The pandemic spurred an unprecedented reclamation of urban space, ushering in a seemingly bygone era of pedestrian pastimes, as cars were sidelined in favor of citizens. Highlighting examples from across the United States, environmental...

The FDA recently approved two mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, but it was a challenge to make this type of vaccine work. And it took decades of research to get us to the point where scientists could make those vaccines as quickly as they did.

Scientists are trying a little bit of everything to fight the virus that causes COVID-19, but some researchers are harnessing more than just the usual virus-fighting repertoire, from tiny sponges to viral RNA-destroying bubbles.

As COVID-19 spread, BioNTech cofounders Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci had one goal: to make a safe, effective vaccine faster than ever before. In this illuminating conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, the immunologists (and...

Near the end of 2020, we got some puzzling but good news: COVID-19 fatality rates have been dropping. Here are a few factors that might help explain why we’re seeing this trend.

COVID-19 has the potential to ebb and flow with the seasons, but because it's a novel pandemic, that doesn't mean we're off the hook this summer.

Several COVID-19 variants are acting uniquely enough to qualify as a distinct strain. And you might have heard about one on the news: the Delta variant. Today we’re going to talk about what it is, why it’s here, and what you need to know...

There's another theory about the Covid-19 pandemic going around, and while it is pretty cool, it's not exactly the solution some are suggesting it might be.

The WHO has declared the new coronavirus a global public health emergency—but that doesn't mean you should panic.

It will probably be at least a year before we have a vaccine for COVID-19. But in March, the WHO launched a megatrial tolook at four treatment options for the virus.

SARS-CoV-2 is super contagious, and researchers don’t yet know all the reasons why. But by comparing this new virus to the similar one that causes SARS, we’ve found a lot of promising leads that could help us figure out how to beat this...

An effective COVID-19 vaccine is just the first step in ending the pandemic, says global health strategist Johanna Benesty. In this illuminating talk, she explores the various barriers to "equitable access" -- making sure COVID-19...

I was the first woman president of an African nation, and I do believe more countries ought to try that, says H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel laureate and former president of Liberia. Telling the story of how Liberian women helped...

Hank and our content manager, Alexis, interviewed Dr. Howard Bauchner, the Editor in Chief of the JAMA network of medical journals. They discussed some of the surprising things that we've learned since the beginning of the pandemic and...

Scientists have been researching whether or not antibodies from COVID-19 patients might help those infected with the virus, and one study has found promising results, in a llama.

Hank sets the record straight for us, discussing a rain of spiders in Brazil (!?), a new virus that has the internet all a-twitter, and another asteroid recently found to have hit the Earth (not the one in Siberia!) - are...

We will get out of this pandemic, says Maria Van Kerkhove, the COVID-19 Technical Lead of the World Health Organization (WHO). The question is how fast -- and if we'll take what we've learned from the past two years and apply it to the...

The list of symptoms for “Long COVID” are even more vast than the opinions about the right name for the condition. But the more we learn about it, and how it is similar to other post-infection syndromes, the better we can help those who...

Researchers think the virus behind COVID-19 may have multiple ways into cells—which could help us understand how it behaves.

Roughly two billion people worldwide don't have access to banks or financial services like credit, insurance and investment -- or even a way to formally prove their identity. How do we bridge this divide? Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga sits...

The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is now the third approved for emergency use authorization in the United States, and it's a little different from its predecessors.

Far-UVC light is a type of ultraviolet light that kills microbes and viruses and, crucially, seems to be safe to use around humans. Radiation scientist David Brenner describes how we could use this light to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2,...

Right now, experts say a vaccine for COVID-19 is a year or more away. But as far away as it sounds, it’s only within the realm of possibility because scientists are speeding up the vaccine development process in surprising ways.

What happens if you get infected with the coronavirus? Who's most at risk? How can you protect yourself? Public health expert David Heymann, who led the global response to the SARS outbreak in 2003, shares the latest findings about...