The biggest science story in Europe right now is without a doubt the tragic, extensive flooding that has struck the Rhineland, Limburg, the Meuse Valley, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. Climate change is striking the world hard in 2021, and we talk about the physical and meteorological phenomena it has affected to cause the devastating rains that have claimed hundreds of lives. But also a huge story in Germany is the controversial "luca" app, a privately developed contact tracer that has come to challenge the government-developed contact tracing app Corona-Warn while also bringing along a boatload of controversy. When the hackers are mad, you'd better watch out.

Follow us on Twitter!
50 Ways to Say Science: @50waysscipod
Joseph Piergrossi: @JWPiergrossi
Fintan Burke: @SciFintan

Sources:
https://www.dw.com/de/400-millionen-euro-f%C3%BCr-die-hochwasser-opfer/a-58572105
https://www.dw.com/de/schuldzuweisungen-und-hoffnung-auf-hilfe/a-58321963
https://www.dw.com/de/vorher-nachher-bilder-der-flutkatastrophe/a-58296828
https://www.dw.com/de/zwischen-bangen-hoffen-und-aufr%C3%A4umen/a-58311422
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/klimawandel-oder-nur-wetter-was-die-wissenschaft-dazu-sagt.1939.de.html?drn:news_id=1281103
https://www.online-handelsregister.de/handelsregisterauszug/be/Charlottenburg-Berlin/HRB/220081B/culture4life-GmbH
https://www.luca-app.de/
https://praxistipps.chip.de/luca-app-kritik-datenschutz-so-sicher-ist-die-luca-app_131927
https://www.zeit.de/digital/2021-05/luca-app-gesundheitsaemter-hackerangriff-risiko-kontaktverfolgung-coronavirus
https://twitter.com/evawolfangel/status/1371035535066730500?lang=en
https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/audio/audio-104877.html
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/corona-app-luca-smudo-konzerte-sind-der-grosse-endgegner.807.de.html?dram:article_id=493362
Marcus Feilner's open letter to the Regensburg city administration: https://www.regensburg-digital.de/warnen-sie-ihre-buergerinnen-und-buerger-vor-der-luca-app/12052021/
The open letter from the 77 computer scientists: https://digikoletter.github.io/
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/1394D/production/_119250208_optimised_covid_asmr-nc.png
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/6A45/production/_119250272_optimised_map_child_mortality_1851-nc.png