Bats are carriers of many deadly viruses, including rabies, Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The current Corona epidemic might be caused by migration of the virus from bats to humans. Scientists have hypothesized that the ability of bats to raise their body temperature during flight – to a range similar to those seen in other mammals that have a fever – may be contributed to their ability to combat these viruses.

This hypothesis has implications on the current Coronavirus crisis: we might be able to prevent sickness from the virus by artificially raising our body temperature, perhaps several times a day. And there are natural ways to do so without any costs nor harm to our body.

Here is a quick list. Hot soups and hot showers are the easiest to do. Sauna would be great. And we can sunbathe in the room.

Be as creative as you can. Essentially, anything that can produce a good sweat should do, for instance, hot dance.

Dancing with Sarina Condello to the rhythm of an ancient drum. It feels really good to connect to mother earth.

A side note: viruses are everywhere; it’s hard to shield ourselves completely from them. Novel forms will continue to emerge in the future, and we cannot predict what, when and where. Fundamentally, we need to improve our health and immune systems for the long run.

Spring has arrived, but its brilliant blossoms are overshadowed by an invisible virus. Crisis is not all bad, though – it can bring change, and history has shown that sometimes it does take a painful crisis to change.

Playing in the National Portrait Gallery by the performance artist Anna Garner.

Today I join the flow on the street rushing to work I used to watch from my window while having morning coffee; thus begins real life. I watch people up close on the metro: women wearing skirts and sneakers; men in ties carrying a lunch bag; a father taking three kids to school; a mother talking and playing with her baby; a teenager in a thin jacket singing to himself; an old women with a hat whose face I have seen in movies about old Europe; and an old man in a black coat with fur collar who said, “Beauty always before age.” Despite sleepiness in the morning or tiredness in the late afternoon, their faces all look alive – these are real faces of real people. Then I heard Chris Marker, who wrote in Sunless, “I have been around the world several times, and now only banality still interests me.”

After a rain the sun is out on Sunday. Mountain laurels are green. Along Sam’s Ridge and the Hazel River, I indulge myself in fresh mountain air.

On a cloudy day these steep stairs make a grand statement at the entrance; high up in the mountains I find some tiny plants, spirited and patient.

2020 kicks off with goodbyes unexpectedly. On New Year’s Day I just said bye to the Newseum, and today it was a cool live music venue in Georgetown. I had heard about Gypsy Sally’s for a long time and was shocked to learn about its closure on my first visit – the building was sold by the landlord and will be converted to condominium. So, this is another tribute to DC’s bright spots gone.