The media is replete with COVID-19 stories about people clearing supermarket shelves – and the backlash against them.

Have you noticed grabbing an extra bag of chips at the supermarket? Or eating more frozen dinners than you used to? Or even eating snacks that you haven’t eaten since you were a little kid?

Fiction is a powerful force in shaping social understanding and, in the 20th century, a number of novels shaped philosophical discourse and influenced the way people think about the world.

Consider the following brain teaser: A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

For many people, the most distressing part of the coronavirus pandemic is the idea of social isolation.

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic will be “imprinted on the personality of our nation for a very long time,” predicted Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Humans are intensely social creatures. We all need company and social contact. But for many of us, being at home for long periods with a small group of people – even those we love best – can become frustrating.

There remains near-universal backing for the coronavirus lockdown among the UK public. In our study, nine out of ten people support the measures, including seven out of ten who strongly support them.

Amid the global spread of COVID-19 we are witnessing an increased focus on gathering food and supplies.

This is a confusing and, frankly, scary time for a lot of us. There’s so much contradictory information, and the “right” thing to do yesterday is now the “wrong” thing to do today.

As we do whatever we can to stop the spread of coronavirus, we are being forced to change old habits and mundane daily acts, such as avoiding shaking hands and touching each other.

Social distancing is both necessary and hard. If my Facebook news feed and anecdotal experience in my own family are at all representative of larger trends, adolescents are especially feeling the pain.

The Dalai Lama caused quite a stir at the 2009 Peace Summit in Vancouver. He said that “the world would be saved by Western women.” His statement received a range of responses, but many women found it empowering, and it catalyzed women-focused initiatives.

During one of my daily walks with my toddler, when we passed his favorite playground, I noticed a new sign warning that the coronavirus survives on all kinds of surfaces and that we should no longer use the playground.

Certain traits of little kids’ play could signal future aggressive and antisocial behavior, researchers report.

With the coronavirus pandemic quickly spreading, U.S. health officials have changed their advice on face masks and now recommend people wear cloth masks in public areas where social distancing can be difficult, such as grocery stores.

Early indications suggest more men are dying from COVID-19 than women – although some countries, including the UK, are not publishing data on this.

In an address on Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressed his dismay at the hordes of “panic buyers” sweeping supermarket shelves clean across the country:

New Zealand has now reached a midway point of a comprehensive four-week lockdown and there have already been some rule breakers.

People are currently being bombarded with reports of the daily death toll from coronavirus. Practically every news website and channel displays the number prominently at all times.

The world as we know it may never be the same. The global economy has slowed, people are living in isolation and the death toll from an invisible killer is rising exponentially. 

Even in normal circumstances, it can be hard to get motivated to do your schoolwork. But these are not normal circumstances.

Social distancing to combat COVID-19 is profoundly impacting society, leaving many people wondering whether it will actually work. As disease ecologists, we know that nature has an answer.