I discovered a new vantage point for the murmuration in Limerick and the starlings put on a great show this evening.

It’s me, chatting about many satellites. Enjoy!

More climate evacuation in Europe

The world, the universe and us is LIVE 🚨 @rowhoop.bsky.social, @pennysarchet.bsky.social and the team on: 🛰️ Elon Musk's plans to launch 1 million satellites 💊 Should we be giving sleep drugs to kids? 🪲 Why global pesticide risk is not improving podfollow.com/the-world-th...

Friday night Mozart!

On Kardashev type II civilisations and data centres in space www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z20p... (with @astrojonny.bsky.social)

Podcast! 💥Elon Musk's proposal for orbital data centres 💥Kids ODing on melatonin-laced gummies 💥Global pesticide threat is growing open.spotify.com/episode/0EUy... with @pennysarchet.bsky.social, @astrojonny.bsky.social @mjflepage.bsky.social

I know this road. People say you start off seeing effects of the climate crisis on TV then you see them in your neighbourhood

Why did levels of planet-warming methane surge during COVID? Partly because lockdowns decreased pollution including NOx, which helps breaks down methane. Makes you wonder what will happen as EVs, solar, wind etc decrease pollution 😬 1/2 www.newscientist.com/article/2514...

I saw the Michelangelo sketches at the British Museum, made when he was an old man of 80 - his is a kind of genius that when you experience it, it transports you. But 17 million for a foot! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If the Ukrainian wrestler Aonishiki (age 21!) gets promoted to yokozuna, the highest rank of sumo, it will be just such an incredible and moving story www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2026/...

This protest has done a good job of communicating that Eni, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, is sponsoring the 2026 Winter Olympics

It's interesting how ~15 years ago we thought the threat from Christianity was confined to distorting the science curriculum, and now it's more about facilitating authoritarianism

@sammyroth.bsky.social reporting that the Post cuts include 14 climate journalists: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/washington...

Since I went to Bubala in Soho I’ve been thinking about the *sensational* vegan food, and will try and recreate the charred mushroom skewers

What a story! "After the call, he passed out from exhaustion" - no shit! Give that lad a medal! www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

£4bn is a rounding error in an economy the size of the UK’s and in return the UK would get a leadership position in booming global industries, enhanced climate resilience and energy security, and multiple co-benefits. It’s a very good deal.

The latest brain-on-a-chip news sees brain organoids get blood vessels m.youtube.com/watch?v=NlCj...

But why do the bots “want” to engage in this social network cross talk? #Moltbook

The world, the universe and us: 🧠Mini human brains grown with blood vessels ☀️The governance paradox of solar geoengineering 🐛Wonders of the "Chinese Burgess Shale" open.spotify.com/episode/7Ie9... with @alecluhn.com @carissacwwong.bsky.social and @pennysarchet.bsky.social

“It’s a species in despair. They’re doing crazy things”: Svalbard polar bears. Here’s one I saw last year.

Some of these fossils from the Huayuan assemblage ("the Chinese Burgess Shale") are amazingly detailed. Over half a billion years old. This is Allonnia, a Cambrian sponge-like animal

“Some people in agribusiness might see a bit of forest as wasted land [they] could go clear. That bit of forest is working really hard to maintain regional rainfall that our bit of agriculture is benefitting from.” www.newscientist.com/article/2513...

I imagined a thin mask made using self-adaptive photochromism material to conceal identity and escape AI surveillance www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

If you need your heart warmed today, this might do the trick

HUGE moment for the EU car market as battery EVs overtake petrol cars for the first time ever But there's no "natural" demand for EVs amirite? Article by @mollylempriere.carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-evs...

Spent a memorable evening looking at glow worms on the shoulder of the giant

Part of the polycrisis is the “governance paradox” of solar geoengineering

Just watching an egret follow a cormorant along the stream apparently hoping for startled fish

Western countries are hitting refugees twice: they are making it harder to claim asylum *and* they are cutting aid to troubled regions. I went to Sudan, the world's worst humanitarian situation, where the UN refugee agency has had to cut half its staff. Please have a read: as.ft.com/r/df593f1e-e...

I loved the role of nature in Hamnet. It's very true to the play: Hamlet understands that life is interconnected, that ecosystems are based on recycling: "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of the worm"

In which I mount my argument that effective altruism is one of the worst ideas the century so far…

Some of Saturn’s moons sculpt its rings with gravity. Here’s Prometheus (right) dragging ripples through the F ring as it passes. Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute #astronomy

Great and ominous example of "life, uh, finds a way" www.newscientist.com/article/2512...

It looks like bare earth because the snowdrops are growing among black mondo grass

You may’ve seen coverage of a new report on the threat to national security from environmental collapse. A common response that’s got my goat is: “Look, it’s not just tree-hugging enviros saying this, it’s hard-nosed spooks!” A short thread on why this framing is bad history & bad politics🧵😡😉

The world, the universe and us is LIVE 🚨 @rowhoop.bsky.social, @abbybeall.bsky.social and the team on the 5 worst ideas of the 21st century: 📱 Social media 🪙 Bitcoin 🌳 Carbon off-sets 🙏 Effective altruism ⛽️ Biofuels podfollow.com/the-world-th...

It's actually quite hard to decide on just which is the worst idea www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnVJ...

Podcast: the worst ideas* of the 21st century 💥Social media 💥Bitcoin 💥Carbon offsets 💥Effective altruism 💥Alternative fuels *(in science and tech) open.spotify.com/episode/0Kbr...

Quick thread on how it is shocking the government has supressed this report, but it is equally shocking that anyone should be surprised by its contents. www.businessgreen.com/news/4524657...

The huge scar on Mars is a canyon system called Valles Marineris. New evidence suggests it was once full of water and connected to a vast ocean.

T rex also had very small hands

A human waves to us from 68,000 years ago www.newscientist.com/article/2512...

China has by far the largest installed capacity of wind turbines at 600 GW 💨

Mark Carney's Davos speech got a lot of praise. This jumped out at me as chimes with theme of my book: "In this world you need a web of connections."

Proofs of TOGETHERNESS just arrived! (Pub June 4 but available for pre-order!)

So... Air Force One lands in Zurich, then Trump flies to Davos on Marine One, then the Beast takes him to the WEF. Presumably Marine One and the Beast get air-freighted, what a palaver

Missed headline opportunity: "These aren't the droids you're looking for" www.nature.com/articles/d41...

For a summary and reactions, here's a report in the Guardian from @fionaharvey.bsky.social. It's frankly terrifying. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Cat wandered in front of the camera during the #aurora long exposure