When you recover from an infection, what stops you from catching it again? The latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN looks at how our immune system responds to infections like coronavirus, how we can test to see if someone’s had an infection, and how vaccines work to prevent them. View the full graphic on the C&EN site.
How do you fight something you can’t see? That’s the question when it comes to the coronavirus crisis which currently has many of us holed up at home. Physical distancing is one important answer to preventing the spread of the virus, as avoiding catching it in the first place stops you from spreading it to others. But how can we take the fight directly to the virus?
At the time of writing, there have been almost a quarter of a million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide. The number of deaths is approaching 10,000. Across the world, countries are scrambling to increase their testing capacity for the virus — how are these tests carried out and how do they work?
As coronavirus continues its spread, panic-buying has swept supermarket shelves of hand sanitisers. What’s in these sanitisers and how effective are they in comparison to hand washing? This graphic takes a look.
We’re taking a detour into biology for today’s graphic, looking at the colds that many of us are suffering from at this time of year. It’s doubly topical considering the coronavirus outbreak in China at the time of writing. This graphic highlights the viruses that cause colds and flu and their different characteristics.
