Katherine J. Wu
She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from Harvard University. Before joining The Atlantic in 2021, she was a science and health reporter for The New York Times focused on COVID-19. In 2020, she won the Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for Young Science Journalists. At The Atlantic, she covers science.
Your Vaccinated Immune System Is Ready for Breakthroughs
Getting COVID-19 when you’re vaccinated isn’t the same as getting COVID-19 when you’re unvaccinated.
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The Atlantic Daily: When You Get COVID Again and Again
Our writers tackle the mysteries of reinfection and the antiviral Paxlovid. Then: Why didn’t the police act faster in the school shooting in Uvalde?
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Jamie Hodgson / Getty; The Atlantic You Are Going to Get COVID Again … And Again … And Again
Will the danger mount each time, or will it fade away?
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Getty; The Atlantic An ER Doctor’s ‘Third Way’ Approach to the Gun Crisis
Why violence demands not just policy solutions, but public-health ones
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Getty; The Atlantic Vaccines Are Still Mostly Blocking Severe Disease
Our original-recipe shots are holding up against new variants. But we may need to improve them, and soon.
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Juan C. Díaz Ricaurte Frogs Keep Mating With the Wrong Things
Could humans be to blame?
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic; Getty The U.S. Is About to Make a Big Gamble on Our Next COVID Winter
Experts are expected to choose a vaccine recipe for the fall, when Omicron may or may not still be the globe’s dominant variant.
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Getty; Shuran Huang / The New York Times … The Promising Treatment for Long COVID We’re Not Even Trying
Early anecdotes about Paxlovid’s effects on long COVID are intriguing, but no one’s testing them in clinical trials yet.
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Getty ; The Atlantic ‘Better Than Omicron’ Is Still Pretty Bad
Compared with what the U.S. saw in January, the current rise in cases so far looks pretty chill. Is it, though?
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The Atlantic America Is Starting to See What COVID Immunity Really Looks Like
With time and effort, we can build enough protection to blunt surges—but herd immunity remains out of reach.
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Bettmann / Getty Humans Can’t Quit a Basic Myth About Dog Breeds
Breed doesn’t have that big an effect on a dog’s personality.
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Nina Westervelt / Bloomberg / Getty Have We Already Ruined Our Next COVID Summer?
A lot has changed since last year’s pre-Delta lull, but America can still reclaim some coronavirus-free chill—if it decides to commit.
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Adam Maida / The Atlantic; Getty America Created Its Own Booster Problems
Months of confusing messaging, piled onto existing inequities, kneecapped America’s booster campaign before it had really started.
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Ina Fassbender / picture alliance / Getty Naked Mole Rats Have a Very Strange Status Symbol
The elite rule with an iron fist—and a giant spleen.
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The Atlantic America Is Staring Down Its First So What? Wave
The United States could be in for a double whammy: a surge it cares to neither measure nor respond to.
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Courtesy of Claudio Monteza Who Moved My Seed?
A rare animal found a rare plant. Then, it seems, the two teamed up.
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The Atlantic Daily: How Many COVID Shots Will be ‘Enough’?
Boosters are officially back, and kids under 5 may soon get their first vaccinations. We do the math on the “magic number.” Plus: Maybe don’t make happiness your main goal.
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David Ryder / Getty Why Kids’ COVID-Vaccine Results Don’t Look Like Adults’
After a stellar run in adult and teen trials, the vaccines are now trying to contend with Omicron, and the numbers show it.
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Oscar Rivera / AFP / Getty You Try Constricting Your Prey and Breathing at the Same Time
Boa constrictors have figured out a way to inflate only parts of their lungs.
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Mark Peterson / Redux America Is About to Test How Long ‘Normal’ Can Hold
Whenever it arrives, the next surge could put the country’s tolerance for disease and death in full relief.
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Jessica Leigh / The Times / AP America’s Flu-Shot Problem Is Also Its Next COVID-Shot Problem
The successes and failures of annual flu-shot campaigns hold lessons for the future of COVID vaccines.
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