‘Cancer Alley’ is an 80-mile stretch of chemical plants along the Mississippi River in Louisiana alongside many Black and poor communities.
Giles Clarke/Getty Images
A woman from one of the Mosuo farming communities in southwest China. The Mosuo were participants in a groundbreaking study examining gender-based health disparities.
Siobhan Mattison
Wendy Wall, Binghamton University, State University of New York; Christian K. Anderson, University of South Carolina, and Daisy Martin, University of California, Santa Cruz
A news host reports on former President Donald Trump during a broadcast on RT, formerly known as Russia Today, a state-funded TV network.
Misha Friedman/Getty Images
COVID-19 has overwhelmed many rural hospitals in the past few months, including this one in North Dakota.
Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Far-right groups like the Proud Boys, seen here marching in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12, are increasingly organizing their activities on messaging services like Telegram.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Kratom, which has been linked to many deaths in the US, has been grown in Southeast Asia for centuries. There, people drink a tea made from the herb, with no ill effects. Why the difference?
The microbes living in the gut are key to good health.
Dr_Microbe/iStock/Getty Images Plus
The microbes in your gut influence how your immune system reacts to bacteria and viruses. A severe immune reaction is deadly; a small one lets the virus win. The right balance may depend on your diet.
Facing legal and financial challenges, the NRA wants to exit New York.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
A Florida sheriff has been using student records to flag students 'destined' for crime. Now a congressman is calling for a federal inquiry.
Some 25,000 National Guard troops protected Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration due to fears of a far-right extremist attack.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Far-right extremists in the US have the potential to mount a coordinated, low-intensity campaign of political violence. It wouldn't be the country's first experience with domestic terror.
Joe Biden delivering his inaugural address on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Rodney Gabel, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Joe Biden's presidential campaign and his inauguration mark an important change for the roughly 3 million people in the United States who stutter.
President Joe Biden talked about healing the rifts and uniting America in his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2021.
Michael S. Williamson/Washington Post
A new federal antipoverty program for both rural and urban areas is part of the solution, but the power of Big Ag, lack of internet and struggling towns need attention, too.
Formerly incarcerated entrepreneur Coss Marte speaks at a conference in 2015.
Brad Barket/Getty Images for WIRED
Nearly half of formerly incarcerated Americans remain jobless for at least a year. But there are some creative solutions to this problem.
Through the Paris Agreement, the world’s countries agreed to work to keep global warming well under 2 degrees Celsius.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
In choosing a Hebrew Bible belonging to a civil rights leader, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, Sen. Jon Ossoff appeared to be sending out a message on the strong historic ties between Black people and Jews.
Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images
While the debates about Kamala Harris’ multiraciality may seem new, they are similar to the commentary other high-profile mixed-race people in the US have received about their racial identities.
Fossil fuel power plants contribute to climate change by releasing greenhouse gases that trap heat near Earth’s surface.
AP Photo/J. David Ake
From the oath-taking on the Bible during the presidential swearing-in ceremony to the 'awe' and 'restraint' of the early Christian world, the meaning of 'religion' has gone through a long journey.
The lines between political fandom and sports fandom have blurred.
Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
The spread of tawny crazy ants may be driven, in part, by their need for calcium. The calcium-rich limestone bedrock of the lower U.S. Midwest may provide ideal conditions for populations to explode.
Joe and Jill Biden attend Mass at St. Matthew the Apostle before the inauguration.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
St. Matthew is the patron saint of civil servants – making the Washington, D.C., church bearing his name a fitting venue for presidents, both past and present.
A worker pours dry ice into boxes containing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Morry Gash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
From designing vaccine supply chains to improving PPE to rebuilding trust, systematically bringing engineering knowhow to public health problems could make a huge difference.
A picture of Andrew Jackson hung in the Oval Office during Trump’s tenure.
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
For decades, presidents routinely replaced large swaths of the government workforce, often requiring them to pay fees to political parties in exchange for their jobs.
Democrats control both the White House and Congress for the first time in 10 years.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
The man on the right wearing the Trump hat was identified by his badge as an employee of Navistar Direct Marketing, which fired him.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
A criminologist and former police officer reviewed the police operations at the Capitol and raises concerns over how an angry mob was able to circumvent security.
It is very difficult to estimate the size of the crowd that stormed Capital Hill because there is no aerial imagery.
Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
A race-changing scandal raises suspicion about the motivations of 4,580 newly elected city council members and mayors who only recently began to identify as Black.
Vice President Mike Pence says he ‘welcomes’ objections to Biden’s Electoral College win, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats reject any such effort.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images
The 1887 Electoral Count Act spells out the process for Congress to convene and review election results on Jan. 6, and it requires both the House and Senate to uphold any challenges to Biden's win.
Attendees chant during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A sense – or fear – of victimhood pervades contemporary white supremacy from the extreme to the mainstream.
Trump supporters face off against counterprotesters at the Million MAGA March in Washington on Nov. 14, 2020.
Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Donald Trump has been a populist president. Understanding populism's roots in the US and elsewhere is essential for addressing its rise and threat to democracy.
‘Going To Church,’ N.C. Wyeth (1941).
Archival photograph, Brandywine River Museum library, Edward J. S. Seal Collection.
Lana Dbeibo, Indiana University School of Medicine
Now that two COVID vaccines have been authorized by the FDA, questions arise. Today, a physician from Indiana University School of Medicine answers five reader questions.