Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Mark Grimshaw @markgrimshawtism.bsky.social · 20hA fascinating editorial decision from the BBC, to make the headline a scaremongering “AUTISM AND ADHD ARE BEING OVERDIAGNOSED”, and then, four bullet points later, have the author of the report quoted as essentially saying “nah, that’s bullshit, actually”. 28902400
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 06/09/2026I’m sad I’ve never got a truly personal crank email yet. There was one guy who thought the earth’s spin axis was a physical iron rod and included me on a big mailing list. But other than that, it’s just automated invites from fake journals and conferences. 020
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 02/09/2026The Hoff Crab is neither a crab nor is it David Hasselhoff. It is a Yeti Crab, which is neither a Yeti nor a Crab but a sub-group of Squat Lobsters, which are not lobsters, they're Anomurans, like Mole Crabs, which are neither moles, nor crabs. 37862212
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Mostly I’m just happy there’s so much high-budget paleo-media coming out these days 😅 000
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026I’d probably say it’s my second or third favourite of the recent wave of paleo-documentaries but prehistoric planet still remains uncontested at number 1. 100
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026I watched NBCs “Surviving Earth”. I like that it showed off some more obscure prehistoric animals and environments. I did find the storytelling frustratingly cliched at many points. The focus on mass extinctions was fun and gave it a unique spin over other recent documentaries. 100
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Is the omission of monsters purposeful here? 120
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 27/08/2026The peace process in Northern Ireland requires a legitimate legal route to unification. A UK prime minister saying that is “off the table” is unbelievably reckless and ignorant. 021
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Prof Jim Wild @jim-wild.bsky.social · 27/08/2026📢 Calling U.K. astronomers and physicists📢 There is a Westminster Hall debate on “Future of science facilities and laboratories” next Tuesday (1 Sep). Contact your MP and urge them to attend. More details at: ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...ras.ac.ukAstronomy cuts to be discussed at WestminsterThe Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) welcomes an upcoming debate at the Houses of Parliament about cuts impacting astronomy and encourages all Fellows to contact the... 21013
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I think academics should tease upcoming papers like musicians do albums 000
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖The Onion @theonion.com · 19/08/2026Democratic Socialism: Myth Vs. Fact theonion.com/democratic-socialism-m… 158223506263
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Going places if she ever gets into DIY punk clothing 011
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Consider, I can completely encrust my messenger bag in pins and still see them when I carry it around. 110
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Finally, the Astro-paleo crossover I’ve been looking for. 043
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 16/08/2026UK press culture is so utterly depraved 91656
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 15/08/2026I’ve added my name to this petition and so should you. The UK press led a targeted racist harassment campaign that lead directly to a suicide. My colleagues in Academia should not stay silent on this. goodlawproject.org/s/abb8a1goodlawproject.orgJason Arday: Demand a public inquiry now | Good Law ProjectCommission an immediate public inquiry into how to ensure a responsible press given its contribution to Dr Arday’s tragic death. 010
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖National Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 13/08/2026Sign our petition to call for climate action here: buff.ly/IrLHG0f 712484
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Dr Dave Hone @davehone.bsky.social · 11/08/2026A point I've not seen before and a strong one! 062
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 11/08/2026"This is based on what I feel" is the foundation of all 'science' on the right, including when it comes to trans people. 201234242
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Actually I think we should make a lifelike sculpture of Dobby’s exhumed remains alongside the pipeline for good measure. 000
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Can we start a counter petition to have it re-redirected through the exact spot. www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.comHarry Potter fans force relocation of £430m undersea cable to avoid Dobby’s ‘grave’Power cable linking UK and Ireland now passes near Bronze Age human burial remains instead of fictional grave on Welsh beach 100
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Call me old-fashioned, but I do think we could be losing our sense of proportion. www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.comHarry Potter fans force relocation of £430m undersea cable to avoid Dobby’s ‘grave’Power cable linking UK and Ireland now passes near Bronze Age human burial remains instead of fictional grave on Welsh beach 701020163
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 06/08/2026I understand that funding bodies want to go all in on AI as the shiny new innovation thing. But if all the grants start going to AI at the expense of everything else then the research sector is going to end up looking like a farm with dozens of threshers hacking away in a field with no wheat. 572325427
