous variant. But unlike most other pathogens, Eisen notes, SARS-CoV-2 was largely unknown when it emerged. In the absence of data, scientists assumed it would follow other viruses in being relatively slow to spin off much more contagious mutations. Even more important, he adds, scientists underestimated the sheer scale the pandemic would eventually achieve—a critical factor, because the more people a virus infects, the more opportunities it has to develop significant mutations. “Having billions of people infected presents a breeding ground for variants unlike anything we’ve ever seen with these sorts of viruses,” he says.

SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t mutate particularly quickly, compared to many pathogens. Just as with most human and other cells, a mutation occurs in a virus when it replicates but fails to make a perfect copy of its genetic material. That imperfect copy is a mutant. The COVID-19 virus doesn’t have a lot of genetic material to scramble compared to most organisms—about 15 genes, versus about 3,000 genes in an E. coli bacterium, a run-of-the-mill stomach bug, and about 20,000 in a human cell. What’s more, COVID-19 has genetic checking mechanisms that make it reasonably adept at avoiding replication mistakes compared to most viruses.

But while COVID-19’s mutation rate is on the low side—about one mutation for every 10 replications, or around a fifth of the flu’s mutation rate

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“The next variant could be DELTA ON STEROIDS.” and a tenth of HIV’s—COVID-19 takes advantage of a grim numbers game. A single person infected with COVID-19 might carry 10 billion copies of the virus, enough to produce billions of mutated viruses every day. What happens to all those mutations? Almost always the answer is: nothing. The genetic scrambling is random, with the result that virtually all mutations either have no effect whatsoever on the virus, or else do something that makes the virus less effective or even renders it entirely non-functional.

But once in a while—perhaps every million trillion times—a random mutation confers some potentially dangerous new characteristic.

What’s more, much of what makes the virus dangerous has to do with a relatively small portion—the socalled spike proteins that protrude from its surface and enable the virus to latch onto and penetrate human cells. Most of the mutations we’ve seen so far represent tweaks to these spikes, which means it only takes a minimal change within any of the few viral genes that control the spikes

THE DELTA FACTOR

Early in the pandemic, experts downplayed the notion that variants would cause problems. Now, as life returns to normal, Delta threatens to put an end to crowds of maskless people. Left: Sharone Green. Above: an Ironman competition in Hermosa Beach, California on July 4th. Right: a crematorium for COVID-19 victims in Virar, India.

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ple, in the case of a respiratory virus like COVID-19, the ability to travel longer distances in the air, and to latch more firmly onto cells in the nasal passage, would likely make a new strain a better contender to become a widely spreading variant.

“A virus’ job is just to keep propagating,” says Green. “Any mutation that helps the virus survive and spread will make it more successful as a variant.”

All told, the chances that a virus in the population will produce a much more dangerous variant in the course of a year would normally be extremely low.

But when billions of people are infected with billions

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to create a newly threatening mutation.

But even when a virus hits the jackpot with a mutation that sharpens its ability to wreak havoc, that doesn’t mean a dangerous new variant has emerged.

To become a significant variant, a mutated virus has to out-replicate the far more numerous copies of the virus that already predominate in the population, and to do that it needs features that give it big advantages.

What specific features will help the mutation become a better replicator and spreader in the population is determined by the environment. For exam-

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of copies of a virus, all bets are off. Thanks to Delta’s infectiousness, and the huge number of people whose refusal or inability to get vaccinated leaves them primed to become living COVID-19 mutation labs, the conditions are ripe to produce yet more, potentially more dangerous, variants in the coming months.

“It’s going to be very difficult to stop it from happening with masks and social distancing at this point,” says Preeti Malani, a physician and infectious disease researcher and chief health officer at the University of Michigan. “Vaccines are the key, and vaccine hesitancy is the obstacle.”

The growing number of people with natural immunity, from having recovered from COVID-19, won’t save the day either, says Eric Vail, director of molecular pathology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “At best it’s now a third of the U.S. population with natural immunity, and that may be an overestimation,” he says. “It won’t be enough to guarantee that Delta will be the last big variant.”

the most likely way a new variant will plague us is the same way the U.K. variant did earlier this year, and Delta is now: by being more transmissible.

At first glance, that seems a tall order, given that Delta is already one of the most transmissible viruses ever encountered, falling short only of the measles.

Then again, notes Osterholm, scientists thought the original COVID-19 virus was a shockingly adept spreader, only to be surprised by how much more easily the U.K. variant spread, just to be caught off guard yet again with the rise of Delta, which is about five times more transmissible than the original.

There’s no reason to assume Delta represents any sort of ceiling in infectiousness. “I wouldn’t be incredibly surprised if something else came along that’s even more transmissible,” says Vail. Such a super-spreading virus might burn through the unvaccinated, non-previously infected population so fast that hospitals couldn’t come close to coping.

Making that possibility more likely is the fact that sheer transmissibility, more than any other characteristic a virus might acquire through

CHANGING FORTUNES When billions of people are

infected with a virus, mutations will arise. Top right: LEGOLAND visitors get checked. Bottom right: Antivaxxers in Raleigh, North Carolina. Inset: Preeti Malani.

