Around 145,000 fewer Americans would have died if the US had done an average job of fighting COVID-19. / The New York Times

See also: Sorting the COVID-19 death data to try and ascertain how many people have died as a result of the outbreak. / Nature

According to post-mortem analysis, some severely affected COVID-19 patients entirely lack structures needed for antibody creation. / The Scientist

The surge in COVID-19 medical trials have caused a shortage in monkeys, an unforeseen circumstance that's delaying research. / The Atlantic

A new poll shows 78% of Americans worry the COVID-19 vaccine approval process is driven more by politics than science. / STAT

One of Trump's top medical advisors is pushing for a herd immunity strategy, and the administration has already started implementing some policies along those lines. / The Washington Post

The White House and Trump's reelection campaign spread two manipulated videos of Joe Biden yesterday. / BuzzFeed News

A federal appeals court has ruled against Michael Flynn and the Justice Dept.'s request to shut down his criminal case. / CNN

Currently at seven million likes, the tweet from Chadwick Boseman's account honoring his life is now the most-liked post in Twitter history. / The Guardian

Tired: "Fleet of moving trucks mark exodus from Manhattan’s troubled Upper West Side." Wired: "Obviously, New York is a fiery hellscape of crime, anarchy, and misery." / New York Post, Intelligencer

Lobbyists are trying to influence US trade talks and get Kenya to relax plastics laws and continue importing foreign plastic garbage. / The New York Times

TikTok users are exposing migrants' work conditions in California, including scorching temperatures and child labor violations. / VICE

The dilemma at the heart of taxpayers subsidizing sports stadiums: It's a massive handout to the wealthy. / Literary Hub

Using a scale model of the original Stonehenge, acoustics engineers find speech would have been magnified inside the stone circle. / Science News

A thought experiment: As computing grows, by 2245 half the Earth's atoms will be needed to store our data. / LiveScience

See also: From 2012, back up your data all you want—it won’t matter if the planet goes. A search for storage beyond the cloud. / The Morning News

A painting long considered a Rembrandt fake is revealed to be from his workshop—and may have been painted by Rembrandt himself. / The Guardian

The science of restaurant menu design—and how it's changing during the pandemic. / The Hustle

Summery scenes with strong, graphic shapes, painted by Quentin Monge. / This Isn't Happiness