15 Lessons Scientists Learned About Us When the World Stood Still

The pandemic gave researchers a rare opportunity to study human behavior. Their work offers lessons about loneliness, remote work, high heels and more.

By Claire Cain Miller and Irineo Cabreros Illustrations by Liana Finck

March 11, 2025

When the pandemic upended our lives, it gave researchers a rare chance to learn more about who we are and how we live. The simultaneous changes endured by the entire world created experiments that could never have happened otherwise. What happens when sports teams play in empty stadiums? When people see their doctors online? When the government sends people money? When women stop wearing high heels? When children stop going to school?

Research was challenging in such an extraordinary period: It’s impossible to know whether changes were caused by the specific thing scientists were studying, or by some other aspect of the pandemic — or whether we could expect the same result in normal times.

Perhaps one of the most important takeaways from the pandemic was that science is a process. Just as our understandings about masks or vaccines changed as the pandemic went on, these lessons might also change with time. For now, here are 15 things we learned.