Airplane Toilets Could Catch the Next COVID Variant
Your best contribution to public health might happen at 30,000 feet.
Scientists Tried to Break Cuddling. Instead, They Broke 30 Years of Research.
Oxytocin, often lauded as the “hug hormone,” might not be necessary to induce affection.
The Flu-ification of COVID Policy Is Almost Complete
The government is pushing harder than ever to make “yearly COVID shots” a thing.
Whatever Happened to Toilet Plumes?
Beware the lidless toilet, even if one won’t give you COVID-19.
Please Don’t Call My Cervix Incompetent
There’s no end to the weird ways medicine describes women’s bodies.
Wait, Is This Winter Going … Okay?
Experts say things have gone better than expected with COVID, the flu, and RSV. But the bar set by the past few years is awfully low.
Get Used to Expensive Eggs
The bird-flu outbreak fueling America’s egg shortage could be here to stay.
The Coffee Alternative Americans Just Can’t Get Behind
The yerba mate in U.S. grocery stores is nothing like the real brew.
Trying to Stop Long COVID Before It Even Starts
New data offer hope that chronic illness can be headed off with the right combination of drugs.
Don’t Fear the Handshake
The gesture has survived plenty of outbreaks before COVID, and it will almost certainly outlast more to come.
May the Best Stove Win
Joe Biden isn’t banning gas stoves. They might be doomed anyway.
The Case for ‘Kraken’
Any name for the coronavirus is better than a jumble of letters and numbers.
Are Our Immune Systems Stuck in 2020?
You never forget your first time with SARS-CoV-2.
Maybe Don’t Unleash the Kraken
The ways we’re talking about the coronavirus are only getting weirder.
Telehealth Is Filling Gaps in Sexual-Assault Care
Without it, some survivors would have to drive hours to access expert nurses.
A Mysterious Syndrome Can Strike Decades After Polio
As the number of polio doctors dwindles, the disease’s survivors are suffering alone.
I’m Sorry, but This COVID Policy Is Ridiculous
The recent attempt to limit the spread of disease from China makes no sense at all.
How Worried Should We Be About XBB.1.5?
Yet another new and highly transmissible subvariant of the coronavirus is taking over.
The Inflated Risk of Vaccine-Induced Cardiac Arrest
Damar Hamlin’s collapse on Monday Night Football calls attention to a medical myth that will not die.
74 Things That Blew Our Minds in 2022
Where The Atlantic’s science, technology, and health reporters found wonder in a sometimes-sobering year