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Research on hundreds of tropical storms finds that mortality keeps rising for more than a decade afterward, for reasons you might not expect.Over the past week, the official death toll from Hurricane Helene has surpassed 100 as the vortex creeping inland from Florida submerged homes and swept away cars. But the full weight of lost lives will be realized only years from now — and it could number in the thousands.A paper published in the journal Nature on Wednesday lays out the hidden toll of tropical storms in the continental United States. Looking at 501 events from 1930 to 2015, researchers found that the average tropical storm resulted in an additional 7,000 to 11,000 deaths over the 15 years that followed.Overall during the study period, tropical storms killed more people than automobile crashes, infectious diseases and combat for U.S. soldiers. It’s such a big number — especially compared with the 24 direct deaths caused by hurricanes on average, according to federal statistics — that the authors spent years checking the math to make sure they were right.“The scale of these results is dramatically different from what we expected,” said Solomon Hsiang, a professor of global environmental policy at the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University, who conducted the study with Rachel Young, the Ciriacy-Wantrup postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.The pair used a technique that has also provided a more complete understanding of “excess deaths” caused by Covid-19 and heat waves. It works by looking at typical mortality patterns and isolating anomalies that could have been caused only by the variable under study — in this case, a sizable storm.Previously, researchers examined deaths and hospitalizations after hurricanes over much shorter periods. One study published in Nature found elevated hospitalizations among older Medicaid patients in the week after a storm. Another, in The Journal of the American Medical Association, associated higher death rates with U.S. counties hit by cyclones. A study in The Lancet found that across 14 countries, cyclones led to a 6 percent bump in mortality in the ensuing two weeks.Deaths from tropical storms in the U.S. have been spiking Fatalities connected to storms that struck as many as 15 years ago – measured as the number of deaths above what would otherwise be expected – are rising faster as storms increase in frequency.

Source: Solomon Hsiang and Rachel YoungBy The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

That achy, tired feeling comes from more than just screen time. Experts share tips for easing the discomfort.After staring at your laptop for hours or scrolling through social media on your phone, you may sense a heavy achiness or bleary-eyed feeling creep in.These common, uncomfortable sensations are signs of eye strain, an umbrella term for symptoms like dry or watery eyes, temporary blurry vision, eye redness, soreness and headaches. Computer vision syndrome or digital eye strain fall under this umbrella, too. But screen time isn’t the only thing that can tire your eyes.Activities like reading, writing and needlework can also make your eyes ache, said Mika Moy, a clinical professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley. It’s often the first-year law students with tons of reading assignments who visit Dr. Moy’s office with eye strain, she said.Symptoms can be “really, really annoying,” but they’re temporary, said Dr. Avnish Deobhakta, an ophthalmologist at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. And you don’t need to worry about eye strain leading to long-term eye damage, he added.Why does eye strain happen?There are several reasons for eye strain. For one, people often blink less when staring at screens or reading intently, said Dr. Dave Patel, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Blinking keeps your eyes lubricated, and doing it infrequently dries them out — causing blurry vision, stinging or a gritty feeling.Maggie Shannon for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

If you have a cold, Covid or the flu, here’s how to determine whether it’s wise to work out.It happens to all of us: Your alarm goes off for a morning workout and you roll over with a groan. You’re not just tired — your body feels off.If you’re starting to get sick, is it better to rest or push through an illness to get to the gym? And how sick is too sick to exercise?Look to your specific symptoms for answers, said Dr. Greg Summerville, a sports medicine physician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.“Your body is speaking to you,” he said. Your symptoms are there for a reason. With fall virus season picking up, The New York Times asked doctors how to know when you should skip your workout and when it’s safe to get back to exercise.Use your symptoms as a guide.When you first feel an inkling of illness, Dr. Amy Comander, the director of the lifestyle medicine program at Massachusetts General Hospital, recommends evaluating how your whole body feels, and doing a “neck check.” If your symptoms are above the neck — say, a runny nose, congestion or a sore throat — you are probably safe to work out as long as you feel up for it.But if you are experiencing symptoms below the neck, such as muscle aches or an elevated heart rate, that is probably a sign that your body is working hard to fight off an infection, and exercising could set back your recovery time, she said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

