It's now unconscionable for the government to be posting on X. X is not a neutral utility, it is far, far darker: an environment that shapes behaviour, rewards cruelty, and normalises abuse. @theleaduk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/theleadu...

AI tool developed by a company owned and run by a Fellow of the @royalsociety.org floods the internet with sexualized photos of women and minors www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

I haven't seen the #Wollaton Park lake so icy in a long time

Silly question: Has anybody done any corpus linguistics on the word 'timeline'? (@lukeccollins.bsky.social)

A super piece by @kph3k.bsky.social - thoughtful, insightful, and personal...

I expect evil people to do evil things I also expect people selling themselves as a bulwark against those evil people to fight tooth and nail against the evil things evil people do only one of these groups is currently performing according to expectations

Let's start this new blogging year with a pop, ah no, slop! I explore the linguistic productivity of #slop in the context of the emergence of #AI slang #linguistics makingsciencepublic.com/2026/01/02/f...

Computer scientist Yann LeCun: ‘Intelligence really is about learning’ - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

2/2 Ho aggiunto slopper e slopocalypse agli aggiornamenti a www.terminologiaetc.it/2024/06/24/s... che includono anche (en)sloppification e slopaganda

I dust my house. My AI robot watches. "It should be you doing this." "Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark." "That's not why you were invented." "These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise." "They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them." "Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."

Adding to all the frosty pics this morning, a few from #Wollaton Park, including what I call 'Mole Everest'!

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

Let's start this new blogging year with a pop, ah no, slop! I explore the linguistic productivity of #slop in the context of the emergence of #AI slang #linguistics makingsciencepublic.com/2026/01/02/f...

Simon Willison has a great summary of LLM progress in 2025: • Reasoning models have made LLMs useful for web search. • AI agents now work well for Deep Research and Coding. • AI image generation went mainstream. • Vibe coding became a big business. • OpenAI lost the lead & Google’s Gemini caught up

History shows that Britain has always been multilingual theconversation.com/history-show... #immigration #multicultral #multilingual

I just read this sentence "Fasting food focuses on nutrient-dense options during eating windows".... the world is weird

The US science enterprise came under extraordinary attack in 2025. Despite the trauma and drama, science soldiered on, @matthewherper.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/12/31/2...

BREAKING NEWS: Actual facts appear for the first time on "Truth" Social.

Serious question. How did Linnaeus get his raccoon? If it was a gift from the King of Sweden, where did the King get it from? There was a Swedish colony of New Sweden in New Jersey, but that ended in 1655, long before Linnaeus's day. So what's the answer? Bsky do your stuff! Pls rt. h/t Doug R.

Looking back to @wwattribution.bsky.social studies in 2025 showed again, in stark terms, how unfairly the consequences of human-induced climate change are distributed. The world does not have to be like this, we have a lot of agency to make it better. www.worldweatherattribution.org/unequal-evid...

Full Fact’s Head of AI, @mrdudders.bsky.social, reflects on how AI has shaped misinformation this year—and how our own AI tools are helping fight back.

As if that wasn’t dumb enough ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/epie... Mind you, RFK Jr previously claimed the 'Spanish' flu (it’s not "Spanish") was caused by the 'flu vaccine. The pandemic was from 1918 until ~1920. The virus wasn’t isolated until the 1930s, and vaccine research started later still.

Too few are aware that, although Russia has roughly 2–3 times more military casualties than Ukraine, it has 20–30 times fewer civilian casualties. This is because Russia, the aggressor, targets civilians, while Ukraine does not. It’s as black and white as it gets

Who to follow for staying current with AI - Nicole Hennig nicolehennig.com/who-to-follow-… #AI #StayingCurrent

Nice Xmas walk in Wollaton Park...the light was right.

The portraits of nineteenth-century inventor & mathematician Charles Babbage including an early daguerreotype e by the French photographer Antoine François Jean Claudet #histsci thonyc.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/c...

“In my mind, there’s not a path forward to understanding language that doesn’t have an account of ‘What are LLMs doing?’” —Ellie Pavlick, assistant professor of computer science and linguistics, Brown University; research scientist, Google DeepMind www.quantamagazine.org/when-chatgpt...

Legend Imran Ahmed (CEO of CCDH) just sued the U.S. Government for the wildly inappropriate visa sanctions. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York just granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against this inappropriate government action. What a Christmas gift!

What do you prefer to drink at Christmas…. 1) Hot spicy wine 2)Warm spicy wine 3)Cold spicy wine 4)None of the above This is a Mull tipple choice question.

This work by Pieter Buegel is probably the very first painting of a White Christmas. The pregnant, blue-cloaked Mary rides a donkey led by Joseph, but they are inconspicuous as part of the throng (The Census at Bethlehem, 1566) www.artinsociety.com/bruegelrsquo...

If you are a Londoner or are interested in it this is a lovely updated @londonist.com map of Anglo Saxon London to browse londonist.substack.com/p/mapping-an...

We analysed 73,000 articles and found the UK media is divorcing ‘climate change’ from net zero theconversation.com/we-analysed-...

2025: likely another record year for UK annual temperature www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new....

Fascinating on how researchers from Nottingham Trent University used old organ-tuning records in English churches to map a warming climate. #PipeOrgans #Nottingham #NTU #GlobalHeating #NTU www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Mary and Joseph praying over Jesus in the manger, or TWO T. REXES FIGHTING OVER A TABLE SAW? Once seen, cannot be unseen.

The Department of War literally decided to fight against windmills.

The Council for Science & Technology which advises the PM is looking for a new member ‘with social & behavioural science expertise’. Great opportunity to bring a social science perspective to the heart of policymaking. Apply by 19 Jan apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/9075

Last post before the new year, about old #genomics #metaphors but also some new thoughts about metaphor genres that match scientific modes #scicomm makingsciencepublic.com/2025/12/21/m...

You can’t drink oil

I didn't want to write another post this year, but there was an article by @rogerhighfield.bsky.social that made my #metaphor whiskers twitch and think a about a new aspect of #scicomm makingsciencepublic.com/2025/12/21/m...

AI slop is spreading - lexically speaking. So we have slop, slopper, slopwashing, slopocalypse, slop collectors - any others? #AIMetaphorObservatory

Pantone just updated their Color Of The Year

I didn't want to write another post this year, but there was an article by @rogerhighfield.bsky.social that made my #metaphor whiskers twitch and think a about a new aspect of #scicomm makingsciencepublic.com/2025/12/21/m...

Scientists identify key tipping point when bird flu could cause a pandemic in humans

You could be a climate and/or political refugee tomorrow. No matter how safe you feel right now. That’s how fast the world is changing. Act with that in mind—toward yourself, and towards others.

Merry Yule! It’s the shortest day of the year and we can now look forward to the return of the light! The Romans seem to have been a bit confused about measuring the daylight and celebrated Sol on 25th December instead. That will never catch on! www.instagram.com/reel/DSStf1u...

2025 has been a speed competition in normalising racism. And as Toni Morrison said, the serious function of racism is distraction. So 2025 has topped the charts in distraction from the real work to achieve societal progress. Wishing you a less distracted 2026. northeastbylines.co.uk/news/politic...

Attacks on feminism are similar to attacks on vaccines. We begin to take for granted a world where women have rights and most children live to see adulthood, and then, over time, we begin to forget, neglect, and (now) reject the movements and innovations that brought us here.

A bit of sunshine after the rain on Jubilee Campus @uniofnottingham.bsky.social