Science & Health

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

Did you (or your dog) eat a suspicious mushroom? These very online mycologists want to help.

Meet the fast-growing global community that identifies fungi and plants and helps assess poison risk.

By Chia-Yi Hou

At-home Covid-19 tests are getting better. Experts say: Stock up for winter.

New tests promise lab-quality results in under an hour — all without having to get up off your couch.

By Sigal Samuel

Two confusing questions about Covid-19 boosters, answered

By Kelsey Piper November 19

One of the billionaire scientists behind the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on what’s next

By Daniel A. Gross November 17

How technology has inspired neuroscientists to reimagine the brain

By Byrd Pinkerton November 17

The space debris problem is getting dangerous

By Rebecca Heilweil November 16

What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26

By Umair Irfan November 13

How a simple solution slashed child mortality in rural Kenyan villages

By Dylan Matthews November 13

The big questions about Covid-19 booster shots

By German Lopez November 12

Rich countries still don’t want to pay their climate change tab

By Umair Irfan November 11

5 things to know about the big climate conference in Glasgow

By Umair Irfan November 9

Why are rich countries still monopolizing Covid-19 vaccines?

By Umair Irfan November 9

The case for mandating Covid-19 vaccines for kids

By German Lopez November 5

It’s time to freak out about methane emissions

By Rebecca Leber November 3

The complicated promise of Amazon’s space internet

By Adam Clark Estes November 3

The curious case of the ancient whale bones

By Byrd Pinkerton November 3

Covid-19 vaccines for young kids are a big step toward a new normal

By Umair Irfan November 2

Biden’s $27 billion bet on forests

By Benji Jones October 29

The fate of the planet will be negotiated in Glasgow

By Umair Irfan October 29

Are “net-zero” climate targets just hot air?

By Umair Irfan October 29

What the oil industry still won’t tell us

By Rebecca Leber October 28

Is it okay to harvest pig kidneys to save human lives?

By Dylan Matthews October 28

Biden’s Plan B for the climate crisis, explained

By Rebecca Leber October 27

Jeff Bezos wants a low-orbit office park to replace the ISS

By Rebecca Heilweil October 27

Playdates are ruining all the fun

By Anna North October 27

How biological detective work can reveal who engineered a virus

By Kelsey Piper October 24

How you’ll know when Covid-19 has gone from “pandemic” to “endemic”

By Sigal Samuel October 22

The animals that may exist in a million years, imagined by biologists

By Mandy Nguyen October 20

The myth of the climate moderate

By Rebecca Leber October 16

Startups are betting on a psychedelic gold rush

By Rebecca Heilweil October 13

Why Merck’s Covid-19 pill molnupiravir could be so important

By Umair Irfan October 12

A better way to legalize marijuana

By German Lopez October 11

The US is closer than ever before to making major progress on the climate crisis

By Rebecca Leber October 7

How the risk of Covid-19 for kids compares to other dangers

By German Lopez October 7

The WHO approval of the first malaria vaccine is a big deal

By Kelsey Piper October 6

Our amazing sense of touch, explained by a Nobel laureate

By Brian Resnick October 6

How the Nobel Prizes skew science

By Byrd Pinkerton and Noam Hassenfeld October 6

Why the Huntington Beach oil spill is so harmful to wildlife

By Benji Jones October 6

Earth’s climate is chaotic. The winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in physics found patterns in the noise.

By Umair Irfan October 5

The status games we all play

By Sean Illing October 5

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

By Umair Irfan September 30

An “attack on American cities” is freezing climate action in its tracks

By Rebecca Leber September 29

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