Hard agree.

I know a newsletter he might enjoy! www.independent.co.uk/sport/genera...

💀 The most harrowing film I have ever watched.

I've said it before on here but my favourite thing in London = Regent's Canal. Just spend a day strolling the towpath right through the city. Trees, birds, parks, cafes. It's utterly fantastic. And fascinating - in its time, the canal was a commercial failure! But it's here for us to enjoy.

Love the September spiders. There are loads this year!

"espresso yourself" eu.usatoday.com/story/life/h...

"The BBC has seen internal crisis communications from staff inside Heathrow Airport which urges airlines to continue to use manual workarounds to board and check in passengers as the recovery is ongoing." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Blimey. (For those who don't know, the concrete block mica scandal has been DISASTROUS in parts of Ireland.) Separately, I'm wondering if there are there kids books about climate disasters? Like, what extreme weather etc. could do to your house / community. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As discussed here, also www.thereengineer.pro/p/like-prote...

Today's job is replacing this frankly apocalyptic guttering on our garage...

I have experienced the soothing waters of the blue lagoon! It's certainly a unique experience. Especially at night in the winter.

If handwritten boarding passes are being handed out, it wouldn't be the first time in recent history! BBC News - How pen and paper comes to the rescue in an IT crisis www.bbc.com/news/article...

As discussed here, also www.thereengineer.pro/p/like-prote...

The NHS would be happy - that's comfortably below 14 units a week!

Using DNA analysis, scientists linked the same shark to two bites on people. Now, they want to find it, work they hope could help save other sharks' lives. Join us as we explore if it's possible To Catch a Killer Shark by @chrisbaraniuk.com www.biographic.com/to-catch-a-k...

Hungary for more?

Yeah so Animagraffs just put out an 84 minute 3D rendered documentary featuring incredible detail about the Golden Gate bridge. youtu.be/RjbJwnUd3Pw?...

November is not really a cold month anymore here in Belfast. I remember winter setting in much harder (though snow has long been rare in our mild climate here - it's just even rarer now). Van Morrison sings about a "cold November day" in the song Celtic Ray. Seems odd now.

Bought a new office chair. Nothing fancy but... much better than the 2nd hand old dining chair with a hard seat and zero lower back support I'd been using. I should have done this sooner. My back has not been happy lately. Just so you know the pain I've endured to bring my stories to you. 😂

Wildfire smoke now kills more Americans than car crashes—41,000 people per year. For decades air quality has been improving, but not anymore. It won't help that the Trump administration is loosening regulations on factory & power plant emissions. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

NEW: Do "problem sharks" exist? And, if they do... can / should we catch 'em? I wrote about some controversial but, I have to say, fascinating new research on this topic. www.biographic.com/to-catch-a-k...

Totally agree. I wouldn't be able to write about this stuff if I thought there was no hope. Also, it's why engineering fascinates me so. People love solving problems. Humans, at their best, are good at that!

Were Lorraine Chase and Campari wafted here from Paradise in 1976?

Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated 6 million tonnes of tire fragments. These tiny flakes of plastic, generated by normal driving, account for 28% of microplastics entering the environment globally. Heavy vehicles eg SUVs/EVs especially. Via @us.theconversation.com

The BBC have a nice article about people who hunt down CRT TVs. 📺

In a not-so-hard-to-imagine alternate timeline, Gabrielle's still struggling to become the next Atlantic tropical cyclone. Even so, Gabrielle's formation yesterday ended a 20-day active storm drought, the likes of which we haven't seen in at least 86 years. ⬇️

"Your Party?" "Actually it's my party" "No! it's *MY* PARTY!!"

Being able to predict with greater accuracy when renewable energy will be available, along with how demand will fluctuate, makes it easier to turn the grid green. www.thereengineer.pro/p/like-prote...

Incredible tech, this. “Guardian is designed to detect atmospheric ripples created when tsunamis displace massive volumes of ocean water. These movements push air upward, sending waves into the ionosphere." timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/caug...

I'll be on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio in a few minutes discussing this story... www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

NEW: I take a look at the rise of AI as a - genuinely very important - tool for managing increasingly complicated electricity grids. I'm not sure the energy transition can happen fast enough without it! www.thereengineer.pro/p/like-prote...

NEW: I take a look at the rise of AI as a - genuinely very important - tool for managing increasingly complicated electricity grids. I'm not sure the energy transition can happen fast enough without it! www.thereengineer.pro/p/like-prote...

I've heard various lovely, easy going jazz recordings featuring Chris Thile playing mandolin but, I confess, I didn't realise he was *this* good. youtu.be/NsPKkAXFVn8?...

Art and science collide on the canvas in this Jackson Pollock painting mystery I wrote about for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

1) New paper! Replacing US fossil-fueled vehicles & appliances with electric versions could improve health & climate outcomes, but could cost up to $790 billion in distribution grid reinforcement. Strategic demand-side management could cut 2/3 of those costs.🔌💡 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Anyone else getting a *crazy* number of sponsored links in Google search results lately? Like, 90% of the first page at times?

Here's a story you should read: www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic... I was very happy to edit it. Beautiful photographs as well!

Here's a story you should read: www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic... I was very happy to edit it. Beautiful photographs as well!

The current largest installed wind turbine is 26MW (that's gigantic btw - it has a rotor diameter as wide as London's Shard is tall). But there are plenty of signs that we will see turbines significantly bigger than that fairly soon... share.google/FHxWdy8rr24x...

Decent primer on why retrofitting insulation comes with some risks (but it's still a good thing to do if you can do it right!) Also, refers to "the 2013 Preston external wall insulation debacle" 🫣 share.google/uCvD7o48WASN...

Question: are there any reliable estimates for how energy use by data centres varies through the day? I read a lot about them needing to be on 24/7, but does energy demand stay constant through the day? Or does it fluctuate with demand? And how does this compare to the rest of the grid?

Woah

“Just think about that. Emissions from human activities, and human pumping of groundwater, is significant enough to alter the very motion of our planet.” www.thereengineer.pro/p/how-we-wor...

I would just like to point out that this is a spectacular choice of cover image for this story.

Could not be more timely: @brendankoerner.bsky.social goes inside the world of the most prolific destroyer of US tech infrastructure, a guy whose vague internet 5G brainrot put him in prison-and he still clings to conspiracy. This is the shape of political violence now www.wired.com/story/22-cel...

The Natural has been on my list to watch for ages - it just got bumped to the top.

Ah, sad news that Robert Redford has died. One of the greats. From Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to Sneakers to A River Runs Through it - what an incredible, diverse career.

One of the publications I'm proud to have written for occasionally is Atmos. If you don't know it, check it out. Beautiful design, too. atmos.earth

Adolescence is in the news again - congrats to Owen Cooper on his Emmy win! Here's the story I wrote in May about the camera tech that made the show's one-take episodes possible: www.bbc.com/news/article...

I always enjoy reading about Rockall share.google/ob9bHiOHdXnZ...