Science

San Francisco's Coit Tower was lit up blue on April 9 as part of a nationwide tribute to health care workers and first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

San Francisco Ramps Up Back-To-Basics Contact Tracing To Stop COVID-19

11:38am April 16, 2020

by Eric Westervelt

Citing concerns about privacy and civil liberties, the city's not relying on a smartphone app to track cases. Instead, it's recruiting public health staff, librarians and med students to make calls.

Trump, Republicans Are 'Exploiting' Coronavirus To Ban Abortion, New Ad Alleges

2:49pm April 15, 2020

by Sarah McCammon

A six-figure digital ad buy from the abortion rights group NARAL accuses President Trump and his allies of using the pandemic to restrict abortion.

With research projects on hold due to social distancing guidelines, scientists are being forced to decide what to do with the creatures that they study. Above, a Chilean rose tarantula on display at an exhibition in Hannover, Germany on Nov. 23, 2019.

Science

Bring Home The Tarantulas? As Research Halts, Scientists Face Difficult Decisions

2:16pm April 15, 2020

by Apoorva Mittal

With research projects on hold due to social distancing guidelines, many scientists are being forced to decide what to do with the creatures that they study.

Stanford medical student Thomas Koehnkz takes a blood sample from Alan Wessel of Mountain View, Calif., for a coronavirus antibody study.

Antibody Tests For Coronavirus Can Miss The Mark

11:02am April 15, 2020

by Richard Harris

Antibody tests to detect past exposure to the coronavirus will soon be everywhere. But even the best ones can provide wrong answers surprisingly often — and give false assurance.

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Creatures Large And Small Are Stuck In Labs After Coronavirus Pauses Research

8:43pm April 14, 2020

Some scientists and researchers are forced to decide the fates of their study subjects — like spiders, sunflower plants and fish — amid the coronavirus lockdown.

People, some wearing masks, walk down a street in the Corona neighborhood of Queens in New York on Tuesday.

New Survey Highlights Racial Disparities In The Coronavirus Pandemic

5:48pm April 14, 2020

by Hannah Hagemann

People of color and lower-income populations are more concerned about contracting coronavirus and spreading it unknowingly to others.

Employees and family members protest outside a Smithfield Foods processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota last week. The plant has had an outbreak of coronavirus cases.

How One City Mayor Forced A Pork Giant To Close Its Virus-Stricken Plant

4:32pm April 14, 2020

by Dan Charles

Smithfield Foods didn't want to stop slaughtering hogs at its Sioux Falls pork plant, even after hundreds of workers got sick with the coronavirus. Then the city's mayor forced the company's hand.

Several countries around the world are emitting less carbon due to the pandemic slowdown, but the climate will continue to warm.

Carbon Emissions Are Falling, But Still Not Enough, Scientists Say

3:10pm April 14, 2020

by Lauren Sommer

The global slowdown could create a historic drop in carbon emissions, but it's still not enough to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Nurses and health care workers mourn and remember their colleagues who died during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus during a demonstration outside Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Coronavirus Vaccine? Two Pharmaceutical Giants Collaborating To Develop One

1:11pm April 14, 2020

by Joe Palca

Pharmaceutical companies GSK and Sanofi are partnering to work on several vaccine candidates to fight the coronavirus.

What We Know About The Silent Spreaders Of COVID-19

8:01pm April 13, 2020

by Pien Huang

Some cases of the novel coronavirus are asymptomatic, presymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. Scientists are trying to determine their role in transmission of the disease.