What Happens to All That Used PPE?
Gloves, masks, and other personal protective equipment have kept us safe during the pandemic. Now they're washing up on beaches around the world.
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Build Mental Resiliency in Young Readers
Science fiction offers readers a way to rethink social dilemmas.
One Parallel for the Coronavirus Crisis? The Great Depression
“The idea that the federal government would be providing emergency relief and emergency work was extraordinary,” one sociologist said. “And people liked it.”
Cytokine Storms: The Cruel Irony of an Immune Response
When bodies fight back against infection, they can overwhelm themselves with their own destructive force.
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.
How to Memorialize a Plague
Vienna's baroque Plague Column, completed in 1693, gave thanks for the survival of a city.
Yvonne Rainer, Postmodern Dance, and You
In the 1960s, a group of artists started experimenting with choreography based on ordinary movement and improvisation. Now your living room is the stage.
Anti-Asian Racism in the 1817 Cholera Pandemic
We should learn from, instead of repeating, the racist assignations of the past.
How Tucson Enforced Its 1918 Mask Requirement
During the influenza pandemic, the Arizona city's police force fined and arrested people for not wearing face masks.
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.