The nature of the problem.
The CDC defends its latest mask guidance, and says the decision wasn't influenced by political pressure. / PBS
Related: Scientists say you're going to want to hold onto your masks for when cold and flu season rolls around. / STAT
Australia could reopen its international border by the middle of 2022, which is bad news for tens of thousands of Australians who still can't get home. / ABC
"There are endless articles on why America has failed to curb the pandemic. The truth is simple. People profit from our death." / The Paris Review
See also: "One of America's largest hospital chains [has] filed at least 19,000 lawsuits against their patients over allegedly unpaid medical bills since March 2020." / CNN
The problem with inserting trees into unnatural settings as an environmental statement is that doing so means expending precious resources. / The Guardian
NYC Pride has banned police from participating in its events, and says law enforcement must acknowledge the violence it's caused against the community's marginalized groups. / BuzzFeed News
"Apparently the Brontës all died so early because they spent their lives drinking graveyard water." / Literary Hub
For years, Richard Montañez has claimed he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Now that his story is the subject of a new book and biopic, Frito-Lay says there's no evidence he worked on the product. / MSN
An explainer on the semiconductor shortage, which we can expect will last for at least a couple more years. / Slate
How space junk and climate change could converge: Our current atmosphere burns up most debris, but it may not stay that way. / The New York Times
Russia's Defense Minister says he wants to use the 3,000-year-old DNA of Scythian warriors to clone an army. / Popular Mechanics
A new genetic study suggests Polynesians and Native Americans met around 800 years ago, prior to the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. / Smithsonian Magazine
In its criticisms of Biden's handling of the coronavirus recovery, the GOP's racist, mythical "Welfare Queen" has been notably absent. / CNN
How the end of the pandemic is also a chance to change what you didn't like about your life before all this. / The Atlantic
Calculating how America's "places to be" have changed over the past century—in general, people are fleeing the Northeast and Midwest. / The Washington Post
Blake Bailey's previously canceled Philip Roth biography has a new home at the publisher who released Woody Allen's memoir after it was dropped. / The Guardian
Roblox has become a music platform, spawning robloxcore: "chaotic, profanity-laden rap that's overloaded with frantic sound effects." / The New York Times
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Since 1999, your Headlines are sourced and written by Andrew Womack and Rosecrans Baldwin, and arrive in your inbox, Monday through Saturday. View this edition and the latest Headlines at TMN.