With no agreed naming system, scientists are devising their own nomenclature to fill the gap
Look closely enough, and each day seemingly unveils a fresh variant of the dreaded virus that causes Covid-19. These variants may be worthy of concern or simply stoke scientific curiosity, but they carry some industrial-strength technical names such as B117 or B1351.
And as the list grows bulkier, even the scientists need some respite – so some have developed nicknames such as Nelly or designated a bird species to refer to particular mutations or variants.
