Month: December 2021

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Waze has released an update that will now allow EV drivers to add charging stations as destinations, just as the app has done with gas stations for years.

Users can search for charging stations or tap icons on the map, and they can also add charging stops along the way.

Waze now shows EV chargers on its map—along with ads for Volkswagen’s ID.4. (credit: Waze)

It’s not clear what took Waze so long. Google, of which Waze is a subsidiary, has let its Maps users search for charging stations since 2018. Starting in 2019, it has also allowed users to filter stations based on plug type, letting non-Leaf drivers eliminate CHAdeMO chargers. Regardless, the addition is a welcome one if you frequently find yourself turning to Waze to avoid traffic congestion.

Enlarge / Scott Atlas, a White House adviser, used his position to advocate for allowing the SARS-CoV-2 virus to spread and tried to block testing for it, which would further that goal. (credit: MANDEL NGAN / Getty Images)

Over the past few months, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis has been investigating the previous administration’s haphazard and sometimes counterproductive response to the pandemic. As testimony was taken and documents were examined, some of the details of the conflicts between politicians and public health would sporadically come out via press releases from subcommittee members. But on Friday the group issued a major report that puts these details all in one place.

The report confirms suspicions about the Trump administration’s attempt to manipulate the public narrative about its response, even as its members tried to undercut public health officials. So, while reading may trigger a sense of “I thought we knew this,” having it all in one place with the evidence to back it up still provides a valuable function.

Sidelining the CDC

In late February of 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning to pick up in the US, the CDC held a press conference in which Nancy Messonnier issued stark warnings about the potential for COVID-19 to interfere with life in the US. The subcommittee heard testimony that her somber warning angered then-President Trump and, as a result, the CDC was blocked from holding any further press conferences for over three months, during which time the US experienced its first deadly surge of infections.

Enlarge / London’s Millennium Bridge had issues with excessive shaking and swaying when it first opened in June 2000. (credit: Alberto Pezzali/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

London’s Millennium Bridge is notorious for its “wobble” when it first opened in June 2000, as thousands of pedestrians streamed across. Londoners nicknamed it “Wobbly Bridge.” The accepted explanation has been that the swaying was due to a weird synchronicity between the bridge’s lateral (sideways) sway and pedestrians’ gaits—an example of emergent collective phenomena.

But that explanation turns out to be a bit more complicated, according to a recent paper published in the journal Nature Communications. “This [old] explanation was so popular, it has been part of the scientific zeitgeist,” said co-author Igor Belykh, a mathematician at Georgia State University. “Our work shows that very tiny vibrations from each person walking can get amplified significantly.” People adjust their footsteps to keep their balance in response to the wobble, which only makes things worse. Eventually the bridge becomes unstable.

As we’ve reported previously, this phenomenon is not limited to the Millennium Bridge. There’s a sign dating back to 1873 on London’s Albert Bridge warning military troops to break their usual lock-step motion when crossing, since the bridge is wont to shake and wobble—hence its nickname, “The Trembling Lady.” Other similar “unstable” bridges include the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, UK; the Squibb Park Bridge in Brooklyn, New York; and the Changi Mezzanine Bridge in Singapore’s airport.