florence pew: thread

Sky at Night always used to have an early repeat - and we're back, with our collaboration with the Curious Cases team on at 7pm tomorrow on BBC4. Please watch if you possibly can - support your local science program! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Every time I come home to North Wales the train I book back to London is cancelled. The only thing that is reliable is the unreliability! So much for my booked seat tomorrow 😞

With a few of my colleagues, I recently visited the National Quantum Computing Centre, NQCC. Had a fascinating chat with Luke Fernley about his work there, using laser beams to wrangle atoms to carry out quantum computations. More here, in this blog: blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/how-lasers-a...

Happy birthday to the only two women with elements named after them on the periodic table: #MarieCurie & #LiseMeitner. As I do every year, I will once again repeat my proposal that November 7 should be International #WomenInSTEM Day! #histSTM #chemistry #physics #OnThisDay #OTD #PeriodicTable👩‍🔬🗃️📜

“Fantasy is nearer to poetry, to mysticism, and to insanity than naturalistic fiction is. It is a wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe. And their guides, the writers of fantasy, should take their responsibilities seriously." From Elfland to Poughkeepsie, Ursula K Le Guin

The legend that is the Japanese Ambassador to the UK enjoying a bowl of Scouse in Liverpool

This is such welcome news! Can't wait to see the first shortlist!

I love this cartoon, I reckon it's pretty realistic of how it really happened ;) chazhutton.com

I have actually been thinking for a while that a modern sequel to The Blob as a climate horror, in the right hands, could be great.

Congratulations to Vajra Chandrasekera (@vajra.me), recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for Rakesfall! Chandrasekera's book was chosen by authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.

Absolute gold @hellohistoria.bsky.social

With the AWS outage, now‘s as good a time as any to post this old strip.

Edinburgh castle failing to render, likely thanks to the AWS outage

A weird question for my museum collections nerds on a Monday: Human Hair in collections. Who's thinking about/ writing about/ discussing this? What hair have you got? How do you approach potential sensitivities? Please share far and wide! #Museums #Collections #CulturalHeritage

Check out our recent blog post all about 'The Embedding' by Ian Watson and a fascinating look at how the author explores linguistics alongside science fiction. Read student Jonathan Thornton's blog: https://orlo.uk/UqgDO #livunilibrary #livuni #specialcollections #voyager #sciencefiction

Lovely day trip to Bath today, soaking up the autumnal vibes, browsing book shops, and visiting some lovely pubs and cafes, hunting ghost signs 🍂🍃🍁🍂

On Tuesday, October 21st—Ursula's birthday—we'll announce the recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction! Join Theo Downes-Le Guin and guest host Ebon Moss-Bachrach on YouTube for a live announcement at 9 am PDT. The announcement will happen here: www.youtube.com/@ursula.k.le...

Alan Garner is 91 today. A brilliant and unique author. His books have inspired and enchanted me since I read The Weirdstone of Brisingamen at the age of 11. Here is my treasured copy of Red Shift. The Le Guin quote on the cover is wholly accurate.

Nobody asked me for an acceptance speech, but I have one anyway, because what the heck; because I respect the thankless work the @theignyteawards.bsky.social does each year; because I'm glad for good trouble; because I'm honoured to be honoured. suyidavies.com/updates/lost... #2025IgnyteAwards

Got my copy on pre-order!

In memoriam...

We're excited to reveal the #WolfsonHistoryPrize 2025 shortlist, celebrating the finest historical non-fiction works from the past year. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors! 👏📚 www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk/2025-wolfson...

Sad to hear about the passing of Jane Goodall, I had the absolute joy of seeing her speak recently at a Science Museum event and without notes or hesitation she was sharp, funny, every story perfectly formed, in a way I struggle to be now let alone at 91! www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Some good news. London is meeting legal limits for toxic NO2 pollution for the first time – almost 200 years earlier than predicted – following the Mayor’s "world leading air pollution policies," City Hall announces. The Ultra Low Emissions Zone - and similar policies - really do work.

Had a beautiful day at @sipwiltshire.bsky.social today visiting the brilliant teams who look after our collections in storage, you would not know that it is October tomorrow - it was almost t-shirt weather!

Alien, 1979. (Directed by Ridley Scott)

Nature is healing

the Command & Conquer series is 30 years old today we so have an excuse to share this iconic moment with Tim Curry

News | Science Museum launches Space gallery – new permanent exhibition is part of a wider project to rework the ground floor of the London museum

The team have done a fantastic job with our new Space Gallery, the objects look gorgeous - these photos almost don't do them justice! - and some great stories woven throughout. We are now the only museum in the world where you can see an Apollo command module alongside a Soyuz module.🚀

Delighted to finally reveal the new SPACE gallery at London's @sciencemuseum.org.uk! It was a pleasure to help - providing what may well be the largest photo of the🌖on🌎! The gallery is stunning, and it's so special to see the Apollo 10 Command Module alongside Soyuz.

The team have done a fantastic job with our new Space Gallery, the objects look gorgeous - these photos almost don't do them justice! - and some great stories woven throughout. We are now the only museum in the world where you can see an Apollo command module alongside a Soyuz module.🚀

For #InternationalTalkLikeAPirateDay, we present our freeze drier, which we use to dry wet wood. Yes, we literally 'Shiver our Timbers'! See the full video - youtu.be/JMqpYOfc0v4

The @sciencemuseum.org.uk is opening a space gallery later this week. To celebrate, I filmed why Hawking kept a beach ball on his desk: I blow up the universe, then show how it captured the faint fingerprints of quantum jitters that seeded cosmic structure! www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYud...

Yes, but *apart* from being hot, kind, intelligent, talented, hot, charming, generous, hot, iconic, sweet, funny, hot, hot and hot, what on earth did Robert Redford have going for him?

😁🐴

respectfully, I think every single person in the country could stand to reflect on this

Despite easily being the most British fighting vehicle ever developed, the mock-Tudor AT-AT programme was sadly cancelled due to budgetary concerns

I randomly stumbled upon Fujio Kito, an artist who documents Japanese playgrounds at night. It was a fun little rabbit hole to follow. fujio-pand-park.tumblr.com

"Annie Bot vs The Tech Bros" 🤖 Clarke Award winner Sierra Greer & expert panel @drkatedevlin.bsky.social @laurenbeukes.com & Jen Wong explore SF’s influence on modern tech culture. 🗓️ Thurs 2 Oct, 1pm 📍Online / King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/annie-bot-...

Ursula K. LeGuin on technology

Actually very proud to announce that I am doing a thing: a new book series called "TV Matters" with Intellect! Television / media / pop culture scholars, take note and get in touch if you wanna write about TV! Please share far and wide.

mega-proud to have helped The Delightful Sausage create another, somehow even madder, series of IcklewickFM. please listen!

This is really sad and horribly surprising news which I'm sure will be a blow to my friends in the genre fiction community as well Egyptologists and museum people. Such a larger than life character who lit up every space he entered. My thoughts with his friends & family, especially his husband John.

There’s plenty of disinformation trying to blame the nascent offshore wind industry for whale deaths without evidence. Not only is that misleading, it also takes the focus away from solutions that might actually address the leading causes of death — vessel strikes and entanglement with fishing gear.