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Atishoo, we all fall down
LEADERS
Editorial Acting editor Graham Lawton Managing editor Rowan Hooper Head of production Julian Richards Art editor Craig Mackie Editor at large Jeremy Webb
News Chief news editor Niall Firth Editors Jacob Aron, Penny Sarchet, Jon White, Chelsea Whyte PETER MASON/PLAINPICTURE
Reporters (UK) Andy Coghlan, Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page, Timothy Revell, Clare Wilson, Sam Wong, (US) Leah Crane, Aylin Woodward, (Aus) Alice Klein
Features Chief features editor Richard Webb Editors Catherine de Lange, Gilead Amit, Catherine Brahic, Julia Brown, Daniel Cossins, Kate Douglas, Alison George, Joshua Howgego, Tiffany O’Callaghan, Sean O’Neill
Culture and Community Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings, Frank Swain
Subeditors Managing subeditor Eleanor Parsons Vivienne Greig, Tom Campbell, Hannah Joshua, Chris Simms
Design Kathryn Brazier, Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills
Picture desk Chief picture editor Adam Goff Kirstin Kidd, David Stock
Production Mick O’Hare, Alan Blagrove, Anne Marie Conlon, Melanie Green
Contact us newscientist.com/contact General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1202 [email protected] UK 25 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9ES Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1200 AUSTRALIA Level 11, Suite 3, 100 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060 Tel +61 (0)2 9422 8559 US 210 Broadway #201 Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 781 734 8773
© 2018 New Scientist Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by William Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
Atishoo, we all fall down This year’s flu should shake us out of our complacency FLU season stalks the northern hemisphere. That is not news – it happens every year, and for most of us it is usually little more than a nuisance. But the flu of 2018 could be as bad as an annual winter outbreak gets (see page 28). You may think you have heard it all before, but you probably haven’t. To be clear, we are not talking about an emerging strain of bird or swine flu, the kind that keeps virologists awake at night fearing a pandemic. Right now the warnings are about regular winter flu. But it looks like a bad one. For people vulnerable because of age, pregnancy, obesity or other risk factors, it could be a killer.
And yet the world remains astonishingly cavalier about a virus that regularly kills hundreds of thousands and occasionally more. We fend it off half-heartedly with a vaccine from the 1940s, which is better than nothing – but we know we can do more. We spend a pittance on developing vaccines that will actually defeat it, even though researchers have some very promising leads. Why? Partly because of complacency: most of us have had flu and lived to tell the tale. Partly because denialists peddle the lie that the threat is overstated so pharma companies can sell vaccines and drugs. And partly
Sight for more eyes IF YOU are among the estimated one-in-four people with eyeballs that are the wrong shape, try to imagine life without glasses or contact lenses. In the UK, that would mean roughly 10 million people with eyesight too poor to drive legally or read a classroom whiteboard. The impact on education, the economy and society would be appalling.
