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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Mario Tama / Getty What Should Worry Most Americans About Our Monkeypox Response
The U.S. has declared (another) public-health emergency. An expert weighs in on whether we might botch this one, too.
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John J. Custer; The Atlantic The Coronavirus Has One Strategy We Can’t Vaccinate Against
It may be getting better at dodging one of the immune system’s main defenses.
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John J. Custer / The Atlantic Antlers Do What No Other Bones Can
Deer almost break their bodies to build antlers each year, and scientists still don’t really know why.
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AP / The Atlantic America Should Have Been Able to Handle Monkeypox
Has COVID taught us nothing?
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The Atlantic Could Genetics Be the Key to Never Getting the Coronavirus?
Scientists have known for decades that some people can be resistant to HIV infection. Why not the coronavirus, too?
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Bloomberg / Getty Of Course Biden Has COVID
The most notable feature of the president’s illness is that he evaded COVID for this long.
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Sean McCann The Spiders That Choose Death
For some species, getting eaten alive may be a small price to pay for passing on your genes.
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Richard Gardette / Getty; The Atlantic New COVID Vaccines Will Be Ready This Fall. America Won’t Be.
Respiratory-virus season starts soon, and our autumn vaccine strategy is shaky at best.
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Bloomberg / Getty The BA.5 Wave Is What COVID Normal Looks Like
The endless churn of variants may not stop anytime soon, unless we do something about it.
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Getty; The Atlantic Do Gophers … Farm?
Step 1: Dig tunnel. Step 2: Cultivate roots. Step 3: Profit.
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David Pfennig / University of North Carolina at … Why These Frogs Make ‘the Grossest Blunder in Sexual Preference’
Interspecies mating has long been thought of as a mistake. But in the desert, it may sometimes be the best way to breed.
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Till Findl / EyeEm / Getty Twice a Year, Reindeer Eyes Pull Off a Wonderful Magic Trick
The Arctic can stay perpetually dark for months. Reindeer cope by changing part of their eyes from gold to blue.
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Alisha Jucevic / The New York Times / … This Fall Will Be a Vaccination Reboot
For the first time, COVID vaccines are getting an update in the U.S. But Americans still need to be persuaded to take them.
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The Atlantic; Getty Five COVID Numbers That Don’t Make Sense Anymore
It’s long past time to forget them all.
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Adam Maida / The Atlantic Squirrels Could Make Monkeypox a Forever Problem
If the virus finds a new animal host, it could settle in for the long run—and cause more outbreaks in the future.
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Luiz F. Ribeiro A Frog So Small, It Could Not Frog
Most frogs can jump and land with the precision and grace of an Olympic gymnast. And then there’s the pumpkin toadlet.
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The Atlantic; Getty Monkeypox Vaccines Are Too Gnarly for the Masses
Monkeypox is very different from COVID—and will require a very different vaccination approach.
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Getty; The Atlantic A Negative COVID Test Has Never Been So Meaningless
A string of negatives can still presage a clear-as-day positive.
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The Atlantic Vaccines for the Littlest Kids Have Already Flopped
COVID vaccines for infants and toddlers are stalling and stumbling even before they’ve left the gate.
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Carolyn Kaster / AP Don’t Wait to Get Your Kid Vaccinated
Kids are at risk of severe COVID outcomes—and immunity from infection isn’t enough.
