Incredibly satisfying that I go to install Python on my current personal laptop for the first time and see that the latest stable release is 3.14.2 Call that π-thon

Something beautiful for the weekend! ✨ A rare rock crystal tool made by Neanderthals between 200,000 - 40,000 years ago. From a Mousterian level at the Merveilles rockshelter, Sergeac, Dordogne, France. 6 x 3.3 x 1.5 cm. Musée d’Archéologie Nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye 📷 by me #Archaeology

so many of these "here's how our new AI feature would be useful" scenarios sound like they're targeted at, say, an alien who has taken possession of a human body and is desperately trying to pass without anybody noticing

Just a wee reminder that I’ve written some funny books (and co-written a few with awesome authors like @rhi.bsky.social and @ericamarks.bsky.social)!

A cheering thought from @twisteddoodles.bsky.social in this week’s @newscientist.com

Where are the trees? We have A LOT of this landscape and less than 4% native woodland. This should be a rich mosaic of habitats, moor, bog, woodland, montane scrub…We force it to remain in this artificial state. We don’t need to give every inch of our uplands over to sheep, grouse and deer stalking.

109 years ago, on the 17th of January 1917, the United States bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark for 25 million dollars (614 million in 2024) in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies, in which the United States also recognized Denmark’s control over Greenland. #otd #history 🗃️

Bluesky is like what I imagine twitter was like when it started. Twitter is now like a cross between the future in the Terminator when it's run by robots and the Martian red light district in Total Recall.

I can’t stop laughing at this

Sludge built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration

Thank you @justingerdes.bsky.social for calling bull and throwing a dart where it belongs: on the tush of the @politico.com non-specialist reporters so easily spun by the White House.

What the fuck has happened to us in last 10 years? Just imagine John Cena recording this today...

I had such a blast with this book! I recommend it to anyone who loves Pratchett, Christie fun banter, and sleuthing, with a dash of necromancy on the side! @andiewington.bsky.social & @ericamarks

📺 OMG—who made this?! Noah Wyle has a message for all you—vaccine skeptics… Share with a friend who needs to hear it.

I know things are bad, everyone, but at least we are not still on Twitter.

Many humans believe we’re only bi-racially black and white. Another advantage King Penguins have is living with a brown coat for about a year, which even led early sailors to mistake this as a separate species (referred to as Oakum Boys). No matter the color, we’re all critical to thriving as one

A) good B) oh no, all the bots and right-wing trolls will have no one to talk to C) maybe Grok is sulking because if isn’t allowed to do deepfake porn anymore www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...

“Asking scientists to spy on and report on their fellow co-authors” is a “classic hallmark of authoritarianism,” said Jennifer Jones, director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists

Wowsers Elon!

At the root of all our problems stands one travesty: politicians’ surrender to the super-rich, says @georgemonbiot.bsky.social - 0.001% of the global population (56,000 ppl) have three times more wealth than the poorest half of humanity (4,000,000,000 ppl) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research. We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Hats off to whoever did this (and the beautiful model).

Two weeks into 2026. Don’t neglect self care this year dear followers! Book yourself a massage. Do it. Do it now.

Islanders are encouraged to share their feedback in a consultation about public buildings. The findings will inform the property management team in ensuring that our public estate is fit for purpose & supports the best possible standards for current & future public services. www.gov.je/consultations

Positivity Is Not Magic—Yet It Is Utterly Magical: I'm not advocating for superficial positivity that ignores difficult emotions. I'm championing emotional equilibrium where we honor both light and shadow, where sadness coexists with joy. Read more: gurdeeppandher.substack.com/p/positivity...

Reports of Heard Island teenagers performing a viral move being called “ICE defeats Ice”. Masks do soften the blow to the head and conceal tears, so teens should weigh the pros and cons of this.

We are suing the US Gov for their deeply disturbing obsession with any island except the Epstein Island. Waiting to announce if @muellershewrote.com or @marcelias.bsky.social will perform as Amicus Curiae or Co-Counsel.

NASA say that the crew member who was ill and returned to earth is doing well and now having a meal with colleagues.

This is what decline looks like. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...

And invests no money in content or creators or any infrastructure of programme making, does no training, cannot support collaborative projects efficiently, and has an opaque payment system that mitigates against what the public would understand as “making television”.

We have an STFC-funded PhD project at the @nhm-london.bsky.social. Work with me, @joemcneil.bsky.social, @katie-h-joy.bsky.social, and Gareth Collins, and share in the fun of secondary impact craters and landing sites! tinyurl.com/nez8dzsy

pete on pete cage-match is a solution I am now increasingly open to

I just finished O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade and what a brilliant book. Beautifully captured the world of Yorubaland and its mythology. And the ending had me smiling for the rest of the day. Well worth a read. 😘

Undergraduates: Curious about a career in astronomy? 🔭 Take your first step with @cambridgeastro.bsky.social’s Summer Internship Programme and gain 8 weeks of research experience. Applications from underrepresented groups in astronomy are encouraged. Apply by 27 February 👇 https://bit.ly/4qYR0LD

The FBI searched the home of a Washington Post reporter seeking classified state documents. Nothing she wrote about could be considered classified. They simply want to suppress dissent via intimidation. Don't let them. Here is what she wrote. Please share. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Your brain is a hallucination engine. Feed it a steady diet of shit, and it will build you a shit world. So what happens when you change what you feed it? www.kameronhurley.com/were-fucked-...

Several Canadian news orgs have already left X, but I believe @pressprogress.ca may be the first to adopt a policy setting standards around use of digital platforms We think it's time news orgs stop prioritizing clicks and start requiring higher standards from these platforms

📽️ 19 Climate Actions - ranked personal #ClimateAction we can all take today! PL RP🩷💚💙 full #video with more detail▶️https://youtu.be/Xia2dKtHHCg report @worldresources.bsky.social 📖 wri.org/research/eff... #ClimateChange #ClimateActionNow #ActOnClimate #climate #environment #hope #cleanenergy

Paid summer research internships in Oxford! Work with me on biodiversity in school grounds (or with someone else on another project). 🧪 #UNIQplus is open to UK undergraduates from under-represented and disadvantaged backgrounds. 📆 Applications due 18 Feb: www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/g... 🌍 #AcademicSky

Safe from a nuclear bomb, but unsafe from fossil fuels.

Mike here doing the good work as to why the numbers plastered across certain newspapers are absolute baloney. TLTR: they've only looking at half the equation.

This thread responds to Prof. Christian Dunn’s Telegraph piece on #climate communication. I argue it misdiagnoses public disengagement, underplays escalating scientific risk, & reproduces a media narrative that has actively shaped, not merely reflected, public resistance to climate action 🧵

Criticism, opposition and activist pushback against the excessive and unjustified over-deployment of genAI matters. If you want proof, here's two ultra-rich and unstoppably successful tech CEOs begging us to stop gizmodo.com/jensen-huang...

This is genuine Jaw-droppingly, horrifyingly real

No checks. No balances. Politics Is Broken podcast out now

Help the SciArt Feed 🐡 reach 5,000 subscribers! The intersection of art & science. No generative AI, no NFTs; a curated Feed of great visual art by skilled people. 🧡 Please share, pin & like today:

This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.

Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.