My comments on the CJEU's judgment this week on Internet liability, for the @irishexaminer.bsky.social www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Grim. Plenty of research showing public service broadcasting delivers real benefits to health of democracy. Yet here we are, in these polarised times, slowly starving our public service broadcaster.

The report is available here: cdn.prod.website-files.com/6638c5104324...

Amazon has knocked more than 20% off the price of A History of World in 47 Borders in some kind of summer sale, so if you have somehow STILL not read it then THIS IS YOUR CHANCE

📢 New paper: we explore how extended reality (VR/AR) can make physical activity more enjoyable and why those affective responses matter for long-term behaviour change. Includes a roadmap for future research. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #XR #DigitalHealth #PhysicalActivity

‘I think there are some professions where it matters that it’s a human that’s doing it. Emotionally, you want to feel cared for by another human being – not by a chatbot.’ Paul Taylor (@paul3548.bsky.social) on AI and the future of work, on the podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

📢 "How Cancer Online Support Groups Work, for Whom, and in What Circumstances: Realist Review" Our new paper reviews what is known and provides recommendations for online support groups for cancer. www.jmir.org/2026/1/e77445 #cancer

This week on Untitled History pod we talk about the origins of the EBU, Eurovision and its weird historical quirks and borders And of course there was only one person I was getting back on for this... @jonnelledge.bsky.social #history #eurovision Available on Youtube and your pod app of choice!

From sewers to skyscrapers to the streets on which they stand. Introducing 31 Inventions that Built our World by @jonnelledge.bsky.social the Sunday Times #1 Bestselling author of A History of the World in 47 Borders✏️ Coming August 2026 Pre-order now!🔗 linktr.ee/31Inventions...

NHS code clampdown draws open source backlash www.theregister.com/software/202...

📢New paper: Association of oral contraceptives with depression symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment in healthy women: A meta-analysis I helped on this new study showing oral contraceptive use is associated with increased risks of depression www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A lovely review of Yes's new single "Aurora" from Simon Barrow and the first comments about the whole album from Stephen Lambe on the latest Yes Music Podcast episode, as well as an interview with orchestrator Paul K Joyce: yesmusicpodcast.com/in-conversat...

Important story from the Times on the rise of AI influencers for Trump www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/b...

Dr. Joyce Brothers grew up in a Jewish family in NY, had a PhD from Columbia, a husband in medical internship making $50/month, a new baby, and no income. In 1955 she decided to go on a game show. Not because she wanted to be on TV. Because they were, in her words, "hungry." #EternalLight 1/10

TL:dr - invest in public service broadcasting; support copyright against AI; hold digital platforms to account. Good to see this stuff going full legit in a Martin Wolf column www.ft.com/content/c1af...

... and I'm on a third preprint relating to generative AI: "Curiosity, reassurance and convenience: Understanding public motivations for using Generative AI in symptom assessment" www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-9... by @austenelosta.bsky.social, me, et al.

📢"Evaluating the Quality of AI-generated outputs for textual analysis with GRACE (Grounded Review and Assessment of Computational Evidence)" New preprint by Paulina Bondaronek, me, et al. preprints.jmir.org/preprint/91433 How does AI do at qualitative analysis?

📢 Trust Me, I Might be a Medical Device: The Problem with AI Scribes by Claire Dady, me et al www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8... Most AVTs provide little or no verifiable evidence of regulatory compliance. Transparency and oversight need to catch up fast! #AI #HealthTech #NHS #AIscribes

I imagine Zeno would be very relaxed about the Trolley Problem.

Ireland has launched a digital strategy to increase access to mental health services through technology and improve digital health literacy. www.digitalhealth.net/2026/02/irel...

I’m very pleased to share this article and to translate our research insights into a blog that is more accessible to the public. When universities began deploying AI detection tools, I knew it might give rise to yet another commercial empire.

Open Access UCL Research: Using Statistical Process Control through the Making Data Count approach to visualise data in NHS Trusts: a mixed-methods study discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...

📢 Statistical process control has become popular in healthcare, but is the NHS using it well? Yes! The Making Data Count programme is 👍 + SPC use mostly appropriate, but tendency for Trust boards to still claim metrics have improved without adequate support. bmjleader.bmj.com/content/earl...

It was lovely to be interviewed for this article in Curie, the Swedish Research Council's magazine, on the funding crisis in UK universities: www.tidningencurie.se/nyheter/skar...

