Thank you for taking 10 for CNN10.

Your objective explanation of world events.

It's been a challenge to report on one of the biggest events of the year because it affects people so differently and because the responses to it have been so different.

More than 1.6 million deaths worldwide have been linked to coronavirus, but estimates suggest that tens of millions have caught the disease but had no symptoms.

Lockdowns, mask requirements and efforts to keep people farther apart have aimed to slow the spread of the disease, but it does continue to spread even in areas with strict guidelines in place.

Those guidelines and restrictions are constantly in flux.

Indoor dining at New York City's restaurants was just shut down again, but these places have been allowed to stay open in other parts of the state.

Restaurants, gyms, museums and movie theaters are all closed in California.

But these businesses are all open in Texas, though people are required to wear masks.

And in some states the restrictions vary by county, with more rules in place where infections are higher.

These different scenarios are playing out across the world.

It's anything but a one-size-fits-all approach to the pandemic.

I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.

Nearly a third of Japanese residents, some 32% want the Olympic Games canceled, according to a poll by the public broadcaster NHK.

An additional 31% would like to see the games postponed again.

That is a steep drop from the 40% show of support for the games back in October before third wave of infection kicked in.

On Monday, Japan's Ministry of Health said 588 patients are in critical condition due to COVID-19.

That is the highest number of patients in intensive care since the pandemic began.

I'm Jim Bittermann in France, where COVID lockdown restrictions are being relaxed just a bit.

From today onward, travel around the country is no longer limited and people no longer need to fill out a declaration explaining why they are out and about during the day.

However, a tighter curfew is now in place, which does limit movement with some exceptions.

After eight at night and before six in the morning, theaters, museums, restaurants, bars will all remain closed until at least January 20th that because average infection rates in the country still remain higher than health authorities would like.

I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London, where the government says a new variant of coronavirus may be to blame for its faster spread in parts of England.

Now, I know this sounds scary, but experts agree this is nothing to worry about, and there is no evidence that this variant spreads faster, is more deadly or is immune to the vaccine.

But there is a very real spike in coronavirus cases here in London.

That's why starting Wednesday, this city will move into England's highest-level coronavirus restrictions.

That means new rules on people's social behaviors.

I'm Paula Hancocks in Seoul with close to 900 new daily coronavirus cases here in South Korea, officials are seriously considering raising the social distancing measures to the highest level possible.

The prime minister's saying today that they don't want to miss the window, but they also don't want to make a hasty decision knowing that this will have an impact on the economy.

Now also, hundreds off military personnel are being dispatched to different health centers around the greater Seoul area this week to try and help with the contact-tracing process.

Big storm in the forecast for more than 13% of the US population.

We're talking about more than 45 million people concentrated in the Northeast.

A weather system that moved off the Rocky Mountains on Tuesday was headed east toward cooler air, and forecasters said conditions were ripe for a powerful nor'easter that could stretch from Virginia to Massachusetts.

According to the National Weather Service this storm could carry wind gusts as high as 40 miles per hour and become the most impactful winter system in years.

According to the forecasting service AccuWeather, some cities in the region could see more snow over the next couple days than they did from every storm last winter combined.

There's a threat of several feet of snow and heavy ice in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.

That could cause widespread power outages at a time when people will need to run the heat.

Blizzard conditions are possible along the coast.

Meteorologists told people in these areas to have their snow shovels ready and plan to stay off the roads.

10-second trivia!

Which of these objects was once known as "NASA's $1.5 billion blunder"?

Hubble Space Telescope, International Space Station, Mir Space station or Mars Opportunity Rover?

A problem with Hubble's Mirror initially caused it to take blurry photos, but that was fixed three years after Hubble launched.

[The Hubble Space Telescope turned 30 this year.]

[So NASA and its partners are releasing never-before-seen images from its career.]

[More than 50 images of 30 celestial objects debuted in the release.]

[The objects are part of a collection known to amateur astronomers as the Caldwell Catalog.]

[The images had been used for research over the years, but were never released to the public.]

[The Hubble Telescope was launched in April of 1990 and has been upgraded over the years.]

[It continues to make groundbreaking discoveries.]

Companies around the world are working with a mineral called perovskite to make solar panels more effective.

Solar power is a renewable form of energy, at least in places with plenty of sunlight, and it can reduce the cost of electricity.

But it does have its downsides.

The process of making solar panels creates both air pollution and waste.

Disposing used solar panels can put more toxic waste into the environment.

And while they're being used, the panels themselves take up a lot of space.

But perovskite may be able to help with that last problem because it could make solar panels more efficient.

It's relatively inexpensive, though there are concerns about its cost when it's made on a larger scale.

Still, some scientists say perovskite could significantly improve solar energy.

Solar panels, they're increasingly used to meet our energy needs, but there's a problem with the way silicon panels are made--their hugely inefficient.

That's because they only convert about 22% of the sun's rays into electricity.

But scientists from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom have made a discovery that's set to transform the industry.

Thanks to an obscure mineral called perovskite.

This is silicon.

It takes about seven tons of this material to make a million watts of solar cells.

This is the perovskite material completely synthesized from Earth-abundant elements.

It only takes 35 kilograms of this material to make the same million watts of solar cells.

Seven tons, 35 kilograms.

Working with perovskite in Oxford PV'S labs scientists found they could convert 28% of the sun's rays into electricity if they placed the layer of the mineral over a silicon cell.

In time, they believe they can double the current efficiency rate of silicon panels, eventually converting to 40% of the sun's rays into electricity.

But perovskites have other exciting advantages too, see their lightweight, transparent and very flexible.

Imagine then seeing it wrapped around and incorporated into entire buildings.

That's the ambition of Warsaw-based Saule Technologies.

They've started printing it using an inkjet printer.

It can be printed so it's very cheap.

We can use perovskite cells on the facets of the building, on the roofs of the buildings, on the roofs of the cars, on the electronic devices, small electronic devices.

We can use it on the sails.

We can use it in the boats, tents, unlimited applications.

When you envision a robot, you probably don't think of this.

The TechCrunch online newspaper compared it to a lemon peel, but it is a type of robot, a soft one that works underwater and it can fold and walk and even carry stuff.

It moves by the power of light and magnetic fields, and the researchers at Northwestern University who developed it hope it could one day be used in medicine.

What type?

The hydro-nano prototype.

What branch could be a step towards better podiatry?

Maybe you could see it in ophthalmology or orthodontics, if it has teeth.

Dermatology could give it some skin in the game.

I mean, who knows what pathology it'll take.

Whatever field it goes into, it's gotta be a magnetic one.

North Sanpete High School gets today's shoutout.

It is in Mount Pleasant, Utah.

Sounds like a pleasant place.

How do we pick the schools we mention?

Our Web producer chooses from the comments of our most recent show at youtube.com/CNN10.

So please subscribe to the channel and leave a comment there.

With two shows left to go in 2020 ...

I'm Carl Azuz for CNN.