Author Archive

Sarah Zhang

Sarah Zhang is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
Management

The Coronavirus Is Here Forever. This Is How We Live With It.

Americans can’t avoid the virus for the rest of our lives but we can minimize its impact.

Management

What If We Never Reach Herd Immunity?

Hitting the threshold might actually be impossible. But vaccines can still help end the pandemic.

Management

The Next Six Months Will Be Vaccine Purgatory

The period after a vaccine is approved will be strange and confusing, as certain groups of people get vaccinated but others have to wait.

Management

The Lame-Duck Vaccine

The Trump administration spurred development of a vaccine; the Biden administration has to persuade Americans to take it.

Management

The Vaccine News That Really Matters

COMMENTARY | Soon Covid-19 vaccine makers will release early data from large clinical trials, and the results could be ambiguous.

Management

Cities Have Changed—For Rats

Sheltering in place produced a “natural experiment” for urban wildlife.

Management

Deep Clean, Then Clean Again

What exactly does it mean when schools and businesses close to “deep clean” because of the coronavirus?

Management

A DNA Company Wants You to Help Catch Criminals

Family Tree DNA was criticized for secretly working with the FBI. Now it’s explicitly asking potential customers to help law enforcement.

Management

Cats Are No Match for New York City’s Rats

Despite popular wisdom, rats are too big and too fierce for cats.

Digital Government

The Genomic Revolution Reaches the City Crime Lab

How will law enforcement handle the deluge of new information available from DNA?

Infrastructure

What 35 Inches of Rain Can Dredge Up

Hurricane Harvey’s unusual path could hit Houston with rain and storm surges at the same time—surfacing gators, snakes, sewage, and coffins.

Management

What to Make of the Tunnel Collapse at the Hanford Nuclear Cleanup Site

The incident is only part of the slow-motion deterioration of one of the country's most contaminated places.

Management

Nevada Fights the Latest Attempt to Give It the Nation’s Nuclear Waste

A Congressional hearing on a bill to revive the Yucca Mountain facility pits Nevadans against everyone else.

Management

The Government's Weed Is Terrible

… and that’s a big problem for medical marijuana research.

Management

Flesh-Eating Worms Reach Florida's Mainland

A massive eradication effort wiped out screwworms in the U.S. 35 years ago—but then they reappeared.