Daily Archives: March 16, 2021

Researchers in the UK, the US, and Belgium have found that while the SARS-CoV-2 virus has undergone significant changes in its evolutionary history, those changes likely occurred while the virus was still found mainly in bats, resulting in a "relatively generalist" virus that was capable of infecting humans without the need for an intermediary species.

Ina study published Friday inPLOS Biology, the researchers noted that shifts in virus hosts are usually associated with novel adaptations in the viruses themselves that allow the microbes to better exploit the cells of the new host species. However, SARS-CoV-2 apparently required little to no significant adaptation to humans from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic until October 2020.

The researchers assessed the types of natural selection taking place inSarbecovirusesin horseshoe bats and compared them to early SARS-CoV-2 evolution in humans. While they did find some evidence of diversifying positive selection in SARS-CoV-2 in humans, it was moderate, limited to the early phase of the pandemic, and the purifying selection was much weaker in SARS-CoV-2 than in related batSarbecoviruses. In contrast, they found significant positive episodic diversifying selection acting at the base of the bat virus lineage that SARS-CoV-2 emerged from, accompanied by an adaptive depletion in CpG composition presumed to be linked to the action of antiviral mechanisms in these ancestral bat hosts.

Therefore, the researchers said, while it's still possible that an intermediary species facilitated the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans, their data suggested that the progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 was capable of efficient human-to-human transmission as a consequence of its adaptive evolutionary history in bats.

The researchers first analyzed selection acting on the encoded amino acids of SARS-CoV-2 using 133,741 genome sequences from the GISAID database as of Oct. 12, 2020, representing a sample of the variants circulating in humans during the first 11 months of the pandemic. The vast majority of the mutations they observed in these samples occurred at very low frequencies, with 79 percent of mutations observed in 10 or fewer of the 133,741 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences.

"Our study results show changes have occurred with SARS-CoV-2, but that most of these mutations are of no evolutionary significance and accumulate by 'surfing' along the millions of transmission events, like they do in all viruses," first author and University of Glasgow researcher Oscar MacLean said in a statement. "The slow rate of evolution can be attributed to the highly susceptible nature of the human population to this new pathogen, with limited pressure from population immunity, and lack of containment, leading to exponential growth."

In contrast, however, the researchers' analysis of theSarbecovirusclade from which SARS-CoV-2 emerged showed evidence of positive selection on the clade's deeper branches, coupled with an adaptive shift in CpG composition in this lineage. The shift in CpG suppression at the base of the novel coronavirus clade could be indicative of an immune evasion adaptation by evading known CpG-targeting mammalian immune mechanisms such as ZAP, they said.

Importantly, the researchers noted that since the end of 2020, there are indications of increased selective pressure in some recent lineages of the virus that are associated with faster spread and a higher-than-usual number of nonsynonymous substitutions the UK (B.1.1.7) and South Africa (B.1.351) variants, for example. These lineages appear to have evolved in humans in association with human immunity, due to previous exposure and/or chronic infections of probably immunocompromised individuals, and not because of the slow rate of evolution associated with acute SARS-CoV-2 infections and transmission that had predominated in the pandemic until October 2020, they said.

More urgently, senior author and Glasgow bioinformatics researcher David Robertson noted in the statement, the virus is now making evolutionary moves away from the January 2020 variant that was used in all of the current vaccines.

"The current vaccines will continue to work against the circulating variants but the more time that passes, and the bigger the differential between vaccinated and not-vaccinated numbers of people, the more opportunity there will be for vaccine escape," he said. "The reason for the shifting of gears of SARS-CoV-2 in terms of its increased rate of evolution at the end of 2020, associated with more heavily mutated lineages, is because the immunological profile of the human population has changed. The first race was to develop a vaccine. The race now is to get the global population vaccinated as quickly as possible."

In their study, the authors also sounded a note of caution that because of the high diversity and generalist nature ofSarbecoviruses,a future spillover from bats, potentially coupled with a recombination event with SARS-CoV-2, is possible. Such an event could lead to the emergence of a SARS-CoV-3 virus, which could itself be sufficiently divergent to evade either natural or vaccine-acquired immunity.

"We must therefore dramatically ramp up surveillance forSarbecovirusesat the human-animal interface and monitor carefully for future SARS-CoV emergence in the human population," they concluded.

This story was first published in our sister publication, Genomeweb.

Originally posted here:

Coronavirus evolution in bats may have resulted in highly efficient human pathogen - Modern Healthcare

Evolution adapts and optimizes organisms to their ecological niche. This could be used to predict how an organism evolves, but how can such predictions be rigorously tested? The Biophysics and Computational Neuroscience group led by professor Gaper Tkaik at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria has now created a mathematical framework to do exactly that.