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Can It Beat the Vaccine?

mutation, confers the greatest advantage on a variant when it comes to outcompeting other versions.

“If a mutation comes up anywhere that’s more transmissible, it will be selected out to propagate,” says Green. That means a single ultra-transmissible mutation popping up anywhere in the world in a single infected person could be enough to unleash a fresh round of heightened global misery.

Might a new variant get around the vaccine? Delta appears to be able to infect the vaccinated more readily than previous variants, reducing the major vaccines’ effectiveness at preventing infection from about 95 percent to around 90 percent. (A recent Israeli study claimed the Pfizer vaccine’s effectiveness plunges to 39 percent, but experts caution that the finding is an outlier that may not hold up.)

good at keeping the spikes under the antibodies’ radar, leading to the breakthrough infections.

Still, the vaccines remain highly effective in preventing Delta from causing severe illness leading to hospitalization or death, to judge by the fact that 99 percent of the patients struggling with COVID-19 in U.S. intensive-care units are unvaccinated.

COVID-19 may well continue to evolve into new, widely spreading variants, but there’s reason to think that none of them are likely to routinely blow past the immune defenses conferred by vaccine, and even the lesser natural-immunity defenses. One reason, notes Vail, is that the vast majority of COVID-19 virus in circulation is in unvaccinated people who weren’t previously infected, and mutations that can avoid immunity have no real advantage in that environment. An immune-evading variant would be more likely to thrive in a population of vaccinated or recovered people, where such a mutation would allow it to outcompete non-mutated viruses—but there just isn’t enough virus circulating in that population to allow for rapid mutation.

That’s how Delta emerged, notes Vail. “There were four variants that arose in India, and three of them had some ability to evade immunity,” he says. “The fourth one was Delta, which didn’t have as strong an evading mutation, and that’s the one that spread.”

“We’ve failed to shut the coronavirus down as we have other pandemics. It may be around forevermore, leaving us continually trying to figure out WHAT TO DO NEXT.”

Most of the COVID-19 vaccines work by getting human antibodies to target the spike proteins on the virus. But because mutations can slightly change the shape of the spike protein, they can potentially disguise it from some of those antibodies, thus weakening the vaccine’s effectiveness. The different variants have different combinations of mutations in the spike protein, and while so far none of those combinations seem to do a great job of disguising the spike protein enough to get around the vaccine, some seem able to chip away at its effectiveness. Delta has three mutations that together seem especially

Green points out a second reason being immune-evasive will be a huge challenge to COVID-19: The human immune system, once it’s activated by vaccination or infection, is more resilient and effective than even most studies indicate. That’s because studies tend to focus on how the virus fares against antibodies specifically developed by the body to fight the virus, as observed in test tubes. In real life, the body rolls out other weapons, including innate antibodies that target a broader array of pathogens, and T-cells that only kick in when an infection starts to take hold—both of which most

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P U B LI C H EA L T H

lab studies can’t easily measure. More thorough studies are underway, says Green, and the results should aid in the development of booster shots that will help block Delta and possible future variants.

The mechanics of mutation also work in our favor when it comes to dodging future variants that cause more severe illness. It’s not that such mutations can’t or won’t spring up in the coming months.

Rather, it’s that causing the infected to be extremely ill takes them out of circulation, so they can’t spread the more-sickening variant. That means the variant would be at a disadvantage to competing forms of the virus that leave most of the infected feeling well enough to walk around and transmit the infection.

A particularly dangerous scenario would be a variant that left people feeling well for a long time, and then lowered the boom later with severe illness.

But few viruses—HIV being one exception—master that trick, and so far that doesn’t seem to be a threat from COVID-19, either.

Eisen warns that such delayed-illness scenarios

ani says. “Infected young people might walk around for days or even weeks even though they’re feeling very poorly, so it’s hard to judge.” But even if Delta isn’t targeting the younger, a spin-off variant might.

While increased infectiousness is the most likely path for a fierce post-Delta variant versus getting past vaccines or causing more severe illness, there’s a catch: Such traits aren’t mutually exclusive. Simply as a matter of chance, a mutation that confers increased transmissibility might also cause more damage to health or give the virus a better chance at slipping past the defenses conferred by a vaccine. Although these latter traits aren’t likely to be selected on their own, they could ride the coattails of a transmissibility-boosting mutation. “There’s nothing to stop them from happening at the same time,” says Eisen.

Fortunately, there’s a built-in impediment to what might otherwise be a potentially endless march toward ever-more-dangerous variants: The virus will at some point run out of ways to become nastier, thanks to the relatively simple structure of the spike

and vaccine hesitancy is the obstacle.” can’t be ruled out, either. There are ways new variants could inflict worse damage without compromising their ability to spread. For example, a new variant might attack the brain, heart or other organs in more subtle, slower ways that leave victims walking around but that eventually take a large toll.

“We’ve already seen that different variants have differing abilities to enter some types of cells, and that might have an effect on the nervous system or lung function,” says Eisen. “It’s very concerning.”

