We still don't know a lot about the coronavirus, and those unknowns make even the best contingency planning a lot harder.
The big picture: We don't know how widely the virus is spreading undetected, which makes it more important for leaders to map out worst-case scenarios. But experts say we're also not at a place where closing schools, requiring telecommuting or canceling public events are imminent or practical.
The renowned physicist and polymath Freeman Dyson passed away near Princeton, New Jersey, on Feb. 28, at the age of 96.
Why it matters: Dyson was a dazzling scientist, but his true genius lay in his astonishing imagination, which reached for the farthest edges of the cosmos.
In 1945, engineer and science administrator Vannevar Bush laid out a framework for support of science in the U.S. that drove prosperity and American dominance. That model isn't enough anymore, experts said at an event this week in Washington, D.C.
The big picture: With China threatening to overtake the U.S. in R&D spending even as research becomes more international, science must manage the tension between cooperation and competition.
