Coronavirus pandemic
6 articles-
How COVID-19 Will Pass from Pandemic to Prosaic
The final outcome of COVID-19 will ultimately be decided by our patience and the financial bottom line. -
Prayer in the Time of COVID-19
In a recent viral news segment on CNN, cars are shown exiting what a narrator says is a church parking lot—dozens of people, including children, had just attended an evening service. A reporter asks a woman in her car why, when the COVID-19 pandemic has convinced many to stay home, she went anyway. “I wouldn’t […] -
It’s the End of the World and This Physicist Feels Fine
I promise I have no intention to propose a quantum-model for disease spread, but like everyone else I have been wondering if I can make myself somewhat more useful in these difficult times.Screengrab via Sabine Hossenfelder / YouTube It’s week three of COVID lockdown here in Germany. Schools are closed, my institute is closed, my […] -
A Warning from History About Simultaneous Disasters
If an earthquake now hits India or Iran, like in 2001 and 2003, respectively, killing over 20,000 people in each country—or if we witness a repeat of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina in the US or 2011’s tsunami in Japan—will the world respond? Would the world wish to respond?Photograph by Microgen / Shutterstock Parts of the world […] -
Let’s Aim for Physical Rather Than Social Distancing
Isolation can be toxic. Let’s reduce physical distance while staying connected.Illustration by Tartila / Shutterstock Amid all the calls in nearly every country for social distancing, the most powerful tool we have to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, one important fact gets lost: We are fundamentally social beings, and social distancing can carry a heavy […]
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The Pandemic Is Showing Us How to Live with Uncertainty
During the Spanish flu of 1918, it was Vick’s VapoRub. During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, it was canned food. Now, as the number of cases of COVID-19 grows worldwide, it’s, among other things, toilet paper. In times of precarity, people often resort to hoarding resources they think are likely to become scarce—panic buying, as […]
