iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Last week, Alfred and I attended the most amazing Bug Walk ran by Connor the Ecologist and Elliker (peep the cute green shirts). It was incredible to see how much nature is around us, even in areas we might think are too developed. My thoughts from the day:

Selfie of Kate and Alfred wearing green elliker shirts and lanyards with magnifying glasses on. Alfred is holding a net.

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Lush, miasma superspreaders of the high street, have become self aware! As part of their Halloween collection, they are selling plague doctor bath bombs! The plague mask is one of the most enduring images of disease and infection.

Bath bomb if a plague doctor with a label that reads: Banish bathroom miasmias with this herbal tonic for your bathroom blues. The doctor will see you now.

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

On the 480th anniversary of her execution, I was so touched to attend the blessing of Anne Askew’s newly laid memorial. I am so happy that so many more people will know of her. A great day for women who live according to their own conscience, do their reading & cite their sources, and love divorce

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Sarah Bendall @sarahabendall.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

New article has just been published OA @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social ! Lots of archival work in here tracing the the women who ran “Indian houses” in #17thc London. Including one woman who may have helped plot the Glorious Revolution!! #earlymodern www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Richard Wells @slipperyjack.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I had some time in Bristol yesterday morning to visit the cathedral post renovation work and finally see their excellent set of 16th century misericords. A second sighting of the morality tale that climaxes with a fox being hanged by geese...

Mermaid holding up her hands palms upward, behind a human-headed creature with wings and claws (the devil?), who is holding her tail, and a wyvern.

Misericords are hinged wooden seats in medieval church choir stalls that flip up to reveal a small ledge. When tipped up, they allowed monks and priests to lean back and rest in a semi-standing position during long, grueling church services while appearing to stand.

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I am starting a new job as an interpretation developer at the Natural History Museum!!! I am so excited to merge my professional experience of science communication and interpretation and my personal love for nature and community. It’s a real pinch me moment. 🪴 🌱 🦔

Canva graphic in the style of a scrapbook with sea scenes, book pages and botanical specimens. Kate has added photos of a puffin, her feeding a reindeer, and a kingfisher in a tree. Text reads: One of the greatest gifts my family gave me was an affinity for nature.

Traipsing round the flora and fauna of North West England.

Eating sandwiches in bird hides and catching the glinting jewel of a kingfisher’s wing.

Seeing dragonflies zip around at Vrnwy.

Getting mildly freaked out by the cries of red grouse, invisible amongst Moel Famau’s gorse bushes, warning me to ‘Go Back!’.

Watching seals from Hilbre Island and falling in love with the sea.

Venturing to Scotland to see eagles and puffins and dolphins

Another scrapbook page with added photos of Kate adding a penny to a wishing tree, and a seal bobbing his head out the water. Text reads: Nature was also my introduction to folklore: monsters, mariner superstitions, plant lore, witchcraft, fairies, selkies, local legends, wishing trees, curses, and ghosts. I have an uncle who delighted in terrifying me. No detail was ever spared. Being told about Llyn Tegid’s monster, Teggie, after I’d spent a sunny afternoon playing its water was supremely funny... in hindsight.So much of who I am I owe to these experiences of place, of memory, of resistance and revival, of song and story.

Scrapbook page with an added picture of a waterfall. text reads:
Our planet faces a climate crisis due to environmental imperialism.The kind of childhood I had is becoming uncommon. Our link to nature is tenuous, and vulnerable communities feel the impact of this the most. That’s why I am so happy that my personal passions and professional experience have merged. That I have joined the Natural History Museum as an interpretation developer! I hope this new role helps me contribute in some small way to inspiring the public to become good stewards and take action, for all our sakes.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

A promotional post for cebeme.manchester.ac.uk/en, a platform for searching and visualising data across PLRE, Renaissance Cultural Crossroads, Plantin sales and provincial booksellers' inventories, c. 1500–1640. So, ownership, sales, and translations of books in #earlyModern England. #bookHistory

A screenshot of the Items perspective of https://cebeme.manchester.ac.uk, filtered by French language of publication and book owner social status of "middle class"

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AJ Wright @ajwrightmls.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

1817 July 12: Henry David Thoreau born. On May 12, 1851, Thoreau was given ether by a dentist tinyurl.com/57m4dk7h He wrote in his journal "You expand like a seed in the ground" etc tinyurl.com/l26axns Died 6 May 1862 #histmed #medicalhistory #anesthesiahistory

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Friends of Lister Lane Cemetery (KAVS) @listerlanecem.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Good morning from the Friends of Lister Lane Cemetery. Forget-me-not.

Image of a weathered gravestone covered with blue forget-me-not flowers surrounded by green grass. Other grave monuments and trees are visible in the background.

