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annhawkins.bsky.social
Egalitarian, insatiably curious, critical thinker, writer, reading as art, literature, philosophy, blues, Easily bored, not easily offended. Member of Citizen Collective. www.annhawkins.com Cambridge UK
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Janaki Ammal crossbred sugarcane species to create a hybrid with a higher sucrose yield that could flourish in India's tropical climate. She was instrumental in saving the botanically diverse Silent Valley in India. adalovelaceday.subst...

Hailan Hu studies the neurological mechanisms behind emotional & social experiences, & how they change the brain’s neural circuitry. She discovered how ketamine acts to reduce depression in rats, making way for new approaches to treating mental illness. adalovelaceday.subst...

Prime Minister Starmer humiliates Donald Trump on live television. He shut him up and fact checked him mid sentence. Trump sat there shoulders slumped nodding his head. #StandWithUkraine

Hi, just a reminder that when you use Libro.fm for your audiobooks, you support independent bookshops vs. large corporations that drive them out of business. We also pay taxes. And so do indie bookshops.

KNOBS AND CRANKS KNOBS AND CRANKS

Thank you @laurenhug.bsky.social - I'm learning more about what's happening in America by following @altnps.bsky.social @i-love-altnps.bsky.social

NEW BLOGPOST: "**What would you do if there was a real threat to democracy?**" cambridgetownowl.com/2025/02/15/w... Given the news earlier this evening that's likely to change the foreign policies of more than a few countries... “Whatever you think your answer is, it’s what you are doing right now"

Read some literature - it's good for you! www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

"More growth. Still no benefits?" sam4qe.com/more-growth-... "In 2016, MIT’s $45 million tax payment represented more than 14 percent of the city’s total tax revenue.” On the inability of #Localgov to tax the wealth of Cambridge's economy. Gleaming sci-tech parks connected by potholed roads?

Prince Harry Takes a Stand for Us All: ‘If They’re Supposedly Policing Society, Who On Earth is Policing Them?’ The crisis and corruption in the British press is one of the biggest, ongoing scandals of our time @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2023/06/06/p...

Anyone shocked by Red Note's (very!) rose-tinted view of life in China, wait till you see the very real quality of life they have in Scandinavia: worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/the-...

Mastodon is becoming an independent non-profit, and Bluesky is supporting #FreeOurFeeds taking their AT Protocol in the same direction. Supported by Jimmy Whales, Audrey Tang, Brian Eno, Cory Doctorow, among others. freeourfeeds.com

Moved onto this new purchase. Another of the old guard producing great records late in life. Also another with one of their offspring in their band. #Saturdaymorningmusic

Leone Norwood Farrell invented the Toronto Method for large-scale vaccine production, making childhood immunisation programmes more affordable and facilitating the mass production of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine in the 1950s. https://adalovelaceday.substack.com/p/dr-leone-norwood-farrell-biochemist

NEW BLOGPOST: "Who has got time to become an AI and media literate active citizen?" cambridgetownowl.com/2025/01/13/w... And even if you do have the time, where are the places that provide easy access and trustworthy course content?

Have you ever heard Neotists CIC @neotists.bsky.social Patron Evelyn Glennie read her story? This is so inspiring: 'Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, A Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion' youtu.be/vNVMZLx-jX8?...

'A Disgraceful Smear': Health Secretary Wes Streeting Slams Elon Musk For Calling Jess Phillips A 'Rape Apologist' The health secretary condemned the X owner "ridiculous" attack on the safeguarding minister www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/wes-st...

“The only effective measure is to ban all political donations, and the giving and receiving of such donations a criminal offence. Such a ban would force political parties to compete and develop publicly acceptable policies” @premnsikka.bsky.social leftfootforward.org/2025/01/how-...

Lina Stern, a biochemist and neurophysiologist, was one of the first researchers to identify what is now known as the blood-brain barrier, and conducted pioneering research on the central nervous system. https://adalovelaceday.substack.com/p/prof-lina-stern-neurophysiologist

Watching The Big Sleep and yes, its corny and sexist and paternalistic but the dialogue is also really sharp and clever and funny and the acting is captivating. www.imdb.com/title/tt0038...

Just in case anyone hasn't got enough to do today (!) I did an advent calendar of essays about creativity. You can see them all here: annhawkins.medium.com

My creativity advent calendar 2024: Day 16. Trial, Triumph, and the Art of the Possible, inspired by Maria Popova. annhawkins.medium.com/my-creativit... The series so far: annhawkins.medium.com

No reason for this other than it's Beethoven's birthday and this is utterly joyful! youtu.be/GBaHPND2QJg With thanks to @themarginalian.org.web.brid.gy

The whole point of buying the books you are giving to people for Christmas in a bookshop and not online on Amazon is not only to support the bookshop but to accidentally find a number of books you don’t have time for yet feel obliged to buy and take home with you anyway because they are wonderful.

NEW BLOGPOST: “A reminder of who has what plans for the future of Cambridge” cambridgetownowl.com/2024/12/12/a... Who wants to build where? We found out a few years ago. The plans for a number of them were highly advanced…>

Peak Steven Bartlett ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My creativity advent calendar 2024: Day 11. People are joining in … thanks to @squigglesocial.bsky.social for the inspiration for this one. annhawkins.medium.com/my-creativit... annhawkins.medium.com

My creativity advent calendar 2024: Day 10. "I'm not creative" annhawkins.medium.com/my-creativit... annhawkins.medium.com

76 years ago #OnThisDay men and women from every country and every culture, every religion and worldview, came together to agree that some values were shared and should forever be protected as rights for all.' @andrewcopson.bsky.social #HumanRightsDay2024 andrewcopson.com/2024/12/cele...

I forgot to post this yesterday: My creativity advent calendar 2024: Day 9. Does someone who creates wealth count as a creative person? annhawkins.medium.com medium.com/@annhawkins/...

My creativity advent calendar 2024: Day 8. The link between music and maths ... annhawkins.medium.com/my-creativit... annhawkins.medium.com

My creative advent calendar Day 6. What does luck have to do with being creative? annhawkins.medium.com/my-creativit...

I spent a week at the Pelicot rape trial, one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever reported on, and examine the many issues arising: French rape law, pornography, complicity and the defiant courage of Gisele. www.thetimes.com/article/5dee...

My advent calendar 2024. Day 5. Yesterday I quoted from Rick Rubin’s book “The Creative Act — A Way of Being”. The thing I like most about it is the assertion that “We are all creative” and that creativity is about our relationship to the world. annhawkins.medium.com/my-advent-ca...