OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma may settle legal claims with a new 'public trust' that would still be dedicated to profit
The government has tried to harness profit-driven drugmaking to serve public health before. The results were underwhelming.
Oct. 21, 2020 • ~10 min
Contact tracing's long, turbulent history holds lessons for COVID-19
Trust in the confidentiality of contact tracing broke down during the AIDS epidemic. Today, it's faltering again.
July 16, 2020 • ~10 min
5 ways the world is better off dealing with a pandemic now than in 1918
A century ago, the influenza pandemic killed about 50 million people. Today we are battling the coronavirus pandemic. Are we any better off? Two social scientists share five reasons we have to be optimistic.
June 19, 2020 • ~9 min
The cholera outbreak in a Victorian asylum that anticipated the coronavirus crisis in care homes
There is a sad precedent of pandemic disease threatening the residents of care institutions – and of authorities not heeding the dangers.
May 19, 2020 • ~15 min
Rewilding: lessons from the medieval Baltic crusades
The Baltic crusades had a long term impact on the local environment – 700 years later, the details of this are clear.
May 11, 2020 • ~8 min
Patient zero: why it's such a toxic term
Why we should wash our hands of this unhealthy phrase.
April 1, 2020 • ~23 min
Calling COVID-19 a 'Chinese virus' is wrong and dangerous – the pandemic is global
Emphasizing foreign origins of a disease can have racist connotations and implications for how people understand their own risk of disease.
March 25, 2020 • ~10 min
When restaurants close, Americans lose much more than a meal
Restaurants have always been about more than feeding city residents. During the 1918 flu pandemic, they were kept open as sites of social solidarity.
March 20, 2020 • ~8 min
10 misconceptions about the 1918 flu, the 'greatest pandemic in history'
The so-called 'Spanish flu' didn't actually come from Spain. What else do people often misunderstand about this famous crisis?
March 17, 2020 • ~9 min
Climate change: how Senegal's colonial history made it more vulnerable
We need to understand colonial histories to understand climate risks.
March 6, 2020 • ~7 min
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