The largest study so far into the genetics of chronic fatigue syndrome, or myalgic encephalomyelitis, has implicated 259 genes – six times more than those identified just four months ago

It's easy to assume that the most talented adults among us were once gifted children, but it turns out that talent during childhood is no guide to later success

In a world that appears ever more divided, ever more angry, ever more willing to embrace the obvious annihilistic option we refuse to give up on the premise that most #people are #decent. That most people #care deeply. Maybe we can #unite over #bees? #repost 14/14 Part 1/n

This year has shown the real impact of practical, values-led policy to deliver change across the country and in our communities.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 867: Don't make your writing all about you. Leave some space for your readers to also make it about themselves.

More sandbanks at low tide seen from a drone - this time over the Kyle of Tongue. #Scotland #DronePhotography #DJIMavic3Pro #AwesomeFoursome

😸 ... Animaux venimeux et venins: la fonction venimeuse chez tous les animaux;. Paris, Masson & co., [1922]. [Source]

It is grotesque being in India and seeing the inflammatory glee with which Hindu supremacists have reacted to the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh, after ten years of lynching Muslims (& other minorities, & oppressed castes) every other day. Absolutely vile.

Different birds have different flight patterns. The pileated woodpecker's flight pattern is bird - missile - bird - missile. Southeast Texas, December 2025. #Birds #BirdsInFlight #Woodpeckers #Photography #NaturePhotography #BirdPhotography #TexasStateParks

Turns out people still actually link climate change to stuff happening in their actual lives and care about action being taken on it, despite the now widespread idea that we need to stop mentioning it to be successful www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

From the archives in 2022. Coastal Access Monarch Butterfly Preserve, Los Osos, California. There were a few hundred Monarch butterflies when we visited. Wonderful Eucalyptus grove with benches in the center so you can sit and watch the butterflies float. #PlantMilkweed!

I'd go a bit further than this and say that Americans should just shut the fuck up about the governance of any other country altogether.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 780: Don't ask yourself if you used the right words. Ask what you made the reader feel.

Twitter (no, we’re still not calling it X) under Musk has built a business model on outrage, half-truths and lies, but Community Notes remain a rare bright spot that showcase the power of informed people pushing back against fake news. We've rounded up some of our favourites to brighten your day. 😂

A quick google informs me that after this surge, Australia provides about 4% of our beef imports, and our beef imports are about 25% of our consumption. So this headline is basically saying “anger as 0.6% becomes 1% of total” and I’m not sure that’s particularly justifiable

Ha, I come across as a bit of an idiot in this lovely article by @patrickbarkham.bsky.social but that's okay - I am happy to be the daft amateur next to the proper birders. I do really know the difference between a song thrush and a female blackbird, honestly... www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Thanks to Katherine Winnick @thewovenwords.bsky.social for including my ku in Shadow Pond’s great new issue. shadowpondjournal.blogspot.com/2025/12/shad... @literarycommunity.bsky.social @rodmannix.bsky.social @literaryreport.bsky.social @literarybulletin.bsky.social @blueskypoetry.bsky.social

My second Northern lights ever N from Dornach #Aurora #NoFilter

“I’ll totally do some reading/writing on my lunch break” is a lie I tell myself every morning as I stuff a book and notebook into my already heavy tote bag

Wish I had a cat then I'd get many more likes- a dog would do too #Senryu #Micropoetry #Poetry #PoetsOfBlueSky #BlueSkyPoets #HumourPoetry #MetaPoetry #SocialMediaLife #vss365 #satire #cat #dog

A momentary pause

Eamon MacMahon eamonmacmahon.com

On the first day of Christmas (in about 2014), @duckswabber.bsky.social gave to me - a partridge in a pear tree. Happy Christmas everyone!

And to be fair: poets are some of the most interesting people, ever. Writers. Artists. I really love us. Stay weird. Stay revising. Use that revision knife.

Then the whole world was the whale’s; and, king of creation, he left his wake along the present lines of the Andes and the Himmalehs.

