Really enjoyed Wake Up Dead Man. One of the underappreciated strengths of the Benoit Blanc movies is - sort of spoilers - how it's always who you most suspect. Genuinely love them for this.

We have lent a piece of fossilised medieval poo to the Thackray Medical Museum!👇 🔗Find out more research.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/poo/ #Archaeology #History #York

Always nice to receive feedback! 💩🤮👎

Had a good time sharing the story of blood in Otley last week. Looks like the rest of the lineup was fun too

Heard of the Evelyn Tables? Displays of real human nerves & blood vessels in their positions in the body. Love that @realgdt.bsky.social included these 17th century science artifacts in #Frankenstein. Love this article by @emmalgometz.bsky.social, too! www.sciencefriday.com/articles/fra...

We're happy to share: Amazing Blood Ties! written by Jieun Kim (PI of Hematopolitics) and illustrated by Leigh Bowser. This children’s book introduces kids aged 5–8 to the stories behind blood donation and how we’re all connected. Freely available at: hematopolitics.org/amazing-bloo...

Have seen various hot takes on how faithful or otherwise del Toro has been with this. But to be honest, of the two Netflix properties we've seen on the big screen this week, it's been the other - Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie - that seems less related to its source material.

Saw Guillermo del Toro's beautiful Frankenstein for Halloween. I love this poster's reference to the 1700s 'Flayed Angel'. Fitting for a movie that is fascinated by traditional anatomical illustration and the language it shares with Catholic art, depictions of martyred saints and memento mori.

Here we go! Just a few days now to the kick off the 2025 Otley Science Festival. Here's a picture of the week. All the details on the website otleysciencefestival.co.uk/festival-2025/ #otleyscience #otleysciencefestival #otley #otleycourthouse

Visiting the newly revamped Station Hall at National Railway Museum. A blast from the past back to when TG Jones went by a different name. (And you could buy a cheap giallo George Eliot novel on the platform).

All this talk of snakes, health and words prompts my wife to ask: "why isn't a herpetologist an expert on herpes?" Turns out they do share an etymology: 'ἕρπης' ('herpēs'), meaning 'to creep' in ancient Greek. (Herpetologist studies creeping creatures, herpes sores creep across the body).

Why did it have to be snakes? The greatest fear of antiquity-hunting adventurers is the focus of this temporary display case for Halloween half term's "Fears and Phobias" theme. (Which means spending my last afternoon before the school holidays putting a bunch of cheap plastic snakes on display).

An Autumn Lane, 1886, painting by Leeds-born John Atkinson Grimshaw (private collection). #NorthernArt

By inviting kids to keep asking questions in our latest exhibition, I have condemned myself to a job of constantly responding to weird fecal enquiries. Fortunately, having a 5 year old has been the perfect training for this.

Enjoyed visiting the Gladiators: Heroes of the Colosseum exhibition at the Armouries. Especially learning that they existed on an almost entirely bean-based diet. Which means that Russell Crowe in the training barracks should have been letting rip like that scene in Blazing Saddles.

Come and have free food and a chat about gardening at Thackray Museum this Wednesday. thackraymuseum.co.uk/event/commun...

*peers through two holes cut in a newspaper* www.spymuseum.org/about/career...

The museum's lecture series, Insights, is back from this Saturday. To tie in with our POO! exhibition, the first lectures come from Dr Piers Mitchell from Cambridge's Ancient Parasites Laboratory and gut microbiome scientist Dr Jane Freeman. Tickets here: thackraymuseum.co.uk/event/thackr...

I knew they’d come for the archivists and librarians but honestly I assumed it would be for a reason better than “Our Special Boy wants to give his friend a sword! Give him a sword!”

Being stuck at home with covid makes me wonder how long until the museum puts on its inevitable covid exhibition. How soon is too soon? At what point does it become a valuable and important thing to look back on and memorialise?

Just booked my covid vaccine for two weeks time, then this happens.

Come and see me talking blood, politics, capitalism, and disease at @otleyscience.bsky.social on November 14th. What a fun afternoon (Mike Berners-Lee is on in the evening, you could make a depressing day of it). otleycourthouse.org.uk/events/otley...

"Kind and witty" www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/2536769...

Something I really appreciate in all the professional tributes to Dad is the emphasis on his kindness and generosity as much as the big stuff he did. Good to be reminded of the value of being a kind person.

