Health Sep 29 Vaccine mandates can become a ‘political battleground,’ former FDA commissioner says YouTube on Wednesday announced it will remove videos that spread false information about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and any other commonly used vaccines. Accounts associated with several prominent figures — such as Robert Kennedy Jr. —…
Health Sep 21 How COVID-19’s death toll and social impact compares to past U.S. pandemics The death toll from the COVID pandemic has put the U.S. at another tragic milestone — more than 675,000 Americans, overall, have died of COVID as of Monday. That number surpasses the number of lives lost to the 1918 flu.
Nation Sep 10 Smithsonian Institution pieces together 9/11 history through personal, poignant relics With memories of Sept. 11, 2001 fading for some, and images of that day unknown to a younger generation, the Smithsonian Institution is working at piecing together history object by object. William Brangham takes a behind-the-scenes look as part of…
World Aug 16 Haitians left homeless by 7.2 magnitude earthquake now brace for storm An earthquake Saturday brought devastation to Haiti. Landslides have made major roads impassable for aid groups. Hospitals in southern Haiti are overwhelmed and thousands are sheltering in the streets or on soccer fields. Tropical depression Grace could trigger flash flooding…
Nation Aug 10 California prison inmates become a critical resource for fighting wildfires The Dixie Fire, now the second-largest in California history, continues to burn northern parts of the state. It comes as California faces a shortage of firefighters, a scenario that's bringing new attention to a critical firefighting resource: prison inmates. William…
Nation Aug 05 Health care workers battle Louisiana’s COVID-19 surge, low vaccination rates Right now, Louisiana has the nation’s highest per-capita infections, driven in large part by the extremely contagious delta variant. At the same time, Louisiana also has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, and this week Gov. John…
Nation Jul 29 Idaho ranchers torn between hunting and deterrents for gray wolves harming their livestock The grey wolf was once nearly hunted to extinction in the U.S. until the federal government put it on the endangered species list in 1974. 20 years later, it was successfully reintroduced to Idaho and Yellowstone. As pack numbers grew,…
Nation Jul 20 West U.S. wildfires are so extreme that they’re creating lightning, fire whirls More than 80 large fires are burning in 13 states across the U.S. currently, impacting nearly 1.3 million acres. One of the worst remains in Southern Oregon — the Bootleg Fire. It has been burning for two weeks and has…
Nation Jul 20 Californians scramble for fresh water as taps, wells run dry The severe drought across the Western U.S. is already causing long term problems, exacerbated by the warming atmosphere driven by climate change. As William Brangham reports from California’s San Joaquin Valley, the demand for water has threatened the drinking supply…
World Jul 16 Climate models predicted extreme weather fluctuations. Can the damage be reversed? In western Germany this week, whole cities seem to be underwater after days of heavy rainfall filled rivers to capacity and quickly turned into flash flooding. As parts of Europe dig out of this latest weather disaster, the European Union…