I'll always be proud to be a part of the wonderful @iambapoet.com 🤍

A very confiding Red-breasted Nuthatch from Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota #USA #birds #birding #winterbirding

Indeed: this is what I call 'Victorian values'! Charlie, Fritz & Topsy. (IYK,YK)

Game boss: "I AM GUN GUY, THE GUY WHO SHOOTS THINGS WITH A GUN!" *Defeats Gun Guy* Gun Guy: "I...only...killed...because I was...sad." *dies* Dude gamers: "This is the deepest story ever. No other art could tell a story like this. I am changed by this experience."

Carol of the Bells wasn't just a song — it was Ukraine's wildest bet against Russia. In 1919, Russian forces were closing in on Kyiv. Ukraine's dying government sent its best choir to Europe with $20 million from its last funds. Win Western hearts. Survive. The choir fled on the last train out.

the greatest love of all

For Xmas I’m breaking up with OpenAI. Done with their chatbot’s incessant bullshit. chatGPT being used for harm in so many ways. I’m out.

Just about to start my Christmas reading #BookOfDust the Rose field.

Sending out tendrils and quilted ripples of love to the photographers & book people of Bluesky! Thank you❣️ For life in my world is forever improved by your images and thoughtful contributions. 🪾🕊️ #photography #naturephotography #5amwritersclub #booksky #writingcommunity

A clumpy galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the GOODS-S-FULLDEPTH survey. It is at redshift 0.68 (lookback time 6.39 billion years) with coordinates (53.20918, -27.93122). 40 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

US coal generation has collapsed from about 50% of electricity in 2005 to just 14% today. It’s one of the fastest energy transitions in modern history. Operating a coal plant now costs more than building new wind and solar in every state. buff.ly/lhSKS7D #ShareGoodNewsToo

A merry Christmas to you all—be safe and well; I know this is a complex holiday with many feelings. Be good to yourselves today.

Introducing the New VEILIO Fountain Pens with Shimmering Features#Japan#Minato#Sailor_Pen#VEILIO#Acrylic_Material

We are seeking poems that perform Olympic feats with language that leave the reader in wonder while still referring back to the basic things that make us human. Send us work that uniquely explores January’s theme of “sound.” buff.ly/UAmVyIj #writingcommunity

Do you struggle to get gifts for family members who have everything? Try this hot new gift idea for 2025: giving everyone in your whole extended family the gift of obligatory cPTSD therapy/treatment, so future holidays will be way less stressful than this

Poetic Things The glimpse of a bronze box The sight of a bear in the summer shade The glimpse of a sleeve #JAPAN

Here they go again, the Orgreave police, the Hillsborough police, the Lawrence police, the Sarah Everard police. Applying a risk assessment determining that among the thousands of laws they could enforce (& often don’t) to prioritise this one - & to do so incorrectly. 2025. Under Labour Pathetic

How long is 1:15 h in botany mode?

Statistically the history of this species is the oppression or slaughter of humanity by a minority of men in the name of personal profit or deluded ideology. This will never change. And we'll always have science, culture, art and God Only Knows to remind us of the species we could have been.

This is a thread about #poetry and how making the habit of a #dailywarmup has altered my entire means of creation. I took time every day. I did nothing else but write, and after a month of doing this I began to see a real improvement in my ability to create. The key for me was the consistency.

#SomethingBeautiful for everyone but especially if you need a late gift. Glorious pictures from Yorkshire, dispatched "right up to Christmas." www.robertefuller.com/blogs/blog/a...

mulberry dreams spring all the hopes wrapped into buds bound tight on branches #nature #NaturePhotography #naturelovers #poetry #naturewriters #poetrycommunity #haiku #writerscommunity #notAI #psychogeography #landscape #mapping #mindfulness #noticing #botany #glimmerings #bloomscrolling

🖼️ Judy Garfin

These seasonal sensations from The Storms V subeditor, @rhonagreene.bsky.social, are indeed time forgotten deep buried relics that enrapture like radiant whispers, feather-light symphonies. The latest @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social Silver Branch dazzles under the enchantment of this finest light!