Evolutionary adaptation often finds clever solutions to challenges posed by different environments, from how to survive in the dark depths of the oceans to creating intricate organs such as an eye or an ear. But can we mathematically predict these outcomes?

Postdoctoral fellow Wiktor Mynarski. Credit: Kris Brewer

This is the key question that motivates the Tkaik research group. Working at the intersection of biology, physics, and mathematics, they apply theoretical concepts to complex biological systems, or as Tkaik puts it: We simply want to show that it is sometimes possible to predict change in biological systems, even when dealing with such a complex beast as evolution.

In a joint work by the postdoctoral fellow Wiktor Mynarski and PhD student Michal Hledk, assisted by group alumnus Thomas Sokolowski, who is now working at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, the scientists spearheaded an essential advance towards their goal. They developed a statistical framework that uses experimental data from complex biological systems to rigorously test and quantify how well such a system is adapted to its environment. An example of such an adaptation is the design of the eyes retina that optimally collects light to form a sharp image, or the wiring diagram of a worms nervous system that ensures all the muscles and sensors are connected efficiently, using the least amount of neural wiring.

PhD student Michal Hledk. Credit: Martin veda

The established model the scientists base their results on represents adaptation as movement on a landscape with mountains and valleys. The features of an organism determine where it is located on this landscape. As evolution progresses and the organism adapts to its ecological niche, it climbs towards the peak of one of the mountains. Better adaptation results in a better performance in the environment for example producing more offspring which in turn is reflected in a higher elevation on this landscape. Therefore, a falcon with its sharp eyesight is located at a higher point than the birds ancestor whose vision was worse in the same environment.

The new framework by Mynarski, Hledk, and colleagues allows them to quantify how well the organisms are adapted to their niche. On a two-dimensional landscape with mountains and valleys, calculating the elevation appears trivial, but real biological systems are much more complex. There are many more factors influencing it, which results in landscapes with many more dimensions. Here, intuition breaks down and the researchers need rigorous statistical tools to quantify adaptation and test its predictions against experimental data. This is what the new framework delivers.

IST Austria provides a fertile ground for interdisciplinary collaborations. Wiktor Mynarski, originally coming from computer science, is interested in applying mathematical concepts to biological systems.

Professor Gaper Tkaik. Credit: Nadine Poncioni/IST Austria

This paper is a synthesis of many of my scientific interests, bringing together different biological systems and conceptual approaches, he describes this most recent study. In his interdisciplinary research, Michal Hledk works with both the Tkaik group and the research group led by Nicholas Barton in the field of evolutionary genetics at IST Austria. Gaper Tkaik himself was inspired to study complex biological systems through the lens of physics by his PhD advisor William Bialek at Princeton University.

There, I learned that the living world is not always messy, complex, and unapproachable by physical theories. In contrast, it can drive completely new developments in applied and fundamental physics, he explains.

Our legacy should be the ability to point a finger at selected biological systems and predict, from first principles, why these systems are as they are, rather than being limited to describing how they work, Tkaik describes his motivation. Prediction should be possible in a controlled environment, such as with the relatively simple E. coli bacteria growing under optimal conditions. Another avenue for prediction are systems that operate under hard physical limits, which strongly constrain evolution. One example are our eyes that need to convey high-resolution images to the brain while using the minimal amount of energy.

Tkaik summarizes, Theoretically deriving even a bit of an organisms complexity would be the ultimate answer to the Why? question that humans have grappled with throughout the ages. Our recent work creates a tool to approach this question, by building a bridge between mathematics and biology.

Reference: Statistical analysis and optimality of neural systems by Wiktor Mynarski, Michal Hledk, Thomas R. Sokolowski and Gaper Tkaik, 15 February 2021, Neuron.DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.01.020

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Can Evolution Be Predicted? Building a Bridge Between Mathematics and Biology - SciTechDaily

The evolution of the corporate VPN: How COVID-19 has redefined VPN security | 2021-03-16 | Security Magazine This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more. This Website Uses CookiesBy closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn MoreThis website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.

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The evolution of the corporate VPN: How COVID-19 has redefined VPN security - Security Magazine

Mar 15, 2021

PVH Corp., the parent of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, is more highly prioritizing real-time inventory visibility to better adjust to potential disruptions coming out of the pandemic.

Eileen Mahoney, PVHs CIO, told The Wall Street Journal, Its allowed the business to get a better handle on where demand is, where the consumer is shopping, and were now going to be nimble about where inventory is.

A new report from the Capgemini Research Institute finds 66 percent of consumer products and retail (CP&R) organizations saying their supply chain strategies will change significantly in the next three years, with much of the attention on heightened visibility.

The supply chain realignment is expected to focus around three areas.

