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COVID-19

To get around the hair clipper shortage, the founder of the Trans Clippers Project bulk ordered supplies during the early days of the pandemic.

Covid-19

A New Project Hopes to Give Transgender Americans Some Much-Needed Haircuts

To promote mental health during the pandemic, the Trans Clippers Project has provided hundreds of trans and nonbinary people with a free pair of clippers

An up-close look at SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease

Covid-19

COVID-19 Cases Exceed Eight Million Worldwide

The bleak milestone arrives as cases spike in South America

A woman sunbathes in a roped-off distancing zone marked out along the beaches in La Grande Motte, southern France.

Covid-19

Five Safety Measures Beaches Are Taking to Minimize the Spread of COVID-19

Seaside areas around the world are using technology and strict regulations to try to protect visitors from the virus

Bats have harbored dangerous coronaviruses that crossed to humans, like SARS-CoV-2.

Covid-19

These Scientists Hunt for Viruses in Animals Before They Strike Humans

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers were searching for potential human pathogens in wild animals. They’ve found thousands

In the United Kingdom, coronavirus lockdown measures were relaxed on June 15.

New Research

Studies Estimate That Lockdowns Slowed COVID-19 Spread and Saved Lives

Experts say the results provide evidence in support of extending these measures

A 15-foot-tall sculpture of a laughing kookaburra in Brisbane, Australia

A Sculptor Made This 15-Foot-Tall Laughing Kookaburra in Lockdown

Farvardin Daliri in Brisbane, Australia crafted the giant sculpture, which opens its beak and cackles with laughter

Visitors gather on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park after its reopening.

Covid-19

The ‘New Normal’ of Visiting America’s National Parks

Across the country, these treasured places—and the lodges and businesses that support them—navigate a complicated reopening

In this origin story of the modern ventilator, we appreciate the duality of intensive care medicine: Its defining strength is also its weakness.

Covid-19

How a Polio Outbreak in Copenhagen Led to the Invention of the Ventilator

After one hospital struggled to sustain the breathing of hundreds of patients, engineers found a solution that saved lives and sparked an ethical firestorm

Maintaining social distancing is a challenge as workplaces reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.

Covid-19

How Workplaces Will Use Emerging Tech to Monitor Social Distancing

But do these technologies, apps and wearables respect employee privacy?

Marta Martínez interviews a local resident for her oral history project.

Covid-19

How Oral History Projects Are Being Stymied by COVID-19

As the current pandemic ravages minority communities, historians are scrambling to continue work that preserves cultural heritage

Horseshoe crabs are bled to harvest a key ingredient in tests used to ensure injected medicines such as vaccines are free of contaminants. This photo was taken in 2014 at the Charles River Laboratory in Charleston, South Carolina.

Covid-19

The Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine Runs on Horseshoe Crab Blood

Pharmaceutical companies use the creature’s blue blood to test for contaminants

Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, NY, Floor of Studio, 2018.

Virtual Travel

Take Virtual Tours of These Seven Historic Homes of American Artists

A new book looks at American art through the studios of the masters that made it

A pandemic from a century ago doesn’t necessarily chart the course of the pandemic happening now.

Covid-19

Compare the Flu Pandemic of 1918 and COVID-19 With Caution

The past is not prediction

Signs on the floor encourage social distancing.

Covid-19

The New Normal of Dining Out

Restaurants and bars worldwide are instituting unique safety measures against the spread of COVID-19. But will they be effective?

On May 6, South Korea returned somewhat to normal, with businesses, museums and libraries reopening with social distancing measures in place. However, with a spike for more than 70 new cases in Seoul, museums have closed until June 14.

Covid-19

Seoul Closes Public Institutions After South Korea Sees 79 New COVID-19 Cases

Museums, churches, and art galleries are shut down until June 14 in Seoul, home to half of the country’s population

To help people enter into conversations "in ways that are fruitful," says Spencer Crew, the interim director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, a new online portal "Talking About Race" is now available.

How to Have That Tough Conversation About Race, Racism and Racial Identity

The Smithsonian’s African American History Museum debuts the online teaching tool “Talking About Race”

The plaintiffs argue that the online library’s offerings are theft.

Covid-19

Publishers Sue Internet Archive for Copyright Infringement

The online library loosened restrictions on its collection of scanned books at the end of March in response to the pandemic

An animal care staff member at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium feeds some Magellanic penguins.

Covid-19

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Maintaining Tourist Sites During COVID-19

Despite closures, essential workers are the ones holding down the fort at these popular travel destinations

Cases of MIS-C are very rare and are mostly popping up in COVID-19 hotspots

Covid-19

What Experts Know About a Rare Inflammatory Syndrome Linked to COVID-19

The syndrome resembles a childhood illness called Kawasaki disease, but research is ongoing about both conditions

Vial and packaging for the 1957 H2N2 vaccine, at the National Museum of American History. Producing the inoculation required hundreds of thousands of fertilized chicken eggs per day.

Covid-19

How the U.S. Fought the 1957 Flu Pandemic

The story of the medical researcher whose quick action protected millions of Americans from a new contagion

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