This contains the quite remarkable fact that Russia has only double the population of the UK. I was convinced they were much bigger. So France + UK is the same population with a much higher GDP. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

We use 30 year averages to show climatology (average weather conditions). During the 20th century the UK climatology followed a path around a confined box. With #globalwarming and #climatechange they have escaped out the box. This #dataviz shows UK rainfall and temperature.

Spoiling a lot of takes but begging a large number of other questions... "Worsening graduate fortunes, it turns out, are a particularly British problem" www.ft.com/content/649d...

Ian Chapman: no move away from applicant-led funding at UKRI. BBSRC funding pause is a temporary - 'a matter of a few weeks' before they move to an always-open system (as at e.g. EPSRC, AHRC). MRC pause will extend to early summer, and then will open again.

Both MRC and BBSRC responsive modes now withdrawn until further notice. Existing applications unlikely to succeed (late 2025 round expecting 1-5% success rate). Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating. Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky

NEWS - The John Innes Centre and Newcastle University to lead new STEM-EDI training project We are proud to announce a new collaboration which will deliver bespoke STEM-based EDI training, tailored for Higher Education and research institutions: www.jic.ac.uk/news/the-joh...

Simon Yates in surprise retirement www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...

As I browse around, I keep an eye out for (what I think) are surprising facts. This 2021 paper estimated that the USA, China and the UK spend USD 2.5 billion on peer review, based on the contribution made by researchers. 🧵

🚨🚨Publication alert🚨🚨 First paper of 2026! We review recent developments in molecular & genetic biomarkers in prostate cancer active surveillance. NIHR Clinical fellow Stephanie Smith @drstephsmith.bsky.social leading the charge. Open access 🧬👇 doi.org/10.3390/gene...

🎉 Happy New Year from UEA! ❄️ Norwich and our beautiful campus are looking magical in the snow today. Stay warm, everyone! Photo 2 credit - @thomasmock.bsky.social

snowy campus today ❄️🌨️ @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social

It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US This view is wrong A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵

A ton of @aptshadow.bsky.social books on humble bundle for cheap! www.humblebundle.com/books/adrian...

[1/24] And here's the first one! As suggested last year by @visualisingdata.com, give your answer as the alt text of an image answering this post so people can keep guessing!

So this happened in Oslo yesterday. Four articulated buses got stuck in a roundabout.

The annual Norwich Medical School Cancer Genetics Team Movember bake sale is on! Come along to the Bob Champion Research and Education building and feed yourself with some tasty treats. @ueamedical.bsky.social

"academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it... The dominant four collectively generated... $12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024."

Enjoyed celebrity traitors. Bit disappointed that Nick and David miss stepped at the end. Who came out of it best, Nick. Who came out of it worst, Jonathan Ross.

Bucks, almost uniquely, favours mayonnaise with chips.* And rightly so. * No, it really won't be salad cream.

It's November, so it's time for the traditional fundraising for Movember. This year I'll be getting a tache named Hank. Please support my fundraiser: movember.com/m/dbrewer?mc...

ONE DAY TO GO. An exciting opportunity has arisen for a senior bioinformatician to join the Cancer Genetics team on the project “Identifying patients with aggressive prostate cancer by detecting molecular subtypes in urine”. 🧬🖥️ . 3 years starting in Feb 2026. Please apply. bit.ly/3Wt3Lk8

My most popular cartoon by a long chalk is also oddly niche, in that it mostly appeals to a generation who remember the song it refers to and enjoy the nostalgia for their youth. I can draw one for you if you like. www.worldofmoose.com/collections/...

Although I would love an alternative system, I don't like how this is being portrayed in the media as an increase in income for universities, rather than just keeping still in real terms. It will require more than this to sort out the dire state of the sector. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Come and join the Cancer Genetics team in the lovely Norwich. We have a three year position for a senior bioinformatician starting in Feb 2026. Click the link for further details. bit.ly/3Wt3Lk8 🧬 🖥️ @prostateukprofs.bsky.social @ueamedical.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social #postdoc

A one year opportunity has arisen for a lab-based molecular scientist to join the Cancer Genetics team on the Prostate Cancer UK funded project “Identifying patients with aggressive prostate cancer by detecting molecular subtypes in urine”. Starting Feb 2026. Please contact me. bit.ly/4o9a6xD