Demand sensing

Sixty-eight percent of CP&R organizations surveyed faced difficulties in demand planning due to a lack of accurate and up-to-date information on fluctuating customer demand during the pandemic. Two-thirds plan to segment supply chains according to demand patterns, product value and regional dimensions post pandemic, while 54 percent will use analytics/AI-machine learning for demand forecasting.

Visibility becomes critical

Facing difficulties quickly increasing or decreasing production capacity, 58 percent of retailers and 61 percent of consumer product organizations are planning to increase investments in digitization of supply chains to improve visibility. Forty-seven percent are planning to invest in automation, 42 percent in robotics and 42 percent in artificial intelligence. Sixty-four percent and 63 percent of organizations are also planning to make extensive use of artificial intelligence and machine learning across transportation and pricing optimization respectively.

From globalization to localization

Seventy-two percent of consumer product organizations and 58 percent of retailers are actively investing in regionalizing or localizing their manufacturing base or nearshoring production to prevent future disruption.

The study found respondents faced significant challenges across the supply chain in the wake of the crisis, including difficulties in end-to-end monitoring of the supply chain, cited by 72 percent; delayed shipments/longer lead times, 74 percent; and bottlenecks at ports or at borders, 68 percent.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How important will visibility be in helping reduce supply chain disruptions in the future? Which of the three themes for improving supply chain agility cited in the article is most important?

"Real-time inventory visibility is critical to address and react to supply chain disruptions and also to improve customer engagement. "

"To design and predict individual product demand in real-time resulting in getting the right product, to the right place, at the right time requires new thinking on both sides "

"Visibility has been a key to the supply chain for years now, but the focus on real-time, omnichannel inventory and agility has become paramount in the last 24 months, no doubt"

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The next evolution of the supply chain will be all about visibility RetailWire - RetailWire

Its Womens History Month and what better way to celebrate than to spotlightWhite House Correspondent April D. Ryan. Ryan is a veteran journalist who has workedat the White House for 24 years, while also serving as a major voice for the Black community.

ESSENCE spoke with Ryan about her early days in the news industry, how she overcame working in the White House under a racist, sexist president, and her new role withtheGrio.

When did you realize you wanted to be a journalist?

RYAN: I realized when I was at Morgan [State University]. I started out doing radio, being a DJ between classes on Friday and overnights on Sunday. I was a DJ at WEAA FM and WEBB AM [previously owned by singer James Brown]. I always had a passion for knowing what was going on, and that stemmed from my home in Baltimore from my late parents. They always had the radio on first thing in the morning. You get up youhear the sounds of the news, traffic and temperature. In the evenings we would sit and watch Walter Cronkite. Thats the way it was. News was always in me, but I didnt realize how much it was until I got tired of spinning the records and I wanted to do more. I was always the one who wanted to get the people talking, to have it on the record, to make it credible, so that you could believe this is something you need for your daily life.I think being a DJ is the best thing in the world. I couldnt do it, but news, give me a pen, a pad, a microphone or a camera and Im there. I can work it out in a minute.

As someone who attended Morgan State University, how do you respond to people who argue HBCUs are archaic and need to be eliminated?

RYAN:I would not be April Ryan if it werent for an HBCU. I attended predominately white catholic schools forthe vast majority ofmy education and then I attended Morgan. This is my quote: HBCUs love you to success. Its like a family. Theres an intimacy there and we understand, we want you to survive and thrive. We are building you up because weve been down for so long. HBCUs are not archaic. When some institutions wont accept us now, family accepts us. There is still a non-even playing field for admissions for us. The same reasons we needed them [HBCUs] now are the same reasons we needed them yesterday. A lot of these schools would not take us in.

The nation watched the fiery exchanges that took place between you and Trump during his presidency. Youre the epitome of a strong Black woman, but how did it feel to be challenged by a racist, sexist president who was never fit to lead this country?

RYAN: It wasnt necessarily about me. When youre a mother, you dont necessarily think about yourself, you think about your children. I wanted to make sure my children were okay. My children know Im a fighter and they know I stand up when something issaidor something is wrong. But my concern was for them most of all. One, that they were safe. Two, that it didnt hurt their mother as much as other people felt hurt for me. When many of those fiery exchanges were happening, my oldest daughter was in class in Baltimore in currentnews watching the ticker go by, Donald Trump says this to April Ryan. She would text me, momareyou okay? I said, Im great. And thats the hurtful piece, when youre doing your job and your family and friends get it before you can say what happened.

Lets discuss your new role with theGrio. What are you doing and why theGrio?

RYAN: I am a White House correspondent Washington bureau chief with theGrio. Im learning things, like the Tik Toking and all that stuff. I said I need to go digital, but I wanted to stay at the White House and build something great for Black America. TheGriois offering me the opportunity to help lead that side of it. Its amazing what the team has. I love the energy there, young people who arent new to this, but true to this. They believe in giving information to Black America.

