Table of contents for May 25, 2020 in TIME Magazine

VIGENÈRE UNVEILED The Vigenère cipher, designed in the mid–16th century, uses several different codes to disguise text. In 1854, British mathematician Charles Babbage became the first known person to break it. PENETRATING POE In a magazine in the 1840s, Edgar Allan Poe invited readers to solve two ciphers, claiming he had failed to do so. A literature scholar finally cracked one in 1992. A software engineer solved the other in 2000. RITUALS REVEALED In 2011, a team of Swedish and U.S. linguists cracked the Copiale cipher, a 105-page encrypted book dating back to 1866. The text described the initiation rituals of a German secret society.…

COVID-19 HAS A WAY of making both individuals and governments feel vulnerable, and it’s only human to look for someone to blame when things go badly wrong. That’s why it sometimes seems as if willingness to absorb abuse is a natural part of the World Health Organization’s mandate. The international agency has certainly come in for its share of criticism, and some of it is warranted. The WHO was slow to publicly recognize the scale of the threat posed by the outbreak in China. Though the organization declared the virus a global health emergency in January, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus didn’t begin characterizing it as a pandemic until March 11, when the virus had already been confirmed in at least 114 countries. In part, that’s probably because, like most…

THIS SPRING, MOST GRADUATING COLLEGE STUDENTS WILL not participate in a traditional in-person celebration. Universities swiftly acted as coronavirus spread across the country: students went home early, classes moved online, and commencement ceremonies were canceled or postponed. Over the next month, former President Barack Obama will deliver multiple commencement speeches, something thousands of students had called for as they looked for guidance and comfort in this unprecedented time. But it’s hard not to miss real commencement. Days before we evacuated campus, many of us had turned in our senior theses, anticipating graduation and the last days of campus life. For months, our lives had been confined to libraries and academic meetings. “We’ll hang out after,” we’d said. Instead, we packed our bags, said numb goodbyes and fled to separate parts…

IT’S CATTLE-BRANDING SEASON IN THE panhandle of Nebraska, but this spring, things look different. Usually one of the biggest social events of the year in a state where livestock makes up two-thirds of farm revenue, brandings have been cut down to the essentials: no children; no older crew members; and bag lunches instead of community gatherings. “This is not the year to have your daughter’s friend from the city out to experience a branding,” a local news article warned. “Not taking precautions can mean the difference between life and death for some loved ones.” COVID-19 is not yet widely visible across the roughly 15,000-sq.-mile region, which has only 75 confirmed cases as of May 12, but the danger of the pandemic is very real, says Kim Engel, the director of…

IN 1744, SOPHIE VON ANHALT-ZERBST—THE DAUGHTER OF A broke Prussian prince—traveled to Russia, wed a man destined to become Emperor Peter III and was rechristened Catherine. Her husband was a boorish alcoholic, the relationship a gauntlet of humiliation. Both spouses took lovers. And mere months into a reign that began in 1762, his brilliant wife forced him to abdicate in a bloodless coup (though he was subsequently assassinated). One of Russia’s most influential rulers, Catherine the Great reigned for more than 34 years. It’s kind of a funny story: a penniless young woman bides her time in a terrible arranged marriage until she’s positioned to hijack an empire—and actually triumphs. Tony McNamara, who co-wrote Oscar darling The Favourite, certainly sees the humor in it. As creator of Hulu’s The Great,…

19,000 Number of archaeological artifacts and art pieces recovered by Interpol, Europol and the World Customs Organization in a 2019 operation that spanned 103 countries, details of which were released May 6 ‘If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.’ELON MUSK, Tesla CEO, while announcing May 11 that a California Tesla plant will resume production, despite a lack of clearance from health authorities $351,000 Funds raised for charities, including one benefiting the U.K.’s National Health Service, by actor Andy Serkis, in an 11-hour marathon reading of The Hobbit on May 8; Serkis played Gollum in Peter Jackson’s film versions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy classics ‘IT HAS BEEN AN ABSOLUTE CHAOTIC DISASTER.’BARACK OBAMA, former U.S. President, on the White House coronavirus response, in a May 8 call…

A new section was opened at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Manaus, Brazil, to accommodate the surge in deaths from the coronavirus. With 12,461 deaths officially related to the virus, as of May 13, the largest country in Latin America is also the one with the highest death count. Brazil’s populist President Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the severity of the crisis, calling COVID-19 a “little cold” and making public appearances in violation of social-distancing principles. ▶ For more of our best photography, visit time.com/lightbox…

Rarely has a device saved as much time, and caused as many arguments, as the dishwasher. In these trying homebound times, here are five mistakes to avoid. Prerinsing: Surveys suggest 90% of people wash off their plates completely before loading them; it needs to stop. The enzymes in the detergent are designed to attach to food, so prerinsing is the equivalent of watering your lawn while it’s raining. Overcrowding: As with time at home, more is not always better. Adding that last plate or whisk will have you pulling half-soiled items, dripping with water, out of the machine in the morning. Facing everything the same way: Plates should face the center, where the water comes from. Items should fit together without touching. Social distancing matters in dishwashing too. Adding too…

