"Restructuring research funding as a choice between discovery and application gets the economics wrong, the evidence wrong and the people wrong." Timely piece by Hiranya Peiris in Nature Reviews Physics as we await UKRI/STFC's decisions on what to cut. rdcu.be/friwM

At SITC this morning I asked physicists whether cuts to research funding and opportunities for early career researchers will impact neuromorphic computing.

Sir Kev. Finally. Very well deserved www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articl...

Got a little hedgehog mum making a nest under the lawnmower at the back of the garden. I’ve invested in a trail camera to catch the hoglets emerging. 🔈 Sound on for little hoggy grunts. In related news, I’ll be needing to borrow a lawnmower for the next couple of months.

Don’t let anyone tell you that your vote doesn’t count. This is one vote in my ward tonight. Well done to everyone who turned out and congratulations to Luke Williams!

Canvas, the virtual learning environment used by FE and HE institutions around the world including my own, has been hacked and taken down. This is the last week of the semester and some student’s whole degree programme. Submission for coursework and lecture note for exams are all on Canvas. #yikes

The average amount of time taken to earn a pint on minimum wage has fallen from 32 minutes in 1999 to 25 minutes in 2024

Why is this so gendered? Anybody have a good explanation?

The BBC have seen a leaked document that suggests funding has been strategically reassigned within UKRI from blue-sky research towards applied research. This is currently denied by Patrick Vallance and Ian Chapman.

This ⬇️, the other Infrastructure project deprioritisations, the 30% cuts planned at STFC, are not "doing fewer things better". These long term endeavours are already streamlined like a whippet. This UKRI funding rebalancing will result in the UK losing world leading science. #UKRI #STFC #physics

I, along with many other UKRI, STFC and RS fellows are signing this open letter on the STFC cuts. The proposed reductions will devastate UK astronomy and the researchers who make it possible. Please read, share, and, if a fellow, sign. advancedfellows-openletter-stfc.github.io/index.html #astro

"Physics isn't a luxury we can afford to throw away through confusion and cuts." Following our response to STFC's funding reductions yesterday, it's great to see this news covered in @thetimes.com. (1/4) www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

@iop.org found in 2019 alone #physics generated 11% of UK GDP. Now #STFC, which overseas much of UK physics public research funding, aims to cut curiosity-driven research by 30%. Robbing the future to pay for the present will never be a successful economic strategy. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...

This letter more or less confirms that once again the need to fund the ‘fixed’ costs of STFC - essentially the labs - those of us who work in areas funded by the council can go swivel. So stupid and shortsighted.

New Science Technology & Facilities Council (STFC) letters confirm major funding reductions to areas including particle, nuclear and astrophysics, with a similar process expected for national facilities and labs. While investment in quantum, AI and green tech is welcome, the IOP warns cutting (1/3)

Some initial reactions to the 'published on a Sunday afternoon' letter from the CEO of UKRI. 🧵 www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

Happy birthday HIE-ISOLDE! CERN celebrates 10 years of accelerated radioactive beams from the HIE-ISOLDE facility The current homepage splash features the rather photogenic silicon detector of the ISOLDE Solenoidal Spectrometer, built at @livuniphysics.bsky.social home.cern

Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community. Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.

Why must it be big news that they’ve used all the power and might of the LHC to measure the nuclear shape of stable neon isotopes? Something that was done in small university labs in the 1970s, and can be done routinely with low-energy beams and gamma-ray spectrometers?

The first nobelium-containing molecules ever made + directly identified could herald a shake-up at the bottom of the periodic table as scientists reassess the physical phenomena that give heavy and superheavy elements their chemical properties. 🧪⚛️ physicsworld.com/a/making-mol...

Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the ‘assassination’ of its Gaza correspondents and photographers by Israeli forces. 🔗: aje.io/eeht0q | #JournalismIsNotACrime

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.

Bubble Chamber Breakthrough lifeandphysics.com/2025/04/07/b... #LifeAndPhysics

The total cut off of deliveries to Ukraine is shockingly punitive. This is money already spent, equipment already built by industry for Ukraine, much of it has little utility to the US military. And it is just going to be sitting there in warehouses idle, as Ukrainian forces fight on.

Trump and Vance have repeatedly claimed that Zelensky has not been sufficiently grateful for U.S. support throughout the war. We compiled instances where Zelensky has publicly expressed gratitude to the U.S., its people, and its leadership for being Ukraine’s largest supporter.

Huge congratulations to Professor Brianna Heazlewood on this incredible achievement—our first ever Blavatnik Awards finalist! 🎉👏

Hello, I’m going to start posting here rather than on the other website from now on. Hopefully I’ll share some physics things a little more often!