To combat the new, more infectious Covid variant, Boris Johnson announces a national lockdown for England until at least mid-February. / ABC News

California, Colorado, and Florida have confirmed cases of the new, more infectious Covid variant. / CNBC

Battling a Covid surge, Los Angeles County ambulance crews have been told not to transport patients with little chance of survival. / CNN

See also: Homeless sites in LA are being "overwhelmed" by Covid cases. / Los Angeles Times

“While cases in New York were doubling every three days, and doctors were treating patients in tents in Central Park, [Trump] declared that he wanted America ‘raring to go’ by Easter.” An in-depth look back at America’s plague year. / The New Yorker

In an apparent move to pressure Biden to negotiate, Iran increases uranium enrichment to pre-2015 levels and seizes a South Korean tanker. / Associated Press

"Election results if electoral votes were apportioned by forms of gerrymandering other than Congressional districts." / McSweeney's

A physicist argues that Earth was visited by alien technology in 2017, with the observation of "Oumuamua." / Yahoo!

The average colors of various bodies in our solar system. / The Morning News

Create a Sol LeWitt-style cutout between street addresses. / Between the Places

TMN and the Tournament of Books need your support. Please consider becoming a Sustaining Member today! / TMN Membership

Violinists synchronizing while wearing noise-cancelling headphones show how human networks differ from other types of networks. / Ars Technica

Music listening increased by 8.2% during lockdown, while sales of individual albums went down. / BBC

"You've no idea of the amount of time I spent recording fans." How white-noise creators are gaming Spotify. / OneZero

“I would read with pleasure around 4 a.m., with my drugs and whiskey in cheap motels, savoring the clash of beliefs, personalities, and values.” From 1995, Iggy Pop’s review of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. / JSTOR

An AI-created album in the style of the Beatles. / The Morning News

Birds' breeding cycles are adapting to climate change—but as temperatures rise and shift, they won't be able to keep up. / The Guardian

What it sounds like when a pink oyster mushroom is attached to a modular synthesizer. / The Morning News

Flowers and greenery frozen into sculptures, by Makoto Azuma. / Colossal