“There’s an irony in China having been the first country affected by COVID and also the last to give up on its elimination,” writes Francois Balloux of UCL (University College London) in this explanation of what is likely to happen as the last major country to cling to a zero-COVID strategy starts to ease restrictions.

China’s strategy, which relied on measures including mass testing, shutdowns of entire cities and provinces, and quarantining anyone who may have been exposed to the virus, had increasingly become untenable, he adds. It was a futile approach, and the country could now face a humanitarian catastrophe.

Also this week, read about the challenges facing the world’s biodiversity conference, gentrification in Miami and the probability of living beyond 110.

Stephen Khan

Executive Editor, The Conversation International
EPA-EFE/WU HAO

China could face a catastrophic COVID surge as it lifts restrictions – here’s how it might play out

Francois Balloux, UCL

The Chinese population has low immunity against COVID, making it vulnerable to high levels of transmission.
Kurit Afshen/Shutterstock

COP15: three visions for protecting nature on the table at the UN biodiversity conference

Harriet Bulkeley, Durham University

Negotiators hope to put humanity on a path to harmonious coexistence with nature by 2050.
Residents of Miami’s Little Haiti have been fighting plans for a luxury development for several years. AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

What’s really driving ‘climate gentrification’ in Miami? It isn’t fear of sea-level rise

Richard Grant, University of Miami; Han Li, University of Miami

Miami is often held up as an example of ‘climate gentrification.’ But a closer look finds a bigger driver of flashy new developments in low-income neighborhoods.
Full size blue crab.

Crabs have evolved five separate times – why do the same forms keep appearing in nature?

Matthew Wills, University of Bath

In different parts of the world evolution often comes up with the same or similar solutions to life’s problems.