Malani notes that there’s anecdotal evidence that more young people are getting severely ill with Delta than has been the case with previous variants.

That uptick may just be due to higher numbers of young people getting infected, or it may indicate a troubling shift toward greater vulnerability among the younger. That wouldn’t be a first: The 1918 flu pandemic preferentially killed younger adults.

It’s not yet clear whether or not Delta is hitting the younger harder. “It’s a mystery right now,” Mal-

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FRO 0 L EF T JAY L CL E ND EN I N ʔLO S A NG E L ES T I 0 ES ʔG E T T Y A L S EI B ʔ LOS A NGEL E S TI 0 E SʔG E T T Y

“VACCINES ARE THE KEY,

MOVING TARGET

There’s no reason to assume Delta represents any sort of ceiling in infectiousness. The next variant could be even more transmissible.

Above: A visitor from Mexico City gets a vaccine jab in Los Angeles.

Left: three different COVID-19 vaccines .

AUGU S T 13, 2021

protein, which can only be mutated in a few hundred different ways, most of which won’t make the virus more harmful. “There are only so many changes that can be made to the spike protein without making it non-functional,” says Vail. “I’d be cautious about saying that it can keep mutating indefinitely.”

Another big break: Unlike the flu virus, SARSCoV-2 doesn’t have a structure that lends itself to mixing and matching genetic material between different variants. That “recombination” capability is what helps make the flu a moving target each year for vaccines.

Like the flu, COVID-19 is probably going to be with us for the foreseeable future. But a big pickup in vaccination rates would at least put the age of the most dangerous variants behind us. At that

point, says Green, we can focus on occasional new vaccines or booster shots that make the virus a relatively tame threat.

“I don’t think eradication is on the table,” she says.

“But I think we could come up with something that’s better than what we have now for the flu.”

On the other hand, notes Green, the flu kills as many as 60,000 people a year. If COVID-19 keeps mutating away from vaccine effectiveness and natural immunity, and a large portion of the population continues to neglect vaccinations, then we’ll indeed end up permanently haunted by the virus.

In that case, we’d be lucky if COVID-19 “only” kills tens of thousands every year. Thanks to the ongoing threats of variants, we might be in for a lot worse.

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Answers to common questions about the new variant

BY FRED GUTERL & MEGHAN GUNN

ne of the most frustrating aspects of the current pandemic has been keeping up with the latest public health advice on how to cope with the ever-mutating coronavirus Interpreting broad public-health advice to suit your own speciɿc circumstances often involves weighing vague notions of risk Vaccines offer good protection, but if levels of virus circulating in the community rise, the absolute risk of getting sick rises for everybody, vaccinated and unvaccinated alike The rise of Delta, which is far more easily transmitted from person to person than previous strains of the virus, has made going out in public riskier ThatŠs one reason why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC

recently changed its masking recommendations—it now advises vaccinated people in areas with high levels of virus to wear a mask indoors Figuring out when to take risks and when not to is largely a matter of individual circumstance and preference For instance, people with weakened immune systems should be more cautious than those with robust immune systems

O

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Here are answers to some other common questions: Q: How great is the risk of getting sick if you’ve gotten the vaccine?

It depends on the vaccine A study published in the New England Journal of 0edicine in July showed that the twoshot Pɿ]er mRNA vaccine was 88 percent effective in preventing illness due to the Delta variant, down from 9 percent for the Alpha variant The 0oderna mRNA shot is thought to offer similar protection The study found that the Astra-=eneca vaccine was percent effective against Delta, as opposed to for Alpha Q: If vaccinated people can still be infected, should they worry about being able to transmit the virus to others?

Yes, but not as much as unvaccinated people should According to internal CDC documents recently obtained by The Washington Post, vaccinated people who have been infected with the Delta variant may spread the virus as efɿciently as unvaccinated people who are infected Delta tends

to concentrate in the nose and throat, which is why the C D C wants everyone to mask up However, because vaccinated people tend to have stronger immune responses to the virus, they are probably contagious for only a short time—though this scenario has not been studied rigorously

Q: How do doctors determine which variant you have?

COVID-19 tests donŠt identify variants To ɿnd out how prevalent a variant is, the CDC takes samples, identiɿes them by sequencing their genetic material and then estimates what proportion of infections a given variant accounts for

Q: Can vaccinated people who show symptoms develop long-haul COVID-19?

Little is known about longhaul COVID In a recent study of health care workers, 19 percent of vaccinated people who got sick still had symptoms after six weeks Keep in mind that this is only one study with relatively few participants, so ɿrm conclusions will have to wait for more data

Q: Are the symptoms different between the variants?

Symptoms from many variants are similar to those of the original virus—fever, dry cough, shortness of breath However, Delta can also manifest more like a bad

Q: When will children under the age of 12 be eligible for a shot?

Current estimates range from as little as a month or two to well into 2 22 On the far side of the range: FDA ofɿcials say they expect children under 12 to be eligible for vaccination by midwinter, after another four to six months of clinical trials Pɿ]er, though, is more optimistic In June, it began a study of , kids aged -to-11 in the 8 S , Poland, Finland and Spain and hopes to have enough data collected by September to ask ofɿcials for an emergency use authori]ation

A ND R I Y O N 8 FR IYE NKOʔG E T T Y

WHAT TO DO ABOUT DELTA?

