Stephanie O'Neill

A sea-foam green egg timer set to 20 minutes sits atop a stack of closed books in front of a light blue backdrop covered in cutouts of white clouds.

Health

Too Much Focusing Is Draining. Here's A Better Strategy

Stephanie O'Neill

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Concentrating is hard. Concentrating during a pandemic is even harder.

University of Illinois graduate student Kristen Muñoz submits her saliva sample for coronavirus testing on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

Swab, Spit Or Stay Home? A Wide Variety Of Plans To Keep Coronavirus Off Campus

Michael McAuliff

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Colleges are rolling out a dizzying diversity of COVID-19 containment plans for students and staff. Some have no plans for routine testing, while others aim to test everyone on campus twice a week.

Rod Thompson lives in Ojai, Calif., where the Thomas Fire last December charred 440 square miles.

Year-Round Fire Season Means Always Living 'Evacuation Ready'

Stephanie O'Neill

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More people are living in places that are prone to wildfires. That means during fire season, they live with the very real possibility of having to evacuate on very short notice.