Scientists fear the Western wildfires could lead to long-term lung damage
During the peak of the recent wildfires, cities like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, suffered some of the dirtiest air in the world, making breathing the air like smoking a pack of cigarettes in a day. The smoke from these fires has shrouded millions of people in dirty air, as you can see in this…
“It isn’t a question of politics”: Fauci on calling out Sen. Rand Paul’s misinformation
Six months into the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, remains one of the most visible and steadfast defenders of science in an increasingly politicized environment. On Thursday, Vox and Today, Explained host Sean Rameswaram spoke to Fauci about calling out Sen.…
On climate change, oil and gas companies have a long way to go
This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The oil and gas industry has found itself under a harsh spotlight as concern over climate change increases across the world. Lately, oil and gas majors have responded to the scrutiny with a series of pledges, plans,…
Coronavirus is in the air. Here’s how to get it out.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, can float in the air. In particular, it can linger in poorly ventilated indoor spaces, spreading farther than 6 feet from its source. These indoor public spaces are high risk and should be avoided while the virus is still spreading. But, increasingly, people are returning to those spaces: Bars…
What Biden can do to fix Trump’s Covid-19 mess
Click:electronic components company If Joe Biden beats Donald Trump this November and ends up in the Oval Office in January, he’ll quickly face one of the gravest challenges any president has seen in the modern era: Hundreds of thousands of Americans will be dead from Covid-19. Public trust in scientific and government institutions will be…
A negative Covid-19 test isn’t an all-clear
Vice President Mike Pence has not tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. But he’s been in close contact, in recent days, with people with confirmed Covid-19 infections. And he debated Sen. Kamala Harris last night. Was this a good idea? In a word: No. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s…
How the air travel industry is scrambling to convince people to fly
Kyle Potter, the editor of the travel deals website Thrifty Traveler, is used to flying a lot. But things haven’t been the same since the pandemic. Back in June, when he flew for the first time since Covid-19 hit the United States, it was an eerie experience. “Pretty much everyone just really feels on edge.…
You can get reinfected with Covid-19 but may still have immunity. Let’s explain.
Researchers at the University of Nevada have reported that a 25-year-old man was reinfected in June with SARS-CoV-2, the virus the causes Covid-19. He joins a handful of other confirmed cases of reinfection in people without immune disorders — in Belgium, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Ecuador — where researchers have demonstrated that the genetic…
Science has been in a “replication crisis” for a decade. Have we learned anything?
Much ink has been spilled over the “replication crisis” in the last decade and a half, including here at Vox. Researchers have discovered, over and over, that lots of findings in fields like psychology, sociology, medicine, and economics don’t hold up when other researchers try to replicate them. This conversation was fueled in part by…
The 4 simple reasons Germany is managing Covid-19 better than its neighbors
Germany gets a lot of favorable Covid-19 press — and for good reason. Its daily new cases per million people have been persistently lower than any of its Western European neighbors, and its death rate, from the beginning of the outbreak, has been among the lowest in Western Europe: currently 0.15 deaths per million people,…