What advice would you give to Black women and girls who are looking to enter the media industry, but may feel discouraged?

RYAN: Believe in yourself. Theres something called a dream deferred. It could be a dream thatsdeferredor you can believe in yourself and still work towards your dream. Never walk away from your dream, even if it is part time or a hobby. Ive been in this business since1985. For me to still be here in 2021, you dont see a lot of that. Ive been at the White House for 24years. You dont see that. Im saying all that to say, this business has changed so much. Be open. You need to be able to get on Zoom calls and hold conversations that bring people in. You need to be able to writeyoura** off. You need to be able to speak the queens English. You need to be able to handle the camera at a moments notice. Practice your craft.

Link:

April D. Ryan Reflects on Her Evolution as a Journalist - Essence

Lampreys are boneless, blood-sucking snake-like fish considered to be "living fossils" that have barely changed since they first arose during the Paleozoic era, more than 100 million years before the first dinosaurs.

Interestingly, since the 1800s, scientists have thought that the earliest ancestors of all vertebrates, including ourselves, resembled lampreys' worm-like babies.

Now, recently discovered baby lamprey fossils have overturned that popularevolutionary theory, which some scientists were already starting to question, reports a Canadian-led study published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

It turns out that baby lampreys from the Paleozoicera, which had been "missing" from the fossil record until now, don't look the way scientists had previously hypothesized raising new questions about what our ancestors were really like.

To be sure, adult lampreys seem like an unlikely candidate for what the progenitor of vertebrates might have looked like.

They'realien-looking predators with a sucker-like mouth ringed with multiple rows of sharp teeth that they use to pierce the skin of their prey usually other fish and suck out their blood. One species, the sea lamprey, has devastated fisheries in the Great Lakes since invading them in the early 1900s via shipping canals.

But lampreys aren't born monsters. Their babies or larvaeare tiny, blind, worm-like creatures called ammocoetes that burrow in the mud and slurp algae and rotting organic matter floating by.

They also have an uncanny resemblance to worm-like animals called lancelets that don't have a backbone, but do have many other characteristics of vertebrates, the group that includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. That puts lanceletsjust on the other side of the border between vertebrates and invertebrateslike worms, snails and insects.

Biologists also believed that the larval or embryonic development of some animals was, in some ways, a look back through time at their evolution. For example, human embryos have a tail and gill-like structures around their necks.

All that led scientists to theorize about what the ancestor of all vertebrates from fish to fowl to humans might have looked like.

Tetsuto Miyashita, a research scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa who led the new study, says that since the 19th century, when people looked at ammocoetes, "the common wisdom was that we were looking at... our distant ancestors in the face."

It's not a flattering thought, but it was a popular one up until several years ago..

That's when researchers such as Margaret Docker, a professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Manitoba, began to question the evidence.

For one thing, scientists hadn't found ammocoete fossils dating back earlier than 125 million years ago, even though the earliest lamprey fossils known are 360 million years old.

So, did early lampreys even have an ammocoete stage?

"There were just none of the earlier stages apparent," said Docker, who wasn't involved in the new study. She published a paper with two other scientists in 2018 suggesting that early lampreys either didn't have a larval stage or only had a very short one, but noted they weren't the first to be thinking of that.

"For the longest time, I sort of just came to the conclusion that we would never really know for sure."

That'sbecause lampreys don't fossilize well, as they have no bones, only cartilage. They only form compressed fossils under very specific conditions, similar to those that preserved soft-bodied ancient creatures in Canada's Burgess Shale, said Philippe Janvier, emeritus director of research at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientific (CNRS) in an email.

"Such fossils have long been regarded as barely more informative than a squashed slug on a highway," said Janvier, who co-authored the 2018 paper with Docker. It was hard to tell whether any of them were ammocoetes or juveniles in the middle of metamorphosing into adults.

Still, Miyashita was determined to have a closer look at that fossil evidence to see if the theory about ancient ammocoetes was true, so he went looking where the oldest known lamprey fossil had been found: a site in South Africa called Waterloo Farm.

Back in the Paleozoic, South Africa was located at the South Pole, but it was much warmer and wasn't always iced over. At that time, Waterloo Farm was a coastal lagoon teeming withfish and invertebrates, which made up most of the animals on Earth at that time, when the ancestors of modern amphibians were just starting to take their first steps out of the water and onto land.

Miyashitagot in touch with the local expert there, Robert Gess, a paleontologist and research associate at the Albany Museum and Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa. Gess had rescued 100 tonnes of shalethat contained thousands of fossil specimens atWaterloo Farm before the construction of a local road.

Miyashita wanted to see if there were very small lampreys or ammocoetes in the rocks.

