2020 in Scientists’ Own Words

The world was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, but researchers rose to all manner of challenges.

abby olena
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ABOVE: Scanning electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 (gold) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Image captured and colorized at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana
FLICKR, NIAID

Maciej Boni, a biologist at Penn State University, speaking to The Scientist about how the high number of undetected cases makes it difficult to track viral spread based on confirmed infections (March 12)

Abdul Mannan Baig, a researcher at Aga Khan University in Pakistan, speaking to The Scientist about indications that SARS-CoV-2 can target the nervous system (March 24)

Kishana Taylor, a postdoc in microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of California, Davis, speaking to The Scientist about pandemic-related hiring freezes in academia (March 26)

­—Kathleen Millen, a neuroscientist at Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute, in an email to The Scientist about how pandemic-related lab shutdowns affected the scientific community (March 27)

—Anthony Fauci, director of the US National ...

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