| Greetings, QuickTake readers! How can the world break free from single-use plastics? Join our panel this Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos and submit your questions here.  Wuhan quarantined for coronavirus The Chinese city of Wuhan is on lockdown following the outbreak of the new potentially deadly respiratory virus that's swept the country and spread to five others. Government officials on Wednesday halted outbound trains and flights from the city of 11 million and ordered the temporary shutdown of public transit. The virus, which has infected more than 500 people and killed 17 in China, couldn't have broken out at a worse time: This week marks the peak of the world's biggest human migration as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year. More: - No public emergency—yet. The WHO held off declaring the outbreak a global health emergency, saying officials were evenly split and needed more information. They'll reconvene on Thursday.
- Snake-to-human transmission. Researchers said the virus most likely came from snakes in a paper in the Journal of Medical Virology. The illness is believed to have originated at a food market in Wuhan.
- Vaccine in store? Given its similarity to SARS and MERS, NIH officials said researchers may be able to fast-track a potential coronavirus vaccine that could begin human testing by April.
$ignificant figures $107.2 billion. Tesla's market cap climbed above Volkswagen's for the first time and is now on the brink of triggering a huge payout for Elon Musk if he can sustain it for months. $50 million. Tulsi Gabbard sued Hillary Clinton for that much for defamation over an interview in which Clinton called one of the Democratic candidates "a Russian asset." 16 seasons. The NFL career-length, which includes two Super Bowl titles, of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who retired Wednesday ahead of a formal announcement on Friday. Highly quotable "What the founders feared." Adam Schiff invoked Alexander Hamilton in the impeachment trial's opening arguments, saying Trump used the power of his office "to cheat" and refusing his removal would "permanently alter the balance of power" of the U.S. "Influence, if not silence." Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hacked Jeff Bezos's phone via an MP4 sent over WhatsApp, the UN said, to stop critical reporting by the Washington Post, which the kingdom has denied. "Not just a titan, he was a rapist." What a prosecutor in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial said as opening arguments began in New York, the #MeToo movement's biggest legal moment to date. This is not normal Man down. It's so cold in Florida, the NWS has warned residents to watch out for falling iguanas since temps below the 40s can cause the cold-blooded lizards to fall into a deep slumber and tumble from trees.  The future is now Electric Ahab. To stop invasive lionfish from destroying the diversity of its coral reefs, Florida wildlife officials are testing a harpoon-throwing robot that can dive deeper than humans to kill hundreds of fish per trip.  What's good "Hero arm." This 11-year-old "Star Wars" fan who lost all four limbs to meningitis is now the first recipient of an R2-D2 bionic arm that has easy-to-control, muscle-detecting sensors—giving him, as Mark Hamill put it, his "very own superpower."  Now that you're caught up... Tell your friends to sign up to receive our newsletter five days a week. Follow QuickTake on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Before you go: Apple is prepping a new low-cost iPhone that'll look a lot like the iPhone 8 and could be unveiled as early as March. Here's what we know. Thanks for reading!
-Andrew Mach | 
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