Twenty-fourth book of 2025 finished - curious part-autobiography, part-biography (of David Starr Jordan, founding President of Stanford)

I guess it's not often someone from UCL senior leadership says "Go Durham!" But if you check out this @durham-university.bsky.social page I think you'll find out why #prouddad www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/...

Could these companies be turning their backs at precisely the wrong moment?, asks @profgeraintrees.bsky.social after US firm Merck put the brakes on a £1 billion London research centre & AstraZeneca said it would pause a £200m investment to expand its research and development arm in Cambridge

Pet parrots which typically live alone (whilst those in the wild live in large flocks) were given the technology to call each other. They would use it for up to three hours a day, and developed favourite friends 💔 on.ft.com/3K05vhS

on.ft.com/4pgD6UR AI ‘hit squad’ set up to drive Whitehall efficiency struggles to hire top talent

Great to see this @ucl.ac.uk spinout doing so well!

Interesting no link to cerebellum size, only neortical size.

Longer thumbs, bigger brains This study reveals a significant relationship between relatively longer thumbs – a key feature of precision grasping - and larger brains across 95 fossil and extant primates. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

This is a really interesting finding!

The Californian Ideology hits harder than ever

Marvellous to see this important new clinical trial finding from colleagues UCL - and its historical link to the discovery of aldosterone at UCL over seventy years ago www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/au...

Delighted that we have been able to appoint two incredibly talented colleagues to lead this new Grand Challenge at UCL

Twenty-third book of 2025 finished - epic space opera…

Happy World Entrepreneur's Day! So proud of our amazing entrepreneurial community at UCL and the amazing people in my team that support them. Ten years in and we are still growing strongly, with the potential for even more entrepreneurial impact...watch this space!

Twenty-second book of 2025 finished - managed to squeeze in another just on the last day of my vacation!

Twenty-first book of 2025 finished - and possibly the last of my vacation. Great physics-focused primer on the void… say 15 minutes beforehand

A level results are out! And as many have reported, there was an overall improvement in the proportion of students gaining the top grades. But its not good news for everyone: with London & the South East continuing to pull away from the rest of the country, and boys slightly ahead of girls.

Trump’s chief science adviser faces a storm of criticism: what's next? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Twentieth book of 2025 finished - great sense of place and atmosphere, but the plot twist was visible a mile off…

Nineteenth book of 2025 finished - just terrific

Eighteenth book of 2025 finished - timely and super-readable analysis. Vacation continues…

Seventeenth book of 2025 finished - my vacation is unfolding nicely…

How researcher visa curbs threaten science careers www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Dismay as north of England universities miss out on share of £54m talent fund www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

The peer-review crisis: how to fix an overloaded system www.nature.com/articles/d41...

UK Royal Society adopts ‘subscribe to open’ publishing model www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Biotech hails trial results for antidepressant paired with genetic test on.ft.com/4fm2ap7

Sixteenth book of 2025 finished. Some great ideas but an awful lot of exposition about orbital mechanics…

Fifthteenth book of 2025 started (good start to my summer vacation). A fictional life of Gauss and Humboldt (x2)…

Interesting read! Physicists disagree wildly on what quantum mechanics says about reality, Nature survey shows www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Beautiful and inspiring work from Gero Miesenböck and colleagues www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New report shows one year on how a sense of social dislocation was a key driver of the 2024 riots | UCL Policy Lab - UCL – University College London www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

Inside the relentless race for AI capacity ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent... via @ft

Humans can be tracked with unique 'fingerprint' based on how their bodies block Wi-Fi signals www.theregister.com/2025/07/22/w... via @theregister

The UK needs to pick up the pace on life sciences on.ft.com/40sX9EV

The funny thing about this piece by Rishi Sunak which says the key to AI is adoption is how many of us sought to persuade his Govt of this but instead he focused the Bletchley Summit and other activities (including DSIT) on frontier technology & risks; not on adoption economist.com/by-invitatio...

AI groups spend to replace low-cost ‘data labellers’ with high-paid experts www.ft.com/content/e176... via @ft

Associated nations call for next EU research programme to target fundamental research, as UK Horizon participation grows www.russellgroup.ac.uk/news/associa...

Why UK Biobank matters as a PR machine 😂- “As we get older, we become more and more marbled,” she said. “We’re becoming wagyu beef.” www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Universities in England at risk of long-term decline, says British Academy on.ft.com/40gRSQJ via @financialtimes

We are calling on the UK Government to not introduce a levy on higher education provider income from international students, reduce visa costs to attract global talent, and to review higher education funding to create a sustainable model www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...

Fourteenth book of 2025 finished - a tale well told in a very droll style about the relationship between art and power…

UK lung cancer patients less likely to receive advanced treatments on.ft.com/4lsClWy

Some impressive detail in this overview of a new JISC report highlighting how important universities are in establishing international collaborations underpinning patents, business innovation and more... Defining the value of the UK’s international research partnerships wonkhe.com/blogs/defini...

If you have 10-20 minutes (depends on how fast you are), would you please consider doing this online study on #mentalimagery? It contains a survey & an experiment where you look at pictures and you respond what you see: #psychscisky #neuroskyence #visionscience tstbl.co/820-917

Research funding requires research capacity wonkhe.com/blogs/resear...

This really is a fine and thoughtful analysis of the NHS Ten-Year Plan by @nicholastimmins.bsky.social for @instituteforgovernment.org.uk www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/nhs-...

NIH restores grants to South Africa scientists, adds funding option for other halted foreign projects | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Exclusive: Famed protein structure competition nears end as NIH grant money runs out | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...