Infectious Disease Expert Discusses What We Know about the New Chinese Virus

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January 22, 2020

Dear Reader, The CDC has confirmed the first U.S. case of coronavirus in a man traveling from Wuhan, China, where the deadly virus appears to have originated. In our lead story, health and biology editor Tanya Lewis discusses the likely mode of transmission and development of a vaccine with Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Next up, scientists have constructed the largest brain map to date using fruit flies. Also, a new study finds that certain cultural phenomena like pop music evolved at roughly the same pace as Darwin's finches. And in environmental news, research suggests that the Montreal Protocol, which phased out ozone-eating chemicals, did more than just preserve a critical shield for the planet: scientists say without the international treaty the impact of global warming would be more severe.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Public Health Infectious Disease Expert Discusses What We Know about the New Chinese Virus Federal disease agency director Anthony Fauci discusses the novel pathogen that has, so far, sickened hundreds in Asia and one person in the U.S. By Tanya Lewis

Arts & Culture Pop Culture's Rate of Change May Mirror Organic Evolution A new study finds that music and some other human phenomena have altered at a pace comparable to that of animals such as Darwin's finches By David Noonan

Neuroscience Largest Brain Wiring Diagram to Date Is Published The partial fruit fly "connectome" contains approximately 25,000 neurons and 20 million synapses By Diana Kwon

Neuroscience New Nerve-Growing Method Could Help Injured Soldiers and Others Eight years of experiments demonstrate the bridging of large gaps in damaged nerves By Karen Weintraub

EARTH Closing the Ozone Hole Helped Slow Arctic Warming Ozone-eating chemicals are also potent greenhouse gases, accounting for up to half of the Arctic's temperature rise By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

FROM THE STORE The Microbiome: Your Inner Ecosystem We harbor roughly the same number of microbes as we have cells. This complex ecosystem is crucial to our health, affecting many processes including immunity, child development and bone density regulation. Research in this area has exploded, and in this eBook, we highlight some of the most exciting work on how the microbiome develops, its influence on brain and behavior and implications in both contributing to and treating various disorders.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE Ending in 2020, NASA's Infrared Spitzer Mission Leaves a Gap in Astronomy Delays to the James Webb Space Telescope will result in at least a yearlong hiatus in space-based infrared observations By Jonathan O'Callaghan | June 2019

QUOTE OF THE DAY "The Wuhan airport, it's like a war zone because it's all controlled with all the security, all the medical staff." Linfa Wang, Virologist at Duke-National University of Singapore via NPR

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