HEALTH

cold, with a runny nose, sore throat and headache Recently, reports of loss of smell and taste have become less common, according to the =oe Covid Symptom study Q: When does the immunity from the vaccine start to wane?

Is it the same for mRNA vaccines and others?

Pɿ]er recently said that the effectiveness of its mRNA vaccine declines to 8 percent about four to six months after the second shot, based on an internal study that has not yet been peer reviewed A study in the journal Nature

suggested that the mRNA vaccines have potentially long-lasting immunity Q: Will everyone eventually need booster shots? Or only those who are elderly and/or immunocompromised?

It depends in part on what kind of variants arise in the future For now, experts do not foresee a need for most healthy vaccinated people to get booster shots, but that could change Public health ofɿcials have suggested that those with weakened immune systems may need to get boosters this winter

Q: Is it safe to go back LQWR DQ RIɿFH WR ZRUN" Safe is a relative term It depends on an individualŠs health, circumstances and tolerance for risk In an ofɿce where everybody is vaccinated and virus levels in the community are low, the risk is small In an ofɿce where many people are unvaccinated and virus levels are high, the risk can be many times higher The risk for an unvaccinated person is always higher than for a vaccinated person Vaccinated people who are immunocompromised or are caring for someone who is vulnerable at home may want to keep their potential exposure to the virus as low as possible—which means avoiding crowded, poorly ventilated rooms and wearing masks when indoors with others who may not be vaccinated Because the Delta variant is so highly transmissible, the CDC now recommends mask wearing for everyone in indoor settings in regions where virus levels are high Q: In light of the Delta variant, should we be rethinking resuming regular activities like going to restaurants, sporting events, concerts, ʀ\LQJ RQ SODQHV HWF " Most vaccines still offer excellent protection However, the risk goes up with exposure to the virus—and the Delta variant, with its high transmissibility, has ratcheted up the risk for all ac-

tivities Risk tolerance varies from one person to the next, but in general itŠs a good idea to be aware of situations that are likely to bring you into contact with high levels of virus Crowded, stuffy bars are riskier than spacious, well ventilated restaurants Airplanes usually have good ventilation, but you have to worry about that unmasked, unvaccinated person sitting next to you If in doubt, wear a mask Q: If you’ve already had COVID-19 with mild sympWRPV ZKDW DUH WKH EHQHɿWV of getting the vaccine?

One big beneɿt of vaccination is that it reduces the overall level of virus in a population, which makes everyone safer Some studies also suggest that vaccines provide better protection for longer than natural infection For instance, a study in China, recently published in The Lancet, showed that only percent of people who had gotten COVID-19 carried antibodies to the coronavirus months later Q: If you’ve already had COVID-19 and are getting the vaccine, do you need to get both shots?

Yes A recent study in the 8 K , published in Nature, found that a single shot of the Pɿ]er vaccine reduced illness from the Delta variant by percent Two weeks after the second shot, that protection rose to 88 percent

NEWSWEEK.COM

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in associat ion with

make.co

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AUGU S T 13, 2021

2021

the maker movement and its do-it-yourself ethic has come to higher education. For years now, empowered by the internet, inventors, artisans, tinkerers and hackers of all descriptions have been coming together to share ideas and techniques and show off their creations. The culture that has grown up around those gatherings, be they online or at the 200 Maker Faires held annually before the pandemic or in the more than 2000 communal makerspaces around the world, is one of learning by doing, complex problem solving, collaboration and entrepreneurialism. Increasingly, those ideas have been picked up by traditional academic institutions.

This year for the first time Newsweek has teamed up with Make:, publisher of Make: magazine producer of Maker Faires, to find The Best Maker Schools in Higher Education. These are universities, community and junior colleges, vocational and trade schools with curricula that encourage learning by doing; are supported by educators committed to collaborative problem-solving; have well-developed makerspaces, labs, and studios; and which support diverse, interactive communities that engage in knowledge and skill sharing. Our goal was to highlight institutions with innovative programs that demonstrate the ingenuity and community engagement that are hallmarks of the maker movement.

This non-ranked list was generated by recommendation through a survey tool in collaboration with an international community of educators, administrators, students and maker leaders. To be considered for the list, recommended schools had to demonstrate excellence or competency in the following areas: Dž Dž Dž Dž

GETTY

Integrated learning-through-doing orientation Mentoring / guidance / coaching for making Physical makerspaces / fablabs / workshops / studios Accessible spaces and tools that support independent, collaborative projects Dž A diverse, active community of makers We hope potential students—as well employers looking for candidates with 21st Century skills—will find this list useful. Ơ Nancy Cooper, Global Editor-in-Chief Illustrations by D E N I S N O V I K O V