That is the reality for millions living in parts of Asia and Africa, where refractive errors – short and long-sightedness and astigmatism – too often go undiagnosed and uncorrected. This has been known for decades, but it is increasingly hard to see why the world allows it to persist. Glasses can be produced for less than £1 a pair. Admittedly,
because a better vaccine won’t be blockbuster-profitable. This month also marks 100 years since the outbreak of the so‑called Spanish flu, the worst pandemic we know about. This year’s “Aussie flu” is a descendant of that virus. It won’t be as bad, but we must hope that its inevitable impact is enough to tell the world that ordinary flu is still a serious disease and that a repeat of 1918 is bound to happen. In the UK, centenarians are entitled to a birthday message from the queen. She should send one to the 1918 flu too, to remind us that it is still with us. ■
diagnosing the several billion people who need them is a bigger hurdle. But smartphone technology is increasingly up to the challenge (see page 40). It is time for world leaders to develop a vision to deal with this under-reported and unnecessary problem. If the humanitarian arguments don’t talk loudly enough, money might. Impaired sight costs the global economy trillions every year. How much of an eye-opener do we need? ■ 6 January 2018 | NewScientist | 5
Editorial Acting editor Graham Lawton Managing editor Rowan Hooper Head of production Julian Richards Art editor Craig Mackie Editor at large Jeremy Webb
News Chief news editor Niall Firth Editors Jacob Aron, Penny Sarchet, Jon White, Chelsea Whyte PETER MASON/PLAINPICTURE
Reporters (UK) Andy Coghlan, Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page, Timothy Revell, Clare Wilson, Sam Wong, (US) Leah Crane, Aylin Woodward, (Aus) Alice Klein
Features Chief features editor Richard Webb Editors Catherine de Lange, Gilead Amit, Catherine Brahic, Julia Brown, Daniel Cossins, Kate Douglas, Alison George, Joshua Howgego, Tiffany O’Callaghan, Sean O’Neill
Culture and Community Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings, Frank Swain
Subeditors Managing subeditor Eleanor Parsons Vivienne Greig, Tom Campbell, Hannah Joshua, Chris Simms
Design Kathryn Brazier, Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills
Picture desk Chief picture editor Adam Goff Kirstin Kidd, David Stock
Production Mick O’Hare, Alan Blagrove, Anne Marie Conlon, Melanie Green
Contact us newscientist.com/contact General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1202 [email protected] UK 25 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9ES Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1200 AUSTRALIA Level 11, Suite 3, 100 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060 Tel +61 (0)2 9422 8559 US 210 Broadway #201 Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 781 734 8773
© 2018 New Scientist Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by William Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
Atishoo, we all fall down This year’s flu should shake us out of our complacency FLU season stalks the northern hemisphere. That is not news – it happens every year, and for most of us it is usually little more than a nuisance. But the flu of 2018 could be as bad as an annual winter outbreak gets (see page 28). You may think you have heard it all before, but you probably haven’t. To be clear, we are not talking about an emerging strain of bird or swine flu, the kind that keeps virologists awake at night fearing a pandemic. Right now the warnings are about regular winter flu. But it looks like a bad one. For people vulnerable because of age, pregnancy, obesity or other risk factors, it could be a killer.
And yet the world remains astonishingly cavalier about a virus that regularly kills hundreds of thousands and occasionally more. We fend it off half-heartedly with a vaccine from the 1940s, which is better than nothing – but we know we can do more. We spend a pittance on developing vaccines that will actually defeat it, even though researchers have some very promising leads. Why? Partly because of complacency: most of us have had flu and lived to tell the tale. Partly because denialists peddle the lie that the threat is overstated so pharma companies can sell vaccines and drugs. And partly
Sight for more eyes IF YOU are among the estimated one-in-four people with eyeballs that are the wrong shape, try to imagine life without glasses or contact lenses. In the UK, that would mean roughly 10 million people with eyesight too poor to drive legally or read a classroom whiteboard. The impact on education, the economy and society would be appalling.
That is the reality for millions living in parts of Asia and Africa, where refractive errors – short and long-sightedness and astigmatism – too often go undiagnosed and uncorrected. This has been known for decades, but it is increasingly hard to see why the world allows it to persist. Glasses can be produced for less than £1 a pair. Admittedly,
because a better vaccine won’t be blockbuster-profitable. This month also marks 100 years since the outbreak of the so‑called Spanish flu, the worst pandemic we know about. This year’s “Aussie flu” is a descendant of that virus. It won’t be as bad, but we must hope that its inevitable impact is enough to tell the world that ordinary flu is still a serious disease and that a repeat of 1918 is bound to happen. In the UK, centenarians are entitled to a birthday message from the queen. She should send one to the 1918 flu too, to remind us that it is still with us. ■
diagnosing the several billion people who need them is a bigger hurdle. But smartphone technology is increasingly up to the challenge (see page 40). It is time for world leaders to develop a vision to deal with this under-reported and unnecessary problem. If the humanitarian arguments don’t talk loudly enough, money might. Impaired sight costs the global economy trillions every year. How much of an eye-opener do we need? ■ 6 January 2018 | NewScientist | 5