Years before she had children, Yeev Thoj remembers a thought crossing her mind as she watched Shannon Miller lead the Americans to a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics: “I was hoping maybe someday if I had a kid maybe she would do gymnastics and go to the Olympics.”. With Canadian wildfire smoke about to turn the sun into a hazy orange ball, Thoj woke before 5 a.m.

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here. Is it OK to lie to get a vaccine?

Lisa Hardesty has always had a knack, maybe even a superpower, for organizing social events. So, as soon as her work friends were all vaccinated, she went straight into multitasking mode, scheduling a time when everyone could meet and shopping for a charcuterie board that would be COVID-friendly. But on the designated day, a Thursday after work, Hardesty opened her refrigerator to grab the ingredients to organize her platter.

It's only July, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is focusing on the coming school year, and its message is clear: It wants students back in the classroom. On Friday, the agency issued updated guidance for K-12 schools, highlighting the importance of getting as many eligible children vaccinated as possible to return classrooms to normal or near normal and enumerating its list of best practices to prevent transmission of COVID-19.

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here. Don't toss your masks out just yet.

Ticks aren't known as beach-lovers, so ecologist Dan Salkeld and a colleague were surprised when they found 180 ticks in less than a mile on a coastal trail near Muir Beach in California one day in 2016. "Contrary to most people, we were delighted at the high numbers of ticks! It was exciting in terms of sample sizes and data," says Salkeld, whose findings were published in June.

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here. That depends on a few things — including your personal risk tolerance.

At the beginning of the Nordic skiing season, Minnesota native Jessie Diggins didn’t know if there would even be a World Cup in 2021, so she kept her focus on performing to the top of her ability in each race. That strategy paid off in March when she sprinted across the finish line in Engadin, Switzerland, and collapsed to the snow.

Throughout 2020, freelance journalist Sheila Mulrooney Eldred chased data and tips on how shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) affected healthcare workers. She reported these 5 stories, and more, about working conditions in hospitals and small practices, bringing to light the struggles of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The day after my teenagers got their first shots in the Moderna Covid vaccine trial, I found my 13-year-old daughter, Zoe, sprawled out in bed during a distance-learning art class. Under a pile of blankets, she said she had chills. My heart skipped a beat. Any other time I would have worried about her missing school or Nordic ski practice, but this time I was elated when her temperature peaked at 100.5 degrees.

Each week, we answer "frequently asked questions" about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." I got my first dose, and now I feel invincible! Do I really need to get the second shot?

As medicine evolves with lightning speed, our medical community, built on a tradition of excellence, is taking a leading role in delivering transformative care. Local doctors are constantly shaping innovations that go on to become common practice and exploring new ideas about where care should be heading.

It was a year ago that an unthinkable reality sunk in: For the sixth time since it began in 1859, the Minnesota State Fair was unlikely to open its gates. Minnesota State Fair general manager Jerry Hammer remembers the exact date: April 11, 2020. “We were all staring into the abyss, learning nothing other than why we couldn’t open,” he says.

There were few clues that a pandemic was raging outside the Jeopardy! On the stage it was just Jennifer Linde and the two other contestants—albeit spaced a bit further apart than usual—the familiar blue screens, and Final Jeopardy! Everyone was laser-focused on the answer in the category Queen Elizabeth II.

Each week, we answer "frequently asked questions" about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." I've been hearing about breakthrough infections in people who have been vaccinated.

When you open the peacock-green door to the tiny house, you feel as if you’ve stepped into an HGTV show. The 140-square-foot pine-hewn home is simple, clean, and tastefully appointed with a gravity-fed ceramic water tank, down duvet, and wool blanket for the lofted bed. There’s even a “tinkerer’s workspace” beneath the bed, a wood-and-leather rocking chair, and an extra chair to have a friend over.