My 18yo's group Pop Ltd are supporting @dominiehooper.bsky.social at her gig in Morecambe tonight. Still tickets left if you're free: moremusic.org.uk/whats-on/dom...

🥳 We are thrilled to celebrate Jack Elkes, who has successfully defended his PhD on, Improving the evaluation of digital mental health interventions in randomised controlled trials by understanding and incorporating user engagement. Congratulations Jack! 🥳

I think a lot about Parmy Olson's observation that AI companies actively push everyone to talk about existential risk, because it distracts from more prosaic current day concerns like copyright theft, conditions for data workers, energy & water use, and their financial situation

There are too many special issues. Publishers encourage them (I say this based on my own experience as an editor-in-chief). When we looked at the data, we found that special issue articles get fewer views, fewer downloads, and fewer citations than normal articles.

As the world hurtles towards geopolitical crisis, my marine biologist son sends photo of an underwater leaf slug from Fiji to wish us calm.

One of the projects you can support on Smelt is a new sitcom by me. It's called The Least Bad Of All Possible Worlds and it's about refugees from parallel universes trying to integrate into society in Morecambe. You can pledge to fund it here: if you fund it, we make it! mirlo.space/leadmojo/rel...

Does the House of Commons need to change to reflect a more fragmented politics? In three hours, join @elliechowns.bsky.social, @courtenayilbert.bsky.social and @louisevthompson.bsky.social to discuss smaller parties in the Commons at our free, online event. Sign up 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....

Videos that appear to show doctors, including some from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, using patches to lose significant amounts of weight aren’t real. They were made with AI. The trust said these videos are “completely fraudulent”.

📢 New preprint! "Association of Oral Contraceptives with Depression Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment in Healthy Women: A Meta-Analysis" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

📢 New paper! "An App-Based Behavioral Support Intervention Promoting Physical Activity (APPROACH) in Patients Diagnosed With Breast, Prostate, or Colorectal Cancer: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial" www.researchprotocols.org/2026/1/e77096

Phil Manzanera has spent five decades shifting between genres, scenes, and roles as a guitarist, composer and producer. His work with Roxy Music and output across a diverse solo career reflect natural curiosity and fierce ambition. Watch and read my new interview: www.innerviews.org/inner/phil-m...

JOB ALERT! 3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community. PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...

Worth noting this for other Tidal users -- while they pay most artists better royalties than Spotify, they don't pay people on that "uploads" thing they're pushing at all. So if you see some band in the uploads section you want to check out, go to their bandcamp instead.

“Where are the findings? You only provide quotes.” New article considers qualitative researchers’ experiences of methodologically incongruent peer review feedback Open Access: dx.doi.org/10.1037/qup0... Few quotes follow 🧵

New paper by my PhD student Maria Xenou, and many others! samajournals.co.za/index.php/sa...

Continuing the fine tradition of declining to review for Nature Publishing Group, in my case @natmentalhealth.nature.com for all the fine reasons Alex descibed in this letter. The APC for this journal is £9190.00/$12690.00/€10690.00. Join us!

📢 Deadline extended! You now have until 7 January to submit abstracts & workshop proposals for the 2026 Behaviour Change Conference. A huge thank you to everyone who’s already submitted. We look forward to your submissions & to welcoming you to Lisbon for #BCConf2026! 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/behaviour-ch...

Did you know that this government has been defeated over 100 times in the House of Lords? The new edition of our constitutional review suggests that it is surprising to see the Lords challenging manifesto commitments to the extent that it has. Read more 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....

Was in the kitchen when something beeped several times. Flatmate & I were confused. Was it the robot vacuum? No. The washing machine? No. The fridge maybe? No. It was the bread machine. #firstworldproblems

Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández—pardoned by Trump while the counting in Honduras’ current presidential election is still in progress—-was accused not only of drug trafficking, but also of election fraud during the 2013 and 2017 Honduran presidential elections. 1/

“Thousands of very competitive projects in areas like cancer, diabetes, aging, neurological disorders and public health improvements most like went unfunded in 2025. Similarly, at the National Science Foundation, the roughly 3,000 fewer new grants encompassed reductions to every area of science”

North Korean-style. A Potemkin village of fake journalists.

🧵1/ Romania has the highest cervical cancer incidence & mortality in Europe. Yet screening coverage is under 30%. Why? Our new study explores the emotional & practical barriers faced by vulnerable women. @cbigscreen.bsky.social @horizoneu.bsky.social

"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se