COVID-19 hasn’t just changed the world — it’s transformed the way we live. On a national scale, it has upended politics and flattened our economy. On a human level, we’ve lost loved ones and livelihoods. But the pandemic has also led to unexpected changes for the better — it’s accelerated innovation, revealed new truths, and pushed us to find new ways of doing things. On this episode of The Pulse, we look into some of those lessons. What will the world look like after COVID-19 — what’s here to stay, and what may be gone forever? We hear stories about the benefits of working from home, how the pandemic has affected romantic relationships, and why more scientific conferences may be moving online for good.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

• For a lot of scientists, academic conferences are the biggest event of the year — a chance for them to network, present their research, and catch up on the latest in their field. This year, however, the pandemic forced most conferences online. Reporter Alan Yu explains why this stopgap solution might turn into the new normal, even after COVID-19 subsides.
• Germ expert Connie Steed from The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology offers her predictions about what we can expect from our new reality, from tech innovations to how we travel.
• Will the pandemic accelerate efforts to bring hospital care to people’s homes? We hear an excerpt from the health care podcast “Tradeoffs” that digs into that issue.
• We talk with biological anthropologist Helen Fisher about love and dating in the midst of COVID-19 — she explains how couples are dealing with being cooped up together, and why the pandemic may lead to more meaningful relationships.