Our very own @rogerhighfield.bsky.social delivered the @royalsociety.org David Attenborough Prize Lecture yesterday, exploring, in 'The battle for reality', how our brains, built for survival not truth, are being exploited in an age of misinformation. Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7FW...

When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it. Anyway: fund basic research.

I know everyone thinks of their youth as a simpler time, but 1999 on the Internet really was a simpler time. 😌

When we're too obsessed with plot and not obsessed enough with story, we risk losing whatever substance mass-produced media has left.

The NHL's first choice for expansion was to continue their sunbelt strategy on the surface of Venus*, but after their scouting team dissolved, they reluctantly tried Europa instead. * TBF, still cooler than Arizona in the summer

My least favorite genre and yet LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

The year is 2127. Most of the Earth is ruled by hyperintelligent raccoons. Britain remains independent, under the reign of King Wetherspoon The Second. And the last British citizen authorized to smoke tobacco is about to die of old age.

There was a goose on the field at Wrigley, they played on

It's OK up to a point. Return of the Jedi: 3rd in a trilogy, makes more sense if you have seen the first two. Fair. Marvel Stupidity War: You have to see 15 movies, 83 hours of TV, and the special re-releases of 3 movies from the first 15 to appreciate the plot, if you still care by then. WTF.

People complain arthouse cinema is inaccessible. But say what you will about Bergman or Tarkovsky or Wong Kar-wai, they never told people to do tens of hours of homework. The Seventh Seal is about a knight in a spiritual battle with Death. That's the background. Simple.

There's actually a fun story behind this: the guy who was NYC superintendent of school buildings from 1891 to 1923 was an architect who believed in holistic learning, and wanted to inspire kids to rise out of poverty by giving them a sense of the possibility of granduer through construction.

Nothing beats that top notch Fanatics quality

SF is great for holding a funhouse mirror up to the present, or giving a new look to old stories. For actual prediction, it sucks. Some fans don't get it. And SF marketing encourages them to not get it -- like a stage magician asked if they really have psychic powers, who just smiles and winks.

CT is not wrong, but much of Canada's Stanley Cup drought is sheer bad luck. 🇨🇦 teams have reached the final 8 times in 32 years (less than you'd expect from 🇨🇦 all else being equal, but not nothing). 5 of those best-of-7 series were decided by 4 games to 3. We just... haven't made it over the top.

CT is not wrong, but much of Canada's Stanley Cup drought is sheer bad luck. 🇨🇦 teams have reached the final 8 times in 32 years (less than you'd expect from 🇨🇦 all else being equal, but not nothing). 5 of those best-of-7 series were decided by 4 games to 3. We just... haven't made it over the top.

SF is great for holding a funhouse mirror up to the present, or giving a new look to old stories. For actual prediction, it sucks. Some fans don't get it. And SF marketing encourages them to not get it -- like a stage magician asked if they really have psychic powers, who just smiles and winks.

Tim Curry, the absolute legend, turns 80 today. This man took huge swings.

Watched Iron Man for the first time in a while. The techbro class have an unhealthy longing to be Tony Stark. Not the more complex character of later movies, but *this* Tony, who has a mommy to clean his clothes; a robot to help him build cool shit; and no need to care about anyone else's opinion.

Agreed. Telling today's kids to read Heinlein is like telling them to listen to Frank Sinatra. (Their careers started in the same year, 1939.) Historically important? Yes. Popular in their time? Undoubtedly. Still have devoted fans? Sure. Relevant today? Not so much.

Of course, AI companies make it worse when they market simulations of dead people as if they were a meaningful connection with those we've lost, instead of a grotesque parody. As Terry Pratchett observed, blurring the line between things and people is the basis of sin.

American Kestrel deep dive. Toronto, Canada, April 17th 2026. Photo by Jose Raposo

NOVICE DEVELOPER: I wrote 25k lines of code. I rule! EXPERIENCED DEVELOPER: We have to maintain 25k lines of code. This sucks. Can we do it with fewer? True of code written by humans, much more so for code generated by an LLM.

