Send us a link
This Overlooked Variable Is the Key to the Pandemic
It's not R. But unless you’ve been reading scientific journals, you’re less likely to have encountered k, the measure of the dispersion of the virus.
How the Pandemic Defeated America
A virus has brought the world's most powerful country to its knees.
Colleges Are Getting Ready to Blame Their Students
As campuses reopen without adequate testing, universities fault young people for a lack of personal responsibility.
A New Understanding of Herd Immunity
The portion of the population that needs to get sick is not fixed. We can change it.
The Pandemic Experts Are Not Okay
Many American public-health specialists are at risk of burning out as the coronavirus surges back.
America's Never-Ending Battle Against Flesh-Eating Worms
Inside the U.S. and Panama's long-running collaboration to rid an entire continent of a deadly disease.
How to Talk About Freedom During a Pandemic
Anti-stay-at-home protesters aren't the only ones with an argument based on individual rights on their side.
Colleges Are Deluding Themselves
Institutions are letting their financial and reputational worries cloud their judgment about when they can safely reopen.
Keep the Parks Open
Public green spaces are good for the immune system and the mind-and they can be rationed to allow for social distancing.
Why the Coronavirus Has Been So Successful
We've known about SARS-CoV-2 for only three months, but scientists can make some educated guesses about where it came from and why it's behaving in such an extreme way.
The U.K.'s Coronavirus 'Herd Immunity' Debacle
The country is not aiming for 60 percent of the populace to get COVID-19, but you'd be forgiven for thinking so based on how badly the actual plan has been explained.
Cancel Everything
Social distancing is the only way to stop the coronavirus. We must start immediately.
The New Coronavirus Is a Truly Modern Epidemic
New diseases are mirrors that reflect how a society works-and where it fails.
The Deceptively Simple Number Sparking Coronavirus Fears
Here's what the oft-cited R0 number tells us about the new outbreak-and what it doesn't.
A Textbook Evolutionary Story About Moths and Bats Is Wrong
A Textbook Evolutionary Story About Moths and Bats Is Wrong
For 50 years, researchers have thought that moths evolved ears to detect the ultrasonic calls of attacking bats - but a new study shows that ears came first.