Nature highlights three key graphics from the week in science and research.
A rigorous analysis has revealed how the Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 overtook the Delta variant. Data have been mounting on Omicron’s ability to evade vaccines, but the study, posted as a preprint and not yet peer-reviewed, looks at how fast it spreads in even vaccinated people .
This chart shows that whereas people infected with Delta spread the infection to roughly 11% of their household members, those who had Omicron spread it to almost 16%. That means there is a 48% increased risk of passing on the virus when infected with Omicron compared with Delta. This, and another two charts,Governments are spending vast amounts to help countries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plasma wakefield accelerators are currently being developed as one alternative. In these devices, an electron bunch excites a density wave in a plasma, and the wave’s wake is used to accelerate a second electron bunch to high energy. The wake varies from high electron density to low density . A paper published in