ON GEORGE’S EIGHTH DAY ALONE IN THE ICU, HIS DOCTORS told him he had months to live. With his family listening by phone, the doctors offered two options: he could continue to receive intensive hospital care, with a small chance of getting home before his next medical crisis. Or he could go home with hospice, focusing on comfort and the people he loved. Though George (a pseudonym) didn’t have COVID-19, the pandemic made his decision even more excruciating. In an effort to stop the virus, George’s hospital, like others, had enacted policies banning visitors. If George chose the hospital path, it would be weeks before he could see his family in person. Hospitals today face an impossible predicament regarding visitors for terminally ill patients. On one hand, a visitor…

You’ve been deeply involved in the pandemic response since mid-March, and on April 29, you called the Administration’s handling of the pandemic a great success story. Now the U.S. has more counted COVID-19 deaths than any other country in the world. How can this possibly be called a success story? Let’s go back to where we started a couple of months ago when I first got involved and was asked to join the task force. We were seeing the invisible enemy, as the President calls it, starting to head toward the shore. At the time, the experts and the models predicted that there would be 1.6 to 2.2 million deaths here in America if we weren’t able to do mitigation, and do everything possible to get people the hospital…

WHEN THE UTAH NAVAJO HEALTH SYSTEM FIRST CAME together, with administrators and the board members watching this virus, there was just something that kind of spoke inside all of us, saying, “This is going to come here.” The Navajo Nation already has high factors of diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, a lot of the health risks. And we knew if this comes here, it’s going to devastate the Navajo Nation, and that’s what it did. At the end of February, I started the relief program, down here on the Navajo reservation in Montezuma Creek, Utah. Before this, I was the health system’s media guy. I have a band and did some work on Yellowstone, the TV show, but I’m from this community; I grew up here. There were a…

Welcome to two Americas—and two American health crises: the coronavirus epidemic of 2020 and the polio epidemic of 1916. Now, as then, there are no proven cures. Now, as then, there is no vaccine. Now, as then, there is plenty of hooey going around—but there’s a lot to learn from that long-ago tragedy too. Comparisons are more commonly drawn between the 1918 flu pandemic and today, but the polio outbreak is actually the more apt one. Today, we hear nonsense about injecting disinfectant into the body to battle coronavirus. Back then, it was hanging mothballs around your child’s neck to prevent the scourge popularly known as infantile paralysis. Today, there’s the hyping of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to battle a disease it was not meant to battle. Back then,…

AS UNEMPLOYMENT REACHES ITS highest level since the Great Depression, millions of Americans have been left scrambling to get by. As of early April, almost a third of U.S. adults were unable to afford necessities like rent or food, according to an Urban Institute survey; the crisis is bound to deepen. For many, financial survival could come down to desperate measures, like dipping into retirement savings or borrowing money from loved ones. While it’s not easy to think long term in emergencies, financial experts say it’s important to plan ahead even when taking drastic steps. “It’s pretty easy for people to overlook tax considerations if they don’t have the financial awareness around them,” says Chad Hamilton, a financial planner at wealth-management firm Brown and Co. Here are some options…

THIS BRUTAL SPRING, THE U.S. FACES TWO GREAT CRISES. OVER THE PAST 14 WEEKS, 84,000 AMERICANS HAVE DIED OF COVID-19. That’s 28 times the death toll of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, more than the U.S. combat deaths in the Vietnam War, and one-quarter of the total global casualties from the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the national lockdown designed to halt the spread of the disease has pushed 33 million Americans out of work, forced hundreds of thousands of small-business owners to board up their shops and left 1 in 5 children uncertain where they’ll find their next meal. It’s the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and with some economists forecasting unemployment to soar past 20%, a second one is a real concern. As the death toll…

IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL REUNION FOR QI XIAOYU, WHO WAS BOUNCING IN ANTICIPATION EVEN BEFORE MICKEY AND DONALD PADDED INTO VIEW. THE 27-YEAR-OLD NURSE VISITED SHANGHAI DISNEYLAND OVER 200 TIMES BETWEEN ITS 2016 OPENING AND ITS CLOSING IN JANUARY DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS. Qi says regular trips to the theme park boost her mental well-being, which has suffered over the 15 weeks she’s spent on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic. Her only respite has been dressing up at home in one of her 20-odd Disney princess costumes, she says, to escape the real world of death in her hospital. “Disney is pure happiness and takes my mind off all the pressure I feel at work,” Qi says, grinning behind her face mask as she enters Shanghai’s iteration of…

FEW THINGS ARE MORE TRAGIC THAN seeing young people go to war on the streets, over streets. In his debut film Blue Story, the U.K. musical artist Rapman—whose given name is Andrew Onwubolu—explores the gang-violence dynamic by zeroing in on two teenagers growing up in South London. Timmy (Stephen Odubola) lives in Lewisham but goes to school in Peckham, a decision his mother made for him years earlier, hoping to keep him away from the toughs in his own neighborhood. His best friend is Marco (Micheal Ward), a Peckham local whose older brother is involved in the “postcode” wars, but who hasn’t yet acquired any veneer of toughness. Mostly, the two just hang out with their friends, going to parties in the hopes of meeting girls; Timmy has his eye…