iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Absolutely joyous scenes at my local park yesterday as two parents across a pathway held up their babies to say ‘look! We dressed ours as a pumpkin too!’

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

We are so lucky to live in such a wonderful world. I also feel lucky to have seen my husband to react to gross bug facts in real time.

Alfred with Connor, Alfred has his mouth open in shock.

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

I used to spend ages vinegaring and varnishing my conkers…and playing them in hidden corners of the playground because the game was banned 😂😂 ✨ I ♥️ connecting with others on the walk. It reminded me what an opportunity nature provides us to slow down, chat, and make new friends.

A shelter constructed from logs and a tree stump

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

They can’t cope with the increasing temperatures and are suffering from predation from moths. Even though the trees aren’t native to the UK, what’s more British than playing conkers?

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

So it blew my mind to learn about yellow meadow ants, ants that farm aphids to eat their sugary waste, called ‘honeydew’. Ant agriculture!!! 🤯🤯🤯 💔 The walk reminded me how important nature is to culture and tradition. Did you know horse chestnut trees are on their way out?

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

🐜 I’ve been thinking a lot about the artificial division we construct between the ‘natural’ world and the ‘human’. When an animal shows a behaviour like tool use, altruism, or grief we often call that animal humanlike rather than thinking of ourselves as animal like.

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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 · 07/09/2026

Its notes are: sage, rosemary, lemon and orange. I would have loved some cloves in there for some real pomander perfumery!

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

If you disagree, then the next time a whiff of your milk takes your breath away…I dare you to pour it on your cornflakes.

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

Things that smell bad can make us sick. Sickness often smells bad too. It’s a perfectly logical line of thinking when you’re unaware of bacteria. We always just doing the best we can with the understanding and information we have.

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

I do have a soft spot for miasma theory. Too often to we look back on the past and think ‘how silly to think good smells would protect from disease. Bad smells don’t make us sick!’ But I think that attitude stinks.

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

But the iconic bird-like mask is an exaggerated early modern form with its roots in comedia dell’arte theatre. For me, it’s a reminder that this the arts and sciences are so inextricably intertwined; story is how we process the world around us.

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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 · 21/08/2026

It could be Tudy but for me the shape of the first letter is more angled than that of Tuesday. The emphasis is on the angle and the loop. How annoying they don’t have another capital J on the page to cross reference. The slant and loop could just be circumstantial and not mean anything too!

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

No! Thankfully. That would be even more mixed messaging 😂😂😂

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

Her stone is laid just infront of St Bartholomew’s gatehouse in West Smithfield. A few steps away from were the pyres were lit. ♥️

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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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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

'Eli, Eli, lama azavtani!' every time I open Outlook

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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

I wish I had the stomach to watch it. It might be a ‘drinking game’ situation, I think!

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

Nellie Dean? She is also a villain!

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

There’s a bit where Lockwood tries to deflect from awkwardness by saying ‘oh you like cats’ and pointing to a pile of furry things and then realises they’re dead rabbits. As someone who has smiled at many a handbag on the tube thinking it was a dog, it gets me every time.

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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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