Between hantavirus and Ebola, the global nature of disease is on our minds. In my review of John Green's EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS I stress the global nature of medical knowledge, and the stories people tell that shape what diseases become. 1/ 🗃 #histsci

terrible. 20 years ago, the internet was full of hobbyist blogs and forums. over time, these have been replaced by paywalled substacks and private discord channels, each a walled garden. google's decision to prioritize AI just makes it less likely people will create free, public info

Yesterday @royalsociety.org published its Science for Society report. It stresses the importance of science in our lives and encourages more engagement between scientists and wider society royalsociety.org/news-resourc...

The future of drought isn’t just less rain. Climate change can make land drier even if rainfall doesn’t decrease. Why? Rain is falling in fewer, heavier bursts - causing more runoff + evaporation, and less water stored in soil. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New global analysis of 21,439 rivers (1985–2023) shows Earth’s rivers are steadily losing oxygen Less oxygen = more ecological stress, fish kills, biodiversity loss, & weakened freshwater resilience River deoxygenation is becoming a planetary-scale climate signal www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Do you ever just think about the fact penicillin is less than 100 years old?

One week left to submit for our Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award! ⏳ If you’ve been preparing an application, this is your final reminder to finish up and submit. • Level: Up to £200,000 per award • Duration: Up to 2 years Deadline on 19 May 2026! https://wellc.me/4fgvkaU

Drug companies like Eli Lilly and Roche are racing to build supercomputers to help fix the 90% failure rate in drug development. on.wsj.com/4d2Ce0W

The collapse in violent crime throughout most of the advanced economies is astonishing. Things are so much better than in the Bad Old Days.

Excellent piece by @gregggonsalves.bsky.social www.thenation.com/article/soci... The end features a discussion of some of the recent actions of the National Academies of Science and Medicine.

How warming of the Arctic is spreading mosquitos - my latest column for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social. (To be clear - there have always been Arctic mosquitos, but now there are species in places they weren't before.) www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...

Why is everything so dumb?

My response to much of what is currently being written about the need for trade to become part of security policy - economic dependencies are in fact central to economic development and indeed at the heart of why we trade. For @borderlex.net borderlex.net/2026/04/27/p...

Scientific mis- and disinformation is among the greatest threats to our society.

When people talk about self-censorship, they often focus on campus events or classroom discussions. But self-censorship of research is different and more impt. Big difference btw "I don't want to offend others" to "I don't want to speak truth to power" www.chronicle.com/article/near...

The United States now has the most government restrictions on academic freedom of any high-income country. www.chemistryworld.com/news/academi... Raw data from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social —> academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

I'm in @theobserveruk.bsky.social today looking at why so many unis are in financial trouble and what the government needs to do to save HE. observer.co.uk/news/columni...

This puts it in perspective: the importance of higher education for the economy of a place like Manchester.

In Germany Brits can register for EASY PASS and then use the EU automatic gates most of the time. I highly recommend it.

‘The Montreal protocol was successful because science, politics and industry worked closely together. ‘Such cooperation is crucial again today to address new challenges.’ says atmospheric scientist Stefan Reimann. @mwakley.bsky.social www.chemistryworld.com/news/industr...

Super exciting news 🚨 I am hiring a technician to join my brand new lab at the University of Birmingham! @imibirmingham.bsky.social Come and support my BBSRC-funded research on understanding how staphylococci survive antibiotics. Please share! 🧫🧪 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRH271/a...

The CASP experiment is about to start - and is still short on challenging prediction targets. Ligand complexes, RNA, …

My super department @warwicklifesci.bsky.social is hiring 6 assistant profs in the wake of recent retirements. We're looking for people in microbiology/infection, cellular disease / immunity; environmental biology; and plant/crop science. #MicroSky warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...

Deliberate destruction of culture was the subject of an episode of my podcast, Autocracy in America www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...

As it's the weekend, let's take a moment to enjoy and celebrate what for the entire country is an unalloyed good-news story!

This is absolutely nuts

If this wasn't so serious it would be funny

New study finds the "canary in the coal mine" for the #AMOC: a consistent decline of the western overturning circulation, down from 20 to 15 Sv during 2004-2023 at 26° N. 🌊 AMOC "could be at or near a critical tipping point, potentially leading to its collapse". www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨 New opportunity! 🚨 We’re looking to recruit a Lecturer in Engineering Biology at the University of Bristol Faculty of Science and Engineering. This is an exciting opportunity to join a vibrant, interdisciplinary research environment at a time of significant institutional investment and growth.

There's still time to apply for the Royal Society Industry Fellowships, which allows talented scientists and engineers to move between industry and academia to foster the exchange of knowledge and support collaboration. Find out more: #RSGrants https://royalsociety.org/grants/industry-fellowships/

PDB-101 Focus: Biotechnology Learn how researchers are using biology in industry. Learn how GFP-like proteins found in nature or engineered in the laboratory now span every color of the rainbow pdb101.rcsb.org/motm...

New OpenFold3 preview out! (OF3p2) It closes the gap to AlphaFold3 for most modalities. Most critically, we're releasing everything, including training sets & configs, making OF3p2 the only current AF3-based model that is functionally trainable & reproducible from scratch🧵1/9

We and @acmedsci.bsky.social have announced a new partnership to develop the next generation of female research leaders through an expansion of the SUSTAIN programme, doubling the number of places for Royal Society-funded researchers. Find out more: #RSGrants royalsociety.org/news/2026/03...

Viruses in the #ocean outnumber cells and shape ecosystems, yet their dynamics remain poorly understood. @sullivan-lab.bsky.social used high-resolution sampling of blue-ocean waters to reveal extensive depth- and diel-driven population dynamics beneath the surface.🧪 #MicroSky plos.io/4lf9zJE

UKRI reforms infrastructure funding to favour supercomputing Key budget streams supporting new research facilities to shrink, with universities encouraged to share resources www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Pipeline of new drugs to fight superbugs is ‘worryingly thin’, experts warn

Basically the next election is going to come down to whether or not "generalised, non-specific anger at the system" outweighs "realisation that the alternative is a bunch of weird freaks with deeply eccentric policy views".

Enhanced rock weathering could help remove CO2 by spreading crushed Si-rich rock on soils But scaling it up isn’t simple. Limited suitable rock, potential toxic elements, soil impacts, uncertain carbon tracking from land to ocean, and financing are major challenges www.nature.com/articles/s43...

A potential late sequelae of measles after normal recovery. Occurs in ~ 2/10,000. Fatal. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... @nejm.org today

Why has it been so wet this winter (in the UK)? www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2026/wh...

‘Many important moments in my career seemed entirely serendipitous, but sharing of ideas, collaboration and building of community was important to my work.’

Gosh just from eyeballing the graph I wonder if anyone can think of something that might have happened around idk 2016 to cause a further deterioration?

In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

Cnut revokes scientific findings on so-called “incoming tide”; promotes beach development

Top FDA official Vinay Prasad overruled the agency’s reviewers--career scientists--when he refused to accept Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...