Return to the Moon, Study Chickadee Hybrids, and Understand Addiction

Return to the Moon, Study Chickadee Hybrids, and Understand Addiction

By Laura Helmut

There’s something special about chickadees: they’re inquisitive (if you make a squeaking sound, they’ll come and investigate), intelligent (they store up seeds to eat over the winter), and oh-so-cute. And we’re grateful to the birds that teach us what they are: Whip-poor-will! Bobwhite! Chickadee-di-di! And as author Rebecca Heisman tells us, the chickadee’s world is full of hidden dramas.

Multiple species of chickadees live in North America, and telling them apart can be difficult. To make things even more complicated, they’re not always indistinguishable; Carolina and American chickadees mate regularly in the east, while American and mountain chickadees mate in the west. (For anyone struggling to identify chickadee species using field guides, we hope this is of some comfort.) Studies of hybrid chickadees reveal how species maintain boundaries, how birds specialize in habitats, and how reckless mating can occur when a new species moves into another species’ territory.

Our cover story for this month’s issue begins with a deceptively simple question: Why is it so hard to get back to the Moon? Rocket science is rocket science, and it’s complicated, dangerous, and unforgiving. But we figured it out over 50 years ago, a long time ago in the age of computers. Scientific American Contributing editor Sarah Scoles looks at the surprising technical and societal reasons why the Artemis II flight, scheduled to launch next year (don’t mark your calendars!), is likely to be far more challenging than the Apollo missions.

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Empathy is a complex skill that can be improved through training, and researchers have tried many different types of training. Regardless of the participants’ ages or the different backgrounds and experiences that separate them, several patterns have emerged: Listening and being heard, shifting perspectives and practice are key to increasing empathy. But what really matters is motivation, because empathy can be cognitively and emotionally exhausting. Supporting empathy as a social norm makes understanding others easier and more rewarding. Science writer Elizabeth Svoboda covers the latest science on empathy here.

The opioid overdose epidemic is one of the scariest and deadliest disasters of this century. Mortality rates appear to be declining after what would have been expected to be a peak during the COVID pandemic. Better treatments for people with addiction are desperately needed, and author Maia Salavitz describes the evidence supporting new approaches. People who experienced childhood trauma are at higher risk for addiction, and treating trauma can be the most powerful way to prevent or manage addiction.

Learning about sickle cell disease is a great way to understand the history of modern medicine’s successes and failures. Sickle cell disease was the first disease to be understood at a molecular and genetic level; it shaped our understanding of how evolution influences disease; it clearly illustrates how systematic bias and exclusion can undermine research and medicine and harm people; and it allows new treatments to cure sickle cell disease.

Our Innovation Sickle Cell Disease Special Report shares the perspectives of patients, advocates, clinicians and scientists. The report describes newly available treatments and those in development, and features a series of standout graphics showing ingenious technologies that restore healthy blood cells. Sickle cell disease research is yielding valuable insights into chronic and acute pain. The report also shows how making science more inclusive and equitable can improve lives for all.