Bob’s funeral will be held at 12 on September 2nd at Salisbury Arts Centre. Tea and Coffee from 11.30. Wear whatever you like. No flowers, donations to the Samaritans via the funeral director ([email protected]). All welcome to our home for refreshments after the funeral.

I'm going to take some time out. This has left me shocked and at a loss.

Love story of two Edwardian servants on Yorkshire estate told in new collection. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Have reached the point where a train trip requires bringing not just a choice of entertainment for real world 5 year old, but also for Chelsea.

A large anatomical ‘fugitive leaf’ from Cassell’s People’s Physician, Vol. 5, published in the 1930s. These kind of anatomical illustrations with fold out sections functioned as paper dissections, and were intended to help non-medical audiences learn about anatomy.

I'm on LeedsTV on an occasional rotation all weekend discussing an "orb of poo". You can also see the piece here www.facebook.com/YEP.newspape...

increasingly want to see an exhibition that is just "lil' guys from history"

New exhibition opens today. It's about poo. And answering children's questions. It's both silly and informative. And can be enjoyed throughout the summer and up to the end of the year. 💩 thackraymuseum.co.uk/event/poo/

Thackray has, somewhat unfairly, a reputation for being a museum of "weird shit". I would counter that this is actually a very ordinary shit. Having it spotlit in the middle of a gallery is a little idiosyncratic, I'll admit.

Front page of the @museumsassociation.org Museums Journal website is all job losses, repatriation issues, concerns about Israel... and me saying "we made a lot of plasticine poo"! www.museumsassociation.org/museums-jour...

Me talking to the BBC about how children should be comfortable asking silly questions and whether the king smells of poo. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Are you or do you know someone aged 16-21 and looking for fun, creative opportunities? We're looking for potential 'young curators' in Leeds (especially Harehills and East Leeds) for a new project in partnership with RHS.

Manchester Museum asks visitors if Egyptian woman’s body should be taken off display. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

The @londonzoo.bsky.social time travel zoo map is a BRILLIANT resource for #C19th researchers! Explore zoo maps from 1828-present with interactive info and archival photos. www.londonzoo.org/zoo-stories/...

In Korean slang the phrase "Leeds days" (리즈 시절) refers to your era of peak performance, when you were young and beautiful, a reference to former LUFC forward Alan Smith. Is this exhibition, closing today and featuring contributions from the Korea Leukemia Patients Organization, our Leeds days?🩸

Have you visited our exhibition, 'Blood: Ties and Tensions', at Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Drop us a message or reply to this post letting us know your thoughts. Did you learn anything new about blood donation and transfusion?

It's the final weekend of our Blood exhibition. Blood is a resource that people give freely without asking for reward or remuneration. But they do sometimes receive a token of gratitude. These badges show how people - from Scotland to Japan - have expressed their thanks or pride at giving blood.

Here's your #DailyDistraction from this hellish dystopia. “One Night Cough Syrup” from the 1930s, which contained cannabis, morphine, chloroform, and alcohol! In 1934, the FDA ruled that the claims of the cough syrup's therapeutic properties were misleading, and remaining stock was destroyed.

My hobby is baking with my 5 year old. Usually it's all about things she can do: brownies, cookies, muffins, cupcakes. But every 6 months, I cut loose on my own: the aforementioned fancy gingerbread house at Christmas and her birthday cake in the summer. This year she's very into unicorns.

Just one week left to enjoy this bloody thing. thackraymuseum.co.uk/event/blood/

Not a particular fan of Miffy books, but the @leedsmuseums.bsky.social exhibition is an impressive mix of "Miffy is in an artistic tradition of De Stijl and Matisse cut-outs" for the grown ups and low-tech analogue play for the kids.

Dropping this soon... thackraymuseum.co.uk/event/poo/

4 year old has responded to Father's Day like a man on International Women's Day. Meanwhile, it turns out "Daughter's Day" is a thing that actually exists and is on September 25th.

Fwiw arstechnica did a better write up of what he believes and it's more fucked up and more clearly based in eugenics He says it's miasma theory but in classic RFK Jr. fashion he defines it wrong. It would actually be better if he believed in miasma theory than his actual beliefs imho

It's #WorldBloodDonorDay. And you have just two weeks left to see this highly engaging exhibition about the politics and meanings behind blood donation. youtu.be/FX5ycwk9B34?...

This is the Christmas Factor, a very jolly name for a very dark moment in medical history. Clotting factor concentrates like the one in this vial allowed people with 'Christmas disease' (Haemophilia B) to inject the Christmas Factor not naturally present in their blood and help it to clot.