The Origins of the CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began during World War II to prevent the spread of malaria to troops stationed in the South.
The Weird Ways People Have Tied Blood Types to Identity
Scientific racism. Paternity tests. And mass tattooing, just in case of nuclear attack.
Cytokine Storms: The Cruel Irony of an Immune Response
When bodies fight back against infection, they can overwhelm themselves with their own destructive force.
How Doctors Make End-of-Life Choices
Many people facing the end of their life receive treatments that ultimately have no benefit. A team of researchers set out to find out why.
Preprints, Science, and the News Cycle
Preprints are academic papers that haven't been peer-reviewed yet. When preprints make news, that's often overlooked.
Can We Protect Against Coronavirus by Rewriting Our Genomes?
Genome recoding could offer new modes of virus resistance, but the technology raises serious ethical concerns.
Cracking the Malaria Mystery—from Marshes to Mosquirix
It took science centuries to understand malaria. Now we’re waiting to see how the 2019 vaccine pilot works.
Anti-Asian Racism in the 1817 Cholera Pandemic
We should learn from, instead of repeating, the racist assignations of the past.
Waffle Houses Mean Way More Than Waffles in Disasters
The restaurant chain and FEMA work together in calamities like tornadoes and hurricanes, for good reason.