Profile avatar
davecl.bsky.social
Astrophysicist at Imperial College London. Works with space missions like Herschel and Planck, on extragalactic astronomy, observational cosmology and astrobiology. Ask about phosphine on Venus! Also writes science fiction. Not speaking for anybody
1,278 posts 1,227 followers 578 following
Prolific Poster
Conversation Starter

Andrea’s principled stand reveals once again the failure of @royalsociety.org to stand by its own principles. They really have misjudged to moment – and the momentousness of Musk’s damage to the fabric of US science. on.ft.com/4dVzoef

This is something we haven't talked about enough. Modern white supremacist fascism is incredibly litigious. Bankrupting people with lawsuits is actually their primary weapon of choice.

Don’t go grabbing tear gas grenades. Some burn at over 750 C and you can’t tell just by looking

BREAKING: Federal agents in plain clothes and unmarked cars tried to snatch 1st graders from LA elementary schools—told staff they had “parental consent.” They lied. When pressed, they HID THEIR IDS. DHS admits they sent them. This wasn’t a welfare check. It was a test run for a police state.

RFK Jr.‘s extreme anti-vax views — and his related conflicts of interest — were a huge problem during his confirmation process. So he promised not to change the vaccine advisory panel. Today, he fired every single expert on that panel. It's a public health disaster.

i understand the framing, which is about RFK jr lying to a senator to get senate approval but RFK jr also lied to the american public just completely unacceptable for a public official and senator bill cassidy is not the only one who should take action for being lied to

BBC's Arabic radio service in Lebanon closed after 85 years as part of a £28.5m savings drive. 'Just months later, in October 2023, the Russian state-owned Sputnik news agency took over the frequency. Its news bulletin opened with “This is Moscow”, replacing the previous “This is London” intro.' 🙄

Philly local tv station reporting that a man allegedly posed as an ICE agent in order to rob a car repair business office. How many other criminals might be getting this idea right now, given that actual ICE agents are refusing to show IDs, warrants, badges?

When did you ever hear the BBC stating that it must alter “story selection” and “other types of output, such as drama”, to win the trust of Green voters, or of unrepresented people on the left? All the shifts are in just one direction. bylinetimes.com/2025/06/09/b...

Alpine strawberries fresh from the garden!

I think it's important to continuously reiterate that federal science funding grants in the US (and elsewhere) are made because the government, with the input of panels of independent experts, have concluded that the work being done is IN THE INTEREST OF THE NATION.

🚨BREAKING: 300+ NIH employees call out the harm of censorship & politicized science in scathing email to Bhattacharya, demanding an end to political interference, a lift on funding freezes, & rehiring of fired staff whose work saves lives. This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle. 🧵(1/5)

'Inadequate ventilation considered a risk factor for infection from airborne bioaerosols. CO2 concentration as a proxy for ventilation performance.' Lidia Morawska et al, operationalise CO2 monitoring for use by building operators as an infection risk reduction tool.' www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Important information from @aclu.org on your rights in protesting. Thanks, Sarah- please spread far and wide!

In case you missed it on Friday: my story about Trump's proposed NASA cuts & how, if they pass, they'd deal a massive blow to international collaboration. Europe's long-planned ExoMars rover could be a huge casualty. But Washington's reputation would be another. www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪🚀

It is completely unlawful for ICE to turn away members of Congress like this. The law could not be more clear; no member of Congress may be denied access to a facility where ICE is detaining someone, and they cannot be required to schedule in advance. Surprise inspections must be surprise.

Nice little meteor just blew up north of Tucson AZ. Bright skies under a near full moon. 🔭

Watch the slow motion: it appears to me that the officers discuss the photographer and reporter before the one on the end fires on them (it looks to me like he's aiming at the camera, not the reporter, but you decide)

The threat to astronomy - image of the sky from Mongolia showing dozens of trails from Starlink and other NEO satellites. Image credit: Xin Wang, Mongolia 🧪🔭

You open the manual for that weapon he’s holding and it will absolutely tell you not to point it at people like that. It’s only “less lethal” when handled properly. He might as well be holding a glock.

This needs as much coverage as protests or ICE raids. Los Angelenos FTW. ❤️🙌

Q: When does Donald Trump *never* call the National Guard? A: When there is a *real* insurrection.

How now-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem felt about a president potentially federalizing the National Guard one year ago:

A study finds, US based academic research institutes account for 50% of new medical drugs in the last 4 years. 🧪 www.statnews.com/2025/06/06/u... #science #savescience #stat

In 2020, Trump wanted to use lethal force on protesters. Defense Secretary Mark Esper stopped him. Now, as Los Angeles rises up against ICE, Pete Hegseth leads the Pentagon. This is the scenario many warned about: a president surrounded by yes-men, with no one left to offer restraint.

It’s second Sunday of the month here at St Martin in the Fields, so that means that this afternoon I’ll be running Captain Dan’s laundry service for homeless and/or destitute asylum seekers and refugees. We’ll also provide a hot lunch and showers.

So much pain. So little understanding of it in our society. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Nigel Farage still insisting that he has "never ever, ever suggested anything other than the NHS should be free". Here's what he's said in the past behind closed doors

The Los Angeles Police Department has stated that demonstrations in the city have remained peaceful. Let that sink in.

The deployment of federalized National Guard troops to California, without consent from local or state officials, is deeply troubling. These are tactics seen in authoritarian regimes, not in America. We want to be clear, the military should not be used to police civilians.

With alt text.

Meanwhile, 'the number of children being vaccinated against routine diseases including measles has collapsed to the lowest levels in more than a decade in the UK - risking serious outbreaks of potentially deadly diseases among children.' @shaunlintern.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcar...

The most vital thing you can do right now is spread this message offline to normies. There is no "unrest", there's a protest. It has 400 people. LA does worse when the Lakers come in 3rd in a season.

Today is the anniversary of Alan Turing’s suicide, in 1954. Turing was the father of modern computing. His codebreaking helped the Allies to win WWII. Arrested for being gay, he chose chemical castration over a prison sentence. He lost his security clearance, as all homosexuals were deemed a risk.

@foxla.bsky.social thank you for your honest coverage calling out the federal agents for shooting teargas when the protest was peaceful and not for any reason making it seem like the protesters instigated what is happening right now

And this is why if you know any awesome protester who got caught defying authority on vid/pic? No. You have no idea who they are.

An Italian court has ruled that both women in a lesbian couple are legal mothers of a child conceived via IVF. buff.ly/eLkHSne A non-binary person in Brazil has been granted official documents with a neutral gender marker for the first time in the country’s history buff.ly/US69P86 #ShareGoodNewsToo