Here's a selection of Anglo Saxon buildings for your delectation and delight: The remarkably complete C10th Anglo-Saxon tower at All Saints’ church, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire. Worth cracking the photo open to see. #thread #throwbackthursday

In discussion with a computer scientist from the University of Cambridge last night: Me: "you've described some of the things that AI is good at. How would you describe the category of things it's not good at? **pause** Him: "Anything where it has to be right".

Here’s a couple of splendid Eupholus magnificus weevils minding their own business in the forests of New Guinea (photo: Rob de Vos)

That magical moment when the pumice is gently cleared away revealing, for the first time in nearly 2000 years, a white mosaic. #MosaicMonday #Pompeii

Vertical rows are the agrivoltaic winner! “The vertical panels produce slightly less electricity—but with higher value, as generation peaks coincide with morning and late afternoon demand…The crops don't seem to mind the presence of solar panels and they like the wind protection they provide.”

Happy birthday to J.R.R. #Tolkien’s The Hobbit, published #OTD in 1937, with a gorgeous dust jacket and illustrations by Tolkien himself! @tolkiensociety.org @tolkienwonder.bsky.social @uofgfantasy.bsky.social #Hobbit 🐉

Ohh! 🤗 @romanroads.bsky.social have just landed on BlueSky! Bung them a follow. We can't vouch for the quality of their content, but we can guarantee one thing...

If you're on LinkedIn, you'll probably want to switch this toggle to 'off'.

#RomanSiteSaturday The great baths of Mactaris, a old Phoenician town in Tunisia that eventually became a Roman colony These baths are some of the best preserved in all of North Africa. Walls rise to 15m and #mosaics still line the floors! 📸 Mine #archaeology #romanempire #photooftheday 🏺

Pet parrots which typically live alone (whilst those in the wild live in large flocks) were given the technology to call each other. They would use it for up to three hours a day, and developed favourite friends 💔 on.ft.com/3K05vhS

I have emailed Bloomsbury with some questions about their proposed licensing deal for AI training. I’ll publish any response.

On the subject of Melvyn Bragg, I think of this Private Eye cartoon more frequently than I care to admit, when I’m struggling to raise the energy for a lecture or graduate supervision

OMG 😆

I enjoyed this. And what an infectious laugh. ❤️ "Reporter left speechless after witnessing Japan's new $70 million Maglev train in action at 310 mph"

Pecan nuts? What are pecan nuts doing in my Welsh cakes?

The world's largest sand battery just launched in Finland! Developed by Polar Night Energy, this is a massive step for clean energy. It stores 100 MWh of thermal energy in sand, providing cost-effective alternative to LI batteries for long-term heat storage. www.pv-magazine.com/2025/08/28/w...

Why did no one tell me extra Tom Lehrer is available? youtu.be/zxFCQplZgKI?...

It's striking how qualitative evidence around norms, values, and perceptions is frequently neglected within policy processes, whereas it's precisely these things that so often drive political processes. #rgs2025

This sounds insane to speak out loud, but is a real statistic: The global seafood industry kills at least 1 trillion wild fish every year to supply 1% of the world’s food. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

📰 Some more team news! ✨ We are delighted to welcome our new interim programme director, Katie Weeks to Sciencewise. Katie joins after nearly two decades in public engagement and science communication, and having previously led public engagement at the Royal Society. 🧵👇

I signed up!

For #MosaicMonday the mosaic in the so-called winter triclinium of the #Roman villa at Antandros. A kantharos and birds are depicted in the centre of the mosaic. The villa dates back to the 4th c. AD. Antandros is located in the ancient Troas region,... 🧵 1/2 🏺 #archaeology

Velcrow Birds of a feather stick together. www.worldofmoose.com/products/vel...

This looks really interesting

If this was the late 18th century I’d be setting up my easel right now. #Vesuvius

Extreme close of the eye of a Gull for #BirdOfTheDay #birds #thegardenjungle #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #shropshire #UKwildlife #birdphotography #canon #photography

THIS

Everybody's stupid, that's for sure

This is a brilliant piece

Please repost and amplify ! We are hiring a faculty position in Evolutionary Genetics in the Biology Department at U of South Carolina! Check us out and come be our colleague! sc.edu/study/colleg... Deadline for applications is Oct 1 #AcademicJobs #EvoBio

Fresh Dragon. Devon. July 2025. #dragonfly #insect #macromonday #macro #metamorphosis #nature #wildlife #monochrome #blackandwhite #ClassicMono #pentax #pentaxk1 #photography

@gralefrit.bsky.social You have to see these! A friend of mine has been collating a series of images entitled "Things my students have written turned into Philomena Cunk quotes" and they're just glorious.

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The Moel Hebog Shield - a late Bronze Age shield which was found in a bog near Moel Hebog Mountain (Eryri National Park) in 1784. Now part of the collections at the British Museum. 📷 My own. #FindsFriday #Prehistory #Archaeology

There is a type of Roman military equipment that is unique to Britain, and it comprises these enamel-inlaid hinged copper-alloy buckle plates, imitating earlier (pre-Flavian) niello-inlaid belt plates. Always a buckle plate, they probably come from #RomanCavalry belts. #FindsFriday

From @inkcapjournal.bsky.social

In the death registers of early modern Venice, marginalia often marks the cause of death: drawings of daggers for murders, for instance. In 1696, Giovanni Battista Rinaldi was killed by a dog. This is the drawing by his entry.

In 1908, means-tested, non-contributory Old Age Pensions were introduced in Britain, payable from the age of 70. Here, incredibly, are photographs of two of the first citizens to claim them (plus a dog).

This reminds me of a news story about a drowning victim where they were described as 'A very bubbly person'.

You all probably knew this already, but I only learned yesterday that Oxfam sells its books online onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/books/catego...

Farewell to the brilliant Tom Lehrer. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a...

Love these!

Do you have a longstanding desire to know more about medicine in Ptolemaic Egypt, as so many people do? Now you can buy my famously riveting tome for 40% less! (peers hopefully at royalties statement)

A lovely little swallow carved on a limestone plaque over 2,000 years ago. From Egypt, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, 400–30 BC. Met Museum 📷 by me www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #ReliefWednesday #Archaeology

I love this BBC news report in real time of Bannister’s sub-4-minute mile, not least because the voiceover only speaks when there’s informative to convey. youtu.be/Nb5AtK08gPM?...

...approximately 2000 years were carefully removed. The temple is located 60 kilometers south of Luxor. The vestibule (the pronaos) is the only preserved section of the temple. It was constructed in front of the main structure during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius.🧵2/2 📷 D. v. Recklinghausen

Paul Durcan who died on May 17 this year.

This viral “statement” appears to be a fake (screengrabbed from the X account of one P. Enis) but people are piling on because we’ve learned nothing about how to verify information or how public shaming rots the soul

Just spent 10 minutes trying to find this thread of recommended books, so now that I have, here's a boost: