Stories by Smriti Mallapaty

The H5N1 virus is a long way from becoming adapted to humans, but limited testing and tracking mean we could miss danger signs

Genomic analysis suggests that the outbreak probably began in December or January, but a shortage of data is hampering efforts to pin down the source

Boosting vaccination rates, continuing widespread mask use and reimposing some restrictions on movement could reduce the number of deaths in China’s COVID wave

A genome analysis finds SARS-CoV-2 and bat coronaviruses shared an ancestor just a few years ago, but extensive recombination has muddied the picture

China’s Tiangong orbital outpost will host more than 1,000 experiments, some of which will augment results from the International Space Station

Radar images from the Zhurong rover reveal clues to the history of a largely unexplored region

One third of the country is underwater following an intense heat wave and a long monsoon that has dumped a record amount of rain

A technique that detects coronavirus strains circulating in a community could become an early-warning system

Scientists in Thailand have established that a tabby passed SARS-CoV-2 to a veterinary surgeon—although such cases of cat-to-human transmission are probably rare

Samples collected by Chang’e-5 are revealing exciting insights into the moon’s evolution

Hamsters are only the second species known to have spread SARS-CoV-2 to humans

Studies of bats in China and Laos show southeast Asia is a hotspot for potentially dangerous viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2

The 2019–20 wildfires generated 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide—but a lot of that might have been mopped up by phytoplankton in the ocean

Innate immunity might be the key to why children have fared better with the virus. But the Delta variant poses fresh unknowns

Reprisals may come for their field of study, their ethnicity or involvement in international collaborations

The spaceborne studies will cover diverse topics, from dark matter and gravitational waves to the growth of cancer and pathogenic bacteria

An examination of the arguments that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from a lab in China and the science behind them

The virus is spreading faster than ever before in the country despite previous high infection rates in megacities, which should have conferred some protection

A World Health Organization report makes a reasonable start, scientists say, but there are many questions yet to be answered

Scientists hope the dark grains from asteroid Ryugu will improve their understanding of the solar system’s formation

Chang’e-5 has just one lunar day to collect material from a previously unexplored region of the moon’s near side

It’s too soon to say whether COVID is seasonal like the flu—but where clusters aren’t under control, infections will continue to swell

U.K. trials of the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine have resumed after a brief pause, yet key details of the events have not been released

Scientists urge caution in the global vaccine race as AstraZeneca reports an “adverse event” in a person who received the University of Oxford vaccine