Nation May 17 An emergency room physician weighs in on CDC’s relaxed masking, distancing guidelines Ever since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask recommendations substantially for fully vaccinated adults, there's been a wide range of reaction — including some outright confusion, anxiety and criticism — over how this will play out. William…
Arts May 14 DC art exhibit makes shoes out of trash in nod to the ‘Great Shoe Spill of 1990’ The year 1990 saw the “Great Shoe Spill" where tens of thousands of Nike shoes fell into the Pacific. The accident led to some scientific discoveries, and now, whimsical art packed with an eco-friendly message. William Brangham plunges into an…
Nation May 13 Here’s the latest on gas shortages in the US and the plans to prevent future hacks Although Colonial Pipeline has resumed operations after a cyberattack, things are yet to return to normal. William Brangham has a look at the new claims about the hack and the resulting gas crunch with Patrick De Haan, the head of…
World May 11 Is the Russian government involved in the Colonial Pipeline hack? One expert weighs in The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack showed the vulnerability of key parts of America's critical infrastructure, and how hostile actors can exploit those weaknesses. William Brangham and investigative reporter Michael Weiss look at what role — if any — the Russian…
Science May 10 FDA greenlights Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 to 15 New York became the latest state to require students at publicly funded colleges be vaccinated for the fall term — a move that comes as overall, new infections in the U.S. have fallen to their lowest since last September. Vaccine…
Nation May 10 What does the Colonial Pipeline hack tell us about the security of U.S. infrastructure? The federal government on Monday confirmed that a Russian criminal group is behind the hack of the Colonial Pipeline company. The pipeline — the largest of its kind in the U.S. — was shut down after a cyber extortion attempt.
World May 06 Waiving the vaccine patent may come down to giving pharmaceutical companies incentives President Joe Biden has given the initial nod for the U.S. to waive patent rights on COVID vaccines to boost international production. But there are real questions over how effective these moves would be, what other countries feel about it,…
Arts May 06 The ‘ignored characters’ of the pandemic and why their premonitions were pushed aside A new book shows that there were a handful of researchers, scientists and public health officials who seemed to have an early, prescient understanding of how bad the pandemic would hit the U.S., and what we could do to avert…
World May 05 Waiving vaccine patent rights may be the ‘only way’ to end the pandemic President Biden announced that the U.S. will support waiving patent rights for the COVID vaccines — a major move that follows a call domestically, and internationally, for America to provide much quicker and greater assistance to the rest of the…
World May 03 India’s COVID-19 crisis is far from over, and vaccines alone won’t help. Here’s why The COVID-19 crisis in India shows little sign of slowing down. As death tolls and infections skyrocket, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership is under increasing political pressure and scrutiny. The country is short on vaccines, and other life-saving supplies like…