Jul 31, 2020 - Podcasts

The untold mental toll of COVID-19

We know the news reports about the skyrocketing number of coronavirus patients, the shortage of frontline health care workers, and the importance of social distancing. Another problem that needs our focus is the emotional toll this pandemic has on all of us.

Guests: Axios' Eileen O'Reilly, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center chaplain Kevin Deegan, New York University sociologist Eric Klinenberg.

Credits: "Axios Today" is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Carol Alderman, Cara Shillenn, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Naomi Shavin and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com.

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Axios
13 hours ago - Podcasts

The dangerous tech of nuclear war

On this day 75 years ago, the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Since the end of the Cold War, the threat of a nuclear attack has seemed farfetched. However, the rise of cyberattacks and artificial intelligence could disrupt the precarious balance between nations in the modern nuclear arms race.

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Rashaan Ayesh
59 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Pelosi, Schumer demand postmaster general reverse USPS cuts ahead of election

Schumer and Pelosi. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Thursday calling for the recent Trump appointee to reverse operational changes to the U.S. Postal Service that "threaten the timely delivery of mail" ahead of the 2020 election.

Why it matters: U.S. mail and election infrastructure are facing a test like no other this November, with a record-breaking number of mail-in ballots expected as Americans attempt to vote in the midst of a pandemic.

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Alison Snyder
1 hour ago - Science

CRISPR co-discoverer on the gene editor's pandemic push

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos: Brian Ach/Getty Images for Wired and BSIP/UIG via Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating the development of CRISPR-based tests for detecting disease — and highlighting how gene-editing tools might one day fight pandemics, one of its discoverers, Jennifer Doudna, tells Axios.

Why it matters: Testing shortages and backlogs underscore a need for improved mass testing for COVID-19. Diagnostic tests based on CRISPR — which Doudna and colleagues identified in 2012, ushering in the "CRISPR revolution" in genome editing — are being developed for dengue, Zika and other diseases, but a global pandemic is a proving ground for these tools that hold promise for speed and lower costs.

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