A photo showing a hospital room where a patient's blood is being filtered through a series of IV bags. The liquid is bright yellow (so it's probably just plasma). Credit: Vital Hil / Shutterstock
Studies in animals suggest that it might be possible to reduce deaths from sepsis by filtering a key protein out of the blood - @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2523669-a-whole-...
This stupid advert is 2026’s “he tweeted it out”
A photo showing seven people gathered around some bedding plants on a city street, surrounded by high walls. Credit: URSOILL
City soils are degraded and trapped under concrete. So researchers are working to fix them using nature-based remediation, as I reported for @nextcity.org
nextcity.org/urbanist-news/european-r...
A cartoon showing a collection of Jim Carrey clones, all wearing blue shirts with numbers on the back. Credit: Josie Ford
The conspiracy theory that Jim Carrey has been cloned has a few, just a few, tiny holes in the reasoning - Feedback, @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2522669-why-clon...
In March, Matt Ridley gave the inaugural "Scientific Freedom Lecture" at NIH, on a lab leak origin of COVID-19.
The talk was so full of misrepresentations, omissions, falsehoods and lies that I will need several blog posts to debunk it. Here's Part I:
pandemonium.hypotheses.org/995
🧪 #covidorigin
A reconstruction of a Neanderthal based on the fossils from La Chapelle-aux-Saints in France. He is a man with pale skin and a broad nose, shoulder-length hair and a beard. He's looking straight at the camera. Credit: S. Entressangle / E. Daynes / Science Photo Library
I tried to make sense of all the conflicting data and ideas about the origins of the Neanderthals, for @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2522913-are-nean...
I went on the @newscientist.com podcast to talk about the Neanderthals' last few thousand years on Earth. Listen/watch at:
NS: https://loom.ly/TcuVYLQ
Apple: https://loom.ly/xKObrsY
Spotify: https://loom.ly/pCFJpN4
YouTube: https://loom.ly/l8OxnDg
It's obscene the level of which this administration has gone after trans youth to make their lives a living hell. The latest attack on care will completely defund any hospital or clinic that provides care to trans youth.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
A cartoon showing a tourist in a blue beanie hat and red top, carrying a purple handbag, looking at a grey-white sculpture of a foraminiferan, which looks like a giant sea shell. It sits on a plinth that reads "Foraminifera Fossil: Bolivina Spissa". Credit: Josie Ford
I'm back from holiday with a suggestion for where you might go on your next jaunt: the world’s one and only (as far as we know) sculpture park dedicated to foraminifera.
www.newscientist.com/article/2522140-is-this-...
So satisfying to see a pompous arsehole get so thoroughly dismantled
Artist's impression of Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the northern border of Roman territory in ancient Britain. Credit: Historic England / Heritage Images / Science Photo Library
Here's your daily thought about the Roman Empire: Did droughts really help to trigger conflicts in late Roman Britain? @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2520194-historia...
Cartoon showing a scientist giving a lecture while scribbling symbols and diagrams on a blackboard, one of which is "JOKE". Several people are sat in the audience, one with a book on their head. Credit: Josie Ford
Researchers studied the use of humour in the talks at academic conferences, in order to combat the tedium of the talks at academic conferences.
www.newscientist.com/article/2521449-how-many...
Thanks to @michael-marshall.bsky.social for this great write up of our new response piece in @newscientist.com! #Skystorians #MedievalSky
Computer-generated image of a SARS-CoV-2 viral particle, shown in red with lots of spike proteins sticking out of it, being surrounded by immune system proteins. Credit: Science Photo Library
We now have proper causal evidence that "autoantibodies" targeting people's healthy tissues are one of the drivers of #LongCovid - @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2521476-attacks-...
Awesome 🤩
A new book makes the case that flowers, far from being purely decorative, have been transformational for all ecosystems. We literally couldn't live without them.
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26935880-400-w...
It shouldn't be possible to spend several hundred words figuring out how large a "shedload" actually is, but here we are.
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26935882-400-h...
A photo showing a row of ambulances parked outside a hospital. Credit: iStock.com / VV Shots
OK, now, don't panic, but suppose the UK got dragged into a full-scale war.
Here's what the health system would need to do to handle the casualties - @doctors-net-uk.bsky.social
www.doctors.net.uk/news/what-would-it-take-...
If you have an hour to spare and don't mind my face, here's an online talk I gave for @newscientist.com last week on prehistoric peoples
app.events.ringcentral.com/events/deep-time-journey...
Models of a Neanderthal man and woman. The man is holding a long wooden stick and has a big beard. Both have ruddy red faces and broad noses. Credit: AP Photo / Martin Meissner / Alamy
In the 40,000 years before their extinction, the Neanderthals lived through massive upheavals. @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2520319-genetic-...
For several months, people have been wondering why Reform hasn't declared any crypto donations, despite Nigel Farage saying they'd received some
Now @theobserveruk.bsky.social can reveal why...
It's interesting how The Daily Wire attacks the idea that gender is a performance when their sets are all about gender performance. Look at the aesthetics here — the cigars and crystal decanter with Japanese whiskey, the black dress shirt, the tight suit with two-toned double monks and tie bar ...
If (as Andrew Neil says) GB News has become Reform TV then maybe there’s a case for the @ElectoralCommUK to start taking an interest app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/72784/...
WTAF
This is a decisive moment in the push to give Harriet the recognition she deserves. I actually gasped when I read the headline.
A cartoon showing a cow wearing a space helmet and standing on the surface of the moon. Credit: Josie Ford
In these trying times, it's good to know that some people are thinking big happy positive thoughts - like how we could turn the moon into a source of revenue.
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26935873-700-i...
We know Neanderthals used tar made from tree bark as glue.
They may also have used it as an antiseptic to treat wounds. @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2519668-neandert...
I know enough lawyers to understand that this ruling is lawyer-speak for “you absolute bunch of fucking clowns”
