#66: Corn

I’m on #bbcradio4 right now, trying to work out why we don’t all have phage therapies to help us fight bacterial infections

I read this as UEA and briefly wondered why Norwich was striding into international conflicts

In the event of a fire, exit the building immediately. Do not stop to look at the MASSIVELY INTERESTING 350 MILLION YEAR OLD CRINOID FOSSILS, LIKE STACKS OF POLO MINTS, SLICED IN EVERY POSSIBLE ORIENTATION, WHICH LINE THE ENTIRE STAIRWELL. #FossilFriday 🌏⚒⭐🔬🧪

Look at this AI stealing the decent, honest job of a dominatrix

While everyone is watching hantavirus I'm actually much more eager to learn more about the Ebola outbreak in DRC's Ituri Province that Africa CDC has confirmed. Early information makes it sound very large for an outbreak that has just been reported: "about 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths"

This asteroid will be at its closest point to Earth at 10.38pm on Monday, London time. Have set a calendar alert just so I can ruminate on that as it whizzes past. bsky.app/profile/spar...

Farage is as (un)popular as he was two years ago! The country is not changing their minds on him

I've struggled but stayed with the GWR app, even though it is clunkier than Trainline, cos swapping a ticket to a different date (useful if you buy months in advance) was always free, even though it said "may charge admin fee." It's started charging. £20. www.railforums.co.uk/threads/gwr-...

W.H. Auden, it turns out, truly hated internal combustion engine cars.

He works way harder than me, and my job is more fun? There’s two more reasons.

You can tell it's marking season, because this irked me more than is reasonable.

Just some middle aged raving at the Roundhouse, thanks to Kruder&Dorfmeister. 😍

Pollution levels in Paris after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.

Just back from watching the London marathon I am pretty sure that the exact opposite of social media and news doom is: watching the London marathon

I’ve been carrying FT’s Life section around for weeks and finally got to read Edward Lucie’s interview with death row lawyer Bryan Stevenson. It’s incredibly moving.

This NASA mission has been brought to you by Tunnocks Tea Cakes.

Splashdown! Does anyone else feel like they have been slightly anxious for the past 10 days? I’d thought Artemis would be a welcome distraction from all the wars but actually, the nice bit is now when I know that 4 astronauts aren’t going to be incinerated.

Hi! I'm a scientist studying artificial stuff in animal nests, and I'm looking for a #Pokémon expert. 🌍 Yup, I found some Pokémon in a nest!! 😲 Specifically, the question concerns dating pieces of packaging, which might be tricky. Who knows EVERYTHING about Pokémon? Who can I send a DM to? 😅

My niece’s temporary tattoos look a bit like Feynman diagrams, no?

I have nowhere to put it and no land to use it on, but I really fancy this Lamborghini www.classic-trader.com/uk/cars/list...

Transporting the most expensive and volatile substance on Earth – podcast

A cartoon by Benjamin Schwartz. See more from this week’s issue: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/tGiw5i

Such sad news. Paul was both a hero and a friend. He'll be greatly missed.

Me, dumb and politically correct: Firing on unarmed ships or double-tap military strikes on schools are bad things.

Honestly the collective national level of disdain for Brits living in Dubai on all my social media platforms today really is bringing the UK together as one in a way that's hard to achieve in the modern era.

FISH DOORBELL IS BACK ON MARCH 2!!! visdeurbel.nl/en/

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... as a kid who grew up with Challenge Anneka, I was delighted to be first choice for her Pick of the Week selection on BBC Radio4 today. And to learn that she started her career 50 years ago in the Radio Science Unit! 🥰

Snuggle round a warm fire with @amsterdammed.bsky.social this afternoon, as BBC Inside Science "brings a sprinkling of chemistry and just a squeeze of paleoanthropology" from the Abergavenny Science Festival, supported by our wonderful colleague Dr Joanna Buckley! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

On Radio 4's Inside Science this afternoon, a joyful afternoon I spent presenting The Science of BBQ at #AbergavennyFoodFestival Thanks to my panel - chemist Joanna Buckley, Hang Fire BBQ chef Sam Evans, and archaeobotanical scientist Ceren Kabukcu

I’m not trying to be a shill for Big Pottery, but these Darwin mugs are in the sale right now. Reduced from crazy pricey to still-more-than-you’d-want-to-pay. But so joyful. Happy belated #darwinday

think I'm correct in saying that constitutionally you can't change prime minister during a Winter Olympics

Ad astra Challenger crew. 40 years.

Can anyone vouch for this? Whose placenta goes in it?

I’m on hols. & these are khai. Tiny Thai bananas. Which are 1. Delicious and 2. Remind me of a scientist I interviewed, whose job I really wanted. She travelled the world looking for local bananas, to breed resilience into the monocrop most of us eat in supermarkets. Banana Hunter = cool job.

Tired: Everything evolves to be a crab. Wired: Everything evolves to eat ants.

Some really interesting details in here: changes to the vaccine schedule for US kids, appeals to reason with ‘bringing it in line with Denmark’ plus various holes in that rational, and problems with the launch of this change.

This person went on a buying spree over the past 24 hours. Fresh wallet. Only existed since Dec 27th and has only bet on Venezuela-related markets. polymarket.com/@0x31a56e9E6...

This is just such a damned disgrace. A crime against knowledge and humanity itself.

My mate Marnie @amsterdammed.bsky.social Chesterton doing Quantum in Helgoland (Heligoland for the purists). Absolutely sublime wireless-output! :-) <3 And you lot moaned about the lack of Wizard of Oz this year!? www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

This is a photo of the surface of an asteroid It was taken from the *surface*I of that asteroid By a *bouncing rover* the size of a lunchbox (1/2)

Tomorrow, 9.30am, you know what you need? Half an hour of me trying to understand why Quantum is so hard to understand. Includes Carlo Rovelli, Elise Crull and @philipcball.bsky.social being brilliant. Solutions? less clear

Ever since the Oliver Sacks article in the New Yorker, I've been mulling why he embellished his stories of his patients. The lure of a good story over truth. Pleasingly, so have Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie in their excellent podcast. sciencefictionspod.substack.com/p/episode-92...

Dear maths people: How would you say this equation in words? X.sum()%2 (friend of mine narrating a book wants to know)

Help! Does anyone know what this is? I bought it at my local south Asian veg store because they didn’t have any spinach. The guy said it was something that sounds like “hosu hosu” but I clearly misheard. Anyway, I tried a bit of stem and it felt like I’d put a nettle in my mouth.

Arrived in Brooklyn just in time for Mamdani’s victory. Hilarious scenes as the cars slow down to shout at the cheering crowds. Car1: “I love socialism” Car2: “Fuck you, commies”

For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.

Minority representation on TV causes outrage From the new Private Eye, in shops now.

It's a very interesting development because i know many in the industry expected to see chocolate substitutes / alternatives come in more gradually / subtly than this. But taking the "🎵if you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our club!🎵" bar is a surprise. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I'm recording a World Service show with a guest in Bengaluru.... and Diwali has kicked off big time - every time he talks, it sounds like there's a war zone in the back ground! 🎆