Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Facebook, Microsoft, and Boeing report earnings. Facebook is expected to show growth, and Microsoft’s investment in cloud computing is likely to boost its second quarter numbers. As Boeing struggles to get the 737 Max back into the sky, investors want to know its plan for the future.
The US secretary of state visits London. Mike Pompeo is meeting prime minister Boris Johnson and foreign secretary Dominic Raab, a day after the UK granted Huawei a limited role in its 5G network. Meanwhile, the European Parliament is set to approve Britain’s Brexit plan today.
Donald Trump’s trial enters question time. Senators can submit written questions over the next two days to impeachment managers and defense lawyers, and then decide whether to call witnesses.
While you were sleeping
British Airways has suspended all flights to and from mainland China… The airline is taking no chances after the UK’s foreign office updated its travel advice in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, Starbucks has closed 2,000 of its branches in China, and Toyota has halted car production there until at least Feb. 9.
… as several countries began evacuations from Wuhan… The US, Japan, EU, and South Korea repatriated hundreds of their citizens, while other countries will do so in the next day or so. Australia and Britain have decided to place their evacuees under quarantine for two weeks.
…while a team of scientists in Australia recreated the novel coronavirus. Researchers successfully made a lab-grown version of the virus from an infected patient. It could help with diagnosis, including for those who don’t display symptoms.
A powerful earthquake struck the Caribbean Sea. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck between Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cuba, triggering brief tsunami warnings and prompting evacuations as far away as Florida. There were no reports of injuries.
Nike’s Vaporfly sneakers have reportedly escaped a ban from track and field’s governing body. According to The Guardian, World Athletics is instead expected to announce a temporary suspension of new footwear technologies until after the Tokyo Olympics.
Quartz membership
Will this be the year of the next recession? In our field guide to the global economy in 2020, we report the latest predictions of some “superforecasters.” But there’s a reminder that even some pessimistic forecasts in 2008 did not anticipate the Great Recession.
Quartz Daily Obsession
Treadmills used to be prison torture devices. Convicts walked the “treadwheel” for ten hours a day as punishment. Now, people pay a lot of money to run in a group treadmill class, even though they could run outside for free. Run, don’t walk, to read the Quartz Daily Obsession.
Matters of debate
Doctors should participate in civil disobedience. A duty of care compels them to act in the interest of public health.
Professors often use job titles to bully other academic staff. But their tenure-less colleagues do most of the teaching on US campuses.
The earth’s ecosystem is worth more than $140 trillion. There’s a whole field within economics dedicated to studying “natural capital.”
Surprising discoveries
YouTube is Twitch’s biggest threat. The video streaming giant has ramped up its gaming presence.
One game helped Nintendo’s mobile division shoot past $1 billion. Fire Emblem Heroes generated more revenue than all its other games combined.
US colleges are tracking the locations of its students. They’re using apps to find out whether a student is attending class.
New York is considering mandatory helmets for car drivers. One study found it could save 17 times as many people from death by head injury as a helmet law for cyclists.
No one knows how platypuses are faring in Australia’s bushfires. They are hard enough to track when there isn’t a major disaster going on.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, respectable job titles, and platypus sightings to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS or Android, and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Adam Rasmi and Hasit Shah.