Officials in states that appear to have COVID-19 under control should keep an eye on a slow rise in cases, and take the chance to enact modest measures before case numbers begin to rise rapidly again, a Harvard expert said.

A new species of bacteria, one that makes its home on the relatively hot and dry surface of a solar panel, was discovered recently at the Arnold Arboretum, offering a lesson that nature’s reach extends even to the artificial.

Vaccines that might protect against COVID-19 have entered phase 3 trials — the last step before regular approval in humans — in record time, but the virus has moved faster, experts say.

Harvard researchers, drawing on insights from tuberculosis research, say air conditioners may be a factor in COVID-19’s spread down South, and relatively inexpensive germicidal ultraviolet lights a weapon.

As school officials worry about whether they can safely reopen their districts in the fall, Joseph Allen, a Harvard healthy buildings expert has an answer: yes.

Cellphone mobility data shows that most Americans have put the coronavirus lockdown in the rearview mirror and are moving about at nearly the same rate as they were before the pandemic began, according to a Harvard epidemiologist who studies such data.

Tracking mobility of individuals offers hints of whether a problem is rising or falling.

Harvard economist and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said we’re in greater danger of doing too little to fight COVID-19 than too much.

Researchers deploying a smartphone app to 2.6 million users have determined that the loss of smell and taste are most predictive symptoms of COVID-19.

A Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center study showed dramatic drops in hospital visits for heart attacks and stroke, which likely led to uncounted deaths at home during the COVID crisis. Perhaps more troubling is the potential for long-term damage to decades’ work to catch conditions in their earliest, most treatable stages.