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How optimizing indoor humidity can help stop the spread of Covid and flu

OPINION: Recent CDC guidelines for indoor air quality disregard the benefits of humidity. But research shows it can kill viruses and help thwart infections.

Photograph of a small child with a backpack staring through some railings at an empty schoolyard.

Society

How to recover from the Great Education Disruption

OPINION: Children around the world were out of school for months, with big impacts on learning, well-being and the economy. How do we avoid a ‘generational catastrophe’?

Photo shows people volunteering after a devastating earthquake in Nepal to recover bricks and heritage items from a destroyed temple in 2015. The volunteers, shown in silhouette, pass items hand to hand from the roof down to the ground.

Society

How to short-circuit short-term thinking

OPINION: Human behavior is fueling major social dilemmas — from climate change to the Covid pandemic to the spread of misinformation. But that means it’s also the solution, if only we can harness psychology for the common good.

Lab researchers wearing full protective suits, supplied with clean air, are shown in a lab.

Society

Question the ‘lab leak’ theory. But don’t call it a conspiracy.

OPINION: If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, labels get in the way of facts and make the truth that much harder to find.

Photo shows the exterior of a large building with a sign saying “This Hospital is CLOSED. If this is an emergency, call 911.”

Society

Let’s change how we pay for hospitals

OPINION: Many health facilities were already in fiscal straits before Covid-19 — except in Maryland. The state’s innovative and sound approach could be the answer to rescuing systems nationwide.

Photograph of parents and children walking toward a school. Some are wearing masks, some art not. Kids are carrying backpacks. A school crossing attendant wearing an orange vest and holding a stop sign is in the background. A large “welcome back” sign is in the foreground.

Health & Disease

Why don’t kids tend to get as sick from Covid-19?

Some children have been hospitalized and some have died, but at a tiny fraction of the adult rate. As children head back to school, scientists are hoping that research will provide answers.

Illustration shows a networked globe with coronavirus particles.

Health & Disease

Building an immune system for the planet could prevent the next pandemic

OPINION: We need a global information network that spans borders so we can spot — and stop — new pathogens before they threaten world health

Conceptual illustration of people viewing a museum exhibit. The displays contain a stylized mask, coronavirus model, vaccine, sanitizer and two clasped hands.

Society

What will history say about Covid? Museums scurry to collect — and prepare to remember.

A worn pair of nurse’s shoes. That coronavirus model Anthony Fauci used in public briefings. Oral histories, iconic photos and social media posts. All of us are curators now, and what we preserve — as well as what we don’t — will write the pandemic story.

Panoramic photo shows a green lawn in Central Park, with park-goers, trees and the city skyline visible.

Society

Covid cut pollution and got us outside. Let’s keep it up.

OPINION: Urban planners need to find ways to reduce traffic and provide equal access to green spaces

Photo of thousands of small white flags, each representing a death from Covid-19, stuck individually in the ground as part of artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg’s installation.

Society

Demographers tackle Covid-19

What they learn could help steer the future of public health

Photo shows Utah high school students returning to in-person learning in August 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students are seated far apart and wear face masks.

Society

A year of missing tests

Standardized tests for K-12 students were largely dropped during Covid, leaving a gaping hole in our understanding of students’ progress.

Illustration shows students running on a multiple-choice answer form as a giant pencil looms above

Society

Pencils down: The year pre-college tests went away

Many colleges and universities stopped requiring the SAT and ACT during Covid. Will they go back to testing in the future? Select: (a) Yes (b) No (c) Depends (d) Not enough information.

Photo of an old man and woman, each pushing a wheeled walker, strolling down a sidewalk.

Society

What Sweden’s Covid failure tells us about ageism

Experts say that growing age discrimination in the West is a result of policies that far predate the pandemic

Health & Disease

Covid job loss: The cause of the next epidemic?

OPINION: Being out of work — even for a just a few months — may be bad for your health

Illustration combines images of forest fires, a going-out-of-business sign, Black Lives Matter protestors holding a sign, riot police defending the US Capitol, people wearing face masks to protect themselves from Covid-19, and an empty city street during the pandemic lockdowns.

Society

It’s time for a government reset — and the ideas are flourishing

It started with thinking about sustainability. But after the many traumas of 2020, a lot of people are determined to make some fundamental changes in the machinery of governance.

Photo shows a dad seated on the floor with a laptop balanced on his lap and writing in a planning calendar while talking on the phone. A baby sits at his knee, playing with blocks.

Society

Remote work can be a lot better than this

OPINION: Under the right conditions (i.e., not during a pandemic), telework can be great for both employers and employees

Health & Disease

Four ways HIV activists have saved lives during Covid

OPINION: We owe these early fighters a debt of gratitude for transforming our response to public health crises.

Health & Disease

Yes, all this screen time is hurting your eyes

OPINION: A neuroscientist says that he’s particularly worried about kids, who may have spent much of last year learning online. Some easy hacks can help.

Photograph of a line of people standing on a sidewalk wearing masks. A large yellow sign with an arrow reads “Vaccine entrance.” Orange cones mark one side of the sidewalk, and there is a building along the other side.

Health & Disease

How to convince people to accept a Covid-19 vaccine

Hesitancy rates are falling but they’re still sizable, especially among certain groups. Easy access and trusted community messengers are keys to moving the needle.

Empty shelves in a UK grocery store during the early weeks of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

Food & Environment

Growing a more resilient global food system

Covid-19 has been a stress test for the world’s food supply chains — and a preview of looming threats. That’s making efforts to improve the journey from farm to fork more urgent than ever.

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Society

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