NEWSWEEK.COM

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UCL Jelling Jelling EGYPT

The American University Cairo Cairo ESTONIA

Talinn University of Technology (TalTech) Talinn FINLAND

Aalto University Espoo AUSTRALIA

CANADA

CHINA

FRANCE

Monash University Melbourne, VIC

Concordia University Montreal, Quebec

CUHK-Shenzhen Shenzhen

ENSCI Les Ateliers Paris

University of New South Wales Sydney, NSW

Emily Carr University of Art+Design Vancouver, BC

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (School of Design) Hong Kong

Paris College of Art Paris

Tongji University Shanghai

Hochschule Rhein Waal Kamp-Lintfort, Nordrhein Westfalen

University of Queensland Brisbane, QLD University of Wollongong Wollongong, NSW AUSTRIA

Ryerson University Toronto, Ontario Simon Fraser University Vancouver, BC University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario Wilson School of Design Richmond, BC

TU Graz Graz BRAZIL

CHILE

Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Campus Porto Alegre Porto Alegre

Universidad Viña del Mar Viña del Mar

Universidade de São Paulo (USP) São Paulo

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Tsinghua University Beijing CROATIA

University of Zagreb Zagreb

GERMANY

TU Munich Munich University of Europe for Applied Sciences Berlin

CZECH REPUBLIC

Czech Technical University (CTU Prague) Prague

Fælleshåbsskolen Børkop

CMR University Bangalore ISRAEL

Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) Haifa ITALY

Politécnico di Milano (Polimi) Milan La Sapienza di Roma Rome Università Degli Studi Di Torino Torino JAPAN

Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences Ogaki, Gifu Tokyo Metropolitan University Tokyo KOREA

GHANA

University of Ghana Accra

Korea University Seoul MALAWI

GUATEMALA DENMARK

INDIA

Universidad Del Valle de Guatemala Guatemala City

Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences Blantyre

AUGU S T 13, 2021

MEXICO

NEW ZEALAND

PORTUGAL

SPAIN

Royal College of Art London

Tech de Monterrey Mexico Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

Massey University Palmerston North

Politécnico de Lisboa Lisbon

University of Brighton Brighton

University of Auckland Auckland

Madrid CEU University Madrid

RUSSIA

Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) Barcelona

University College London London

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Mexico City (D.F.) La Universidad Politécnicade Baja California Tijuana NETHERLANDS

Amsterdam University of the Arts Amsterdam Design Academy Eindhoven Eindhoven TU Delft Delft

NIGERIA

University of Lagos Lagos NORWAY

University of Oslo (UIO) Oslo PAKISTAN

ITU Punjab Lahore PERU

Universidad de Lima Lima

National University of Science and Technology MISIS Moscow SAUDI ARABIA

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal SLOVENIA

University of Ljubljana Ljubljana SOUTH AFRICA

University of Pretoria Hatfield

SWEDEN

Umeå University Umeå Uppsala University Uppsala SWITZERLAND

University of Geneva Geneva TAIWAN

Lunghwa University of Science and Technology LOHOC Taoyuan City National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology (NKFUST) Kaohsiung City UAE

UAE University Abu Dhabi

University of Manchester Manchester University of Sheffield Sheffield University of Surrey Guildford, Surrey USA

Abilene Christian University Abilene, TX Alfred University Alfred, NY Arizona State University Tempe, AZ Auburn University Auburn, AL Boise State University Boise, ID Boston University Boston, MA

UK

Brown University Providence, RI

Cambridge University Cambridge

Bucknell Universty Lewisburg, PA

Glasgow School of Art Glasgow, Scotland

Cabrillo College Aptos, CA

London College of Communication London

California College of the Arts Oakland, CA

T H E L I S T I S A L S O AVA I L A B L E AT 1 ( :6: ( ( . & 2 0ʔ0 6 6ʝ

USA

California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA CalPoly SLO San Luis Obispo, CA Carnegie-Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH Central NM Community College (multiple), NM Columbia University New York, NY Cooper Union New York, NY Cornell University Ithaca, NY DePaul University Chicago, IL Drexel University Pennsylvania, PA

Duke University Durham, NC

Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA

Emory University Atlanta, GA

Hazard Community and Technical College Hazard, KY

Florida Polytechnic University Lakeland, FL

Houston Community College Houston, TX

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Boston, MA Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN

Otterbein University Westerville, OH

Fort Hays State University Hays, KS

Iowa State University Ames, IA

Milwaukee College of Science and Engineering Milwaukee, WI

GateWay Community College Phoenix, AZ

IYRS School of Technology and Trades Newport, RI

Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS

George Mason University Fairfax, VA

James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA

Montana State University Bozeman, MT

Georgetown University Washington DC, DC

Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD

Morehouse College Atlanta, GA

Pratt Institute New York, NY

Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA

Kent State University Kent, OH

Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA

Princeton University Princeton, NJ

Hampshire College Amherst, MA Harvard University Cambridge, MA

Lafayette College Easton, PA Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA

Navajo Technical University Crownpoint, NM New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ New York University New York, NY North Dakota State University Fargo, ND Northwestern University Evanston, IL Ohio University Athens, OH Olin College Needham, MA

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Oregon State University Corvallis, OR

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Parsons School of Design New York, NY Penland School of Craft Penland, NC Penn State University Park, PA

