A pandemic is currently grinding public life to a halt. Schools and universities are closed in many countries. Conferences are canceled or postponed. We empathize with people who have lost dear ones or turned ill, and with those who struggle to keep life going, for themselves and their dear ones. Organizers of many conferences have seen their huge efforts evaporate by one single decision, necessary to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Many participants had already booked flights and hotels-all gone. What will happen to all the research insights currently written down in ICME and PME papers? In this editorial, we raise the question, What are the consequences for mathematics education and for research, now and in the future? Informal email conversation with colleagues across the globe (including China and Italy) points to many challenges and concerns that relate to life and to education. Most of the challenges are transdisciplinary, but some have unique characteristics for mathematics learning. There is research on mathematics learning at a distance through non-traditional media, but we expect that the consequences of this pandemic will inspire more such research. Many of our conversations these days turn to deep reflection in an attempt to stay calm and clear-headed. In this editorial, we summarize a few experiences that people have shared with us, hoping that proper study will help people formulate lessons for today and tomorrow. This is particularly challenging in times where change is so rapid. As educators and researchers, we find ourselves in a tension eloquently formulated by Søren Kierkegaard: "It is perfectly true, as the philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards"