A device to 'cleanse' the brain and enhance sleep: UW researchers have started human trials Feeling drowsy? Maybe you just need to sleep more ... but maybe science can help. UW researchers are trying to enhance what the brain does when it sleeps. Bill Radke
South Africa is seeing a 4th surge of COVID-19 that's being driven by omicron South Africa's health ministry says the rate of infection is the highest since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eyder Peralta
Sociologist says women are more likely to choose abortion over adoption NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Gretchen Sisson, a sociologist at UCSF, who has studied whether the option to put a child up for adoption alleviates the need for a woman to get an abortion. Sarah Handel
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra on the administration's response to the Omicron variant NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on the Biden administration's ongoing response to the Omicron variant. Justine Kenin
Coronavirus FAQ: Help me with omicron vocab. What's immune evasion? Epistasis? The emergence of this new variant of concern has brought a new vocabulary into daily news reports. We asked experts to help define the terms you're being bombarded with. Sheila Eldred
Thriving Black-owned businesses "Righting the wrongs of the past" in rural Mississippi In one of the poorest rural regions of the country's poorest state, a Black entreprenuer is helping Black owned businesses open and thrive even during the pandemic. Kirk Siegler
The Philippines vaccinated 7.6 million people in 3 days. Duterte demands even more Hit hard by the pandemic, the Philippines has vaccination rates far lower than neighbors like Vietnam and Cambodia. Here's how the country is trying to up its numbers. Julie McCarthy
Fentanyl is a great drug for cartels. But those blue pills are killing King County Fentanyl pills are often called blues, and they’re on sale everywhere. It’s just gotten so easy to make and smuggle fentanyl that it’s flooding the illegal drug market in this area – and killing people – more than ever. Anna Boiko-Weyrauch
Hiring was a bust in November, even before omicron, with 210,000 jobs added U.S. employers added 210,000 jobs in November, as the unemployment rate fell. Data from the Labor Department suggest the economy was losing steam even before the appearance of a new COVID-19 variant. Scott Horsley
How Pfizer developed a COVID pill in record time Pfizer researchers looking for a drug to treat SARS found clues that gave the company a head start in its quest for a pill to treat COVID-19, including the omicron variant. Joe Palca
