Our picksVienna: Havana Syndrome Hot Spot | Better Disease Forecasts | Extreme Weather Batters the Wealthy World, and more

Enormous Scale of Destruction Is Revealed as Water Subsides after Historic Western Europe Flooding  (Ivana Kottasová, CNN)
At least 189 people are dead and hundreds more remain missing after catastrophic flooding hit large swaths of western Europe, with tens of thousands unable to return to their homes and many still left without access to power and drinking water.
The flooding, caused by unprecedented rainfall, has hit parts of western Germany before shifting to neighboring Belgium and the Netherlands.
Several areas across the southern Netherlands remain evacuated after the river Maas rose to levels not seen in over a century on Saturday. In Venlo, a city that sits right on the Maas, 10,000 people had to leave their homes.

“No One Is Safe”: Extreme Weather Batters the Wealthy World  (Somini Sengupta, New York Times)
Floods swept Germany, fires ravaged the American West and another heat wave loomed, driving home the reality that the world’s richest nations remain unprepared for the intensifying consequences of climate change.

California’s Cliffs Are Collapsing One by One  (Ramin Skibba and Hakai Magazine, The Atlantic)
Collapsing coastal bluffs are a threat wherever waves, earthquakes, and intense rainstorms can destabilize steep seaside terrain, and with sea levels rising, this risk is increasing. It is a pronounced risk throughout many areas along the Pacific Coast of North America, especially in Southern California. Considering that many lives, homes, and vital infrastructure are at stake, scientists have been trying to figure out exactly what causes such cliffs to fall.
Researchers are stepping up their efforts to understand why—and when—bluffs come crashing down.

Competition and Collaboration: Understanding Interacting Epidemics Can Unlock Better Disease Forecasts  (Andrey Lokhov, Discover)
Epidemiological models took center stage throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, providing important information about the spread of the virus through communities and the world. But the spotlight on these models also illuminated their shortcomings. Early in the pandemic, several models were criticized for their lack of accuracy by either over or underestimating infection and death rates. This is understandable given that, early on, little data was available to feed these models. As the pandemic progressed and more data became available, the better they got.
But the new epidemiological models are still far from perfect. A recently developed algorithm aims to improve them by focusing on additional forces critical to spread but too often overlooked.
Until now, epidemiological models that forecast how viruses spread through populations have struggled to include concepts of collaboration among various diseases themselves that, once in the human body, increase the chance of a co-infection. For example, people living with HIV are 15 to 22 times more likely to get tuberculosis, and a person cannot contract hepatitis D unless they are already infected with hepatitis B.

Why the U.S. Once Set Off a Nuclear Bomb in Space  (Brian Gutierrez, National Geographic)
The results from the 1962 Starfish Prime test serve as a warning of what might happen if Earth’s magnetic field gets blasted again with high doses of radiation.

Great Salt Lake Is Shrinking Fast. Scientists Demand Action Before It Becomes a Toxic Dustbin  (Lucy Kafanov, Leslie Perrot, and Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN)

How One of the World’s Biggest Ships Jammed the Suez Canal  (Vivian Yee and James Glanz, New York Times)
Four months after the megaship Ever Given got stuck in the canal, neither the canal nor the shipping industry has addressed some of the most critical issues that led to the grounding.

Vienna Is the New Havana Syndrome Hot Spot  (Adam Entous, New Yorker)
Roughly two dozen possible new cases have been reported by U.S. spies and diplomats in the Austrian capital, more than in any other city except Havana itself.

Trump Beach Sand Policy Is Reversed by Biden Administration  (Katy Stech Ferek, Wall Street Journal)
Action followed objections by environmentalists to a change that made it easier for towns to import sand from protected areas.

What the White House Doesn’t Get About Disinformation  (Jack Shafer, Politico)
Hammering Tucker Carlson and other lie spreaders won’t keep people from sharing their conspiracies. Direct appeals to the public might.