Americans have plenty to worry about these days when it comes to infectious-disease outbreaks. This is the worst flu season in 15 years, there’s a serious measles outbreak roiling Texas,…

When it comes to hair extensions, wearing and using them for a long time are at the top of our minds. Not only do we want extensions that have the…

On the afternoon of Friday, February 7, as staff members were getting ready to leave the headquarters of the National Institutes of Health, just outside Washington, D.C., officials in the…

Donald Trump’s first term saw a great deal of political polarization. Right- and left-leaning Americans disagreed about environmental regulation and immigration. They disagreed about vaccines and reproductive rights. And they…

For decades in the United States, scientists and government officials have coexisted in a mostly peaceable and productive symbiosis. The government has funded science and then largely left well enough…

Before it burned, Charlie Springer’s house contained 18,000 vinyl LPs, 12,000 CDs, 10,000 45s, 4,000 cassettes, 600 78s, 150 8-tracks, hundreds of signed musical posters, and about 100 gold records.…

Twice during his Senate confirmation hearings at the end of last month, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., America’s new health secretary, brought up a peer-reviewed study by a certain “Mawson” that…

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. America’s health secretaries, almost as a rule, have résumés manicured to a point…

Mornings can be chaotic. Whether you’re racing to work, juggling errands, scrambling to take the dog for their morning walk, or just trying to squeeze in a little extra sleep,…

Five years ago, the coronavirus pandemic struck a bitterly divided society. Americans first diverged over how dangerous the disease was: just a flu (as President Donald Trump repeatedly insisted) or…