Gess managed to spotseven, all smaller than the smallest ones he had previously found, Miyashita recalled the tiniestof them "the size of your little fingernail."

Despite that, the researchers could see that it was clearly a lamprey, with huge eyes for spotting prey and a sucker mouth with sharp teeth like adult lampreys today.

But it wasn't an adult. Upon closer inspection, that fossil had a little bulge on its belly.

With excitement, the researchers realized that it was ayolk, which many fish carry with them to feed them when they first hatch, Miyashita said: "This baby fossil lamprey just hatched out of the egg."

Janvier, who wasn't involved in the study, agreed that the bulge was clearly a yolk sac, similar to those found in many fossil hatchlings of other fish.

When Miyashita went through museum collections of other ancient lamprey fossils, he foundhatchlingsof other species that also looked like mini-adults.

It was clear evidence that ancient lampreys didn't have a worm-like larval stage. While the adults might be "living fossils," the ammocoetes evolved later.

Docker estimates it happened around 300 million years ago, since modern lamprey species all have an ammocoete stage, suggesting their common ancestor from that time already had the trait. That period was when many insects and amphibians also developed very different juvenile and adult stages in different environments, such as water and land, with a metamorphosis in between.

At that time, plants had colonized the land, creating and stabilizing soils with their roots, making freshwater environments less prone to wild fluctuations and raging floods, and therefore more habitable.

But it was still an environment with few predators one where tiny baby animals could safely grow.

Miyashita said developing a larval stage capable of colonizing those safe freshwater environments probably "was the key for the survival of modern lamprey lineages."

Miyashita said the fossil discovery has big implications for theories about the evolution of vertebrates. Clearly, ammocoetes don't look the way they do because of a resemblance to the ancestor of all vertebrates, as previously thought.

"It's not exactly often that just a single set of tiny fossils can just completely overturn that accepted scenario of vertebrate evolution," he said. "I think this is one important step toward figuring out what our distant ancestors actually looked like 500 million years ago."

Both Janvier and Docker agree that the discovery is important, even if some scientists had already suspected it before. Docker called it "quite exciting."

"There's a big difference between thinking it and having the clear evidence," she said. "So it's certainly a big deal."

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Bloodsucking-fish fossils overturn once-popular theory about our evolution - CBC.ca

Ideas are like seeds. Some of them sprout, some grow to a level and some become giant trees. This is true for digital platforms as well. The giant trees of our era are WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with crores of users interacting using them. As organisations and by corollary, platforms grow, they need rules to organise and govern themselves. When they grow too much, they invite new regulations. Our social media platforms are also navigating this cycle. Couple it with the fact that criminals are some of the initial as well as advanced users of most new technologies.

The Government of India has announced new Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code to manage the possible misuse of platforms that make it easy for anyone to communicate with anyone publicly. The guidelines focus on ensuring security of users, redressal of their grievances, ensuring traceability of messages, restricting the flow of illegal information and right classification of digital content. Regulations will evolve as the social media ecosystem evolves and impacts the way we communicate.

As a business, social media platforms invest a lot in building, sustaining and constantly improving their technology platforms. It is not easy to run billions of live conversations without glitches and definitely not without substantial costs. Revenue comes primarily from advertisements or promoted content. Users get to use the platform for free but then the collective number of users is the strength of a network. More the users, more its net worth and more the revenue it can earn.

Social media platforms have opened up a digital industry of sorts giving livelihoods to many pro-users and intermediaries. This includes the digital marketing economy, social media outsourcing agencies and influencers, apart from being a key vertical in any marketing plan today. Platforms enable an economy where they really do not gain directly.

Social media platforms are in perpetual beta mode like most software products. They are evolving as the ecosystem grows as the users ask for, discover or create new uses of the platform. At any point in time, there are problems that need equal attention. Let me share some of the issues that I see as a regular user that need redressal.

Anonymous handles and accounts are a big source of nuisance. No one knows who they are, if it is an individual or a group of people, if they are naive users or fully funded activist groups. It is not easy to identify them. They usually have a huge following owing to sharing a lot of content in their niche. Anonymity gives them a shield to be nasty or abusive. This needs to be addressed. I am aware that a mobile number is now mandatory with most platforms, which in turn is linked to verifiable identity. However, this information is accessible only in case of a serious breach.

Anonymous handles are rarely averse to piracy. I have seen big respectable names also engaging in piracy actively but with anonymous handles, it is rampant, almost a norm, an easy way to build a large following. No one owns the responsibility and the IP owner does not even know whom to report. Instagram is a great example of pirates earning at the cost of original content creators and the platform does not seem inclined to correct it. Going forward, platforms need to come out with mechanisms to identify and honour original content creators. YouTube, though not yet perfect, still manages to identify and penalise piracy to a large extent.

