A visit to the #BritishMuseum confirms that the Romans must have played cricket. Here's a statue of a Roman umpire in match regalia giving a batsman out. Billy Bowden notably used the same "Roman" style to dismiss a batsman. #cricket #rome

A long walk in #London today. Maybe 15 years since I last did it, and today's skyline is a bit different. Hyde Park to Marble Arch, to Buckingham Palace, to the South Bank by Westminster and on to Tower Bridge and then back over the river and on to Covent Garden. The weather brought out the crowds.

Those enjoying the #Olympic #curling may (or may not!) enjoy our preprint on the rock physics of curling stones. Not quite out of the peer review process, but it should help you get to sleep after all the excitement 😃 doi.org/10.5194/egus...

Congratulations to the person who designed the seats in the departures area of Luton Airport. Quite astonishingly uncomfortable.

Today is the birthday of the absolute Rolls Royce of fast bowlers - Michael Holding. A graceful run-up and action, searing pace, and absolute aggression. More lately one of the best commentators on the game. One of my favourite players I watched in my youth. #whisperingdeath

As a geologist who likes to read about history and archaeology, it's always a pleasure to be able to contribute to research papers on those topics.

Forza Azzurri! #6Nations #ItavSco A good win for Italy against Scotland in some filthy conditions in Rome.

He was bound to drop that scarf in some time zone or other.

A light dusting of snow on #Edinburgh castle today.

I've just watched the "highlights" from the 5th Test in Sydney. Will Jack's, can't bat, can't bowl, can't field. Potts was bowling like a loose popgun. England a shambles. Travis Head and Steve Smith played well for their tons. This has been a poor #Ashes series - poor cricket and some poor pitches.

York providing the scenery (and pubs) for the Xmas and New Year break.

I can't get excited about England winning at the MCG, even though it's the first win on Australian soil since 2011. It's not that the #Ashes is a dead rubber, it's more that the quality of cricket from both sides at the MCG was dismal. #bbccricket #TMS

Staying in an AirBnB. Very nice, and comfortable. BUT, there are 7 (seven!) pillows on the bed, including the decorative ones that are no f****** use to man nor beast, FFS. There are only 5 coat hangers in the wardrobe. WT actual F? Why would you do that?

... And that concludes this year's synchrotron based research. Four hectic beamtime sessions covering the properties of energetic materials, damage and seismicity in real and synthetic rocks, plus some weird rocks from ocean drilling. I've earned my pint of Three Brewers Porter.

As it turns out, I didn't much enjoy listening to day 2 of #ashes2025 overnight. England's batters covering themselves in glory once again 🙄

Just watched the #Ashes2025 highlights from day 1 in Perth. A ridiculous day of cricket. Some shocking batting by England, although fair play to Mitchell Starc's bowling. Grand, aggressive fast bowling by England to come roaring back. Looking forward to listening to day 2 on the radio overnight.

Salisbury Cathedral today - I was avoiding the fringes of Storm Amy. Spectacular architecture, and Magna Carta (did she die in vain?).

Fake microscopy images generated by AI are indistinguishable from the real thing www.chemistryworld.com/news/fake-mi... #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #AcademicSky #AcademicChatter #Research #Ethics #Microscopy #Nanoscience #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #Misconduct #Fraud

Wainwright pub, Keswick. A pint of Sneck Lifter. Thought I'd never have one again after the Marstons vandalism of Jennings Brewery. Glad to see it back, and brewed independently. A Cumbrian classic. #camra #beer

F*** me gently! ... Just asked for a 1/3 of an imperial stout (just a third, it's 14% ABV after all). Was warned that it's £9 for a third. HOW MUCH!? That's 27 quid a pint! Old codger alert, but I can recall when a fiver bought a night out (including a bag of chips).

British NIMBYism is truly a sight to behold. “We are rejecting this solar farm, because one time I saw an electric vehicle on fire, which reminded me that decades ago a coal mining disaster killed lots of children”.

If you make loud phone calls using speakerphone while in a pub, it could be a sign that you're a c**t.

