All being well, I'll be at Photonics West from Monday. Any Bluesky folks who around and would like to meet up, let me know!

Thanks for writing this; appalling that you have to. “Bad people can contribute to science progress too” is a foolish argument on its own terms: 1 bad person can halt the careers of many. It’s numerically improbable that the impact of one person outweighs the cumulative impact of all halted careers.

Allied health organisations such as the WFOT apply scientific evidence to advance the health and wellbeing of all people. Work preventing the ability of any minority to engage in the occupation of work (bullying/sexual harassment) contravenes... @seismatters.bsky.social @profrachelgan.bsky.social

Coverage in the Guardian of responses to Paul Nurse's comments on Musk & the Royal Soc Code of Conduct. Plenty of Nobel Prize Winners defending Nurse and Musk & Fellows seem uncomfortable to be named when they disagree. Also quotes from me & @scurry.bsky.social. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Research Professional (@resprofnews.bsky.social) are reporting on the community's discomfort at Sir Paul Nurse's suggestion that Fellows should only be expelled from the Royal Society for scientific misconduct: bsky.app/profile/resp... (includes a quote from my letter).

Chris is right to highlight this point, which speaks volumes about Sir Paul Nurse's personal attitudes, but also about the influence of the current US backlash against "DEI" on UK thinking. 😢

Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.

According to this FT article, Sir Paul Nurse says: “I’m afraid there’s many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances.” The ‘but’ in this quote says it all… So don’t blame us when we lose faith in institutions that regard integrity as irrelevant to designating scientific greatness.

I am writing to Paul Nurse about the implications of his words on the code of conduct on harassment risk at the RS. I am not planning to gather sigs as I don't want less established people to have to raise their heads above the parapet on this, but if anyone could proof read for me, let me know.

A Black man was killed by ICE (off duty) in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. And like Renée Good, he was an American citizen. But most people have not heard about Keith Porter. I need y’all to realize this. Black people experience this lack of visibility all the time when it comes to being victims.

Paul Nurse quote of the day (from article in the Guardian from Trish's post below): "I’m old, I’m white, I’m a man, so everything’s against me." Yeah. Right. 🤦

I've been sitting on this for over a month...but given how cross I am with @royalsociety.org at their ongoing inaction over #Elon #Musk I thought I'd share this. They invited me to serve on their Public Engagement Committee; I could have been more eloquent, but I had to give a firm "no"...

So if one doesn't do 'faulty, fraudulent or highly defective' research all else is fine? Where's the limit @royalsociety.org? There's much to choose, including Destroying and defunding research/infrastructures Hundreds of thousands of deaths Monetising creation/distribution of child abuse images

Renee’s name is very public and well known. The entire reason behind the origin of Say Her Name was that police violence against Black women was being erased and suppressed, while the names of men killed by police violence were well known. So not only is it appropriative it also doesn’t apply!

Paul Nurse, interviewed by the FT about whether @royalsociety.org should expel Musk said: "the institution should only expel fellows if their science proved “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective”". That implies the Society's Code of Conduct is utterly meaningless.

"I'm afraid there's many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances." - President of the Royal Society. Er... Yes... And we can understand and appreciate the scientific advances without honouring and valorising the bad people. That's not a particularly difficult concept.

What would a fellow have to do, to be in contravention of the @royalsociety.org Code of Conduct if Musk's behaviour *doesn't* constitute "acting in a personal or professional capacity in such a manner as is likely to bring the Society into disrepute"? royalsociety.org/-/media/abou...

I got an amazing Christmas present which is going to let me level up my mountain biking videos! A drone! Check out my first drone-based filming efforts here: youtu.be/ry2Q6l-40E8?...

Last month I did a mountain bike race. I stepped outside my comfort zone (women's events) and did I mixed Enduro for the first time. See how I got on here: youtu.be/M-DzMN3Cbak?... (There's even a bloopers reel on this one!)

Bit of a long shot, but are there any medievalists in Cambridge at the moment who might be able to take pictures of a MS in the UL? Massive gratitude and thanks on offer ...

In yet more devastating news, the VC has confirmed her plans to cut 80% of academic staff from Essex Pathways, our foundation year department. This would effectively close down all our existing foundation year programmes through the back door. But it's not a done deal yet. Please share urgently.

Strays Christmas at the Chaos House: official invitation thread! Do you want to spend Christmas Day with people but have nowhere to go? Can you get to Oxford (England)? Come to ours.

