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Articles on Modeling

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The sum is greater than the parts when researchers build an ensemble from multiple coordinated but independent models. Matteo Chinazzi

Pooling multiple models during COVID-19 pandemic provided more reliable projections about an uncertain future

Policymakers rely on models during uncertain times to figure out how their choices could affect the future. Over the pandemic, an ensemble of many COVID-19 models outperformed any one alone.
The lung-on-a-chip can mimic both the physical and mechanical qualities of a human lung. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University/Flickr

Organ-on-a-chip models allow researchers to conduct studies closer to real-life conditions – and possibly grease the drug development pipeline

Successes in the lab mostly don’t translate to people. Research models that better mimic the human body could close the gap.
Common hazel dispersing pollen in early spring. Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Achoo! 5 essential reads for pollen season

Pollen brings seasonal misery to millions of Americans, but it serves a critical purpose: fertilizing many kinds of plants, including food crops.
A virus’s genes hold a record of where it’s traveled, and when. imaginima/E+ via Getty Images

Charting changes in a pathogen’s genome yields clues about its past and hints about its future

After a nose swab tests positive for a virus or bacteria, scientists can use the sample’s genetic sequence to figure out where and when the pathogen emerged and how fast it’s changing.
A November 2020 memorial in Washington, D.C. consisted of thousands of flags, each planted to remember someone who died of COVID-19. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

578,555 people have died from COVID-19 in the US, or maybe it’s 912,345 – here’s why it’s hard to count

Record-keepers have a pretty good sense of how many people have died. But figuring out the cause of those deaths is a lot trickier – and that’s why reasonable modelers can disagree.
Halston with the Halstonettes – a group of models who were part of his entourage – at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1980. Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Halston: The glittering rise – and spectacular fall – of a fashion icon

The subject of a new Netflix miniseries, Halston once ruled over New York’s fashion world. But the designer with a devil-may-care approach to his business dealings attempted too much, too quickly.
Nurses and other health care workers in New York mourned colleagues who have died during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

Coronavirus deaths in San Francisco vs. New York: What causes such big differences in cities’ tolls?

Why one city suffers significantly more deaths than another isn’t always obvious. A simple experiment shows how failing to consider certain factors can point policy makers in the wrong direction.
An all-renewable grid will mean more electricity and more transmission lines. Russ Allison Loar/flickr

How to have an all-renewable electric grid

We have all the technologies needed to make the electric grid run on renewables and lower pollution. What are they and what are the barriers to adopting them widely?
Images created by NASA with satellite data helped the U.S. Department of Agriculture analyze outbreak patterns for southern pine beetles in Alabama, in spring 2016. NASA

Can scientists learn to make ‘nature forecasts’ just as we forecast the weather?

Big data open-access publishing and other advances offer ecologists the ability to forecast events like pest outbreaks over days and seasons rather than decades. But scholars need to seize this opportunity.

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