Meredith Rizzo

It's been two long years of COVID gloom. But NPR's readers didn't let it keep them down. From cicada tracking to open-water swimming to roller-skating squads, you share how you bring the fun.

One day you're worrying about the regular old coronavirus. Then — seemingly out of the blue — there are variants. Worrisome variants! How did they come to be? And why are they likely more contagious?

Celebrations, milestones and daily routines happen whether we're ready or not, and the summer of 2020 was no different. As Americans sought relief in an ongoing pandemic, they got creative.

Family violence increases in places that have been severely burned in bushfires, Australian research finds. The isolation and financial stress of COVID-19 appear to be exacerbating the problem.

Ayanna Howard was 27 when she headed her first team at NASA. She talks about feeling like an outsider, and discovering that diversity drives innovation.

The blood thinner warfarin, which prevents blood clots, owes its existence to some cows who got very sick after eating spoiled hay — and to a chemist who spent years trying to figure out why.

Children of people in the country illegally often experience fear and worry — with the shadow of deportation as a constant presence. How can they work through those emotions? One workshop uses comics.

The dementia wing of a nursing home is foreign territory to most people. Photographer Maja Daniels spent three years documenting the lives of people with Alzheimer's in a hospital in France.

An architect looked at communities that serve older adults, and didn't like what he saw. By changing habits earlier in life, he says, we can create vibrant communities that will sustain us.

There are many different ways to be transgender. For some people that includes sex reassignment surgery. A young filmmaker follows two people who made that choice through their year of transition.