The recent economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is unmatched by anything in recent memory. Social distancing has resulted in massive layoffs and furloughs in retail, hospitality, and entertainment, and millions of the affected workers—restaurant servers, cooks, housekeepers, retail clerks, and many others—were already at the bottom of the wage spectrum. The economic catastrophe of…

It is the middle of the night and I am cloistered in my apartment in downtown Washington, D.C. I am facing four screens, including my smartphone, a laptop, a Mac desktop and a large wall monitor. I am trying to make sense of the fast-changing data on the spread and deadliness of the virus around…

Forty-two million Americans, or one in every eight, have student loans, and they owe a total of $1.6 trillion, the second largest pool of consumer credit after mortgages. According to the Federal Reserve, 20 percent of adult borrowers who borrowed for their own educations were behind on their payments in 2018. Of those who are…

In an extraordinary response to an extraordinary public health challenge, the U.S. government has forced much of the economy to shut down. We now face the challenge of deciding when and how to reopen it. This is both vital and complicated. Wait too long—maintain the lockdown until we have a vaccine, for instance—and we’ll have another Great Depression. Move too soon, and we…

In an extraordinary response to an extraordinary public health challenge, the U.S. government has forced much of the economy to shut down. We now face the challenge of deciding when and how to reopen it. This is both vital and complicated. Wait too long—maintain the lockdown until we have a vaccine, for instance—and we’ll have another Great Depression. Move too soon, and we…

Within a few weeks of identifying the novel coronavirus in January, medical masks quickly became one of the most sought-after commodities for their perceived protective powers, disappearing online and from store shelves around the world. As the virus continues to spread, the stockpiling of medical supplies has led to global supply shortages. China has been…

The global outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus, which causes the disease now called COVID-19, is posing significant challenges to public health, the international economy, oil markets, and national politics in many countries. Brookings Foreign Policy experts weigh in on the impacts and implications. Giovanna DeMaio (@giovDM), Visiting Fellow in the Center on the…

It would be hell if the Covid-19 breaks out in Nigeria on the scale presently being witnessed in Europe and the US. Apart from the dire state of the healthcare system, 69 million Nigerians have no access to clean water. This invariably leads to water-borne diseases like cholera, which continue to break out as regular epidemics. Social distancing and self-isolation presuppose that people have enough space. In Lagos where we have over 100 slum areas, about 80 people can be found sharing a 10-room building with only two toilets and a bathroom being shared by all with no pipe-borne or treated water readily available.

The coronavirus pandemic is a turning point in history. The world economy is receiving one savage blow after another. Healthcare systems are totally overwhelmed in the advanced capitalist countries as a result of decades of attacks on living standards. The inefficient and ghastly nature of capitalism is in full display in the west, where people until recently enjoyed at least a semi-civilised existence. In Africa, Asia and Latin America the consequences of a full-scale outbreak will be catastrophic.

The Moroccan regime has detained over 500 political prisoners, according to the president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, Aziz Ghali. Amongst them are those imprisoned in the Hirak Rif protests and the Gerak Jaradah movement: trade unionists, bloggers, a journalist… pretty much everybody. Not a day goes by without social media reporting the arrest of new militants or ordinary citizens whose only crime, in the majority of cases, is having published a Facebook post critical of living conditions or of the state’s politics.

Can humans endure the isolation, self-reliance, and deprivations of travel to Mars and back? Six pale-faced but smiling astronauts answer the question.

Semi-wild and isolated to a 270-acre stretch of shoreline, the North Ronaldsay sheep are one of only two land animals that live exclusively on seaweed.

Don't let a passing crisis, serious though it is, distract you from the real fight.

Yet another reason why we need a more resilient food system.

Schools are closing classrooms and going online all over the world. This may be as much of an opportunity as it is a crisis.

In a world of rapidly disseminated information, and misinformation, the WHO has published a list of mythbusters.

It's time for a rethink about what's really important in a home.

Markets have shrivelled, storage is full, and redistribution networks are lacking, putting farmers in an awful predicament.

A new system for turning astronaut urine into drinking water also makes good use of the waste urea as fuel.

We should think differently about our material and finish choices.

It's no longer safe for groups of people to gather in public places.

What happens when nobody wants to get on an elevator?

When it comes to housecleaning, here's how to tackle the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new study finds that it is unlikely that infected patients are shedding the virus through their tears.

The female is this first known tiger to have COVID-19; she is among seven big cats at the zoo showing signs of illness.

Because of COVID-19, we are suddenly a people who can not clean our homes enough; here's how to do it effectively but safely.

So much of our diet comes on refrigerated trucks. It consumes a lot of fossil fuels and puts out a lot of CO2.

It's a problem when nobody wants to touch anything.

We are definitely not going back to the way we were.

Why now, more than ever, all new building should be Passive House.

Looking at how one firm, Bergmeyer, is returning to work raises some questions.

Businesses are saying no to shoppers who want to use their own cups and containers.

Urbanists are rethinking what's important about our cities in view of the pandemic.

What can we do to save our streets? Decentralize everything.

Onion Flats redesigned their bathrooms to save space, but it actually is a healthier design.

We have to stop building highways and start building toilets as we face a whole new public bathroom crisis.

It's the only way to deal with reduced capacity in the underground, and is a great example for other cities.

If we are going to keep to 1.5 degrees we have to decide: Cars to drive or a planet to live in?

The feedstocks have never been cheaper and the demand has never been greater.

What will it take to bring people back?

President Donald Trump contradicted a nurse who said that access to sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic "has been sporadic."

Pompeo left the door open for more trade talks between the U.S. and China even as he tripled down on accusations that the country's leadership sought to conceal information about the origins of the spreading coronavirus.

Abbott was tested for the coronavirus before the meeting, but he did not wear a mask, despite the CDC's recommendation that everyone wear a covering over their face.

The Defense Logistics Agency, which manages the Pentagon's global supply chain, has executed 6,036 contract actions with $667.3 million in obligations for the coronavirus effort.