New studentship available in the cancer genetics team at UEA, UK. This PhD is about investigating whether the presence of bacteria is directly causing prostate cancer development.Feb 2025. Stipend and fees available to those that are eligible. @ueamedical.bsky.social www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a senior bioinformatician to join the Cancer Genetics team on the Prostate Cancer UK funded project “Identifying patients with aggressive prostate cancer by detecting molecular subtypes in urine”. 3 years starting in Feb 2026. 🧬🖥️ bit.ly/3Wt3Lk8

As blog about Jade Manning's recent 12-week placement in the Government Office for Science. She is a second-year Microbes, Microbiomes and Bioinformatics PhD student based in our team. www.uea.ac.uk/stories/jade...

A HEROIC Prostate Cancer Precision Health (PCaPH) Africa1K and Pan Prostate Cancer Group (PPCG) collaborative paper where through whole genome interrogation we reveal African specific candidate genes for prostate cancer germline testing, has gone live in @natcomms.nature.com. doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Great result from England Women's rugby team. Made me remember how much I actual enjoy watching rugby union.

Our researchers have shown that colorectal cancer is unique in having its own microbial ‘fingerprint’. Read more 👉 www.uea.ac.uk/about/news/a... #ColorectalCancer #CancerResearch #FightCancer

The first of many I expect. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

A new paper is out from our research team at the @ueamedical.bsky.social at @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social titled "The landscape of microbial associations in human cancer" available from doi.org/10.1126/scit.... Led by @abrahamgihawi.bsky.social 🧬🖥️ @cancerinnorwich.bsky.social

Many thanks to @danbrewer.bsky.social for your support and guidance through the years and to the other co-authors, funders, @genomicsengland.bsky.social and patients that made this work possible.

Last week I was wondering how many jobs in HE are currently being cut (despite ever increasing research, teaching, and admin workloads). Well an article in THE says around 20,000 (paywalled I think) www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-univ...

Sad news: The dataset behind this famous chart on the decline in costs of genome sequencing has had its NIH funding cut. I loved this chart because it was the first that made me appreciate the impact of dataviz. But it also tracked progress towards an ambitious goal ($1000 genome) that succeeded.

England through some how. What luck despite defensive terribleness.

‘England’s higher education system risks long-term decline unless ministers overhaul their “confused, if not incoherent” approach to universities’ FT interview with outgoing @britishacademy.bsky.social President Julia Black where she pulls no punches! www.ft.com/content/3162...

XKCD has a Tukey quote for Tukey's 110th birthday xkcd.com/3104/ Many of his specific inventions have been made obsolete over time, but he was a major contributor to data analysis and visualisation being serious and respectable parts of statistics research

Genomics of host–microbiome interactions in humans www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

Many thanks to Alice Macdonald MP who kindly hosted a Parliamentary Reception, on behalf of the University of East Anglia, last night. The reception was titled "Faster Smarter Earlier – UEA’s Mission to Transform Prostate Cancer Diagnosis" and was a great success. @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social

I gave in! After students asking for it, I now made a simple figure design checklist. To help all scientists w/o graphic skills create clear, accessible, and truthful charts! -> Out in @nature Cell Biology: rdcu.be/erwl4 #DataVisualization #PhD #SciComm Thx for review @bethcimini.bsky.social + 2

So,as a little thought-experiment, tell me something about the United Kingdom that works well and is actually quite impressive. I am not trying to sound like some boosterish politician. I just genuinely believe that making people believe that all is lost is a convenient pretext for shady characters.

This article sums up the funding crisis in universities. - Loss on teaching domestic students - Loss on research - Profit on teaching international students With the Government making it increasingly difficult for international students to get here, so reducing the only profitable arm.

Happy 18th birthday ggplot2! #rstats

Well this is bleak. Looks like another punch to the gut for the university sector is incoming.

It didn't sound like it was pretty, but COYS!!!

Or to put it another way, overseas students now subsidise the cost of teaching each UK undergraduate by an average of £2,500 each. Take them away and you've got an absolutely existential crisis for universities. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pol...

A forthcoming policy from the US NIH will target — and at least temporarily stop — funding to laboratories and hospitals outside the US, threatening thousands of global-health projects and international collaborations on topics such as emerging infectious diseases. https://go.nature.com/4lVmuAv