Visual representations of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 have become a common sight over the past year. But this particular image shows real coronavirus particles in unprecedented detail. It is the first 3D image of SARS-CoV-2 made from a single scan of frozen virus particles, using a technique called cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET). Most previous images were either composites from several scans, or computer visualizations. The image was unveiled in January by researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, and the Vienna-based company Nanographics. The researchers added colours to distinguish different parts of the virus. “We used machine learning and advanced visualization algorithms to show you the most detailed view of a real SARS-CoV-2 virion, in 3D, directly from Cryo-ET data,” says Nanographics. “We chose bright pink for the spikes, to signify that they are the part of the virus responsible for attaching to the host cells and infecting them. The rest of the virus is shown in muted, cold colors, to suggest that a virus is not a living thing.”...

A new report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board looks at the biggest lessons from the world’s response to COVID-19 – and the urgent actions we need to take now....

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now passed 37.4 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed deaths stands at over 1.07 million. In the US, confirmed cases have risen to 7,694,865, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an increase of 53,363 cases from its previous count. The number of deaths rose by 577 to 213,614. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had fully recovered from COVID-19 and was not an infection risk for others. "I’m in great shape,” he told Fox News. Cases in India have now topped 7 million, after the health ministry reported 74,383 new infections in the previous 24 hours. A rise in infections in southern states is offsetting a drop in western regions. Asia-Pacific countries including Singapore, Australia and Japan are easing some international travel restrictions as coronavirus cases slow. China’s Qingdao city will conduct COVID-19 tests for its population of more than 9 million people over five days, after new cases appeared linked to a hospital treating imported infections....

The unexpected social and economic challenges brought by the coronavirus pandemic have given increased urgency to questions about the purposes of a university education and the kinds of graduates that society needs. Much of this debate has focused on the extent to which university degrees lead to graduate jobs and higher graduate salaries. For example, in July, UK education secretary, Gavin Williamson, announced that financial support for universities affected by COVID-19 would be conditional on their scrapping courses that did not lead to skilled graduate jobs. The implication of these announcements is that the central purpose of a university education is to produce employable, high-earning graduates. My research examines what a university education is for, the principles that should inform its design, and how its quality can effectively be measured. Rather than the employment and salaries of graduates, the central educational purpose of a university education is to transform students through their engagement with knowledge....