Astronomy needs dark, quiet skies, but light and radio pollution from growing space activity is putting them at risk. 🛰️ The Group of Friends for Dark and Quiet Skies has created a survey to help inform international discussions on protecting our Dark and Quiet Skies - and wants to hear from you. ⤵️

Critics said there was a “bitter irony” in the deal which allowed a donor to Trump – who has railed against wind turbines in Scotland – to “rake in profits” from Scottish renewables while local people “miss out”

It’s National Meadows Day! Let's put meadows where they belong - at the heart of our story.💚 They are living links to our past, part of our culture and communities, and vital homes for wildlife. 🌱 But they’re in decline — under pressure from development, pollution and intensive farming. 🧵[1/2]

A quick crowdsourcing exercise. @royalastrosoc.bsky.social is looking for copyright free images we can use for promoting the eclipse on 12 August (a deep partial in the UK) to the press and public. Can anyone help? Diagrams and photos of past events all good. We'll obviously credit contributors.

🔊Calling #Nottingham. Get yourself down to Speakers Corner on King Street today between 11am-2pm for #SoapboxScience. It's free. It's fun. Awesome science shared by awesome scientists! #SciComm 👩‍🔬

Nasa has just launched a mission to save falling space telescope. It could have come straight out of an episode of the 1960s TV science-fiction series Thunderbirds. Nasa launches mission to save falling space telescope www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This thread gives a useful glimpse of how wide the cuts across UKHE are. tl;dr: not just the expensive disciplines; not just the academic ones; not just the humanities; not just the ones you thought.

New step by step film out, me doing a botanical illustration of #Lavender #Lavendula angustifolia: youtu.be/2au3CZVGNQk Hope you enjoy it! Get those watercolours out & have a go #botanicalillustration #stepbystep #stepbysteptutorial #paintingflowers #flowerart #flowerpaintings #botanicalart

From Exeter, New Hampshire, to Kew, with some adventures on the way.

Thread:

“The BHL is fundamental to our understanding of all the species that we share this world with, and our ability to save them,” says Nicole Kearney. “We now have 64m pages of knowledge at our fingertips, which we need to make more discoverable and accessible. There’s so much more we could be doing.”

For all those dropping everything to attend this seminar tomorrow, there's now a new, simplified link from @luiscamposribeiro.bsky.social: us02web.zoom.us/j/82936830101 See you there!

Absolutely this 👇 One thing I’ve noticed tho. A couple of my friends always thought I was weird. But they keep taking photos of things they see and sending them to me. ‘Look what I saw!’ ‘What is it?’ Little do they realise that they are getting hooked 🤣 Keep being passionate. It’s contagious

A fantastic chance to work with King's College London special collections with over 240,000 rare or unique items, ranging in date from the 15th century to the present day. CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group, CILIP London https://ow.ly/kqbi50ZizAq

A visitor from America recently said how happy they were to see our Pride display in the library as so many in America aren't allowed to celebrate difference. It's not just fun flags & rainbows in our library: it's also the legislative history of the long fight for rights that are now under threat.

Nature deserves legal rights that are prioritised above all others because human life depends on nature. 🌱Like and share if you support the Nature's Rights Bill🌱 Write to your MP asking them to support the bill. Template email you can send: nataliebennett.org/2026/06/29/t... writetothem.com

Please sign RSK Wilding’s petition! buff.ly/6bkwWU9 Wild Justice have joined a coalition of conservation organisations, businesses, scientists and landowners, to urge the next Prime Minister to take decisive action and reset the Government’s approach to nature recovery. Add your voice!

📖 New on the DPC Blog: What do researchers really need from a web archive? Dr. Natasha Kitcher from The National Archives UK shares how user workshops are helping shape better search, improved access, and new ways of engaging with the UK Government Web […] [Original post on digipres.club]

A very helpful account of the long path to bring the Herculaneum papyri into visibility. Delighted that @ukri.org has contributed to this work

I would beg you to read the whole thread, as I think very few people have seen how fast the foundations of democracy are being torn out in the UK, and how far down the road towards authoritarianism we have already travelled. Sorry to pester you, but this could not be more important. Thanks.

Please Use AI

Help an MSc student out - survey on socioeconomic barriers affecting access to and progression within the heritage sector. Thanks! and please share... qualtricsxmgykkhmykp.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

A lot of media coverage of the ‘AI’ reading of the Herculaneum scrolls really fails to understand what’s happened here. There’s no language processing happening, the AI/ML is not trained on a corpus of texts or language. It can detect ink to see shapes. HUMAN EXPERTS are then transcribing the text.

“I was horrified to see that there could be a risk to tourists”  https://theferret.scot/spaceport-shetland-risk-tourism-fishing

We just need to hire librarians & historians who can guide online users & researchers :) Digitizing archives is revolutionary, throwing open doors of knowledge to anyone literate with internet access. That's bigger historically than AI. But we need human expertise to accompany digitized resources.

