author

 
 

Meta

Riley Griffin
The World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization said on Wednesday that a person in Mexico had died after contracting a strain of bird flu that hasn’t been confirmed in humans before.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 6, 2024
Mexico death linked to bird flu strain that is new to humans
The person died one week after developing a fever, shortness of breath and diarrhea.
Health officials are increasingly on guard for cases of H5N1, a bird virus that’s known to jump between species and can sometimes cause severe cases in people.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 23, 2024
Second U.S. human bird flu infection reported in Michigan
A farmworker in the state experienced mild symptoms in the eye after coming into contact with an infected cow and has since recovered.
A worker organizes cannabis flowers before the opening of the first legal recreational marijuana dispensary, located in the East Village in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Dec. 29, 2022.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 1, 2024
Marijuana could be reclassified in U.S. as less dangerous
The rumored move would ease access to cannabis for patients and researchers studying its medical applications without decriminalizing it.
Jim Rauh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, holds a photograph of his son Thomas in Akron, Ohio, on March 4. How Trump and Biden address a lethal chapter of the U.S. drug-overdose epidemic will be pivotal in swing states that are likely to decide the election.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2024
270,000 overdose deaths thrust fentanyl into heart of U.S. presidential race
More than 4 in 10 Americans personally know someone who has died from a drug overdose.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 24, 2023
COVID-19 origins remain a mystery, U.S. declassified report shows
The report comes months after U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law requiring declassification of intelligence related to the pandemic’s potential links to a Wuhan lab.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 21, 2023
COVID report based on China samples puts suspicion back to animal origins
A new analysis of samples taken from a market in Wuhan during the early days of the pandemic are the strongest evidence yet that the COVID-19 virus jumped from animals to humans.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 9, 2023
COVID lab leak fight obscures the global rise of high-security biolabs
Scientific safety has re-emerged as a high-stakes global issue after the U.S. suggested it had intelligence showing a lab leak was the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 31, 2023
U.S. to end COVID emergency declarations in May
The U.S. response has gradually shifted to the background, though the uptake of the latest booster shot remains modest and about 500 people are dying each day from COVID-19 in the nation.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 2, 2022
How to move on from the debate over the origins of the pandemic
Nearly three years since the beginning of the outbreak, and after endless debate about COVID-19's origins, the answers we're getting aren't pat, definitive or satisfying.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 25, 2022
Monkeypox proves elusive foe as WHO sounds alarm on global spread
COVID-19 forced governments to revamp their pandemic response programs. Now monkeypox is putting those upgrades to the test — and they're falling short.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2022
How an airport nail salon became the front line of U.S. COVID surveillance
Despite rules that require travelers to produce a negative COVID-19 test result in order to enter the U.S., the former nail salon chain's testing service routinely finds positive cases.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2022
Drugmakers pause trials in Russia while still sending medicine
Major pharmaceutical firms are seeking to strike a balance between international opprobrium over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the needs of sick patients.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 11, 2022
Pfizer starts making vaccine that targets both omicron and the original COVID virus
While research continues, Pfizer will evaluate the new hybrid shot against one specific to omicron and determine which should move forward by March, the firm's CEO has said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 30, 2021
Pfizer won the first round, but Moderna sees final victory ahead
Pfizer has been first across the finish line in nearly every leg of the COVID-19 vaccine race, but Moderna executives say their company's mRNA technology gives it an advantage.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 26, 2020
The supply chain to save the world is unprepared for a vaccine
The industries that shepherd goods around the world on ships, planes and trucks acknowledge they aren’t ready to handle the epic challenges of shipping an eventual COVID-19 vaccine from drugmakers to billions of people.

Longform

Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free