From Headaches to 'COVID Toes,' Coronavirus Symptoms Are a Bizarre Mix

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May 18, 2020

Dear Reader, Beware of embracing flawed tech in the fight against COVID-19, says a group of technologists from Stanford. The researchers share their concerns in an op-ed. In another story about risky tech, our editors argue that facial recognition is an invasion of privacy that needs immediate regulation. Next up, scientists sent patterns of electricity coursing across people's brains as part of a study, coaxing them to see letters form in their minds' eyes. And lastly, our lead story looks into the wide range of mysterious symptoms linked to COVID-19.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Public Health From Headaches to 'COVID Toes,' Coronavirus Symptoms Are a Bizarre Mix Blood clots and inflammation may underlie many of these complications By Diana Kwon

Medical & Biotech Blind People Could 'See' Letters That Scientists Drew on Their Brains with Electricity Scientists stimulated the brain using electrodes implanted on its surface By Nicoletta Lanese,LiveScience

Environment To Track Massive Locust Swarms, Officials Use Tool that Forecasts Smoke Plumes The pests that have been laying waste to crops across Africa follow the winds, just like smoke By Nathanial Gronewold,E&E News

Computing Facial-Recognition Technology Needs More Regulation Algorithms that can recognize people are too often biased or inaccurate—and they can easily invade our privacy By THE EDITORS

Public Health How to Snuff Out the Next Pandemic High-speed sequencing technology, placed strategically in urban hospitals, could flag a new pathogen before it has a chance to spread widely By David J. Ecker

Natural Disasters Commemorate Mount St. Helens's 40th Anniversary with These Excellent Virtual Events Geologists, park rangers, artists and one famous science guy explore the science of Mount St. Helens in many free events today By Dana Hunter

Math The Monster That Expands Our Mathematical Imaginations Ben Orlin shares his favorite fractal curve By Evelyn Lamb

Policy & Ethics If We're Not Careful, Tech Could Hurt the Fight against COVID-19 Here are four questions we need to ask ourselves By Ria Kalluri,Lauren Gillespie,Agata Foryciarz,Wren Elhai,Sanjana Srivastava,Argyri Panezi,Lisa Einstein

Biology Will the Nature-Nurture Debate Ever End? Biology writer Carl Zimmer answers questions on heredity, CRISPR, human enhancement, immortality and the coronavirus By John Horgan

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QUOTE OF THE DAY "The lung is the main battlefield, but it's a disease of the blood vessels." Frank Ruschitzka, cardiologist at University Hospital Zurich

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