Post by Buğse Kalebaş (@ bugse)
Coronavirus prevention measures take their toll on astronomy
As a frightening pandemic sweeps across the globe, it is becoming ever clearer that every aspect of life will be affected by it, even the study of what lies beyond Earth.
As a frightening pandemic sweeps across the globe, it is becoming ever clearer that every aspect of life will be affected by it, even the study of what lies beyond Earth.
The spread of the new coronavirus, which causes a serious respiratory disease called COVID-19, is prompting nations around the world to take aggressive measures to slow its transmission. Most of those measures focus on reducing local and long-distance travel and avoiding large gatherings, including classes and conferences. Social distancing and working remotely are all the rage — and astronomers, while supporting such measures for their proven public health benefits, are still coming to terms with what the situation means for their profession.
All of the changes seem to come with a horde of emails that flood inboxes. "It's like a huge onslaught, I feel like I've gotten nothing done in the last week because there's so much coming at us," Meg Urry, an astronomer at Yale University, told: "In a time when we need to suddenly scramble and provide solutions we aren't familiar with — and we do need information — we're being deluged with information, so it's really hard to process and hard to be effective."
Tags: #astronomy #space #science #stem #online #education
Link: https://www.space.com/coronavirus-impacts-on-astronomy-research.html
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