So obviously the whole world is facing what looks like the crisis of a lifetime and the science there is moving far too quickly for a mere blog like this to keep up with. I’ll only post a link to a single good overview of the coronavirus and stick with some other interesting science stuff still going on this month even if some of them feel a bit out of place given the current situation.

• So far the best broad overview of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is this one which covers the history of coronaviruses, their anatomy and how they work as well as the most promising treatments currently in development and which mechanisms they target. Note that while everyone is most excited about vaccines, those are still at least over a year away while effective medication might be deployed in a matter of months.
• We’ve all had anecdotal evidence that people who drive expensive cars are more likely to be jerks on the road, and now here’s a study confirming that hunch. This particular study used pedestrians wanting to cross a street to check to see which cars were willing to give way, concluding that the most expensive cars were the least likely to do so.
• Are young people or middle-aged people most responsible for founding successful fast growing firms? Popular culture suggests the former but this study indicates that the mean age for a successful entrepreneur is 45.
• As everyone knows, physical beauty matters and numerous studies have proven that attractiveness impacts lifetime earnings. This study examines college admissions and finds that there is a correlation between beauty and admission rates of white men to highly ranked colleges. However there does not seem to be a beauty premium for women, minorities of either gender or for colleges in China in general. Draw your own conclusions.
• Finally, an amusing bit of news that made the rounds recently is the discovery of a tree in Sabah, Malaysia that is able to soak up nickel from the soil and accumulate it within itself. This raises the possibility of mining such trees for the metal, which is apparently done by collecting its sap every once in a while, hence why it’s now known as the metal-bleeding tree. I have doubts over how feasible this is on a commercial scale but the news itself seems real enough.