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 04/08/2026You’re absolutely right, it’s not just X, it’s Y and moreover it’s Z. 000
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 03/08/2026No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that this world’s skies were being watched keenly and closely by intelligences far greater than Martians. And that said intelligences thought “hey that one looks like a marshmallow!” 010
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/08/2026"There are shades of the departed Starmer government in this saga: @ukri.org wants to tell a big story about science funding going up, but instead is mired in a row over a fairly minor sum.... One does not have to be an astronomer to know that optics matter." 👌🔭 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comThe Guardian view on the Lovell telescope: budget cuts to physics are bad science and worse politics | EditorialEditorial: Funders have picked a damaging fight with scientists and the public. They should reconsider their plans 38928
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 29/07/2026When UK policy is following this close behind Trump something has gone horribly wrong 000
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 27/07/2026We could literally keep funding blue sky research at our current levels, the government just wants even more money funnelled into AI slop factories. 001
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 27/07/2026I think it’s important to mention the overall budget to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has *increased*. They’re just “re-prioritising” and cutting funds to curiosity based research in favour of avenues with perceived short term economic impacts. AI startups get mentioned a lot in this regard. 110
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 27/07/2026You think at a time like this the U.K. would be stepping up to exploit the gap left by these decisions and become a world leader in science… 010
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Royal Astronomical Society @royalastrosoc.bsky.social · 27/07/2026The Royal Astronomical Society is shocked and dismayed to hear that the UK's iconic Jodrell Bank Observatory is at risk of closure amid a slew of catastrophic budget cuts. Read our full statement here: ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre... 8387182
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Natalia (娜塔莉) @wrycritic.bsky.social · 27/07/2026Devastating hit to STEM spaces and resources in the North West. Jodrell Bank is a public museum, events venue, scientific UNESCO heritage site. Devastating loss to scientific communication in vulnerable region of the country. 410243
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 27/07/2026With high impact, low cost facilities like Jodrell Bank and HiPERCAM/ULTRACAM having cuts announced I’m honestly left wondering what *isn’t* getting cut?! 010
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 27/07/2026I have some non astronomer followers on here and I really want to convey how apocalyptic the cuts we’re facing in UK astronomy are. 000
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Had a great time at #DinoConUK! Now time to collapse in a heap after 7 straight days of science. 0101
Reposted by Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖Alex Hall Hall @alexhh.bsky.social · 26/07/2026It is extraordinary how it has become a sort of “settled wisdom” these days that Net Zero is an absurd aim, a sign of mad political correctness, and “has got to go”, when our planet is literally burning to death. 20371129
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 25/07/2026It does appear that life on earth emerged almost as soon as the conditions allowed it! Which does bode well for the chances of life elsewhere in the universe. But for the first ~4 billion years it was mostly simple and unicellular, so conversely, complex life is probably quite rare. 110
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 25/07/2026Habitability of planets around M dwarf stars is a real topic of debate at the moment. They do a lot of big flares which may strip planets of their atmospheres. And to be close enough to have liquid water you might end up tidally locked with a permanent day and night side. 110
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 25/07/2026I’ve probably made it to my colleagues in asteroid monitoring more than anyone’s ever made it to me 😂 110
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 24/07/2026Swapping my National Astronomy Meeting Lanyard for a #DinoConUK lanyard. What a week 😅 1153
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 22/07/2026Hydrostatic equilibrium only, death to Phobos and Deimos 020
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 22/07/2026Is now a good time to suggest I think we need stricter definitions for what actually counts as a moon even in a solar system context 010
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 22/07/2026IRRC this one is very much in the “formed more like a star” category 😶 010
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 22/07/2026Depends on the mass of the brown dwarf. Some of the smaller ones form more like planets while the more massive form like stars. 110
Toby Rodel 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🦕🦖 @astrotobe.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Microlensing, Imaging and Transits definitely Then Transit/eclipse timing/duration variations for the other four? 230