Katherine J. Wu
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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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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Katie Martin / The Atlantic; Getty A New Strategy for Staying One Step Ahead of the Virus
We’re tracking how the virus is changing over time. Why not monitor immunity too?
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Jaime Culebras / Photo Wildlife Tours The Freeloading Boyfriends That Just Won’t Let Go
Male Santa Marta harlequin toads piggyback on their mate for months before egg meets sperm.
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Leo Correa / Redux The Pandemic After the Pandemic
Long COVID isn’t going away, and we still do not have a way to fully prevent it, cure it, or really to quantify it.
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Getty; The Atlantic The Coronavirus’s Next Move
Here are four shapes that the next variant might take—which will also dictate the shape of our response.
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Christopher Furlong / Getty The Biden Administration Killed America’s Collective Pandemic Approach
Protections meant to shield everyone can’t be a matter of personal preference.
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Paul Spella / The Atlantic Next Winter, What If We Test for Even More Viruses?
Cough? Test. Stuffiness? Test. Scratchy throat? Test.
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The Atlantic We Might Not Need Annual COVID Shots
The vaccines will need an update at some point. But not every variant of concern will warrant one.
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Adam Maida / The Atlantic We’re Entering the Control Phase of the Pandemic
The virus isn’t done with us. So we need a new approach to dealing with it.
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Bing Guan / Bloomberg / Getty How to Reclaim Normal Life Without Being ‘Done’
This next phase of the pandemic doesn’t have to be about what we can’t do.
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The Atlantic The Paradox of Sour Food
“It’s a weird sense to need.”
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Santiago Mejia / The San Francisco Chronicle / … What Actually Changed for Little Kids’ Vaccines?
Authorizing two shots for little kids right now could be a double gamble.
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The Atlantic Should We Go All In on Omicron Vaccines?
A shot designed for Omicron can teach the immune system about Omicron. But it might not prepare us for whatever comes next.
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