E-Mail IMAGE: This rotating image shows the detailed structure of a "spike " from a coronavirus that causes cold symptoms - a milder relative of the virus that causes COVID-19. Spikes bind to... view more Credit: K. Zhang et al., Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics Discovery, 2020 Coronaviruses like the one that causes COVID-19 are studded with protein "spikes" that bind with receptors on the cells of their victims - the first step in infection. Now scientists have made the first detailed images of those spikes in their natural state, while still attached to the virus and without using chemical fixatives that might distort their shape.