Purdue University Lafayette, IN Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI Rice University Houston, TX Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY Sacramento City College Sacramento, CA Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Savannah, GA School of the Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, IL

AUGU S T 13, 2021

University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, MA

University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) Arlington, TX

University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI

University of Texas, Austin Austin, TX

University of Minnesota MinneapolisSt. Paul, MN University of Montana Missoula, MT University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NB

SciArc Los Angeles, CA

Tulane University New Orleans, LA

Sierra College Rocklin, CA

Union College Schenectady, NY

Smith College Northhampton, MA South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Rapid City, SD Spelman College Atlanta, GA Stanford University Palo Alto, CA Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ SUNY Polytechnic Institute Utica, NY Tennessee Tech Cookeville, TN Texas A&M College Station, TX

University of Akron, Wayne College Orville, OH University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK University of Arizona Tucson, AZ University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA University of California, Davis Davis, CA University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Los Angeles, CA

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) San Diego, CA University of Chicago Chicago, IL University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder, CO University of Florida Gainesville, FL University of Georgia Athens, GA University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, HI University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL University of Maryland College Park, MD

University of Nevada Reno Reno, NV University of New England Biddeford, ME University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC University of Oklahoma Norman, OK University of Oregon Eugene, OR University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA University of Puerto Rico San Juan, PR University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA

University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT University of Vermont Burlington, VT University of Washington Seattle, WA University of West Florida Pensacola, FL University of Wisconsin, Madison Madison, WI University of Wyoming Laramie, WY Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA Washington State University Pullman, WA Wesleyan College Middletown, CT West Virgina University Morgantown, WVA Wheaton College Norton, MA Yale University New Haven, CT

T H E L I S T I S A L S O AVA I L A B L E AT 1 ( :6: ( ( . & 2 0ʔ0 6 6ʝ

M O VI E S

JESSICA MIGLIOʔ WARNER BROS P I CT 8 R ES ʔ D C CO MI C S

The New Suicide Squad Movie Is Like the First One— but Different Director James Gunn and stars Margot Robbie and Idris Elba talk about making a ‘rebootquel’ featuring the DC Universe’s ‘losers’ and ‘also-rans’

NEWSWEEK.COM

AUGU S T 13, 2021

GAME FACES ON

The Suicide Squad reports for duty. From left: Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, John Cena as Peacemaker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker and Idris Elba as Bloodsport.

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Culture

MOVIES

the suicide squad, which Robbie says, “I felt confident that whatever James’ take [on Harley opens in theaters and on HBO Quinn] was gonna be, being a comic Max on August 5 features some of the same actors and characters, the same book lover, that it was going to be all premise (a group of C-list comic book stemming from the characteristics you see in the comics so I felt good bad guys are brought together by a mysterious government agency) and about that, and I felt I was going to be almost the same name as 2016’s Suiin safe hands based on the other films cide Squad. So is it a sequel he’s made. I was pretty confident that he was or a remake?.

Director James Gunn BY going to crush this and he says, “I just think of it as did. I read the script and JAMIE BURTON I was like ‘Oh he totally itself. I think it’s for others @Jamie_Burton_ gets the character in the to define it however they want. If somebody wants way that I do.’” to call it a sequel, cool. A reboot?

“Harley doesn’t belong to me,” RobThat’s fine, too. People have also called bie continues, “Truthfully Harley it a ‘rebootquel.’” belongs to the fans and whatever they Although a box office success, the love about her. I just want to put that 2016 movie was savaged by critics. on screen, and James definitely has a Director David Ayer wanted to make knack for understanding what audiences want. To give audiences somean intense superhero drama like Christopher Nolan’s three Batman thing they weren’t expecting but also movies; the studio wanted a violent never knew they wanted, if that makes action comedy. Actor Joel Kinnaman, who returns as Rick Flag, the solider whose job it is to try to keep the Suicide Squad in line, says, “Sometimes It’s hard to make movies and there were some conflicting visions going into that film, or specifically in the post production and I think we all felt we didn’t quite live up to the promise that the film had.” Plans for a sequel never came together, although Margot Robbie’s breakout performance as the cheerfully unhinged Harley Quinn proved popular enough for her own spin-off movie 2020’s Birds of Prey.

Enter writer/director Gunn who made The Guardians of the Galaxy movies for Marvel. A big part of the success of the Guardians franchise is the sense of humor Gunn brought to it. According to Kinnaman, “We really lucked out by getting James Gunn.

There were several iterations of the follow-up and when James came in it became this real opportunity.”

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NEWSWEEK.COM

sense. And I feel like he does that again in this film.”

Gunn says he tried to stay true to the spirit of the original DC comics and to develop characters strong enough to sustain not just a single movie, but a franchise. He also says he purposely limited himself to thirdand fourth-string characters instead of big name villains he could have used. He says he was tempted to write Catwoman into the script, but resisted.

According to Gunn, “When [comic book writer] John Ostrander first started writing Suicide Squad comic books in the late ’80s, he probably would have loved to use Catwoman and Riddler and Lex Luthor but those characters were all in other comic books so he instead had to choose these sort of C-grade super villains.

