Cover of Halcyon Years by Alastair Reynolds featuring the silhouette of a man in a hat walking towards a white background and a futuristic city on a bridge with red lights on the edges.
Latest #SciFi book completion - An excellent noir detective bent with a surprise detective - #HalcyonYears #AlastairReynolds
picture of the box of the game Mastermind
A classic charity shop find, a game of Mastermind, still great fun to play!
I won't be offering a comedy set at this event myself alas, but the rest of the gang have a fun evening planned for you! The Variables Present: An Evening of Science Comedy!
Rob Grant Black and White photo with quote 'Died Peacefully in his jeep'
We watched the Better Than Life episode with that quote two days ago. Thanks for the wonderful co-creation. #RedDwarf
Christmas tree with white lights
Christmas Eve evening tree
What did Watson and Crick discover in 1953?”
“Rosalind Franklin’s notes!”
Now would be a good time to listen to my interview with the brilliant @matthewcobb.bsky.social about Franklin, Watson, Crick and the discovery of the double helix. geneticsunzipped.com/blog/2023/8/...
A lazy morning rating 100 #nintendo games, with Fire Emblem Three Houses coming out on top. www.ign.com/faceoffs/the...
British electricity grid is on a real renewable (windy) roll this week and at the moment, during the day, we're exporting more electricity (to Norway, Ireland, Belgium and Denmark) than we're producing in fossil fuel generation. We often do this overnight - during the day is ... a bit more novel!
Donate for the #NHS YOUR blood! singingscience.org/all-you-need...
Second viewing of #Tron:Ares confirms it is of the most properly cinematic experiences I have ever enjoyed on an IMAX screen. Thumping #NIN soundtrack, superb light cycle chase, something old, something new. Just needed a line about big doors to get perfect.
Humanism has always been global. 🌍✨
From philosophers like Epicurus in ancient Greece, to Cārvāka in India, Mengzi in China, the goðlauss of the Nordic sagas, and the philosophy of ubuntu in Africa — humanist ideas can be found in traditions all over the world.
#NobelPrize announcement time: Immunology, and why our immune system doesn't just shred us to pieces, is the theme for this one! www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
#chimps drink #alcohol from fruits... Did they invent the pina colada?! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
No one should have to make a journey like this alone.
Let's hope the House of Lords continues along the historic path towards giving terminally ill people the choice, dignity, and compassion they deserve at the end of their lives.
It's time to end to this cruelty.
news.stv.tv/world/dame-e...
Nintendo revealed there is an easter egg in the 'change grip/order' section of the Controller settings.
Sounds will play when you press the L/R buttons and you can even create a musical scale.
More on the link between fine particulates from car emissions and dementia www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Love this from Humanists UK! #Thatshumanism is the perfect introduction to the humanist approach to life, featuring four animations narrated by Stephen Fry, and brand new posters all about humanism for schools. Have a look for yourself! humanists.uk/thatshumanism/
This post about mosquitoes should generate a lot of .... buzz...
A comedic take on the History of Science from our fab set of comedians! Demonstrating that science is not a steady stream of progress, but instead a series of mishaps, bad ideas and general confusion that somehow, sometimes, leads to understanding! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-variab...
This institution keeps it's most important ring binders next to each other.
Yesterday was Shakespeare day, but before Shakespeare, there was another great Renaissaince playwright with the soul of a humanist: Christopher Marlowe.
HIs bio is now on the #HumanistHeritage website.
heritage.humanists.uk/christopher-...
Two views of planet Mars on a black background of space observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. At left, text: December 28, 2024 20:00 UT. At right, text: December 29, 2024 13:18 UT. In both images, its atmosphere is clear and the surface appears detailed. Most of the planet is shades of orange. At left, the brightest orange area appears in the left half. At right, the brightest orange area is centered and takes on the rough shape of a sleeping mask. In both views, darker surface features are noticeable on the lower half of the planet. These have a mix of orange, blue, and gray hues. At the top and bottom, white regions mark the planet’s polar caps. The entire limb of the planet, its visible edge, has a blue hue. The blue doesn’t form an even circle at the edges, and appears thinner toward the left and right, and thicker in some areas.
The planetary nebula NGC 2899 is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its edges pointed up, but its edge-on central torus is semi-transparent in the middle. The top and bottom edges are thick and orange. The center is semi-transparent blue and green. The wider central region looks roughly like a moth, also filled with semi-transparent blue and green. There are two pinpoint-like white stars with diffraction spikes toward the center. Immediately below them, slightly toward the right, is a smaller blue orb, a central star. The next layer of gas and dust is whiter, with some thicker pillars that look like they are rising up at bottom center. The colour fades into reds and purples, and then to orange.
A tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a V extends from just below top left all the way down to the lower right corner and back up toward the top right. It looks like thick smoke that has billowed out irregularly, thicker along the line from top left to bottom right, and looser on the piece that goes toward the top right. Behind the dark gray on the left side, from the bottom left to top center, there is dust that looks like arced claw marks that appears in light orange and yellow. The background at top left is hazier and some blues are covered in semi-transparent orange wisps, which makes sections take on green hues. In the bottom right, the background is bluer. There are a few bright red and purple stars scattered along the right half, most toward the bottom. The largest star is at right-center, just at the edge. It is red and has four diffraction spikes.
Barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 observed by the Hubble Space Telescope takes up the majority of the view. At its center is a milky yellow, flattened oval that extends bottom left to top. Within the oval is a bright central region that looks circular, with the very center the brightest. In the bright central region is what looks like a bar, extending from top left to bottom right. Around this is a thick swath of blue stars speckled with white regions. Multiple arms wrap up and around in a counterclockwise direction, becoming fainter the farther out they are. Both the white core and the spiral arms are intertwined with dark streaks of dust. The background of space is black. Thousands of distant galaxies in an array of colors are speckled throughout.
Happy anniversary, Hubble! 🎂
Celebrate 35 years since this NASA/ESA space telescope was launched into orbit with four anniversary images! They roam from the planet Mars to dramatic images of stellar birth and death to a neighbouring galaxy.
Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
#Hubble35 🔭 🧪
A worn out doggy and Easter Bunny.
'I don’t think you realise until you see someone close to you going through the pain and the agony, it changes your opinion,' she said. 'That’s what did it for me.' Jacqueline, who is suffering from incurable cancer, shares her story 👇
news.stv.tv/west-central...
I will be performing a short set here next month! With a theme I hope you can really dig! 😅
This #InternationalWomensDay, we celebrate the remarkable women who shaped humanist history – women who challenged convention, fought for equality, and championed reason, compassion, and social progress. heritage.humanists.uk/article/hero...
