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Science & Health

News and updates from the health and science team. Topics include genetics, infectious disease, psychology, and more.

Featured stories

Winter storms put the US power grid to the test. It failed.

America’s aging energy infrastructure and reliance on fossil fuels pushed local power grids to the brink.

By Rebecca Leber

Great news for germs

The US doesn’t have enough infectious disease doctors — and the situation is about to get worse.

By Keren Landman

Why are American lives getting shorter?

By Siobhan McDonough

The tricky business of putting a dollar value on a human life

By Dylan Matthews

Can capitalism and nature coexist?

By Benji Jones

America’s most important EV is also its goofiest

By Umair Irfan

7 reasons our planet might not be doomed after all

By Benji Jones

The world has a new plan to save nature. Here’s how it works — and how it could fail.

By Benji Jones

One of our best Covid-19 treatments doesn’t work anymore. What now?

By Umair Irfan

Manchin’s permitting reform effort is dead. Biden’s climate agenda could be a casualty.

By Colin Mortimer

5 experts share how to make day care less germy

By Keren Landman

World leaders are racing to protect nature — but the definition of one word is tripping them up

By Benji Jones

The first lab-grown seafood will be fancy

By Kenny Torrella

We have a genuine fusion energy breakthrough

By Umair Irfan

NASA’s latest moon mission is the dawn of a new space age

By Rebecca Heilweil and Ellen Ioanes

The World Cup is missing its climate goals. It should still keep taking shots.

By Umair Irfan

The weird Republican turn against corporate social responsibility

By Rebecca Leber

AI is finally good at stuff, and that’s a problem

By Rebecca Heilweil

Mauna Loa is erupting in Hawaii. Here are 7 things to know about volcanoes.

By Umair Irfan

World leaders have 2 weeks to agree on a plan to save nature

By Benji Jones

The US has never recorded this many positive flu tests in one week

By Keren Landman

Lots of bad science still gets published. Here’s how we can change that.

By Sigal Samuel

The mystery of the mimic plant

By Benji Jones

Who gets to keep burning fossil fuels as the planet heats up?

By Umair Irfan

There’s no such thing as a good cold

By Keren Landman

Poor countries are developing a new paradigm of mental health care. America is taking note.

By Sigal Samuel

Why Americans will pay higher natural gas prices this winter

By Rebecca Leber

How to make Covid the last pandemic

By Kelsey Piper

The White House’s plan to colonize the moon, briefly explained

By Rebecca Heilweil

Will America continue to turn away from vaccines?

By Yasmin Tayag

Are 8 billion people too many — or too few? 

By Bryan Walsh

The good and bad news for the planet after the latest UN climate talks

By Umair Irfan

Syphilis rates are soaring in South Dakota’s American Indian communities. What’s going on?

By Keren Landman

Filed under:

The midterm culture war over plant-based meat

By Kenny Torrella

No one knows what “nature-based solutions” are

By Benji Jones

Space is deadly. NASA’s Artemis mission will help us learn how to survive it.

By Neel Dhanesha

NASA’s rules for astronaut posting: No TikTok, don’t embarrass us

By Rebecca Heilweil

This flu season is looking really scary, in one chart

By Keren Landman

Biden says America is doing its part to prevent “climate hell.” Is it?

By Umair Irfan and Neel Dhanesha

Filed under:

6 wins and 2 losses on climate in the midterms

By Rebecca Leber

A mountain, a tower, a thermos of molten salt. These are the batteries that could power our renewable future.

By Neel Dhanesha

Filed under:

11 midterm races that could shape our climate future

By Rebecca Leber