
Another month indoors. I’m good with indoors, but the lack of social events is starting to get to me. Last night I attended a virtual Science Showoff, which reminded me what it’s like to sit in the basement of a pub watching people do standup on a tiny stage. Seeing the same type of acts on a screen is just not quite the same.
But like everyone, I’m hanging in there, and I realise I’m very privileged in having been able to continue my regular work. I’m currently working on a large project that I won’t be able to share until the end of the year, but as usual I do have some recent articles to share (some not at all related to current events), and a book recommendation, and of course five interesting links.

Forbes.com - Images Of Mouse Neurons, Tardigrade And More Win In Microscopy Competition
A slice of mouse brain informing memory research and a waving tardigrade are among the winners of the 2019 Olympus Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award.

Neste.com - The disruptive mission of Stephan Krueger
One of my recent pieces for a client. This is a profile piece on someone who works in sustainable recycling (after years of working in far less sustainable recycling). I learned a lot about plastic from this conversation!

Forbes.com - Does Science Art Still Matter During A Pandemic?
Even though exhibits are closed and artists-in-residence are working from home, scientists still have an appetite for art that reflects their research, even - or especially - during the current pandemic.
Book recommendation

Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
It’s been a few years since I read the book, but I kept thinking about it lately -- probably because it’s set in 2044 when everyone stays inside all the time and life takes place entirely in a virtual world full of eighties references. I recommend this book but not the film adaptation.
Interesting things
Lockdown productivity: Spaceship You. CGP Grey tells us how to survive and create during our current solo space journey.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has been Twitch streaming Animal Crossing, and had Chicago Field Museum’s Emily Graslie visit their virtual island to talk about the fossils in the game.
This is one to bookmark: Ed Yong picks apart everything we know (and don’t know) about COVID-19 and the virus that causes it. Everything. It’s a lot.
Ewen Callaway’s graphical guide to the different ways that researchers are trying to develop a COVID-19 vaccine
Paleontologists discovered that a mammal the size of a cat coexisted with dinosaurs
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