Stories by Dominic Smith

We take you down below Iceland's erupting surface with the researchers who are trying to understand what's going to happen next.

The U.S. has embarked on the largest and most expensive nuclear build-out ever. The U.S. military says it is necessary to replace an aging nuclear arsenal. But critics fear the risks.

In a field in Oklahoma, researchers are using new technology to spot deadly munitions built to maim and kill

Our kelp forests are largely unobserved, but now they are vanishing. To understand why, scientists dive underwater and look down from space. Their research reveals a complex system at risk of collapse.

In 2021 the search phrase “what precious metal is in a catalytic converter” saw a more than 5,000 percent increase in use. Here’s why.

The future of these guardians of the forest, some thousands of years old, is not assured

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus seems to be suddenly acquiring mutations at a rapid rate. The most worrying variants, first discovered in South Africa and Brazil, increase the virus’s contagiousness and may even help it evade the human immune system. These characteristics are helping the new variants outcompete the original virus, allowing them to spread quickly around the world.

Viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, are constantly evolving and acquiring mutations that don’t affect the virus much. The reason public health experts are concerned is that the new mutations improve the virus’s spike protein, which helps the pathogen enter cells and is the target of most vaccines. If the spike protein evolves sufficiently, the virus may eventually be able to reinfect individuals who have already had COVID-19 or been vaccinated against it.

But scientists say it will likely be years before the vaccine stops working entirely—if it ever does. In the meantime, social distancing remains the best way to fight the new mutants. After all, the more viruses that exist in the world, the greater the chance that one will evolve a dangerous mutation.

In this video, we explain what the new variants actually are, how they arise and spread, and what they could mean for the future of our ability to vaccinate ourselves against the virus.

In the U.S., a third of Americans are at risk of chronic kidney disease, and age is a major factor. More than half of Americans older than 75 are thought to have some sort of kidney damage. Here is what happens when you have it. Read the full five-part series in partnership with Undark: “Profit and Loss: America on Dialysis.”

In the history of sexual anatomy, the clitoris has long been dismissed, demeaned and misunderstood. Here is a view of the clitoris you’ve probably never seen.