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mia ridge @miaout.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

At last! The archived British Library blogs are viewable online. Check the index of blogs at blogs-archive.bl.uk and the hundreds of posts on the Digital Scholarship blog going back to 2013 blogs-archive.bl.uk#digital-scho...

blogs-archive.bl.uk

Archived blogs

News and information about the UK Web Archive, provided by the British Library

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Alfred and I were so happy to be invited to the wrap party for Alice Roberts: Our Hospital Through Time. Watching the documentary at home was an emotional experience for us and we felt so lucky to be able to contribute in some small part to such a moving project.

drsoandso.co.uk

Alice Roberts: Our Hospital Through Time.

(Image Description: Kate and Alfred stood on the Hogarth Staircase in Barts North Wing. In the background are William Hogarth's The Good Samaritan and The Pool of Bethesda. Kate is a white woman with ...

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Emily Naish @emjlynajsh.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

📣 Just over a week left to register for 'Reading the Practical in Early Modern Literature'! 📣 @fairbanc.bsky.social We have a HUGE range of papers and panels, plus a careers roundtable AND two brilliant keynote speakers! Plus online attendance is free. Registration HERE: bit.ly/4rb7CiX

bit.ly

Reading the Practical in Early Modern Literature | University of Sheffield

This two-day interdisciplinary symposium will invite scholars to re-consider practical texts written between c. 1558 and 1642 as productive sources for lit

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UCL Special Collections @uclspeccoll.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Call for applications! We are looking for a small press to take up a temporary residency at UCL! £5,000 to spend flexibly, an opportunity to work with outstanding collections & collaborate with brilliant students and staff! blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll...

blogs.ucl.ac.uk

Call for Small Press in Residence 2026 | UCL UCL Special Collections

UCL Homepage

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

The Wuthering Heights discourse annoys me on so many levels, but I especially hate to see people forgetting how genuinely funny parts of it are.

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Scott M | Haunted Edition 🎃 @voxparlour.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Andrew: Oh my 66th birthday morn, what a noncing nice day Police cars pull up. Paddington gets out.

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Tom Jamieson @tomjam.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

'Being detained at your brother's pleasure' will never not be funny

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Dr Julie Holder @julieh80.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Anyone else really enjoying The Artful Dodger on Disney? I spend most programmes looking up history of medicine facts relating to the storyline. Check out the collections @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social for objects from 19th century medicine www.nms.ac.uk/search-our-c... www.nms.ac.uk/discover-cat...

nms.ac.uk

The story of syringes | National Museums Scotland

Syringes are important medical tools and have existed for thousands of years. The humble hypodermic injection is also known in Scotland as the jaborjag. It

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

It's been such fun cutting my TV Consultant teeth fact-checking scripts for this show. It's been very fun to wear both my 'academic pedant' and 'engaging interpretation and storytelling' hats at the same time! (and always a joy to annoy the amazing team at @bharchives.bsky.social)

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Dr Lucy J.S. Clarke 🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️🌈 no human is illegal @lucyjsclarke.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

www.instagram.com/reel/DUlnE6d... I’ve started putting up some videos on my public Instagram, including this series I tentatively title “Star Chamber Mad Lad of the Week”. This week, it’s William Stanhawe’s fairly successful avoidance of arrest in 1609. #skystorians

A picture of Lucy, a white person with short blonde hair and glasses. The caption reads: “Star Chamber Mad Lad of the Week, episode 1: The arrest of William Stanhawe (1600)”.

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Sarah May @sarahmay1.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Additional advisory, if you are a UK or Irish citizen but also a citizen of another country, you must use a UK paper to travel to the UK.

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

I do not have time to be polite to friends/ mutuals/ colleagues who are posting those vapid ‘AI caricatures’ of themselves. I can’t say I told you so, when we’re all dead from disaster, be it ecological or geopolitical.

media.tenor.com

a woman in a plaid shirt is making a funny face and saying sorry .

ALT: a woman in a plaid shirt is making a funny face and saying sorry .

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Obsessed with this ‘sorry’ card that seems to have sarcastic vibes?

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Steph Halmhofer @cultarchaeo.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

"I wonder if there's any mention of pseudoarch/related subjects on r/QAnonCasualties..."

Photo zoomed in on an older white man's face. He is trying to smile but with a very pained expression. Text overlaid starts with, "It all started with..." and then mentions several pseudoarchaeological subjects, like Atlantis, Tartaria, Ancient Aliens, History Channel, and so on.

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Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

I spoke with Drs. Azoury & Davis (two plastic surgeons) about my book THE FACEMAKER - about the pioneering surgeon Sir Harold Gillies, who rebuilt soldiers' faces during WWI. His work was utterly transformative. You can listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2411976/epis...

A series of black and white photos showing a soldier's face that has been damaged during the war, along with the reconstructive work and final result.

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Researching the plague for a freelance job and ended up telling the client about how I got royally told off at primary school years old for fiercely (read: loudly) defending the innocence of rats.* *and I'd do it again!!

media.tenor.com

a close up of a white hamster with a red nose .

