Trump’s EPA balks at a chance to save black lives

Decades of research paint a clear picture: The No. 1 environmental health risk in the US is soot. Also known as particulate pollution, it is made up of extremely small particles spewed into the air by power generation, industrial processes, and cars and trucks. There are “coarse particles,” between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in diameter,…

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Why a second round of Covid-19 lockdowns might not be as effective

Several states are now seeing a surge in new Covid-19 coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. And the states with more alarming outbreaks — Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Arkansas, Florida, and Tennessee — generally saw few cases early in the pandemic. Many of these states have started to relax the restrictions on movement, businesses,…

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6 feet away isn’t enough. Covid-19 risk involves other dimensions, too.

When states had strict stay-at-home orders and lockdowns in place, many decisions about the risk of getting the coronavirus were simple. People didn’t have to think about whether dining in a restaurant is safe if the restaurant was closed. Now, that states are opening up — with varying degrees of precautions and adherence in place…

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A living rain: How one planetary scientist imagines life on Venus

The search for life in our solar system got a lot more exciting this week. On Monday, a team of scientists announced its members had detected phosphine gas in the caustic, hot atmosphere of Venus. So what? The gas — which you’d recognize by its fishy odor — is thought to be a byproduct of…

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Trump returned to the Oval Office. He may still be contagious.

There’s a lot we still don’t know about President Trump’s Covid-19 case, starting with the basics: Is he having trouble breathing? Is he experiencing side effects, such as delirium or confusion, from the multiple experimental drugs for Covid-19 he’s taking? When was his last negative coronavirus test? There’s another burning question about Trump’s health that…

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No, the Regeneron drug Trump received is not a Covid-19 “cure”

A day after the Food and Drug Administration announced tougher measures for a coronavirus vaccine approval, dashing President Trump’s hope of getting a vaccine out before the election, the president put out a video on Twitter suggesting he had changed course: a promise to bring the American people a Covid-19 “cure.” Following his admission to…

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