The Resistance isn’t about one person. It’s about millions of people refusing to give up on democracy, on decency, and on each other. We’re incredibly proud to stand beside all of you. Thank you for fighting and for proving, every day, that hope is stronger than fear. May the Force be with you. 💚

Ban butterfly-killing pesticides for good ❌ Despite repeated promises to ban them, the UK Government has quietly granted yet another 'emergency' license to spray butterfly-killing pesticides across our fields this summer.

Another young satellite-tagged Golden Eagle from south Scotland translocation project found injured with 17 shotgun pellets embedded in wings & body. Police Scotland press release + commentary from me ⬇️ #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/06/27/a...

Bye-bye butterflies. Since 1991, more than half of Europe's grassland butterflies have vanished, according to the European Environment Agency's grassland butterfly index. europeancorrespondent.com/en/r/byebye-...

Consider signing this petition calling on Andy Burnham to reverse the current rollbacks in environmental protections, and narrow the health and nature inequalities that have been widening under recent Government policy. Link in first comment:

What progress has Sir Keir Starmer made in delivering the Labour manifesto’s ‘first steps for change’? In the week he announced his resignation, here’s our Government Tracker’s verdict.

FAQ: it's very suited to a strong engineer early in their career. The outgoing RSE had opportunities to mentor a junior data scientist, to collaborate closely with specialists and develop their skills leading self-contained projects - it's a good fit for someone who wants to grow in the role.

Insects are often overlooked, yet they play vital roles in nature. Some, like bees and butterflies, help plants reproduce through pollination. One of the easiest ways to help? Put the mower away. Let lawns bloom and give pollinators food, shelter and space to thrive. 🌼🐝 #InsectWeek #LetItBloom

John Swinney said the Scottish Government agreed to the Israel meeting to call for a Gaza ceasefire “directly, and explicitly”. Draft minutes suggest Gaza was not first on the agenda

Covering recent elections in England, Wales and Scotland, we found AI imagery is no longer hypothetical: it's here, and it's throwing up fresh challenges. But we've also been using AI in new ways to fight back. Our editor Steve Nowottny wrote about how for @niemanlab.org 👇

As long as you are not sitting there at the time I'm sure you'll be fine! 😆

It’s a parasol guys. You’ve made a stupid new name for a parasol

Incredibile and dramatic #heatwave in #Europe as seen from space. The #Copernicus #Sentinel3 Land (not air!) Surface Temperatures map of June 24 shows peaks of 55°C in #Spain and over 50°C (in purple) in #France. #climateemergency

🍬 Imagine a planet as light as cotton candy! Data from NASA’s TESS mission has revealed TOI-791 b and TOI-791 c—two Jupiter-sized "super-puff" worlds that are the puffiest planets ever discovered. Scientists are amazed by their extraordinarily low density! #Exoplanets #NASA 1/4

Europe's worst heatwave so far, in terms of heat stress measures and temperatures - brought to you by fossil fuels. New @wwattribution.bsky.social study showing how such deadly heat became possible in only a few decades. www.worldweatherattribution.org/fossil-fuel-...

The Open Heritage Statement calls for an international standard to ensure that heritage in the public domain stays freely accessible when it goes digital. In our next Copyright Office Hours we're covering the statement, why it matters, and what happens next: bit.ly/4vOeKVD bsky.app/profile/crea...

A social media ban “passes the buck” to young people THE SCOTTISH Youth Parliament has warned that the incoming UK-wide social media ban for under-16s will not have the intended effect.... https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2026/06/a-social-media-ban-passes-the-buck-to-young-people/

The BHL server move has reached its biggest milestone! 🚚 From 25–30 June, BHL’s web traffic will switch from the Smithsonian to the Field Museum. BHL will remain online, but full-text search, filters & on-demand PDFs will be unavailable. Learn more: about.biodiversitylibrary.org/projects/cur... 🧪

The full minutes, released after a two-year FOI battle, show Angus Robertson and Daniela Grudsky discussed Israeli technology for NHS Scotland and Israeli tourism. Read the full minutes here: https://www.theferret.scot/scottish-ministers-israel-meeting/

The Conservatives have reportedly said they plan to correct a claim about welfare spending in their Alternative King’s Speech, following our fact check and a UK Statistics Authority letter. We welcome this - but this is a claim we’ve seen many times. (1/2)

Want to work with Scotland's National Botanical Collection? We have a rare opening for a Herbarium Registrar to care for our preserved collection, supporting a wide range of users. Deadline 30 June. More info: www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/job...

Applications for the Mid-Career Fellowships are open. The programme supports individual research projects fostering public engagement and understanding of the humanities and social sciences. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4f09Crd

149 Hen Harriers confirmed 'missing' or illegally killed in UK since 2018 - most of them on or close to grouse moors. New blog ⬇️ #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime 🌍 raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/06/24/1...

I'm confident nobody will share this.

Can't make it to our exhibition? No problem, we will bring it to you! Join our Head of Collections Isabelle Charmantier and us online for a virtual and free tour of our in-depth exhibition on Linnaeus’ classification of humans through his books and manuscripts. buff.ly/Ykyhg4i