Editor's note

This past week, The Conversation’s readers were most interested in the coronavirus pandemic, as reflected in the list below. The most popular stories about anything else explained the role of sensation in the cervix and research into bacteria that grow bricks.

We hope you are staying healthy and thank you for reading.

Joel Abrams

Manager, Media Outreach

Most read stories

There are 20,000 FDA approved drugs. One of them might fight COVID-19, if we can find it. Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank via Getty Images

COVID-19 treatment might already exist in old drugs – we’re using pieces of the coronavirus itself to find them

Nevan Krogan, University of California, San Francisco

Among the more than 20,000 drugs approved by the FDA, there may be some that can treat COVID-19. A team at the University of California, San Francisco, is identifying possible candidates.

Signs cover the control panel of exercise machines in a Denver YMCA, March 15, 2020. AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Should I exercise during the coronavirus pandemic? Experts explain the just right exercise curve

Tamara Hew-Butler, Wayne State University; Mariane Fahlman, Wayne State University

Schools are closed, houses of worship have suspended services, and many restaurants are down to delivery only. Must we also stop exercising? Two exercise physiologists explain what's safe.

5 reasons the coronavirus hit Italy so hard

Sara Belligoni, University of Central Florida

The coronavirus found dangerously fertile ground in elements of the country's demographics, business, geography and culture.
Co-parenting in the coronavirus pandemic: A family law scholar’s advice

Marcia Zug, University of South Carolina

The coronavirus pandemic is not like other emergencies addressed in custody arrangements. The best advice is to try to collaborate and cooperate – even if that's difficult.
It’s wrong to blame bats for the coronavirus epidemic

Peter Alagona, University of California, Santa Barbara

The value that bats provide to humans by pollinating crops and eating insects is far greater than harm from virus transmission – which is mainly caused by human actions.