Please can I encourage followers to fill in this home office survey on changes to how long it takes to get settled status (or indefinite leave to remain) in the UK, and to put across a pro-immigration viewpoint. The UK needs immigrants and contribute a lot to our society! www.gov.uk/government/c...

“Women who think critically are always labeled difficult because it saves the world from admitting they’re right” — bell hooks Repost of Charmaine Simpson, on LinkendIN: www.linkedin.com/posts/blackh...

Hey, Bluesky Hive Mind: how are you doing web searches now that Google has been enshittified and you can't switch off it's water and energy guzzling artificial stupidity Gemini thing?

36 years ago today, 14 women, most of whom were studying engineering, were killed by an anti-feminist gun man at École Polytechnique in Montreal. I was a young graduate student studying physics at the time and I will never forget. #MontrealMassacre #NeverForget 🧪 👩‍🔬 ⚛️ 🎢 #AcademicSky 🇨🇦

This article suggests the possibility of training AI on pre-existing proposals and their review reports, scores and related decisions. I.e. training them on a system which is known to preferentially award larger amounts of money to white men. What could possibly go wrong?

Inaccurately addressed email of the day: "Dear Prof. Professor," Well, at least they are very sure about my title.

Don't you hate it when you are asked to review a manuscript that looks really exciting and then you find that th data simply doesn't back up the conclusions?

Currently writing a very complicated paper which is getting me so tied in knots that I am questioning my life choices.

Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”

An informative article about this issue. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Finally home. Reflecting on this experience, the most worrying aspect was the total inattention of the train companies to the welfare of the people who had been stranded somewhere they never intended to go, with no workable way home. Some were elderly or very young and quite vulnerable.

After a few minor additional adventures, I am now in a train that should actually take me all the way to my intended destination. I might make it home less than 13 hours late. But at this point I'm not counting on it.

Am on a train, currently still stationary at Newcastle station. I've gotten that far twice before in the last 24 hours. Let's see if we can get any further...

I am now up and moving and restarting my desperate quest to get home. Now to find out whether LNER will honour my ticket from yesterday...

Have now given up on getting home tonight and have found a reasonably priced hotel. I'm very lucky that I can afford to take myself somewhere safe and comfortable.

British train travel reaches a new low. Today two trains have been cancelled while I was actively sat on them. Currently stuck at Newcastle, having had no intention of coming here today. I've been here an hour and 20 minutes, and there's little prospect of getting home.

Apparently Prof Leyser also said that "“vulcanisation” in the R&I system was one of [UKRI's] “greatest weaknesses”." I would love someone to explainn this to me, since as far as I am concerned, vulcanisation is a way of creating cross-links between polymer chains in rubber.

TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-... 🧵

Just spent an enjoyable half hour looking up under-appreciated women in my field and suggesting them as speakers for a conference. Don't worry boys, I also suggested some men...

Farage: epic grifter

Increasingly the only thing I want from AI is accurate information on how to switch it off.

Just googled (at the behest of son) "What instrument does Alex Horne play?". Google AI tells me "ukulele and cornet". Next I googled "Alex Horne cornet" and Google AI tells me there is no link between Alex Horne and the cornet, and I must have mistyped my search. Sigh.

⌛Countdown is on! Applications to join DiveIn in 2026 open in November 🥽Ready to DiveIn? Here's what awaits: 💷£4K enhanced stipend 🧠Co-create your PhD research project 🔗Interdisciplinary support 🌍Inclusive research culture 🤝Career-focused external partners 💡Express interest: www.divein.org.uk/apply/

Quick look at me and one of my mates at bike park women's day: youtube.com/shorts/BRtwJ... We had such a good time!

So, it's somehow impossible to recognize a woman with a science Nobel even if she is first author on the key research, but we should give the prize the ChatGPT? www.dailypioneer.com/2024/columni...

Great to see someone senior like Prof Lindsay Greer talking about how big errors can accidentally arise in experimental science. I sometimes feel Retraction Watch sees its purpose as catching out evildoers. It's good to see them reporting on retraction as part of a normal honest scientific process.

"Fundamentally, teams that better reflect our society, in all its diversity, make better business decisions and do better engineering." @profrachelgan.bsky.social reflects on the first four years of the Diversity Impact Programme, inspiring change in universities: www.raeng.org.uk/blogs/divers...