England were thrashed by SA earlier this week, and today England pulled off a record win against SA. It's like modern sides have little or no batting resilience - once a few wickets are lost, the collapse follows soon after. #bbccricket #tms #cricket #EngvSA

Saw this in the latest edition of Elements. A bit harsh, I think ... Molybdenite isn't *that* boring and it's a useful high temp lubricant (where would experiment al petrology be without it?).

From a pub in Brierly Hill - the Fox and Grapes. This was part of a photo montage celebrating the Baggies, including WBA greats like Cyrille Regis (among others). 1931 FA cup final ( WBA 2 Birmingham 1) ... They don't write advertising strap lines like this any more.

#EngvSwe #Lionesses Never in doubt, that one.

Another reminder today that Test Cricket is the absolute pinnacle of sport. Enthralling drama through the match building to a climax on the final day. #EngvInd #cricket

In a viking themed pub in York (Valhalla) ... The signs on the stairs are obviously in case Odin pops in for a draft of mead. The poor old bugger's got no depth perception, after all. Far less H&S back in the 8th C.

England win by 5 wickets ... But what a test match. Only the third game in history in which both sides have scored more than 350 in each innings. Brilliant by both sides, but ultimately India didn't have the bowling to back up Jasprit Bumrah. #EngvInd #bbccricket #tms

#EngvWI Joe Root, arrives at the crease at 2-2, still there are 312-7. England are Donald-Ducked without him. Rooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!!!!!

The BSL during Finland was sensational #Eurovision

Why did the polar bear have a saucepan? Experience: I fought off a polar bear with a saucepan www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Our new paper doi.org/10.1016/j.jc... on hydrogen/brine flow in #geological porous media is out and open access. Time resolved 2D and 3D imaging at the Diamond Light Source synchrotron reveals Haines jumps, intermittent flow and variable H2 connectivity during two phase flow.

Superb spring day in #Edinburgh, so time for a visit to the Botanics in the sunshine.

New online our group's latest paper using X-ray microtomographic data to study shear band formation in porous sandstone doi.org/10.1016/j.js.... Congratulations to Claudia Elijas-Parra, the lead author, who started this as an internship project.

England just shaded it in Cardiff by 68 points to 14. Good to see England take their chances - sorry to see Wales so weak in so many aspects of the game. #WalvEng #6N

Good to visit the British Museum today - lots of good stuff and nice to see the Assyrian palace friezes open again. Unfortunately the new son et lumiere effects detract from rather than enhance the presentation for me.

Enjoying a pint* of beer after just shy of a week working on I13 at the Diamond Light Source. It's bloody lovely (the beer not the beamline, obviously). 🍺

#EngvFra #6N Never in doubt.

Dearc sgiathanach, one of the largest well-preserved pterosaurs from the Jurassic, now fully analysed! The description of this toothy Scottish fella, hot off the press, hit BMC E&E. But what does it tell us about pterosaurs? 🤔 bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Coming up for one week spent at the Diamond Light Source (I12 JEEP) doing X-ray microtomography experiments to look at the dynamic failure of rocks at elevated pressure. Using our unique acoustic emission controlled x-ray transparent triaxial cell, Mjölnir. #geology #rockphysics #tomography

This cold can do one - started as a low grade snuffle and cough before Xmas, but exploded on New Year's Eve to a full-on streamer with a cough that reminds me to not gargle razor blades. Pulled a muscle in my right shoulder coughing, and turned myself inside out at least once. #manflu

Great Pultney Street, Bath, today- plaque commemorating William Smith's gaff (he of geological map fame), just down the street from where William Wilberforce hung out, and over the road from Louis Napoleon's (the third) former pied a terre. #geology #Bath

Worth a read - the weird world of Sam Smith pubs.

A bit early for #thinsectionthursday, but here's some nicely twinned haematite crystals in reflected light (polars crossed).

I've come to the conclusion that AI is just a Professor Stanley Unwin emulator. Deep joy.

Excellent news! www.theguardian.com/business/202...

How long it takes...

For #thinsectionthursday, a komatiite (unknown locality) photographed using crossed polars, and a tint plate, and packed with skeletal and spinifex olivine crystals. The full sized image is stitched together from a few hundred individual photomicroscope images. #geology

Ah, Letraset! How we made figures for conference posters when I started my PhD. Three years later and Coreldraw 3 had arrived. #ancienthistory