So he’s getting Captain Boomerang and Deadshot, characters that no one cared about. He sort of built up those minor shitty characters into something that became big characters in the comics. I think I was just doing that same thing.”

Gunn says the Suicide Squad are “the losers of the DC world and in a world where there are heroes and villains, these are the ‘also-rans’.

These are the characters that nobody cares about, who some people think are jokes.”

While some actors are returning from the first film, among them Viola Davis as the ruthless government operative who puts the team together and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, many members of the large cast are newcomers to the DC Extended Universe. John Cena debuts as Peacemaker, whose original comic book incarnation was billed as “A man who loves peace so much he’s willing to fight for it!” Peter Capaldi is superbrain The Thinker and Taika Waititi cameos as Ratcatcher, an

AUGU S T 13, 2021

CLO CKWISE FROM LEFT: STEVE GRANIT =ʔW I R E I M AGE ʔG E T T Y WARNER BROS PI CT8 R E S ʔD C CO M I C S G A R E T H CAT TE R M O LE ʔC H A NE L ʔG E T T Y

RELOADED Opposite page: Writer/ director James Gunn. Left: (from left) Joel Kinnaman, Idris Elba and John Cena.

Below: Margot Robbie. Her gleefully bonkers Harley Quinn was the breakout VWDU RI WKH ɿUVW Suicide Squad movie.

exterminator turned bad guy. David Dastmalchian plays Polka-Dot Man, whose powers are just as preposterous as his name, and Sylvester Stallone voices King Shark.

In response to a fan’s online question about how he pitched Stallone on the part, Gunn tweeted: “I wrote this role for you in The Suicide Squad. It won’t take too much of your time” “Oh yeah?” “ Yeah, it’s a big, kinda chubby human-eating shark.”

Laughs. “Anything for you, brother.”

In the first movie, Will Smith starred as the mercenary Deadshot. In the new one, Idris Elba is a different mercenary, Bloodsport. Elba says, “The idea of me replacing a character was never even part of the discussion, it was always a new own entity in itself.”

He adds, “What I think is really beauti-

ful is that my character and Deadshot and Will can still exist within future ideas. No spoilers, I’m not saying that’s happening, it’s just the nature of what James came to do.”

Filming lasted almost six months and the cast bonded during visits to various Atlanta strip clubs. Robbie admits “Clermont Lounge was our go-to. Clermont’s was the spot. But it was a shooting location in the film.”

“Research!” Elba interjects.

“We were actually doing research.

Getting the lay of the land and getting into character,” Robbie says.

Kinnaman credits Gunn with the good vibe on the set. He says, “James always brings the great spirit to it. He was always this sort of spirit leader in that sense. It was, of course, a very different dynamic in this one than on the first one but it’s rare to have this big of a cast. There were no bad egos, everyone was just very generous. There’s a lot of funny people in this cast.... It’s a really good group of people..”

Likewise, Portuguese actor Daniela Melchior, who makes her English language movie debut as Ratcatcher 2, says, “I felt really lucky because they’re so kind and such good-hearted people.

I really felt like they deserved to be where they are.”

As for the future for the Suicide Squad franchise, that will get underway soon on TV. As Marvel has done with its Disney+ shows WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki DC wants some of its Suicide Squad characters to have second lives via TV spin offs.

Cena, for instance, is set to star in an eight-episode Peacemaker miniseries written by Gunn. The director says “I pitched Peacemaker on August 5 of last year, and hadn’t written it yet but now here we are, and we’re wrapped after shooting eight episodes. I wrote the whole thing, we cast it, we shot it all and we’re done.”

The series is scheduled to debut on HBO Max in January 2022.

How did it happen so fast? Gunn says “I needed something to get my mind off of being in quarantine.”

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Culture Research Climate Change at Arctic’s Edge Manitoba, Canada Measure evidence of global warming alongside research scientists near Churchill, polar bear capital of the world, on the frontline of climate change. Assess snowpack and shrinking sea ice, survey and record Arctic mammals and maybe have a chance to build and sleep in an igloo.

02

2

Monitor Whale Sharks Baja California Sur, Mexico Whale sharks, despite the name, aren’t sharks—they are the largest ɿsh in the world and harmless to humans. One of the best places in the world to see these magniɿcent 20-ton dotted behemoths up close is in Mexico’s least populated state. Whale Shark Mexico has already identiɿed 100 whale sharks and lets citizen scientists join their research trips, where they tag, monitor and even swim underwater alongside the massive creatures.

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Be a Shark Researcher Bimini, Bahamas If you learned anything from Shark Week, it’s that sharks are the most misunderstood creatures in the world. Shark geeks can join this Dive Ninjas Expedition with shark scientists at the Bimini Shark Lab, where they’ll learn how to handle, tag and introduce a shark into the wild, and even get a chance to swim with the elusive hammerheads.

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Dive and Survey a Barrier Reef Belize Stay on a private island while participating in essential marine conservation with a nonproɿt committed to protecting Belize’s Barrier Reef, the second largest in the world after Australia’s. On this Much Better Adventures trip, participants look for coral reef bleaching, a huge threat to this protected biosphere, and help with whale shark monitoring and other marine life surveying.

