It’s been five years since COVID was declared a global pandemic. Local, national and global public health agencies mobilized to contain the spread of COVID, but experts worry that backlash against measures like lockdowns have made today’s systems less capable of handling a disease of similar scale. Now the U.S. faces a tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas that un ... Show More
Sep 4
What if a dating app matched you with a dead body?
What if a dating app could optimize human connection, even after death? In this episode of Science Quickly, books and culture editor Bri Kane speaks with author Sarah Pierce about her debut novel For Human Use, a darkly comic thriller centered on a dating app that matches users w ... Show More
15m 44s
Sep 2
The hackers fighting to keep our water safe
Across the U.S., the digital infrastructure that runs our utilities is quickly aging, becoming more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Recently at least a dozen states reported attacks on their water systems. Stepping up to defend these utilities is DEF CON Franklin, an organization th ... Show More
15m 29s
Dec 2021
The Evidence: When will the pandemic end?
Everybody hopes that the new super-charged Omicron variant of coronavirus will be less severe, but even if it is, it’s spreading so fast and infecting so many people, health services around the world could still buckle under the strain.Two years into the pandemic, Claudia Hammond ... Show More
50m 9s
Feb 2025
Tuberculosis Outbreak, RFK, Jr.’s Confirmation Hearings and Polar Bear Hair
This week we’re recapping Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s confirmation hearings. Highly pathogenic H5N9, a strain of bird flu, was found in U.S. poultry. A tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas is making headlines—but how severe is the spread? Health equity reporter Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga ... Show More
11m 44s
May 2020
Is the Virus Getting Worse?
Last week, researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory released alarming news: At least one variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 had significantly mutated to become more contagious. If true, this would have major implications. A new variant could, for example, hamper e ... Show More
12m 37s
Feb 2022
Tracking Outbreaks through Sewers, and Kids' Vaccines on Hold Again: COVID Quickly, Episode 24
Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between.
... Show More
7m 18s
Mar 2025
Were the Covid Lockdowns Worth It?
<p>Five years ago, at the urging of federal officials, much of the United States locked down to stop the spread of Covid. Over time, the action polarized the country and changed the relationship between many Americans and their government.</p><p>Michael Barbaro speaks to Stephen ... Show More
49m 7s