Jon Hamilton

Researchers around the world are tracking the mutations in the coronavirus as it reproduces and spreads to ensure changes in the virus do not affect the development of the vaccine.

After a decade of failure in treating Alzheimer's with drugs, the National Institutes of Health is funding a five-year effort in Seattle to learn more about how the disease starts in the brain.

A neurologist who wanted to know how the brain changes in response to a physical disability put his arm in a pink cast for two weeks to find out.

NPR's Ari Shapiro and Michel Martin are joined by NPR's science correspondent Jon Hamilton to talk about the information about the coronavirus learned since the beginning of the pandemic.

Tests for the immune response to the coronavirus are revealing thousands of people who were infected but never got severely ill. The findings suggest the virus is less deadly than it first appeared.

Scientists have found evidence that the coronavirus is less deadly than it first appeared — for Americans infected with the coronavirus, the chance of dying appears to be less than 1 in 100.

Early reports found death rates as high as 90% among COVID-19 patients on ventilators. But some hospitals are now reporting mortality lower than 30%.

Early studies have found high mortality rates among COVID-19 patients on ventilators. But the new data from some major medical centers shows that many of those patients are much likely to survive.

With COVID-19 becoming a critical focus in hospital intensive care units, nurses, doctors and other caregivers have had to shift gears to protect staff and save patients.

COVID-19 appears to thicken the blood of many patients, making them vulnerable to clots that can damage the lungs, kidneys and brain.

COVID-19 can cause a person's blood to thicken, doctors say. This manifestation of the infection may be causing strokes and other circulatory problems in patients whose symptoms are mild otherwise.

Medical staffs are reeling from the changes COVID-19 has brought to intensive care units — from redesigning the spaces to changing what it means to care for patients who are facing death alone.

David Williams, 54, spent eight days on a ventilator after he got COVID-19. Weeks after being discharged from the hospital, he still needs an oxygen tube and a walker.

The majority of people recover from COVID-19, but some who have been in intensive care still have a variety of health problems, both physical and cognitive, after they leave the hospital.

Coronavirus poses special challenges for people with Alzheimer's disease. Many cannot be isolated because they depend on caregivers. Others may not remember instructions like washing their hands.

An NPR science correspondent takes listener questions about the specific impacts of the coronavirus — and the race to stop it.

NPR economics and science correspondents answer questions about the staggering unemployment numbers announced Thursday, and convey the latest updates from Thursday's White House briefing.

Dr. Wayne Riley, president of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, and an NPR science correspondent answer questions about the racial disparity in how the coronavirus is impacting patients.

Dr. Wayne Riley, president of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, and an NPR science correspondent answer more questions about the racial disparity in how the coronavirus is impacting patients.

NPR politics and science correspondents answer questions about the latest efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic and how people can practice social distancing.