Science Controversies
Europe at a tipping point? Coronavirus gloom deepens as vaccine rollout lags, COVID resurges
Contagion is rising again in much of the EU, despite months of restrictions on daily life, as more-virulent virus strains ...
Racism in the NFL: Retired Black players denied compensation from concussion injuries after ‘race norming’ their cognitive abilities
The NFL has been testing players to determine cognitive decline caused by time in the NFL. If players exhibit enough ...
Simulation: Here’s how herd immunity works
When you click "Run Simulation" [below], you are witnessing how a disease can spread through a population and how increased ...
Do you need two vaccine shots if you’ve already been infected with COVID?
Six recent studies suggest that people who've already come down with COVID-19 might not need to get a second vaccine ...
Vaccine clinical research trials skewed towards White Americans, marginalizing minorities, study finds
An analysis of the demographics of a decade’s worth of vaccine clinical trials has found that Black Americans, Latinos, American ...
Going forward, taming COVID may depend more on logistics and administration than science
The US can emerge from the depths of the COVID-19 crisis in the coming months if the federal government leads ...
Viewpoint: FDA’s overregulation of gene-edited animals hinders innovation and harms consumers
When the FDA wants to, it can get desperately needed products expeditiously to those who need them. But for some ...
Cursed by sickle cell: A single letter in one gene spells a lifetime of pain for 20 million people — but socioeconomic status affects outcomes
Sickle cell disease (SCD) causes red blood cells to assume a sickle shape and jam in capillaries, cutting off oxygen ...
Gene editing could yield swine flu-resistant pigs, cutting the risk of another pandemic
[Swine flu] was transmitted to humans across the world in the 2009 pandemic and led to pig industry costs of ...
Mississippi bans transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams
[March 11, Mississippi Republican Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill] to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s ...
Republicans, young people and minorities: How to persuade the vaccine hesitant to get a COVID shot
As the United States screams past 500,000 fatalities, the choice between a deadly disease and a shot in the arm ...
‘You can’t be in Tuskegee and not have the syphilis study in the back of your mind’: Understanding Black COVID vaccine hesitancy
Beginning in the 1930s, federal officials enrolled hundreds of Black men in Tuskegee in an experiment to examine the effects ...
COVID-19 Survival Guide: The virus will be with us forever. Here’s how we can adapt
Eventually—years or even decades in the future—COVID-19 could transition into a mild childhood illness, like the four endemic human coronaviruses ...
Video: Between Us, About Us — Black healthcare workers challenge misinformation and spread encouraging news about COVID-19 vaccines
The Conversation: Between Us, About Us is a new campaign to provide Black communities with credible information about the COVID-19 ...
‘A golden age of vaccinology’: Gene-based vaccines can combat infectious diseases of the future
Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, which was authorized [February 27] for use in the U.S., is at the vanguard of ...
Is the US underestimating COVID reinfection risks?
As millions of Americans struggle to recover from covid and millions more scramble for the protection offered by vaccines, U.S ...
How entrenched is COVID vaccine resistance? It depends on how survey questions are asked
[H]ow many people will accept the shot? The answer might depend on how you ask the question. Four different groups ...
Vaccine passports: A threat to our freedom or a grudgingly acceptable health precaution?
The U.S., U.K. and European Union are among those considering whether to introduce a digital passport that will allow citizens ...
World War II mobilization provided groundwork for successful COVID vaccine development through Operation Warp Speed
To date, [Operation Warp Speed] has managed to produce and deliver about 50 million vaccine doses—all made in the U.S.—with ...
COVID variant warning: Brazil P.1 variant infects many who had recovered, devastating Manaus
B.1.1.7, first identified in Britain, has demonstrated the power to spread far and fast. In South Africa, a mutant called ...
‘Weird MIS-C syndrome’: Children experiencing surge in rare disease linked to COVID-19
Doctors don't know what causes it. Often kids have Covid-19 first, but not always. The novel coronavirus doesn't usually cause ...
Meet black footed ferret Elizabeth Ann, the first cloned endangered species in North America
Elizabeth Ann had just turned 21 days old — surely a milestone for any ferret but a particularly meaningful one ...
Fact-checking site pans Wall Street Journal opinion piece claiming US could have herd immunity by April
This Wall Street Journal opinion piece, published on 18 February 2021, claimed in its headline that the U.S. will “have ...
Scientists challenge China-WHO story of COVID emergence
The controversy over the investigation organized by the World Health Organization and China about the origins of Covid-19 heated up ...
Vaccine passports: While US holds back for now, China and Europe embrace ‘digital green pass’
Many international travelers will likely need to prove they are vaccinated or free of Covid-19 if they plan trips later ...
Viewpoint: What should we do when Artificial Intelligence crosses ethical lines?
A few years ago, a number of A.I.-research organizations began to develop systems for addressing ethical impact, [including] the Association ...
Behind the scenes of America’s troubled COVID vaccine rollout
[W]hy is it taking so long to vaccinate Americans? The answer starts with tens of millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses ...