Posting of paid or sponsored content must be declared by the influencers, even when they share personal stories, if they have been shared in lieu of benefits. At one end, social media brings transparency and at the other, these veiled messages blur the same.

When it comes to data privacy, users should have an option to opt out. It would probably mean that I pay for the use of a social media network. So the social media company gets compensated for my use of its platform and in turn it has to keep my data aside and not use it for anything without my explicit permission. It may be something like a YouTube premium subscription that allows you to enjoy the platform without any advertisements. In fact, sometimes I wonder if a social media that is subscription-based would be the future, where everyone would be a verified user. Today probably LinkedIn is closest to this vision with its freemium model, but then it is just a professional network where people put their best foot forward to ensure their career growth.

Finally, there needs to be a consensus and clarity on revenue generated seamlessly across borders through advertisements or affiliate marketing. Google just announced a tax deduction on income generated anywhere in the world through users in the US. We can assume other countries would follow soon with taxation laws of their own. It may be the case of the internet connecting us and tax authorities keeping us disconnected.

Social media platforms are ever-evolving tools, and they would always have some unresolved issues. Their judicious use is in our hands.

AnuradhaGoyal

Author and founderof IndiTales

(Tweets @anuradhagoyal)

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Riding the evolution curve of social media - The New Indian Express

I would like to thank the community for their support for my leadership of Water Resources Research (WRR) over the past four years. I know that I speak for all Editors in saying that it has been a remarkable term for us. The scientific aspects of WRR cannot be easily separated from the political environment in which we operate. Our term was bookended by the start and end of the Trump presidency: it started with our reaction to the marginalization of science (the Earth and Space Science is Essential for Society special collection) and concluded with our adjustments to the way science is done during the Covid-19 pandemic. Weve certainly seen some challenges along the way, and I think that we have helped the hydrologic science community thrive.

In the past four years we have seen growth in several key areas. We have published many new science advances on cryospheric research, especially on snow hydrology. We have also published many new science advances in large-domain hydrological modelling, especially global hydrology. Other areas of growth include research on coupled human-natural systems, Earth System change, and machine learning. Its terrific to see the community evolve in these new directions.

Successes and challenges

WRR has substantial strengths. I think that WRRs most distinguishing characteristic is interdisciplinary research. We celebrate the fact that the hydrological sciences are a wickedly interdisciplinary enterprise. The journal is also distinguished by scientific rigor: we expect major science advances in each research article. WRR also continues to have a high-quality (and fair) review process. Reviewers go out of their way to provide extensive and constructive feedback, and for papers that receive reject without review decisions, Editors and Associate Editors provide detailed feedback to authors.

WRR is also a strong part of the hydrological sciences community.WRR is also a strong part of the hydrological sciences community, having a close relationship with the AGU Hydrology Section; additionally, WRR has a strong presence at the AGU Fall Meeting (e.g., the Centennial sessions, the WRR science advances session). The community wants WRR to succeed.

WRR will also encounter some challenges moving forward. A key challenge is to cleanly separate the scientific aspects of publishing from the commercial aspects. Historical challenges have included standing up to criticisms on the large number of rejected papers, advocating for reasonable open access publishing costs, and pushing back on initiatives to include advertisements in WRR papers.

Another challenge is including the extent to which FAIR principles are addressed in the review process (that models and data be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). Specifically, should code be reviewed? Should data be reviewed? And how should this be done? Should reviewers be responsible for running test cases and commenting on the organization/structure of models and datasets?

A further challenge is how to handle hot topics in hydrology, specifically socio-hydrology and machine learning. For socio-hydrology, how can we manage the interdisciplinary nature of the science advances, especially building on the extensive research on coupled human-natural systems that is done by other communities? For machine learning, how can we effectively document both the new capabilities offered by machine learning as well as the limitations of machine learning models?

Hopes for the future of WRR

A key change on the horizon is the potential transition to open access. Open science is perhaps the most important paradigm shift in the recent history of scholarly publishing: We have open data and open models, but closed publications.

Changes in publishing models mean that more of the responsibility for open science is devolved to individuals. We have been transitioning away from a system where institutions pay (i.e., institutional libraries pay journal subscriptions on behalf of its readers). We are transitioning towards a system where many authors are responsible for paying article processing charges from grant funding or other sources.

These shifts in financial responsibility create dissonance between individual self-interest and the common good. Open science (and thus open access) can benefit the common good because the science is freely available; individual self-interest can be shaped by an unwillingness to pay.

The inherent value of open science should frame any open access decision.These issues were evaluated in depth by the AGU Hydrology Section Open Access Task Force: The path forward requires weighing the financial feasibility of alternative cost models against the common good of open science. The inherent value of open science should frame any open access decision.

