The Guardian's Science Weekly

A new virus, never before seen in humans, has emerged from the city of Wuhan in China. Since the start of the outbreak, the virus has spread to more than seven countries and more than 500 people have been infected. Hannah Devlin speaks to Prof Ian Jones about exactly what a coronavirus is. And we hear from epidemiologist Dr Rosalind Eggo about how scientists model the spread of novel viruses, often with very little information. Help support our independent journalism at

As the bushfires continue to rage across Australia, thousands of people have ended up face to face with the emergency. It’s hard to imagine how you would behave in a disaster like this. Would you panic? Or act quickly and be organised? More than 50 years of psychological and sociological evidence covering mass emergencies shows that people typically behave with cooperation and coordination. Nicola Davis speaks to John Drury, professor of social psychology at the University of Sussex, about why this is, and hears from Guardian Australia’s deputy culture editor, Stephanie Convery, about the fires. Help support our independent journalism at

Roy Baumeister is a social psychologist whose work focuses on the role of negativity in our perceptions. Together with US journalist John Tierney he is the author of a new book, The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It. Sitting down with Ian Sample, Baumeister talks about how he became interested in negativity and how we may be able to combat its impact on the way we view the world. Help support our independent journalism at

Happy New Year from the Science Weekly team. There is no new episode this week as we all take a festive break. The team will be back with a new episode on Friday 10 January. Help support our independent journalism at

Happy Christmas from the Science Weekly team. There is no new episode this week as we all take a festive break. The team will be back with a new episode on Friday 10 January. Help support our independent journalism at