Marisha Wallace, who canceled her holiday trip to Switzerland after officials there imposed a 10-day quarantine, in New York, Nov. 30, 2021. The latest zigzag in the pandemic has already curtailed travel, but its broader impact on growth and inflation isn’t likely to be known for several weeks. [Joshua Bright/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Omicron could knock a fragile economic recovery off track

This week, Marisha Wallace finally had to admit that her planned five-day ski holiday in Switzerland in mid-December was not salvageable: The Swiss government’s sudden decision to impose a 10-day quarantine on some international travelers meant she wouldn’t be able to leave her hotel or return home to London on her scheduled flight.

A man waits to receive a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Vaccines are finally available in many African countries, but some people there, as well as in South Asia, are wary of taking them. [Joao Silva/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

The next challenge to vaccinating Africa: Overcoming skepticism

The detection of the omicron variant in Africa signals the next stage of the battle against COVID-19: getting many more people inoculated in poorer nations where vaccines have been scarcest in order to deter new mutations from developing.

Scientists work with cell cultures at a Pfizer research and development facility in Chesterfield, Mo., March 30, 2021. A revised version of its coronavirus vaccine could be ready in six weeks if needed, a spokeswoman said. [Whitney Curtis/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Fragmented reactions hinder global fight against Omicron variant

In a wrenchingly familiar cycle of tracking first cases, pointing fingers and banning travel, nations worldwide reacted Monday to the omicron variant of the coronavirus in the piecemeal fashion that has defined — and hobbled — the pandemic response all along.

A view of the Eiffel tower from the Trocadero square in Paris, April 16. France is particularly on edge over the rise of American gender and race politics with many politicians and academics believing their language and nation are under attack from the United States. [Dmitry Kostyukov/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

In a nonbinary pronoun, France sees a US attack on the Republic

Perhaps France was always going to have a hard time with nonbinary pronouns. Its language is intensely gender-specific and fiercely protected by august authorities. Still, the furor provoked by a prominent dictionary’s inclusion of the pronoun “iel” has been remarkably virulent.

Grieving parents were at high risk of a heart attack in the days following the death of a child, and an increased risk may persist for years. [Sun Bai/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

The loss of a child takes a physical toll on the heart

Losing a child is one of the most emotionally wrenching experiences a parent can go through. New research suggests it may also literally damage the heart. The study found that in the days after the death of a child, a parent is at greatly increased risk for a heart attack, and the increased risk may persist for years.

New science is rewriting the book on chronic pain – and may make treatment more accessible. [Justin J Wee/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

The quiet scientific revolution that may solve chronic pain

Chronic pain is both one of the world’s most costly medical problems, affecting 1 in every 5 people, and one of the most mysterious. In the past two decades, however, discoveries about the crucial role played by glia – a set of nervous system cells once thought to be mere supports for neurons – have rewritten chronic pain science.

One of many makeshift buying houses where rocks containing cobalt are pulverized and assayed for their value, outside Kolwezi, Congo, April 24, 2021. The quest for Congo’s cobalt, which is vital for electric vehicles and the worldwide push against climate change, is caught in an international cycle of exploitation, greed and gamesmanship. [Ashley Gilbertson/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

How the US lost ground to China in the contest for clean energy

Tom Perriello saw it coming but could do nothing to stop it. André Kapanga too. Despite urgent emails, phone calls and personal pleas, they watched helplessly as a company backed by the Chinese government took ownership from the Americans of one of the world’s largest cobalt mines.

One way that our lives online have rewired our brains is that we’re more comfortable buying from an unfamiliar brand. And those same changing habits may also be making us less loyal to anything that we buy. [Kiel Mutschelknaus/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

The internet broke brand loyalty

A few winters ago, I and many other American women purchased the Amazon Coat, a fairly affordable piece of outerwear that grabbed attention for a hot minute. It’s an OK coat, but I keep forgetting the name of the manufacturer.

A group of migrants head to a nearby shelter after a day of clashes with Polish security forces at the Kuznica-Bruzgi border checkpoint in Belarus, Nov. 16, 2021. The images at the Belarus-Poland border look familiar, but this emergency has little in common with previous waves of people from Syria, Myanmar and Afghanistan. [James Hill/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

How the Belarus standoff is unlike recent migrant crises

A crowd of migrants trying to cross a border has come to seem appallingly familiar in recent years. We have seen masses of desperate people seek refuge in strange lands: Syrians escaping civil war, the Rohingya brutally driven from Myanmar, Afghans fleeing Taliban rule.

Michiel De Smet speaks at The New York Times Climate Hub in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 8, 2021. De Set is the finance program lead for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and finance initiative lead for the European Union Platform on Sustainable Finance. [Craig Gibson/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

In the fight against climate change, young voices speak out

The climate conference in Scotland, known as COP26, concluded last week with an assortment of promises and agreements from participating nations on confronting climate change. How they will ultimately turn out is anyone’s guess.

While the coronavirus vaccines’ effectiveness against severe disease and hospitalization has mostly held steady, even through the summer surge of the highly transmissible Delta variant, a number of published studies show that their protection against infection, with or without symptoms, has fallen. [The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Efficacy of shots wanes, fueling boosters debate

As tens of millions of eligible people in the United States consider signing up for a COVID-19 booster shot, a growing body of early global research shows that the vaccines authorized in the United States remain highly protective against the disease’s worst outcomes over time, with some exceptions among older people and those with weakened immune systems.

For the first time in the United States, internet companies seem to be making a concerted effort to make shopping an inextricable and seamless part of the online spaces where we come to be entertained and informed but not necessarily to buy stuff. [Jinhwa Oh/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Why the internet is turning into QVC

If YouTube has its way, we may soon watch makeup tutorials and buy face powder and eyeliner directly from its site. Facebook is airing infomercial-style shows that will encourage people to shop from small businesses, including one that sells dog bow ties.

Ganesh Moorthy, chief executive of Microchip Technology, holds an example of his company’s product at headquarters in Chandler, Ariz., Nov. 2, 2021. Low-profile chip makers with aging factories have become surprisingly powerful, leading to industry changes that may outlive the pandemic-fueled supply crunch. [Tomás Karmelo Amaya/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Chip shortage creates new power players

Since 1989, Microchip Technology has operated in an unglamorous backwater of the electronics industry, making chips called microcontrollers that add computing power to cars, industrial equipment and many other products.

Construction of hot water pipes heated from a floating nuclear power plant docked in the Arctic port town of Pevek, Russia, Oct 8. A remote Siberian town now has its own miniature nuclear plant as a Russian state company tests a new model for residential heating. Some see it as a tool to minimize climate change. [Emile Ducke/The New York Times]
THE NEW YORK TIMES

A nuclear-powered shower? Russia tests a climate innovation

The water was hot, steamy and plentiful, and Pavel Rozhkov let it flow over his body, enjoying a shower that is not for the squeamish: On his bare skin, he was feeling the heat produced by an atomic reaction, pumped directly from a nuclear reactor into his home.

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