Everything You Need to Know About China’s Child Pneumonia Outbreak - TIME   

China’s health-care system is once again in the spotlight as a wave of pneumonia cases sweeps through the country, hitting kids particularly hard. The sudden increase in sick children, and a report suggesting widespread clusters of undiagnosed respiratory illnesses, prompted the World Health Organization to ask for more details in order to allay concerns that a novel pathogen — something like Covid-19 — was the source of the outbreaks. So far, Chinese officials say, it’s simply a laundry list of known germs that’s causing the problem.

Read More: COVID-19 Won't Be the Last Pandemic. Here's What We Can Do to Protect Ourselves

Doctors have been warning for weeks that a common bacterial infection would likely cause a spike in “walking pneumonia” cases. In response to the WHO’s request for more data, Chinese health authorities said the uptick in outpatient visits and hospitalizations has been due to the spread of mycoplasma pneumoniae, RSV, adenovirus and influenza. Importantly, they say they haven’t detected any new pathogens. In turn, the WHO said that while the level of illness is unusually high for this time of year, it’s not unusual for winter to bring respiratory diseases. The group advised people to take basic precautions to reduce their risk — wear masks, stay home when sick, wash their hands regularly — and said there’s no need for any travel restrictions based on the current situation.

Continued here

How to Debate Ideas Productively at Work - Harvard Business Review   

Research tells us that cognitive diversity makes a group smarter. Two heads are, indeed, better than one, and many heads are even better, especially when everyone is willing to share their expertise and opinions. While diverse thinking and disagreements can be uncomfortable, they are more likely to lead partners or a team to make progress, innovate and come up with breakthrough solutions than consensus and “nice” conversations in which people hold back what they think. But how do you have a productive debate? By reminding your group to follow four general rules: Remember we’re all on the same team. Keep it about facts, logic, and the topic at hand.  Don’t make it personal. Be intellectually humble.

Not long ago, I gave a speech at a company that had been recently acquired and since gone from 300 employees to 1,400. Rapid changes are hard for any organization, but when I asked these leaders what their biggest challenge was they didn’t say “scaling our tech infrastructure” or “hiring good people fast enough” or “integrating with our  parent company.”

Continued here

Why People Act Like That on Planes - The Atlantic   

An airplane is an odd environment: You’re buckled into a flying piece of metal hurling through clouds, sitting in very close proximity to strangers, who may need to shuffle into an aisle every time you have to pee. You’re a member of a temporary, placeless mini-society, following both explicit and unwritten rules distinct from those on Earth. No wonder, then, that some people act sort of strange. They cry. They consume gallons of tomato juice. They swear by rituals (ginger ale and a neck pillow, anyone?) to exert a modicum of control in an environment otherwise totally stripped of it. Most flyers are quiet and courteous to their fellow travelers, even if they’re exhausted or cranky, but some—a small but disruptive cohort—use their time in the friendly skies to act out.

For most people, the inconvenience and indignities of travel mean they act a bit frosty to their seatmate or retreat into noise-canceling headphones. But a small number of airplane miscreants might vape in the bathroom or throw a fit instead. Incidents of “air rage” have gone viral since the pandemic began, with people acting in erratic and sometimes violent ways, often in response to mask mandates. But problematic plane behavior may have deeper roots. Skaggs and a colleague recently published a paper looking at misconduct on planes—including physical violence and verbal conflicts—over a period of 21 years ending in 2020. Even before the pandemic, she told me, reports of bad behavior in the skies ticked up sharply.

Skaggs found that alcohol frequently fueled problems on flights, but the combination of less comfortable conditions for travelers, alongside low transparency from airlines that often cancel or delay flights, also contributed. Flights were historically choreographed to make passengers feel at ease in a strange environment, Alexandra Murphy, the dean of the college of communication at DePaul University, who has studied airline behavior, told me. From its inception, air travel relied on “building in the familiarity of everyday practice,” she said, and airlines soon started serving hot meals and playing movies. (It’s just like being at home, except that after dinner you find yourself in Albuquerque or Charlotte or London.) Flight attendants passed around drinks and spoke in euphemistic language about what could go wrong, helping make the setting feel safer and more normal for passengers.

Continued here

Severe drought is constraining the Panama Canal - The Economist   

The Panama Canal provides a short cut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans for 6% of the world’s maritime commerce. At its maximum capacity between 38 and 40 ships can pass through the canal each day. But over the past few months far fewer ships have made the voyage. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which allocates reservations, has slashed this number to 24. On December 1st it will go down to 22, and from February onwards only 18 ships will be able to cross each day.

Many of these slots are available to book well in advance at a fixed price, but a small number of last-minute options are held back and sold to the highest bidder. From November 1st, any carrier hoping to secure a slot within the next week has had to use the auction system.

Scaling back on traffic and driving up auction earnings is not a deliberate money-spinner by the ACP. Instead, it has been forced into action following a prolonged bout of unusually dry weather this year. Rainwater is essential to the functioning of the canal: it is situated 26 metres (85ft) above sea level and it needs fresh water to operate the series of locks that lift ships so that they can enter and leave it. Each transit uses on average 200m litres of water, equivalent to the contents of 80 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Continued here