It’s not Tulio de Oliveira’s fault that every mutated variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 has more than one name, much less that they all read like hack-proof passwords. But de Oliveira might ...

SOME names for microbes, like Salmonella, trip off the tongue. Others, like Myxococcus llanfairpwllgwyngyll-gogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio-gogogochensis, aren’t so easy to say. Labels for coronavirus ...

Coronavirus variant names are strange and complicated. Sure, B.1.1.7 or P.1 might be perfectly fine names when virologists and microbiologists need to keep track of them—but they’re not so useful for ...