Thanks

In closing, I would like to offer some words of thanks. Id like to thank our team of Editors: Jean Bahr, Marc Bierkens, Jim Hall, Stefan Kollet, Charlie Luce, Jessica Lundquist, Scott Mackay, Ilja van Meerveld, Xavi Sanchez-Vila, Peter Troch, and Ellen Wohl. Id also like to thank the Associate Editors, who are the lifeblood of the journal and make the whole operation possible; we have appreciated their thoughtful and constructive recommendations. Moreover, thanks to the reviewers. With more than 2,000 submissions per year, we rely on the community more than ever for thoughtful and constructive reviews. Thanks to them for maintaining WRRs high standards. And finally, thanks to the AGU Publications staff, especially Erin Syring and Phil Cobb for keeping the wheels moving and keeping everyone on track.

I am delighted to welcome to Georgia (Gia) Destouni as the new Editor in Chief of WRR. I have had the opportunity to talk extensively with Gia and learn about her plans for the journal. WRR is certainly in excellent hands. Im looking forward to the future of WRR under Gias leadership.

Martyn Clark ([emailprotected]), outgoing Editor in Chief, Water Resources Research, and Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, Canada; with thanks to Sina Khatami ( 0000-0003-1149-5080), Hydrology Researcher, Stockholm University, Sweden

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The Evolution of Water Resources Research - Eos

Its been a few months since weve seen a Ford RS200 Evolution go up for sale, and even longer since the last regular RS200 changed hands. But now, a one-of-24 1986 Ford RS200 Evolution has surfaced for sale on Bring a Trailer, and it has wasted no time accumulating bids and nearly cresting the $300k mark as of this writing.

Thats par for the course with these beloved models, of course, which routinely sell for big bucks. And this 1986 Ford RS200 Evolution doesnt figure to be an outlier among those results. After all, this supremely rare machine was originally constructed for FIA Group B homologation purposes and immediately endeared itself to racing fans around the globe.

This particular RS200 Evolution was imported to the U.S. from Norway back in 2017 and is now for sale out of Oceanside, California with right around 800 kilometers (500 miles) on the clock. Evolution models featured a number of enhancements over the regular RS200, including upgraded suspension and brakes and a larger, 2.1-liter version of the cars turbocharged Cosworth BDT-E inline-four-cylinder powerplant.

The rest of the RS200 Evolution is a mixed bag of parts as well, with fiberglass bodywork designed by Filippo Sapino of Ghia and constructed by Reliant, along with a chassis developed by F1 designer Tony Southgate and engineer John Wheeler. This particular example is finished in white with a fixed rear spoiler with built-in ventilation, a vented clamshell hood, integrated Hella driving lights, roof- and side-mounted air intakes, and 16-inch multi-piece Speedline wheels.

Inside, a gray and black cabin contains fixed-back bucket seats, a fire extinguisher, a red leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a host of VDO instrumentation. Meanwhile, the upgraded powerplant was rebuilt back in 2018 and was originally rated to produce 600 horsepower, which it sends to all four wheels via a five-speed manual transmission and twin limited-slip differentials.

Given the incredible interest these cars still generate, decades after their construction, its a safe bet that this one will rake in some serious cash at auction. And if we had the means, wed certainly be in that mix as well.

Well have more cool auction finds like this to share soon, so be sure andsubscribetoFord Authority for more Ford RS200 news and ongoing Ford newscoverage.

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Supremely Rare 1986 Ford RS200 Evolution Hits The Auction Block - Ford Authority

Miami Heat forward Kelly Olynyk, left, sets up for a shot in front of Orlando Magic forward Gary Clark during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Sunday, March 14, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. Three-point shooting plays an integral role in NBA offense. Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Photo.

Professional basketball has evolved a lot since its inception in1898.The NBAhas seen players push the physical limitsof the humananatomy. These athletes run faster, jump higher and increasingly resemble comic book superheroes with each passing season. The league today would be unrecognizable to someone who watched the game in the mid-2000s, let alone a century back. While listing all the changes the league has undergone would warrant its own article, there is one massive change that fans have quickly grown accustomed to: The absolutely insane amount of scoring over the past10seasons.

NBA teams currently average112.2points per game. The last time NBA teams cumulatively averaged such a staggering number of points was during the1971-72season. The 70s and 80s featured a breakneck pace that resulted in teams getting more offensive possessions which led to more fast-break points. Adjusting the NBA league averages to statistics per 100 possessions reveals that NBA scoring has never beenthis prolific.The lastthree seasonshave all been record-breakers in average league scoring per 100 possessions. This means that the recent uptick in scoring is not because of teams just getting more opportunities to shoot but because NBA offenses have fundamentally evolved.