Share one of your favorite movie robots!🤖

It's out now! Please send me pics of my book (Up - a scientist's guide to the magic above us) out in the wild (be imaginative if you've got it on audio book or e-reader!) If you hadn't yet got it, it's available at all good bookstores (UK). uk.bookshop.org/shop/DrLucyR...

happy birthday edgar wright ✨

I don't recall any previous transformative technologies that had to be sold to the public so hard. No one in 1999 was going, "Guys. Cell phone? It's coming, whether we like it or not. I think it's important, FOR WOMEN ESPECIALLY, to learn about cell phone. So that we're not left behind!!"

hulk speak for many

I used to show my into students a chart about the uptake of new technologies. If memory serves, it was about 70 years from the invention of the telephone until most US households had one. 50 or so years for the washing machine. If we added a line for gAI it would be basically a vertical.

Yes. What's unusual here is the ability of tech companies to insert AI into existing products, practically overnight. DRM is another example. And I'd add the ongoing drive to push gambling into all aspects of sports coverage.

In case you missed it: first-person video footage of the U.S. Navy Divers Medical Team opening the hatch and entering inside the Orion Integrity capsule to meet the Artemis II heros U.S. Navy Courtesy Asset/ Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group One www.dvidshub.net/video/100269... #Artemis 🧪🔭

WHAT A SHOWDOWN 🤯 The First Round of the #StanleyCup Playoffs will see the /AnaheimDucks face the /EdmontonOilers for the third time ever! Presented by /FDSportsbook

Oilers win! Oilers win! 👏

Nightfall

The Book of Sigourney, Chapter Two, Verse One.

MATT SAVOIE HAT TRICK!!! 🎩🎩🎩

EXHALE! #BlueJays50 FINAL: Blue Jays 9, Brewers 7

This. Give me Lord of the Rings as horror, or steampunk, or samurai movie, or surreal vision quest. Hire Lily Wachowski to give it the goofy Jupiter Ascending treatment. The possibilities are endless. But Andy Serkis doing an inferior Peter Jackson knock-off? Who in heaven's name is this for?

For my math nerds

This is Sadie. She was finally reunited with her human, astronaut Christina Koch, after her mom’s voyage around the moon took her the furthest any human has ever been from their dog. She can't wait to hear all about the universe. 14/10 (IG: astro_christina)

Doctors Without Borders is my charity of choice, not only because they are hands-on providing help in every major (and minor) conflict and catastrophe, but also because they have a very small organisational overhead. Meaning a very large percentage of your donation goes directly to helping people.

Get a password manager. (I usually rec 1Password if you need usability and Bitwarden if you need cheap.) Make the master password long and complex. Then let your password manager generate a random unique password for every site, turn on 2FA if you can, and monitor haveibeenpwned.com for breaches.

"If you were in charge of Star Trek what would you do?" 16 episodes covering an eventful day in the life of a Federation starbase. Done in real time, like The Pitt or 24.

"If you were in charge of Star Trek what would you do?" 16 episodes covering an eventful day in the life of a Federation starbase. Done in real time, like The Pitt or 24.

The four humans who have traveled the furthest from Earth. (Via NASA.)

At last, your own personal Jesus. (But seriously, even as an atheist this gives me the creeps.)

huge thank you to everyone involved in this mission for reminding us of the best of humanity and I am tremendously glad it all went off as planned space is pretty cool and so, in many cases, are people

Artemis II astronauts safely back on Earth!

I hope none of these software men is ever on a jury. 😱

Software is opposite in another way too. Software tells a computer "do this thing". A computer literally cannot disobey its program. Law tells us (roughly) "do not do this thing", then has to look at the full range of human behavior and decide if it is the thing. This is much harder.

Hi, I’m DocHackenbush and I have a Redbubble store where I sell many daft cat-centric designs including these! Thanks for sharing! www.redbubble.com/people/docha...