Celebrity Life
Synthetic Alcohol Promises to Make Drinking Safer. But Experts Are Wary
Our ancestors started drinking booze millions of years ago, and we never stopped. Alcohol is embedded in nearly every culture in the world as a social lubricant, marker of taste and cornerstone of celebrations. If companies tried to bring it to market for the first time today, however, U.S. regulators would almost certainly forbid it.…
NASA Quietly Had a Stellar Year
From the James Webb Space Telescope to the Perseverance rover, the agency had win after win in 2021
The James Webb Space Telescope Is Finally Off Planet Earth
'When you want a big reward, you have to usually take a big risk.'
Christmas Flight Cancellations Are Piling Up, As Delta, United and Lufthansa Respond to COVID-19’s Impact on Crews
At least three major airlines said they have canceled dozens of flights because illnesses largely tied to the omicron variant of COVID-19 have taken a toll on flight crew numbers during the busy holiday travel season. Germany-based Lufthansa said Friday that it was canceling a dozen long-haul transatlantic flights over the Christmas holiday period because…
5 Ways to Feel Happier During the Pandemic, According to Science
Exercising, volunteering and socializing all bolstered wellbeing during COVID-19
The Omicron Variant Appears Less Likely to Cause Severe COVID-19 Illness Than Delta
Preliminary data suggest that people with the omicron variant of the coronavirus are between 50% and 70% less likely to need hospitalization than those with the delta strain, Britain’s public health agency said Thursday. The U.K. Health Security Agency findings add to emerging evidence that omicron produces milder illness than other variants—but also spreads faster…
U.S. FDA Authorizes Merck’s COVID-19 Pill, Despite Experts Questioning Its Value
U.S. health regulators on Thursday authorized the second pill against COVID-19, providing another easy-to-use medication to battle the rising tide of omicron infections. The Food and Drug Administration authorization comes one day after the agency cleared a competing drug from Pfizer. That pill is likely to become the first-choice treatment against the virus, thanks to…
For Some, a Second Pandemic Winter Means Seasonal Affective Disorder Is Hitting Hard
Last winter, A.S.—a 26-year-old from Minnesota who asked to go by her initials to protect her privacy while job searching—was terrified of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). No stranger to seasonal depression during Minnesota’s cold, dark, snowy winters, A.S. worried that pandemic isolation would only make the problem worse. She planned a regimen of prescribed antidepressants,…
South Africa’s Omicron-Driven COVID-19 Surge May Have Already Peaked
South Africa’s noticeable drop in new COVID-19 cases in recent days may signal that the country’s dramatic omicron-driven surge has passed its peak, medical experts say. Daily virus case counts are notoriously unreliable, as they can be affected by uneven testing, reporting delays and other fluctuations. But they are offering one tantalizing hint—far from conclusive…
The FDA Just Authorized the First COVID-19 Pill, a Pfizer Drug That Can Be Taken At Home
U.S. health regulators on Wednesday authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus. The long-awaited milestone comes as U.S. cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all rising and health officials warn of a tsunami of new infections…
U.S. Life Expectancy Dropped Nearly 2 Years in 2020
COVID-19 fueled the largest single-year increase in annual U.S. deaths on record
We Need to Start Thinking Differently About Breakthrough Infections
For most of 2020, avoiding the novel coronavirus was at the heart of almost every piece of public-health advice. Then, vaccinations largely gave Americans their lives back. Breakthrough infections were remarkably rare in the early months of mass vaccination. Only about 10,000 people—or 0.01% of the 101 million U.S. adults who had been fully vaccinated—reported…