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Count Penguins on the Ocean’s ‘Serengeti’ South Georgia and the Falklands, South Atlantic Ocean Focused on exploring the high seas more sustainably, Hurtigruten Expeditions has partnered with California Ocean Alliance scientists to study whale behavior on several Antarctic sailings onboard the MS Roald Amundsen, the world’s ɿrst battery-hybridpowered expedition cruise ship. Guests also partake in hands-on research such as surveying the king penguin population on South Georgia island in the South Atlantic or studying leopard seals on the Antarctic peninsula.

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AUGU S T 13, 2021

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Turn Trash Into Adventures Azores, Portugal Talk about giving back and inspiring a new generation.

Futurismo Azores Adventures, a 0-year-old family-owned whale watching company, has pledged around $9 ,000 worth of experiences to families whose children enter their “Guardians of the Azores” project. This family-driven citizen science project aims to collect more than ,000 pounds of trash and photograph and record it for scientiɿc reports in one year from the natural areas of the islands.

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Train for 2041 Climate Force Antarctica Led by Robert Swan—the ɿrst person in history to walk both the North and South Poles—and his son Barney Swan, 20 1 Climate Force is an Antarctic expedition aiming to train the next climate change activists. Participants will learn the latest on climate science and sustainability at the hotspot of climate change so they can make an impact back in their own communities.

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Survey Snow Leopards Kyrgyzstan Study snow leopards high in the remote Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan on a challenging, hands-on Biosphere Expedition.

Work alongside conservationists from a mobile tented base camp and track the elusive cat with off-road driving and on foot.

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Free Poached Pangolins South Africa The world’s most trafɿcked animal is the now-infamous pangolin, poached at a rate of one every ɿve minutes for its unique scales.

Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve program reintroduces these threatened animals to the wild every pangolin in this program was retrieved from illegal wildlife poachers and traders , reversing the local extinction.

Guests can assist with tagging and monitoring, a rare opportunity as pangolins are notoriously elusive to spot on safari.

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Make an Impact With Citizen Science Trips Since there’s been quite a backlash against space tourism for billionaires, why not take science trips right here on Earth?

The pandemic has caused many awakenings, and for some it’s about taking concrete action to protect our planet. The first step to awareness and caring about climate change, threatened wildlife and plastic-polluted seas is seeing it firsthand. Growing in popularity, citizen science trips allow everyday travelers a chance to work hands-on alongside researchers on specific projects. From surveying elusive snow leopards in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, to reintroducing the pangolin—the world’s most trafficked animal—to the wild in South Africa, to training to be the next climate action champions on an Antarctic expedition, these trips are all about making ripples of impact while having an adventure of a lifetime. —Kathleen Rellihan NEWSWEEK.COM

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Culture

PA R T I NG S HO T

Jennifer Beals

“We can clearly see how crucial it is to hear and to see one another’s stories.”

Did you ever expect The L Word to get the reboot experience?

The world is very different now.

There’s a whole new vocabulary assigned to sexuality and gender identity. There was a whole new set of stories that needed to be told, and The L Word was a great framework from which to do that.

How has the reaction to the reboot differed to the original series? :KHQ WKH VKRZ ɿUVW FDPH RXW LW was such a revelation. [The L Word] centered around a group of lesbian women in Los Angeles, on their romantic lives and their joy. It’s not saying that to be queer or to be other is to be in constant pain because of your sexual or gender identity. There’s so much queer content out there now that it’s not an anomaly. We are at a point of awareness in history where we can clearly see how crucial it is to hear and to see one another’s stories.

What was it like having Rosie O’Donnell join season two’s cast?

She’s amazing. A brilliant artist, a brilliant mind, a brilliant actor and a phenomenal human being. It was just a joy to be around her.

What’s something about Flashdance that surprises you?

It’s like time travel when anyone brings it up; it’s usually very loving and sweet. They talk about how it encouraged them to do something they were afraid to do and how much it meant to them. —H. Alan Scott V i s it Ne w s w e e k .c om f o r t h e f u l l int e r v i e w

JILL GREENBERGʔ S H OW T I M E

when the l word first premiered on showtime in 2004, portrayals of queer characters were rare and one-sided. “So often the narrative of queer identity is centered in the pain that’s experienced by that otherness,” says Jennifer Beals, star of the original series and the reboot, The L World: Generation Q, entering its second season (Showtime, August 6). “Those narratives are really reductive and harmful. Generation Q primarily centers around romantic love and joy and pain within that.” Part of the longtime appeal of these characters is how well-rounded they are. “It’s like other shows celebrating the characters in their entirety, they’re just as messy as any character in a straight cis soap. That’s huge.”

An important part of the reboot for Beals was the inclusion of even more diverse stories. “When you start talking about culture and you want to push things forward, you have to do it with your character. If you’re not doing it through character, it’s not interesting.” The pandemic impacted the filming of the second season of Generation Q, but ultimately Beals believes it benefited the show. “It helped unify us, and it changed the aesthetic of the show, I think for the better.”

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