This year, when Apple announced iOS 18, the latest version of its mobile operating system, most of the attention went to its slate of new artificial intelligence features.But a lesser-noticed change in iOS 18 — a tweak to an obscure feature that allows users to share their contact lists with various apps — may wind up being more important.That’s because “contact sync,” as the feature is known by some developers, has played a critical role in the growth of many social and messaging apps for the past two decades. It’s how apps like Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat were able to find their footing, by quickly connecting millions of iPhone users to people they already knew, and suggesting other users for them to follow. That early momentum helped kick-start their viral growth, propelling them to the top of the App Store charts.Now, some developers are worried that they may struggle to get new apps off the ground. Nikita Bier, a start-up founder and advisor who has created and sold several viral apps aimed at young people, has called the iOS 18 changes “the end of the world,” and said they could render new friend-based social apps “dead on arrival.”That might be a little melodramatic. I recently spent some time talking to Mr. Bier and other app developers and digging into the changes. I also heard from Apple about why they believe the changes are good for users’ privacy, and from some of Apple’s rivals, who see it as an underhanded move intended to hurt competitors. And I came away with mixed feelings.On one hand, I’m sympathetic to the uphill battle faced by any developer trying to build a new social app today. The contact sharing changes in iOS 18 will undoubtedly make it harder for some fledgling apps to break through. And in a world where it’s harder for smaller apps to succeed, incumbents like Facebook and Instagram — which already have network effects, and don’t have to ask existing users for permission to keep collecting their contacts — obviously stand to benefit.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Two Democratic groups — Somos PAC and Priorities USA Action — are running this 30-second ad on digital platforms in battleground states in support of Vice President Kamala Harris. The ad is targeted at Hispanic voters, and the two groups are spending $1 million on it as part of a $5 million campaign. It has both English- and Spanish-language versions.Here’s a look at the ad, its accuracy and its main takeaway.On the ScreenThe ad opens with images of smiling, hard-working people engaged in jobs often filled by immigrants from Latin America: operating a food truck, picking crops on a farm, working construction, serving coffee in a diner. The background music is light and airy.The spot then transitions to a grainy clip of former President Donald J. Trump at a rally as disturbing images pop on and off the screen. Young children are seen sleeping in cages, evoking Mr. Trump’s family separation policy. Cheering Trump rally-goers in cowboy hats hold up signs that read “Mass Deportation Now!”Then the screen brightens as Ms. Harris appears smiling in a crowd of children and adults. Her presence is followed by scenes of happy families, a young person graduating from college and more Americans hard at work.The goal of the ad seems to be shoring up Ms. Harris’s support with Hispanic voters by contrasting her approach to immigration with Mr. Trump’s.Somos PAC and Priorities USA ActionThe ScriptNarrator“Working people, including hard-working immigrants, are bringing our economy back. But while Trump threatens to separate families and weaken our economy, Kamala Harris’s balanced approach to immigration is keeping families together: by protecting our loved ones from deportation, providing a pathway to citizenship and work visas for Dreamers. With the Biden-Harris administration’s historic action, working people like us can continue to build a good life and strengthen our economy for generations to come.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Israel’s military said Wednesday that one of its soldiers had been killed in combat in Lebanon, as Israeli ground troops and fighter jets pounded Hezbollah sites across a broad swath of southern Lebanon and the Lebanese militia lobbed dozens of rockets at towns in northern Israel.The military identified the fallen soldier as Capt. Eitan Itzhak Oster, 22, from the city of Modi’in Maccabim Re’ut in central Israel, but did not specify where he was killed. He is the first soldier confirmed to have died in Lebanon since the Israeli military announced Tuesday that it had begun an invasion of the country.The military said Captain Oster was a squad commander in the commando brigade of the elite Egoz Unit. Earlier in the day, it said members of that unit were engaged in “targeted operations in several areas of southern Lebanon” that included “close-range engagements” with Hezbollah militants.In a series of statements posted online, Hezbollah said it had fought Israeli soldiers on Wednesday in Yaroun, Odaisseh and Maroun al-Ras, a border village that was the scene of a major battle during Israel’s last invasion of Lebanon, in 2006.Maroun al-Ras is roughly one mile from the Israeli town of Avivim, which Hezbollah said it had targeted with “a salvo of rockets” earlier in the day. Avivim was evacuated last year because of such attacks.In Yaroun, Hezbollah said it had detonated an explosive device on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in injuries to Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military did not comment on the report of injuries, and it could not be independently verified.Al-Manar, a television network owned and operated by Hezbollah, said fighters from the group’s elite Radwan Force had ambushed Israeli soldiers near Odaisseh after they crossed the border from the Israeli village of Misgav Am.Lebanon’s army — which is not a party to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah — said in a statement that Israeli forces had crossed the border and traveled roughly a quarter of a mile inside Lebanon in the areas of Yaroun and Odaisseh, “then withdrew after a short period.” More

It has become commonplace for Donald Trump to talk about how he will use the Justice Department to punish his enemies should he regain the presidency. He routinely calls for prosecuting his current opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and regularly accuses her and President Biden of weaponizing the Justice Department against him. Though there is […] More

When 13 million people tried to buy tickets for the band’s Mumbai shows, the ticketing site crashed. Many who came up short cried foul, both online and to the authorities.When tickets for two Coldplay concerts in Mumbai, India, went on sale last month, about 13 million people visited an online ticketing platform to vie for around 90,000 seats. Within minutes, the show was sold out and the platform had crashed, only for the tickets to later be offered on other sites at steeply marked-up prices.In a country of 1.4 billion people, it is not unusual for demand to far outstrip supply for many things, from government jobs to public services. And as music fans in many places around the world are painfully aware, tickets to shows by popular artists can sell out in seconds.But what doesn’t usually happen is a rush to judgment on social media that something nefarious must be going on — and even a call to the police to lodge a complaint.In this case, even though Coldplay added another concert date and BookMyShow, the online platform selling the tickets, imposed a cap of four tickets per customer to avoid bulk buying, the police in Mumbai have questioned a senior BookMyShow official and twice summoned another high-ranking representative about the episode.There is no evidence of wrongdoing by the company, and BookMyShow officials said the website and app had malfunctioned and crashed because so many people had trying logging on at the same time. The company said on X that “scalping and black marketing of tickets was against Indian law,” and a BookMyShow official said in a statement that “any tickets bought from unauthorized sources will be at their own risk and may likely be invalid or fake tickets.”What is clear is that some can’t believe their bad luck.“I was frustrated and angry,” said Ishan Agarwal, an engineering student in Delhi who, despite logging in from his laptop, two phones and an iPad, failed to get a ticket.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More