The End of Handshakes As a Gesture

jmcbain writes: In many societies, handshakes are a gesture of friendliness. How many times have you shaken hands when meeting new engineering professionals? Probably quite a lot. However, given what we’ve seen with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, it’s time for a new way to greet people. According to a CNBC article, Anthony Fauci, the head advisor of the USA’s task force on…

What the coronavirus does to your body that makes it so deadly

How the coronavirus infects and how it makes people sick. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/what-covid19-coronavirus-does-to-body-that-makes-it-deadly…

Could a mobile app control the COVID-19 pandemic and help reopen society?

Right now, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus epidemic is out of control and society is shut down. With the help of a mobile app, researchers argue, that could change. Source: https://www.livescience.com/mobile-appto-trace-coronavirus-contacts.html

How to model a pandemic

Behind every government announcement, there is an army of epidemiologists predicting how the virus will spread, and how to beat it. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/how-to-model-a-pandemic…

Some Researchers are Trying Mass Testing for Covid-19 Antibodies

An anonymous reader quotes Wired:
Next week, blood banks across the Netherlands are set to begin a nationwide experiment. As donations arrive — about 7,000 of them per week is the norm — they’ll be screened with the usual battery of tests that keep the blood supply safe, plus one more: a test for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19….

If Robots Steal So Many Jobs, Why Aren’t They Saving Us Now?

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Modern capitalism has never seen anything quite like the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In a matter of months, the deadly contagious bug has spread around the world, hobbling any economy in its path. […] This economic catastrophe is blowing up the myth of the worker robot and AI takeover. We’ve been led to believe…

More essential coronavirus links: March 17-23

A roundup of information from physicians, scientists and journalists. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/more-essential-coronavirus-links-march-17-23…

What We Know So Far About SARS-CoV-2

We’ve known about SARS-CoV-2 for only three months, but scientists can make some educated guesses about where it came from and why it’s behaving in such an extreme way. From a report: The structure of the virus provides some clues about its success. In shape, it’s essentially a spiky ball. Those spikes recognize and stick to a protein called ACE2, which…