ALT: a close up of a white hamster with a red nose .

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Alice Wickenden @awickenden.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

The cruelty of making this decision the way that the did, without even the decency of telling people. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Radek Hanus, a mature student in his second year of a nursing course, has lived in Southend for four years. He only found out that the university was closing when he saw an article in the local paper during a shift on his nursing work placement.
"It's a joke," Hanus says. "I've lost two years of time and money and education. People are devastated."
Hanus is registered disabled due to his Crohn's disease. "Commuting to Colchester will cost me something like £800 a month in petrol. How can I possibly afford that?"

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Olivia Weisser @oliviaweisser.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

I had a fun conversation with Miranda Melcher for @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social about my new book THE DREADED POX and all the wild ways to treat a clap in the 1700s. newbooksnetwork.com/the-dreaded-...

newbooksnetwork.com

Olivia Weisser, "The Dreaded Pox: Sex and Disease in Early Modern London" (Cambridge UP, 2026) - New Books Network

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Lucas Haasis @lhaasis.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Dive into maritime history! Join us Monday, Jan 26 (1–2 pm CET) for SHIPS & SEAFARING 1500–1800 with Dr Felix Rösch from Lübeck’s heritage department. Discover the spectacular 17th-century Lübeck shipwreck & its place in North European shipbuilding. Online on Zoom! #archeology #earlymodern #history

Image I: Felix Roesch, diving under water.
Image II: Screenshot, 3D-Animation of the ships and barrels, Video: P. Stencel.
Image III: Real-time visualisations of the discovery site, Photo: B. Krause.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

So, part of my job is to see what people are making of the history of our Hospital. Bethlem partly exists in the gothic, horror-adjacent end of history, and so attracts a certain kind of presentation. Restraints, gore, electrodes, I thought I'd seen it all. Until... ...I stumbled onto this book.

Front cover of 'Bethlem Hospital: A History of Care and Control' by Evelyn Cross. The image shows a Victorian (?) institution viewed through open gates. Two statues stand on the gate posts

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

A year since my dog, Tallulah, died , so I went to the pet shop and paid some treats forward and got to pet sweet puppies. I had my girl almost seventeen years (since I was 12!) it’s weird how old I’ll be when I’ll have missed her more years than I had her. Lots of tears today.

Picture of a shelf with a wooden box of ashes, a lit candle, a bronze coloured dog ornament and a picture of Tallulah with Kate’s husband, Alfred

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Surgeons' Hall Museum @surgeonshall.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

An early example of a breast pump. The glass vacuum cup screws into the cylinder pump for use and has a small release valve to control pressure. There are no manufacturer markings, but it is similar to one shown in S Maw & Sons catalogue of 1866.

A glass vacuum cup and brass cylinder in a mahogany box.

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Emily Rowe @emilyrowe1.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Barnabe Rich explaining that "bookes are like cheese"

Bookes are like Cheese, that is neuer well seasoned to euery mans tast; for one will say it is too salt, another wil say it is too fresh, a thirde will say it is to tart, another thinkes it to be too milde; one will haue it too hard, another too soft, another too tough, another too brittle, it neuer pleaseth euery mans tast; no more do Bookes.

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Fun fact: I eloped to Edinburgh with my husband and the day before I got married I visited Bell's grave in Dean Village to have a chat about how he was an A* wife guy (like my husband) and have a word or two about that handwriting. 😂

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Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

I highly recommend @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social - she transcribed the diary of Joseph Bell for me while I was writing SLEUTH-HOUND. I think she's the only person in the world who can read his atrocious handwriting! She's a brilliant researcher, and she just passed her viva (congrats, Dr. So!)

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

My largest freelance project has come to an end so I am opening my books for this year. I am a historian and heritage professional who collaborates with best-selling authors, award-winning TV production companies, and awe-inspiring venues. Need some research/fact checking/interpretation? 🙋‍♀️📚

drsoandso.co.uk

Explore expert historical consultancy services specializing in health humanities and medical history for engaging historical interpretation.

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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Welcome to our new followers! Looking for historical inspiration (or distraction)? 150 UK galleries, libraries, archives & museums - all active on Bluesky - are highlighted in this new pack. Excellent and diverse collections, info about online events, heritage snark and more. go.bsky.app/Ms7endH

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Kinda sucks how one day you’ll post stuff like “does the Grinch use the toilet?” and then the next it has to be “I reject those who worship death”

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Viva? Completed it ✅ I was so anxious about my viva but oh my goodness…what fun to get a captive audience (aka lovely examiners) to talk to about a topic you’re super passionate about! Thank you very much to @samsonaws.bsky.social and @jonathangibson.bsky.social for being so engaged and kind!

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Lucy Jane Santos @lucyjanesantos.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Well this is rather marvellous.

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