R.I.P. Andy Kershaw who I listened to a lot back in the day. Currently playing one of my treasured LPs - and my introduction to the fabulous Orchestra Baobab (Homage à Tonton Ferrer from their 2002 album Specialist in All Styles to feature in my Desert Island tracks if I get asked).
We finally exchanged our old petrol car for a second-hand ev two weeks ago.
For the first time ever, heat pumps outsold gas boilers in Germany in 2025.
48% of all new heating systems installed last year were heat pumps. Gas fell to just 39%. A decade ago, heat pumps had a 7% market share. The transformation has been remarkable.
Off topic, but a trade "immortalized" in recent pop music .
youtu.be/zcDu9LY2-oU?...
On Saturday I made the transition to a (second-hand) electric car and will never again fill it up with petrol but instead fuel it with electricity from my house's solar panels. I am thinking of Harriet Mappin, my 2nd great grandmother, and what it must have been like to live through her transition.
We are now in the midst of another rapid transition, this time away from fossil fuels bringing CO2 emissions rapidly down rather than up. Whereas the transition Harriet lived through made her environment dirtier and more dangerous, the current transition is making our environment cleaner and safer.
UK per capita CO2 emissions peaked in 1971 (about 12t) having had highest per capita emissions in the world until about 1900 when UK was overtaken by the US (max of 22t in 1973; 14t now). UK per capita CO2 emissions are now about the same as they were when 14-yr old Harriet Mappin was spoon buffing.
Sheffield was undergoing a rapid expansion and UK CO2 emissions had reached about 4t per head. Harriet married Henry Spencer in 1854. Her dad, a spring knife cutler, died in his 40s as would her husband, a table knife hafter. Workers often died young of silicosis. ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/...
Elizabeth Fairest married Edward Mappin on 6th March in 1836 in Sheffield parish church. In 1851 they were living in a "court" (a cramped cul-de-sac with a single water tap and privy) in Bedford Street and their 14-year old daughter, Harriet was a spoon buffer. globe-works.co.uk/news/heritag...
screenshot of a resignation letter expressing sadness at leaving NASA
My resignation letter
I just resigned from NASA. It breaks my heart to leave, but I’ve become convinced the best path forward is to do the best science I can, and that can’t be here anymore. I’m still in love with the promise of those four magic letters. Ad astra per aspera, and remember: Earth is the only good planet.
Wild set of interviews, one with 1966 kids predicting 2000 and then 1986 kids predicting 2020
so many of them relate to nuclear war and population anxiety
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih3L...
And this from the Guardian is rather good appraisal of Stoppard ... www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...
Went to see this yesterday and it was wonderful! Performed in the round, at its beating heart the relationship between Thomasina Coverly and Septimus Hodge, beautifully played by Isis Hainsworth and Seamus Dillane. Our performance was being filmed so a chance to see it in cinemas later perhaps.
In this week's Nature we argue there is a pressing need for a global assessment of avoidable climate-change risks. To understand the urgency of emissions reductions, policy makers and citizens need a full analysis of what is at stake including the worst-case scenarios. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
HOPE, FOR ME, COMES FROM THE PAST’ BY ESSAYIST REBECCA SOLNIT ‘HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS,’ EMILY DICKINSON famously wrote, and that often leads to pictures of doves sitting quietly and looking sweet, but what if hope is an albatross that can soar for years without stopping, or an osprey that can haul a thrashing salmon out of rough waters? People tend to think hope is fluffy and frail, but it’s the force that has kept people going in the worst circumstances, the commitment to pursue the possibilities even when they seem remote. There are so many things hope is not: it is not optimism, which assumes that the future will be fine, and which requires nothing of us, any more than cynicism, despair, defeatism and doomerism do. It is not a prophesy of the future, since it arises in part from recognising that we make the future in the present and that it will be shaped by countless factors, visible and invisible, including our own participation. It is not an upbeat feeling or a feeling at all, since people in the worst circumstances have hoped that their efforts to free themselves might be met with success, that their bleakcondition might not be permanent or that their children might live to see a better time. second half of text with second post/photo
‘HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS,’ EMILY DICKINSON
famously wrote, and that often leads to pictures of doves sitting quietly and looking sweet, but what if hope is an albatross that can soar for years without stopping, or an osprey that can haul a thrashing salmon out of rough waters?
Congratulations on 35 years of science, service and shrewdness!
My Swiss-born wife has insisted we do this regularly for years and it has always seemed entirely sensible (and nicely bracing in winter) but I didn't realise it was called house-burping.
To reiterate: (The fact that he had a gun he never drew is immaterial; the videos show that they attacked him before they knew it; they murdered him after they confiscated it.)
Great to see climate attribution studies featuring as one of the 21 best ideas of the 21st century in today's @newscientist.com . Net zero is another of the best ideas. With me on my Italian summer holidays and Dave Frame and Myles Allen running a climate model on the train to @metoffice.gov.uk
It's all a bit noisy having your brain and then your heart scanned but it's good to be part of this. My dad had dementia (which I attribute to heading too many leather footballers as a young man) and it's good to feel that my brain might help cure such a horrible disease in future.
Taking train to Bristol to spend 4 hours being scanned (again) as part of the Biobank project. Feels good to be doing something positive by adding some extra data points to this extraordinary project that is improving healthcare. The power of evidence led scientific research! www.ukbiobank.ac.uk
Professional portrait of atmospheric scientist Susan Solomon. She has short, tousled gray hair, wears large round dark-framed glasses, and is smiling gently. She is dressed in a textured navy-blue blazer over a black top, with a bright multicolored floral/paisley scarf tied at the neck. Her arms are crossed confidently in front of her chest. She wears a silver watch on her left wrist. The background shows a softly blurred indoor space with warm architectural tones.
Atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon was born #OTD in 1956.
Solomon, working with colleagues at NOAA, proposed/confirmed the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole, chlorofluorocarbons. She led the Nat'l Ozone Expedition to Antarctica to collect evidence & was the only woman on the team. #WomenInSTEM (1/2)
Ben Santer, an outstanding scientist and historically significant figure in the development of understanding of climate change, is relocating to the UK. Very much looking forward to him visiting the @metoffice.gov.uk to talk about our common research interests.
At least your team won in the ethics category.
The detailed account on the BBC website censors this bit and states "The ICE agent swears". Why that editorial decision? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
As a climate scientist, I know heatwaves in Australia will only get worse. We need to start preparing now | Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick #Climate