In recent weeks, ambient modular synth videos have started popping up more frequently on YouTube. The videos center on the gear, with hands coming in and out of frame to slowly adjust a knob or push a fader. Amid the hypnotic sounds, there’s oodles of multi-colored cables, glowing lights, and more often than not, a bit of decor.

Bad news for Magna ...

Normal activity by the Ukulele Orchestra GB is of course currently suspended owing to the measures introduced in response to the Covid-19 virus. One hopes that something like normal activity will resume eventually, though of course there may be unforeseen long-term consequences.

For the moment we are all in our own homes. The performers in the orchestra are finding ways to make music together. They have been interacting.

Viewers who enjoy the orchestra’s unique blend of friendliness, entertainment, humour, anarchy and “infotainment” (which is sometimes known as “utter piffle”), may enjoy the videos and other material which have been assembled for episodes of the orchestra’s “Ukulele Lockdown”.

Perhaps we could all benefit from some joy, fun, life-affirming sentiment, morale-boosting solidarity and an antidote to isolation, fear, boredom, doom, gloom and feelings of pointlessness.

Join the orchestra for a laugh, a song, and a way of connecting with others which doesn’t involve potentially risky social proximity. Stay at home but join the orchestra as they find ways to tap their toes and make beautiful music together.

We are lining up videos of the orchestra, solo appearances, Q&A sessions and other interactive elements. Link up with us if you like this. There is more to come every week.

In this episode of "What Makes this Song Great?" we explore the music of David Bowie.

Love the details. Would LOVE to have that knowledge myself ....

Coronavirus was a test, and many of the world’s most advanced nations have all too visibly failed. What can we do better?

Amazon wird vorgeworfen, Arbeiter in der Coronakrise unzureichend zu schützen. Ein Gericht in Frankreich schränkte die Lagerarbeit des Konzerns deshalb ein.

Participants are ‘folding proteins’ on home PCs, a task that could prove instrumental in tackling disease

In Niedersachsen geht die Polizei hart gegen Demonstrant*innen vor, obwohl sie auf den Infektionsschutz achten – die Polizei hingegen nicht.

Scientists say one-time lockdown will not bring pandemic under control

Data from early hotspots in US and Italy suggests social network could help identify at-risk areas

Abstand halten lautet das oberste Gebot im Kampf gegen Corona. Beim Besuch von Jens Spahn in der Gießener Uniklinik geriet das in den Hintergrund. Der Gesundheitsminister drängte sich mit anderen Politikern in einen Fahrstuhl.

A third employee was asked not to return to work.

Im Interview spricht der Biomathematiker Joachim Hermisson, der aktuell mit Kollegen die Bundesregierung zu COVID-19 berät, über die Hintergründe des viel zitierten Expertenpapiers. Insgesamt funktionieren die Maßnahmen, aber man sei noch weit weg von einer Normalität.

“Alternate history, in my opinion, is a more demanding game,” says the author of “Agency” and other science fiction novels, “if only because conventional historical fiction, like history, is itself highly speculative.”

"Regulierte Ausbreitung" versus "konsequente Eindämmung" - diese Strategien stehen sich im Kampf gegen Corona gegenüber. Welcher Weg zerstört mehr von dem, was uns wichtig ist im Leben?

The covid-19 pandemic could leave the world poorer, more divided and less prepared to confront the rapidly rising threat of global warming.

New Jersey, Connecticut, and Kansas are among the states whose unempoyment systems are being overwhelmed with new claims, and the systems run on old computer language that stopped being taught befo…

Want to avoid being seen by person-recognizing camera systems? Wear a shirt printed with a complex, confusing image that looks like a mangled JPG of a crowd scene. The bright adversarial pattern, w…

In time, once this crisis is over, there will be a reckoning. The professions must reflect deeply about their future. In weeks to come, a transformation will continue to take place in the professions that most would have dismissed last year as fanciful. It is hard to believe we will go back to our old ways. For now, though, this should not be our concern. We must do whatever we can to deliver professional services digitally, and quickly, because this will be immeasurably better than the alternative – which is to deliver nothing at all.

In the age of IT automation and self-provisioning, the role of the I&O team comes into question. Principal Analyst Charles Betz provides a detailed outlook on I&O’s future.