The Ig Nobel awards for science that makes you laugh then think are back. Highlights this year include the preferred pizza of rainbow lizards at a seaside resort, the physics of perfect pasta dish and a man who documented the growth of a fingernail for 35 years! 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I've got to admit I do want to try the AlterEgo headset out when it's ready. It was great to talk to Arnav Kapur about this tech. 🧪 #science #technology www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🧵1/3 Taking one type of vitamin D supplement (vitamin D2) seems to cut the body's levels of another (vitamin D3) that is more easily used, which could render our immune system a little less effective.🧪 #health #vitamins #supplements #immunity www.newscientist.com/article/2496...

And while on the subject of articles I've written this week, the picture going with this one is a cracker! The story ain't bad either 🧪 #birds #evolution #science www.livescience.com/animals/bird...

This is very cool. If you stretch skin it becomes more permeable. This means we might be able to administer vaccines just by rubbing them into the skin, as long as we stretch the skin first. This one I wrote for @newscientist.com was a fun one. 🧪 #health www.newscientist.com/article/2496...

Oooh, I missed this yesterday. Might put some rewilding in a slightly different light: Harms of introduced large herbivores outweigh benefits to native biodiversity. 🧪 #science #biodiversity #nature #rewilding www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"For almost a century, the world’s brightest scientific minds were drawn to the US...Today, that era seems to be coming to a close. Donald Trump is dismantling the very aspects of US society that once made it so appealing for international talents." 🧪😬 #politics www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Pleased to see a study testing hypothesis that large dinosaurs = ecosystem engineers, impacting (literally) vegetation, which in turn altered rivers. This is a topic covered in the last chapter of my book 'Dinosaurs Without Bones' (2015), titled "Dinosaurian Landscapes and Evolutionary Traces." 🧪🦕

Engineering is not necessarily a profession I'd associate with dinosaurs, but it seems they were pretty good at it. #dinosaurs #geology #ecology #science 🧪🦕 www.newscientist.com/article/2496...

💔 Still can't quite believe it. Mark and I set out to study DNA from the extinct horned crocodile from Madagascar almost 20 years ago and finally succeded in 2021 after many tries. It was always an incredible conversation in his “turret” at the museum. Will miss him very much. ⚒️🌎🧬🦖🕊️🪺🧪❤️

🧵1/4 As a parent of children approaching adolescence in a society where puberty is coming earlier, and kids are having to deal with the minefields of screen and social media while their brains are still maturing, I worry. Especially given the rise in mental health problems in teens 🧪

Spotted some nice parasol mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera) in the Somerset hills today 🍄 #fungi #mushrooms #nature

Put ponds everywhere! Loving this citizen #science project. 302 mini-ponds were given to people in Austria. In the first year, European green toads and 12 other amphibian taxa were recorded at 38% of the sites, and there were signs of reproduction at 10%. 🧪🐸 herpetozoa.pensoft.net/article/1536...

A cocktail of antibodies may give us a new weapon to fight seasonal flu and novel strains that could cause pandemics. The mix protected mice from the effects of various potentially lethal strains of influenza. @newscientist.com #science #health #flu 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2495...

Ever wondered what's in the tens of thousands of barrels of industrial waste that litter the deep ocean floor off Los Angeles? Now we've got a clue what's inside some of them. @livescience.com @livescience.com.web.brid.gy #science #pollution #marinelife 🧪🦑 www.livescience.com/planet-earth...

Such a shame to see Banksy's new artwork on the Royal Courts of Justice being removed. It is subversive graffiti and art at its best, speaking truth to power, comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable. #art #politics #graffiti #news www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UK-peeps: Sunday's #LunarEclipse is going to be tricky as the horizon is mostly in the way 😬 If you're keen not to miss it, try a dress rehearsal: spot the moonrise today/tomorrow & you'll know where to look on Sunday 🤓🔭🧪 Location-specific moonrise 🕰️: www.timeanddate.com/moon/uk/edin... 📷 S. Harvey

Now that is snake-charming 🧪🐍

😲 Every patch of this image is a showstopper. 🤩 Every crop a beauty in and of itself. ICYMI, the NASA/ESA/CSA James #Webb Space Telescope captured this glittering glimpse of starbirth in the core of the nearby Lobster Nebula. 🔭 🧪

I had no idea space weather was a problem for peanut farmers 🧪 @tamithaskov.bsky.social interviewed by @alexwilkins.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2479...

Came across a nice example of dryad's saddle (Polyporus squamosous) bracket fungus today. No dryads sitting on it, unfortunately. I was running, otherwise I would have taken some of the younger bits back for supper. #mushrooms #fungi 🍄 #fungifriends #foraging

The drug rapamycin’s anti-ageing effects could at least partly be due to it preventing DNA damage in our immune cells – an understanding that might help us unleash its potential as a life extender. #health #science #aging #ageing 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2494...

