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2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak

Thin-section electron micrographs of the 2019 novel coronavirus grown in cells at The University of Hong Kong.

A microscope image of a cell infected with the novel coronavirus, grown in culture at the University of Hong Kong. Multiple virus particles are being released from the cell surface.Credit: John Nicholls, Leo Poon and Malik Peiris/The University of Hong Kong

Global infections surge past 30,000

The number of people worldwide infected with the 2019-nCoV coronavirus has passed 30,000 — with the vast majority of those cases in China. Chinese health authorities reported on 7 February that 31,161 people in China had contracted the infection, and more than 630 had died. Countries with the most other cases include Singapore, Thailand and Japan, which have each reported 20–30 infections. (Nature | continuously updated)

Physician Peng Zhiyong, director of acute medicine at the Wuhan University South Central Hospital, shares his clinical observations of the virus and the overwhelming pressure on hospitals and their staff. “I often cried because so many patients could not be admitted to the hospital,” says Peng. “I ran out of tears now. I have no other thoughts but to try my best to save more lives.” (The Straights Times | 14 min read)

Notable quotable

“Two-thirds of the medical staff in the ICU were already infected. Doctors there were running ‘naked’ as they knew they were set to be infected given the shortage of protective gear. They still worked there nonetheless.”

Some medical staff in Wuhan, China, are working 12-hour shifts without eating or drinking because they would have to use a second protective suit after a washroom break. Others are going without protection altogether, says physician Peng Zhiyong. (The Straights Times)

Scientist banned from journal for citation abuse

Biophysicist Kuo-Chen Chou has been removed from the editorial board of the Journal of Theoretical Biology after repeatedly manipulating the peer-review process to amass citations to his own work. Last year, Chou was also barred from being a reviewer at Bioinformatics. Investigations at both journals revealed that Chou asked authors of dozens of papers he was editing or reviewing to cite a long list of his publications — sometimes more than 50. Chou declined to answer questions about his citation practices.

Nature | 4 min read

T-shirt weather in Antarctica breaks record

An Argentinian research station has logged the highest temperature ever recorded on the continent of Antarctica: 18.3℃. “It’s only five years since the previous record was set and this is almost one degree centigrade higher,” notes climate scientist James Renwick.

The Guardian | 5 min read

Features & opinion

When uncertainty is weaponized

We are facing an epidemic of ‘truth decay’, as epidemiologist and former safety regulator David Michaels demonstrates in his excoriating new book about the corporate denial industry. Reviewer Felicity Lawrence lauds it as a brave and important work, filled with carefully documented, enraging examples of the systemic corruption of science.

Nature | 5 min read

Discover three ambitious dark-matter detectors

Three major experiments are poised to take on the challenge of directly detecting dark matter. Two will search for elusive WIMPs, and will be shielded from a cacophony of other particles by being located deep underground in old mines. The other, in an ordinary lab, will attempt to coax out evidence of the uncountable trillions of axions that are theorized to surround us everywhere. So far, “you could say we’re the world’s best at finding nothing”, says physicist Murdock Gilchriese — but even a negative result will open up new avenues for exploration.

Smithsonian Magazine | 13 min read

How to get that out-of-office feeling

After tweeting possibly the best out-of-office reply ever, epidemiologist Stephana Cherak was prompted to ponder her own approach to work-life balance. Hear more, plus catch up on the week in science, on this week’s Nature Podcast.

Nature Podcast | 26 min listenSubscribe to the Nature Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

News you can use

Top tips and tools for making your lab life better:

• Nearly 3 in 10 scientists are women, and in some disciplines, the ratio is higher. But you’d never know it from the speaker lists at many scientific meetings. In an effort to combat ‘manferences’ (all-male conferences) and ‘manels’ (all-male panels), software developer Aanand Prasad has developed a free app to help organizers choose speakers that are truly representative of the science community. (Nature Index | 6 min read)

• Almost three-quarters of researchers would welcome regular meeting-free weeks, according to an online Nature poll. The poll was inspired by geneticist Heidi Rehm’s call for one meeting-free week per quarter as a New Year’s resolution. Some senior scientists said that they spent more than four-fifths of their time in meetings. (Nature | 4 min read)

Where I work

Pamela Yeh looks through binoculars as she & her students study dark-eyed juncos on the UCLA campus

Pamela Yeh is an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.Credit: Sam Comen for Nature

For 22 years, evolutionary biologist Pamela Yeh has studied the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), focusing on a population that has settled at the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. “There is something so joyful, so wondrous, about going into the on-campus ‘field’ to study birds — sometimes I feel I know a little secret about the natural world, right here,” says Yeh. “It makes my heart sing.” (Nature | 5 min read) (Sam Comen for Nature)

Quote of the day

“To share the joy of what I do with people who are much younger than me and starting their journey — that’s truly the legacy that matters most.”

Neuroscientist Vidita Vaidya has won the mid-career category of the 2019 Nature Awards for Mentoring in Science. (Nature)