If your inbox is anything like ours, you’ve probably been getting a whole lot of emails letting you know that that one event you were really looking forward to has been postponed or cancelled.

Sadly, it’s now our turn: our movie night series, Particle Under the Stars, won’t be going ahead right now, although we hope we can bring them back later in the year. If you did buy tickets, keep an eye on your inbox over the next few days for refunds.

But seeing all of these cancellation messages – and now writing one ourselves – got us curious. We dug a little deeper into what was going on, and it turns out there’s a surprising amount of maths involved in making these decisions…

If you’re under quarantine or self-isolation, it’s important to stay home – but thanks to the wonders of the internet, that doesn’t mean you have to stay away from the STEM community! There are plenty of science, tech, engineering and maths events you can participate in from home.

“Social distancing” means avoiding contact with other humans, but it doesn’t have to make you a total shut-in. Most experts reckon that it’s perfectly fine to head out into your backyard or your local park, as long as you avoid other people when you do.

With that in mind, we’ve also gathered up some events which will get you out and about – just so you don’t go completely stir-crazy.

Are you putting together an event people can participate in from home? If you’re livestreaming your lecture, putting your conference on the cloud, or setting up some sweet solo citizen science, we’d love to help people find you!

particle@scitech.org.au