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Quick news update for Monday morning… the article I wrote for Financial Times Magazine is online now (with no paywall!) which means that you too can discover how to poke at science with a funny-stick, rather than just a serious one.

It was fun to write and I’ve had a lot of nice comments about it so far, I hope I get a chance to write more bits and pieces like this next year.

In between that, Ada Lovelace Day, and getting our new Festival of the Spoken Nerd tour on sale (Full Frontal Nerdity guaranteed – details for gigs in London and all over the UK are here) I’ve also been filming my first item for the fantastic BBC Two series “Coast”. It’s about the science of roller coasters, so I spent a very jolly Monday in Blackpool in the rain with a fantastic crew, climbing the UK’s tallest ride on foot. Twice. And then going on it more times that I can remember. It was utterly awesome and if you tune in to the next series in Spring 2014 you can see me scream my way around the Big One whilst attempting to explain G forces and camber.

If you want to make sure you don’t miss it, join my mailing list and I’ll let you know when it’s going out on the tellybox.

Next Tuesday I’m quite over-the-moon to be hosting Ada Lovelace Day – LIVE! for the third year running. The whole day is an international celebration of women in science, technology, engineering and maths, with events online and in real life all over the world. It’s named after Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter and the first computer programmer, even though she was born more than 100 years before the first computer was built.

If you’re free on 15th October, head to my old university (Imperial College London!) for a variety night of inspiring talks, science demos, comedy and song. Tickets are £10 with discount code “ukulele” or just £5 for students, concessions and Imperial College staff & friends. Click here to get yours.

If you can’t make it to the show, check findingada.com/book on the 15th to get a copy of the e-book  “A Passion For Science” stacked full of stories about real women of science past and present. With contributions from journalists, authors, scientists and mathematicians both male and female, including my awesome sister Dr Kat Arney. Obviously I’m biased, but even so I think it’s a great read and full of dozens of stories that aren’t heard as often as they should be. My only warning is that if you get it, you’ll find it hard to put down your tablet until it’s finished.

In other news, I performed a bit of my musicy-sciencey-comedy show about finding my “Voice of an Angle” for TEDxLSE earlier this year, and it is now online! Along with a load of other great short talks from the same day including polymath Ella Saltmarsh, sociable physicist Martin Zaltz Austwick and my favourite marine biologist Helen Scales.

If you were falling asleep in front of BBC2 on Friday 9th August around 11pm, you’ll have seen me talking to Gavin Esler about the Ugly Animal Preservation Society and all those endangered species who are blessed with neither large numbers nor classic good looks. 

I’m the one on the right in this screengrab…

UAPS is actually a real thing – and right now, with the help of NSEC, we’re asking the public to choose a new mascot for 2013 and you can vote for it now!

Watch the trailer, or just go straight to vote for my animal of choice, the Awesome Axolotl. Click “like” by 5pm on 11th September and my rare little reptile could be in with a chance.

You’ll recognise a few comedians and friends in the other videos, like Paul Foot, Ellie Taylor, Sarah Bennetto, Steve Mould… if you’re London-based and want to see us pitch our animals in a live comedy night at the Natural History Museum, save 22nd October in your diary and check my gig list for tickets during September.