Chronicling the Coronavirus Era

Music students around the world use Microsoft Teams to find harmony and well-being during pandemic

A global look at how music is still being heard through Teams during COVID-19. Highlighting an NGO in Turkey, a music academy teacher in India and a music school in London that has also helped students manage their mental health.

Meet the unseen experts behind Microsoft’s coronavirus response

How company data scientists, physicians, epidemiologists, researchers, and disaster specialists from around the world joined forces early on to make recommendations that kept employees safe. The desire to help was huge. “Everyone is pitching in,” said one researcher.

Growing capacity for the COVID-19 response

When much of the world began sheltering at home due to COVID-19, Microsoft saw unprecedented demand for its cloud services. Here’s how employees worked to ensure Azure services could continue to scale and to help customers on the front lines of the pandemic response.

Microsoft’s undersea datacenter helps the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine

An experimental Microsoft datacenter submerged beneath the sea in Scotland’s Ornkey Islands is processing workloads for the global, distributed [email protected] computing project to understand the viral proteins that cause COVID-19 and design therapeutics to stop them.

Modern loneliness: Musician Lauv wants to help you find peace of mind in a difficult time

In the before-quarantine time, Lauv, a musician and independent producer who has talked openly about his experiences with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, found a path to stability through therapy, medication and meditation. Now, as people around the world deal with isolation and other challenges of the COVID-19 crisis, he thinks it’s more important than ever to help others find tools for mental health.

Educators are finding powerful ways to connect with students in the sudden shift to remote learning

When the COVID-19 virus shuttered schools, teachers turned to technology to communicate with students and conduct online lessons. Some are learning unexpected ways these tools strengthen connections and even build kids’ enthusiasm for doing classwork, perhaps offering a framework for navigating future hurdles — like snow days.

Emergency plan has Microsoft Store employees helping people in new ways despite closed doors

When Microsoft Store locations closed worldwide in March, nearly 2,000 Store associates pivoted to remote customer support in a new emergency plan. Their work is now helping schools, communities, small businesses and enterprises during a difficult time.

Quiet Ingenuity: 120,000 lunches and counting

Microsoft’s Redmond campus is vacant, save a group of determined volunteers. Members of Microsoft’s dining team have been reporting to work every morning to repackage and repurpose café lunches to help support local students and families, while maintaining an important link with local suppliers.

More Stories

How a former intern built a dynamic regional newsroom against the odds of an ailing industry

New research from The Economist and Microsoft shows digital preparedness helped organizations adapt to COVID-19

Students have a new, less stressful way to improve their reading — and it’s easier for teachers, too

Mind games: How gaming can play a positive role in mental health