matthewcobb.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

MAN -> FRA -> SFO -> MRY. And already the final leg is in jeopardy as the plane from FRA is substantially delayed. Should stay at home.

submitted 12 hours ago • 1 comment

"I never thought I would have to step aside..." Alec didn't get the word count he should have in my original blogs. He doesn't get the screen time he deserves in #AThousandBlows, but Francis Lovehall is brilliant in the part. We'll get there with my book 🤞🏻 grapplingwithhistory.com/2021/02/16/a...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Btw all I’ll say is that Netflix’s ZERO DAY does not go where you think it will, and that - who knew? - de Niro is a consummate actor.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Scream Cipher xkcd.com/3054

submitted 1 day ago • 184 comments

Imagine if Musk’s savaging of the public sector were tried in France! But sadly, Reagan smashed PATCO, the US air traffic controllers’ union in 1981, heralding decades of retreat by the US trades unions. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Pr...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Just what I want to read given I am flying into the chaos of the USA tomorrow...

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

This is really cool: Ethanol (an olfactory stimulus) can elicit opposite chemotaxis responses – attraction vs. aversion – depending on NaCl concentration. One neuron in C. elegans, ASER, orchestrates this bidirectional ethanol chemotaxis by integrating information from both stimuli.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

So, let's assume that Artemis (or at least SLS and Orion which sees funding go to several manufacturers) is cancelled. That does not mean no to the Moon. But I suspect we will see the funding directed entirely to one space company. But which one I wonder? (the question is purely rhetorical).

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

I'm rereading my book Serving The Reich with increasing dismay, even horror. This, for example. Broaden "European" to "Western" and I have to say that I am no longer as confident in this statement as I was in 2013. That frightens me.

submitted 1 day ago • 33 comments

I have a new podcast episode out today and it’s all about SIGNING YOUR FIRST BOOK DEAL! Have a listen if you’re interested! (somehow today I talk about hotdogs and it’s NOT a euphemism for spicy books 👀) spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/45D1... apple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

WHAAAAAAT

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Criticisms of the 1975 Asilomar meeting on genetic engineering are quite valid, in terms of its lack of representation and so on. But remember the positive consequences - all insulin is now produced in engineered microbes, and careful medical use of the technology can be amazing:

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

This #FossilFriday meet Bojophlebia - this cool ~309 million year old fossil insect was found in the Czech Republic. The scale bar on the image is 4cm, so we can estimate this animal had a wingspan of over 40cm. What it actually was though, has been subject to discussion. ⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

John Arnesby Brown's 'The Cross Roads,' (c1953) depicts a junction at Hadiscoe in Norfolk on the Reedham to Beccles road. St Mary's church, with its distinctive Saxon round tower, sits on an area of higher ground and is a landmark for miles around.

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

Sure, Google's data centers consume tens of billions of litres of water yearly and emit more carbon dioxide than many nations, but on the other hand, you can look up Uranus and AI will show you a picture of Neptune. Never in the history of humanity, have we reached such speeds in making mistakes

submitted 2 days ago • 13 comments

Big night for migrating toads in Sussex! Lots of newts too. 🐸❤️🐸 @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @froglife.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Science in Action with @marionkoopmans.bsky.social on the flu pandemic threat, and @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @shobitap.org on responsibility in science 50 years after Asilomar, starts shortly. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

I think this is the kind of news item I would like to read in future, thank you.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

The 3rd and final #beaver site surveyed in the River Otter catchment this week. Upstream of the village of East Budleigh, our monitoring has shown this wetland to significantly reduce downstream peak flows. @exeter.ac.uk

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Fascinating! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Not fun geopolitical times to live through but, as history teaches us, this era will pass and better people will rise.

submitted 2 days ago • 130 comments

CDC: Two indoor-only cats living in separate households in Michigan developed H5N1 bird flu in May 2024 and subsequently died. The owners were dairy farmworkers who declined testing but reported having symptoms consistent with H5N1 bird flu prior to the cats becoming ill. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...

submitted 2 days ago • 9 comments

I have been so excited since I found out this would be announced today! RIP any ability for me to concentrate: www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2...

submitted 2 days ago • 476 comments

Something to note: When I published this story, the project website stated that "recent ecotoxicological tests have revealed potential risks to the Arctic food chain." That line has since disappeared, now stating that "further study is needed to reach definitive conclusions" about the approach.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

The Netherlands has agreed to return 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, the largest restitution to date of Benin artifacts looted by the British military in 1897.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Good heavens! How about that @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Yay! The asteroid 2024 YR4 appears to be even more unlikely to hit us. The y-axis is the time of closest approach, and x is when an estimate of its TCA was made. As of 2/20, the asteroid should pass us at 09:00 ±2ish hours, missing Earth (it has to pass us at 14:00 to hit).

submitted 2 days ago • 16 comments

We’re talking scandal, asteroids & bio-threats today. The brilliant @matthewcobb.bsky.social @proftimob.bsky.social @ellahubber.bsky.social & @libbyjackson.com cut through the headline-induced anxiety & bring us the fascinating facts. Inside Science on Radio 4 at 1630 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

See you on Sunday!

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

@jopabinia.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Off to BBC Salford in a while to record an Asilomar interview for Inside Science with Vic Gill (is she here?) and @proftimob.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Apropos of absolutely nothing, a commemorative Welsh mug on the occasion of the beheading of Louis XVI

submitted 2 days ago • 13 comments

This octopus is a sucker for jellies 🐙✨️⁠ ⁠ The seven-armed octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, has only been observed by MBARI’s ROVs three times in more than three decades. This one was holding the bell of an egg-yolk jellyfish in its arms—perhaps using its meal for defense or to help catch more prey.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

That was worth the 27km hike. Queen Charlotte Sound where George Forster came 3 times in 1773 & 1774 with Cook‘s Resolution.

submitted 2 days ago • 6 comments