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As the death toll from the new coronavirus mounts, scientists are working to understand the nature of the disease. Questions remain about how readily it spreads and how dangerous it is.

Scientists have identified specialized brain cells that create two distinct kinds of thirst. Some cells respond to a need for water alone, while others produce a craving for water and salt.

Following protests, China announced a series of measures to roll back some of its most controversial COVID restrictions. They include allowing those with mild or no symptoms to quarantine at home.

There isn't much high-level contact between Washington and Beijing these days, following the shooting down of a Chinese balloon. President Biden says he will speak with China's leader soon.

There were more than 500 homicides in the city last year. Officials and residents are counting on President Obama's gun control package to bring that number down. "We didn't want other parents to be like us," says one Chicago mom, whose son was shot to death on a city bus.

The Obama administration opposes a bipartisan Senate compromise — to the frustration of some of its usual allies. The White House says provisions in the defense bill would tie its hands when it comes to handling some terrorism cases.

Cities are once again locking down thousands of neighborhoods and sending people into quarantine, even as local Chinese authorities are tasked with easing COVID restrictions.

At the University of Maryland, students learn the business and science of raising lambs through the popular Sheep Management class.

William Barr is in line to be President Trump's next attorney general and the Senate Judiciary Committee had a lot of questions for him.

For the first time in decades, Democrats run the show in Michigan, passing legislative priorities they've been after for years: repealing a 1931 abortion law, repealing right-to-work and more.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke are before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday to urge senators to act quickly on the $700 billion bailout package. Democrats seem to be unfied over the plan but some Republicans are hostile towards it.

President Obama unveiled a plan to overhaul regulation of the nation's financial institutions Wednesday. He blamed the current economic crisis on a culture of irresponsibility by Wall Street, Main Street and Washington. Obama also said the government had to do more to protect consumers. The effort requires congressional action and would represent the most substantial revamping of the regulatory structure since the Great Depression.

Brit Bennett's new novel centers on two light-skinned African American sisters — one of whom "passes" for white. The Vanishing Half is compelling — if somewhat melodramatic.

Researchers in Alabama are trying to toughen up baby oysters so they can better withstand predators. It's all part of an effort to restore oyster reefs around the world.

NPR's Scott Simon talks with Michele Steele of ESPN about Shohei Othani's elbow injury, a sexual misconduct controversy in Spanish soccer, and the men's basketball World Cup.

CNN's parent company is launching a new streaming service in September, more than a year after the nascent CNN+ went bust.

President Obama announced Wednesday a plan to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling. The move reverses a ban on drilling off most U.S. shores.

Berlin's conservative mayor ran on a pledge to stand up for car drivers against encroachment from bicyclists. But bike-riders have pushed back, forcing the government to backpedal.

President Biden has spent the last several days in Asia. He was at the G20 Summit in India, and is now wrapping up his trip to Vietnam.

Prosecutors in Georgia recently charged four members of a group called the Final Exit Network with assisting in suicides. Investigators say they could be involved in as many as 300 deaths. The group's president, Jerry Dincin, who was not charged, says the group isn't doing anything wrong.

California has until July 1 to come up with solutions to fix its $24 billion budget deficit. Joe Mathews, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times and now a senior fellow with the New America Foundation, offers his insight. Joe Mathews, senior fellow with the New America Foundation, offers his insight.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is refusing to resign Monday after a special commission harshly criticized his leadership during last July's war in Lebanon. The two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping sparked the war in Lebanon are still not free.

Grace Go, a 17-year-old rising senior at Mercer Island High School outside Seattle, is the winner of the first-ever Best Mental Health Podcast Prize from NPR's Student Podcast Challenge.

Students who are covered by Medicaid could get access to a wider network of doctors and hospitals, as well as mental health services, if they get care through their school's health plan.

There are growing calls for new Illinois Sen. Roland Burris to resign. A county prosecutor in Illinois is looking into whether Burris perjured himself in testimony to Illinois lawmakers about how he got appointed to the Senate. The Democrat has acknowledged trying to raise money for ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich before being appointed to the Senate.