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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
The surge in U.S. coronavirus cases shows a shift in who’s getting sick
Younger, unvaccinated people are a rising share of COVID-19 cases, raising concerns anew that lack of vaccine access may hit minority populations hard.
- Particle Physics
How matter’s hidden complexity unleashed the power of nuclear physics
In the last century, physicists learned to split atomic nuclei and revealed a complex world of fundamental particles.
- Health & Medicine
How 5 universities tried to handle COVID-19 on campus
U.S. colleges opened in the fall with a patchwork of control measures to keep COVID-19 at bay.
- Physics
Explore every gravitational wave event spotted so far
This interactive visualization reveals the diversity of smashups that generate gravitational waves.
- Science & Society
These 6 graphs show that Black scientists are underrepresented at every level
In the U.S., Black people are underrepresented in STEM fields, both as students and in the workforce.
- Health & Medicine
Coronavirus shutdowns don’t need to be all or nothing
Governments are implementing more targeted restrictions like limiting restaurant capacity to slow a fall surge. Research suggests they could work.
- Animals
Cheap, innovative venom treatments could save tens of thousands of snakebite victims
Momentum is building to finally tackle a neglected health problem that strikes poor, rural communities.
- Health & Medicine
Five big questions about when and how to open schools amid COVID-19
Researchers weigh in on how to get children back into classrooms in a low-risk way.
- Health & Medicine
COVID-19 case clusters offer lessons and warnings for reopening
As restaurants, offices and other businesses open, trends in where and how COVID-19 transmission is happening could help guide re-entry strategies.
- Health & Medicine
Florence Nightingale understood the power of visualizing science
Florence Nightingale showed simple sanitation measures could stop infectious diseases’ spread, a timely message given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
- Science & Society
How the U.S. census has measured race over 230 years
As the U.S. census gets under way, a review of historical data shows the difficulties in measuring race
- Science & Society
To fight discrimination, the U.S. census needs a different race question
Asking about race on the U.S. census can help identify discrimination against minority groups. But sociologists say the question needs a makeover.