A huge study of 17 different types of human tissue reveals that although the tissues age at different rates, there are some common mechanisms for ageing that we might be able to target for anti-ageing therapies. 🧪 #ageing #science #health #genetics #DNA www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The lovely science community on Bluesky (even without the comparison to the abusive mess on X) has been plain for a long time, but it's nice to have it confirmed by numbers. #science 🧪 #Bluesky #community #socialmedia www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Every wondered how exactly magic mushrooms seem to help treat depression? The psychedelic compound psilocybin (found in the mushrooms) seems to remodel connections in the MOUSE brain and decrease loops linked to repeating negative thoughts. #medicine #health 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2494...

This is a great round-up of almost missed #science stories. Seems crazy that snails that can grow back their eyeballs and good evidence that the Turin Shroud is a medieval forgery didn't make the cut first time. A bizarre number of people still believe the shroud was wrapped around Jesus 🧪

🤩Must Read!!! Amazing article by @chrisnsimms.bsky.social exploring so interestingly the current challenge of deciphering animal communication with IA - featuring the cuttlefish arm wave signs 🦑 - and other fascinating animals 🐬🦜🐋

There's been a lot of talk about being on the verge of cracking animal communication and, like Dr Dolittle, conversing with other species. I dived into the research for @newscientist.com to find out how realistic that is. #science #language #communication 🧪🦑 www.newscientist.com/article/2492...

I do wish political parties would focus on real issues rather than banging on about migration - especially as many countries need migrants to keep key services running. How about having policies on education, healthcare, the economy, climate, crime, tax etc. #politics www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Some lovely examples of Cotylorhiza tuberculata, or the fried egg jellyfish - you can see how they got that common name. They are also known as Aguacuajada in Spain, or just Mediterranean jellyfish. #science #marinelife #mediterranean #jellyfish 🦑🧪

The garden did well today #gardening #fruit #food #photography

Watch Out!

Never-before-seen tubes that seem to connect bacteria and microbes called archaea may indicate how the symbiotic relationship between such species led to the first complex cells more than 2 billion years ago @newscientist.com #science 🧪 #evolution 🦑 www.newscientist.com/article/2492...

Seventh-century England was never an island, not in its people, not in its DNA. This new study shatters the myth: West African ancestry, royal centres, full social inclusion. History speaks clearly, diversity is not new, but forgetting it always is.

This is an extraordinarily cool study: Two unrelated young people buried in cemeteries in Anglo-Saxon times in England probably had grandparents who came from West Africa. It was a joy to cover this for @newscientist.com #science #archaeology #history 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2492...

This is darned impressive. Obviously I'd rather water was actually turned into wine, but having it temporarily look like wine is pretty cool, too. #science #alchemy #chemistry 🧪 It's also amusingly in line with alchemical cons that attempted to convince people they were buying gold not base metal.

The president just issued an executive order asserting new and wide-ranging authority over the issuance of federal grants. This will have huge repercussions for the daily operations of US science. 🧪 Also, lawyers are gonna be lawyering. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Had a fabulous meal at the Pony Chew Valley last night. Worthy of a Michelin star. The Cornish mackerel starter and mussels and clams starter were both superb. The garden salad was beautiful to look at and taste, and wow, that massive sharing steak #food #restaurants #cooking Go there if you can!

Interesting stat in this BBC article: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... There are now more than 700,000 empty homes in England. Of those, 264,884 are "long-term empty". Seems strange when we are always told more homes need to be built due to a housing shortage.

Forget the Floss, the Macarena and the Twist and bring on the Headbang, the Side to side and the Body roll, some of at least 30 dance moves used by captive cockatoos. 🧪 🦜 #birds #dancing #animalbehaviour #science #parrots #cockatoos

This is amazing. And it's not just math talent: she is a mature communicator now. She blossomed when moving from homeschooling to math communities in Chicago and at Berkeley. This is a story that should inspire us. 🧪

Everyone knows ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are bad for you, although the reasons why are harder to understand. 🧪 #health 🧵 1/6

What a story: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Elaborate tattoos of tigers, birds and fantastical animals have been revealed on an ice mummy from over 2000 years ago. 🧪⚒️ #Archaeology #archeology #art www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Aiming to ward off the seemingly inevitable cognitive decline of ageing? A structured mix of exercise, diet, cognitive challenges and social engagement seems to be particularly effective at keeping brains functioning well. #health #ageing #aging 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Sometimes you don't see a fossil for an age and then you come across a beach where there seem to be traces of ancient life everywhere #fossils #ammonites #science #palaeontology 🧪⚒️

The clear outlines of these barnacles on Steep Holm island remind me of HR Giger art. Two types of aliens about to war for the rock? My barnacle knowledge is limited, though. Are these two species? The ones on the right are more stellate than those on the left. 🦑 🧪 #marinelife #invertebrates #ocean

Saw tons of these beautiful Jersey tiger moths (Euplagia quadripunctaria) on buddleia on Steep Holm island yesterday. 🪲🐝🧪🦋 #insects #nature #wildlife #moths #lepidoptera

Loving the picture choice in this story I wrote for for @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2489... Green-headed tanagers are stunning #birds #photography 🧪🪶

The second story of mine that went online today was about how reintroducing wolves in Yellowstone 30 years ago has finally allowed young aspen trees to grow into the forest canopy. It's amazing how long it takes some effects to show. 🧪 #ecology #wolves #rewilding www.livescience.com/animals/land...