With that being said, its time to address the elephant in the room. Everybody is aware that three-point shooting is now an integral part of the league. Celtics legend and former Indiana Pacers president of basketball operationsLarry Birdsummed up this idea best when he saidif youre not firing up thirty 3s, youre just not playing basketball. While Bird is correct, the root of the scoring explosion goes far deeper than the NBA just shooting more threes.

In the 2010-11 season, there were onlyseven playerswho averaged 25ppgor more. There are16players who have scored at this volume in the 2020-21 season. In fact, when analyzing all the games best scorers from 2011-2016, there were only twenty three players who averaged 25 points per game. In comparison, there have been 58 players who have averaged a minimum of 25ppgin the past five seasons. The league has never had such a surplus of elite scorers. Players are having30point performances every other night and shattering scoring records on a consistent basis. There were 77530plus point games during the 2019-20 NBA season in comparison to just 368 such games in the 2003-2004 season which had a similar number of games. Scoring30has become a norm in the NBA, a feat not exclusive to the games premier scorers. This discrepancy is even evident when observing the frequency of50-pointoutbursts. There was only one such scoring performance in 2010, two in 2011 and three in 2012. The league broke a record for50-point games in 2018-19 with11and the last half decade represents thehighest frequency of50-point games with just one exception Wilt Chamberlainsabsurd scoring totals of the early 1960s. He even averaged50points a game in the 1961-62 seasonwhich is the only outlier in the data.

The most telling part of the NBAs scoring jump is that role players are now routinely scoring20to30points per game. Instantaneous offense has become a necessity in the current basketball era of pace, space and isolation greatness. At this point, just to be a serviceable player in the NBA, you have to be able to defend multiple positions while having the ability to create instant isolation offense. Players that specialize in certain aspects of the game but cant score are now a relic.The sole exception is Ben Simmons who has still managed to average16.3 ppgfor his career.Simmons is one of the few players in the league that is able to influence the game by excelling in skills other than shooting. His size advantage at the point guard position, surreal passing ability and defensive prowess make him an asset to the Philadelphia 76ers who also composed their team to cater toward his style of play. Most other average or even above average players that cant shoot are now seen as liabilities as they restrict floor spacing and the shooting efficiency of other players.

The analytics boom has expedited the NBAs offensive revolution by educating teams on statistically efficient shot selection. This has given nearly all players the green light to shoot and execute flashy moves to create opportunities.Ray Allen, the NBAs currentall-timethree point leader, even said I was getting it up but not like these guys are today and that he felt like he was settling if he took five three pointers a game.

This offensive freedom and shift in team philosophies has made30points in todays NBA mean as much as scoring20points10years ago. Consequently, there are several all-time great players from previous eras that never averaged twenty points a game in their careers that would see their averages skyrocket had they played in todays league. Some prime examples of these players include Steve Nash, ManuGinobli, Bill Russel, John Stockton and Jason Kidd. All of these players shot with incredible efficiency and wouldexponentiallyincreasetheir scoring output if they attempted shots with the same frequency as todays top scorers.

Additionally, the average player in the NBA is far more skilled than ever before while defenses are struggling to adapt at the same rate. Defenses are often forced into playing zones because teams field lineups where every player on the court is a threat to score and produce ESPN top10highlights. Ultimately, defense, regardless of the individual talent of the players, is reactionary and entails physical and strategic limits while offensive skill sets are constantly expanding. Centers are shooting threes with accuracy, guards are pulling up for shots near half-court, the vast majority of the league can play above the rim and more. This begets one critical question. How have the offensive skills of NBA players improved so dramatically in recent years?

There are four primary drivers of the NBAs recent jump in offensive production. The NBA is an advocate of more scoring from a financial standpoint and has facilitated this style of basketball through rule changes, the inherent advantage offense has in basketball being exploited through better player training regimens, the social media marketing of high school prospects and the incorporation of analytics.

Players have realized that developing their offensiveskill sethas a direct correlation to increasing their chances to land larger contracts and endorsement opportunities. The teambuilding tactics of franchises now are simple. Why should they sign a player who specializes in rebounding and defense when they can sign a guy who can do that and score with the best players in the league? When putting the ball in the basket is what actually yields the points, why should any other skill matter as much as scoring prowess? Positions no longer matter. The league is about letting your players maximize their natural talents and rounding out a team with versatile pieces that supplement the stars deficiencies. It is no wonder that older players crave the opportunity to play in todays league given their freedom to shoot as they please with zero repercussions.

The lack of defense in the NBA is a myth. The games offensive talent is simply improving at a faster rate than ever before.While there are several players from the late 80s and 90s that would flourish in todays league, it is undeniable that the league is continuing to raise the bar of possibility in athleticism and sheer talent.With offense thriving, The NBA is in a great place and will undoubtedly continue delivering iconic moments for years to come.

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Karthiks Take: The evolution of NBA offense - UConn Daily Campus