iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 16h

Ranked responses to winning the Nobel: 3. Anne Carson (see below) 2. Peter Higgs (Went for a walk in order to hide) 1. Doris Lessing www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBO...

youtube.com

British author Doris Lessing reacts to Nobel win

YouTube video by ReutersLC

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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 14h

What's that cough? Pumpkin spice edition. Covid season has definitely started, and my guess it that it will peak a little later and higher than last year.

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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 19h

How bleak.

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Very sad news. Dean was a great colleague and we will miss his lively, warm and intelligent company.

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 02/10/2026

This will never stop blowing my mind. A 12-year sequence of real telescope images of a star 133 lightyears away. And around it, four planets slowly orbiting. Four real exoplanets, each more massive than Jupiter, imaged as they move around their host star.

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arXiv @arxiv.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

arXiv has updated our policy on rate limiting for all submitters. This update was made to fairly distribute moderator time & support the arXiv community of staff, volunteers, readers & authors. Please read our announcement to learn more: blog.arxiv.org/2026/10/01/updated-r…

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Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Very pleased to have worked on this fascinating group of finds with the wonderful @francescatinti.bsky.social , and thanks to the comms team @cam.ac.uk for putting together the release. www.cam.ac.uk/stories/angl...

cam.ac.uk

Anglo-Saxon expats got special treatment in Rome’s 'Little England'

The first material evidence of the Schola Saxonum suggests the Anglo-Saxons in Rome were a thriving and valued expat community.

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

These books are great but sadly, science is Kynaston’s blind spot - it doesn’t get mentioned in any of his books. Not even the 1962 award of 4 Nobels to Brits (and 1 to a USian who did the work in the U.K.).

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Velour Shirt @object.works · 29/09/2026

This is a metaphor for so many things these days that I couldn't choose

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Gamze Gürsoy @gamzeandgursoy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

We are looking for a creative and highly independent postdoc excited about synthetic biology, genome engineering, molecular programming, and nucleic-acid technologies to work with us on problems related to genome privacy. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...

cam.ac.uk

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Nucleic Acid Computing and Molecular Engineering (Fixed Term)

We invite applications for a 2-year Postdoctoral Research Associate position in Nucleic Acid Computing and Molecular Programming in the laboratory of Dr Gamze Gursoy at the University of Cambridge. Th...

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This story has been unfolding for a while and is extremely troubling. Leaving Cert maths is or was a strong component of the Irish education system. It's astonishing that a review process would propose to undermine it so thoroughly. www.thefitzwilliam.com/p/leaving-ce...

thefitzwilliam.com

Ireland Could Destroy Its Secondary School Mathematics

The proposed Leaving Certificate reforms are incredibly concerning

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Rishi Sunak is wrong about the Tebbit test. Tebbit was not suggesting that by supporting England in the cricket, people could somehow establish their Englishness. He meant that cheering for other countries like India or the West Indies indicated their lack of it.

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Humans are diverse. 'A lido full of dogs' for example, is one person's delightful morning, and another's nightmarish vision of hell.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 18/09/2026

This is horrifying. Please join me in calling for an immediate return to getting our false intelligence about WMDs from the CIA and other organic sources.

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Dr. Erika Graham-Goering @jeanneologist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

For the record, "fewer larger grants" is the opposite of how to fund good research. Give a bunch of researchers financial stability and basic funding, without wasting their time on increasingly competitive applications and widening the have/have-not gap, and look how far we'll go.

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Just received a marketing email with the subject line 'Happy New Term!'..

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I'm tired of hearing this stuff from politicians. 'McDonald said prime minister Andy Burnham had personally told him he wants more of the UK’s “world-class research” to foster growth and jobs.' www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

researchprofessionalnews.com

New science minister: funding system ‘destroying’ value of research - Research Professional News

Chris McDonald says he wants fewer and longer-term grants, plus a “smoother and simpler system”

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Ian Sudbery @iansudbery.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I have to say I don't get this. If grants were fewer and longer, that makes each application higher stakes. That means academics will spend more time on each application, not less. And because award rates will necessarily be lost, they'll write more applications, not fewer.

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Ian Sudbery @iansudbery.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Holy moly, @ensembl.org killed biomart! Hope many R scripts are there out there that depend on biomaRt? How many people have informatics practicals, or undergraduate project instructions that depend on a web interface for bulk selection of data?

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Molly Przeworski @mollyprz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Job opportunity at Columbia U., in "any combination of field, experimental, computational, or theoretical approaches to study fundamental questions in evolutionary biology".

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Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Early medievalists may be happy to know that Simon Keynes’s collection of maps of Anglo-Saxon England has now been made freely available via @trincolllibcam.bsky.social These were commissioned by Simon and drawn (by hand) by Reg Piggott between 1991 and 2012. archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/ma...

archives.trin.cam.ac.uk

Maps of Anglo-Saxon England - archives.trin.cam.ac.uk

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Presumably she saw Road Runner go through it ahead of her.

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

'Researchers are having to spend too much time applying for grants, so we should award fewer of them' is the kind of logic that evidently makes sense to people responsible for research funding. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/science...

timeshighereducation.com

Science minister: UKRI should fund ‘fewer, longer awards’

Chris McDonald backs UK Research and Innovation’s demand management push with dig at ‘value-destroying’ peer review

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Astronomers! The Savilian Professorship at @oxfordphysics.bsky.social is now open for applications - this is the senior chair in (normally) theoretical astrophysics, and I hope you'll consider coming to join us. Hapoy to chat informally if useful. my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... 🔭

my.corehr.com

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 09/09/2026

Astrophotographer Adam (AJ) Smadi caught this image a few hours ago from Washington state. A thin crescent Moon, sunlight illuminating the rugged lunar surface. And 2,400 times farther away—and on the other side of the Sun—mighty Jupiter, and its moons Io (left) and Ganymede (right).

A crescent Moon seen during the day, arcing from upper left to lower right of the frame. At lower centre is the full disk of Jupiter; the small dots to its upper left and lower right and Io and Ganymede, respectively.

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I love the formulations people come up with to refer to sex between hominins. 'Ancient trysts' in this case - makes it sound like the young Denisovan and sapiens lovers eloped after sneaking out of their family caves.

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Reading Museum @readingmuseum.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Haven’t got tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum? Don’t worry you can visit Reading's full-size copy, faithfully embroidered by 35 women in 1885-86 (plus extra pants!) Or latest blog compares the two tapestries www.readingmuseum.org.uk/blog/comparing-bayeux-and-reading-tapestries

readingmuseum.org.uk

Comparing the Bayeux and Reading tapestries

Reading’s Bayeux Tapestry is a full-size copy of the original 11th century tapestry. It was created in 1885-1886 by 35 women of the Leek Embroidery Society 'so that England should have a copy of its o...

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Ewan Birney @ewanbirney.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Two weeks ago the @economist.com had a leader "In praise of designer-ish babies". I wrote a letter to the Editor about this, explaining why the UK system is so confident that this should remain unlawful. The Economist has kindly published a shortened form+ my full letter below lnkd.in/p/ef-n78N8

lnkd.in

Full letter to Economist, response to "In praise of designer-ish babies" | Ewan Birney

Two weeks ago the The Economist published a leader titled "In praise of designer-ish babies". I wrote a letter to the editor in response to this. The Economist was kind enough to publish a shortened f...

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Gemma Murray @gemmamurray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I’m hiring two postdocs to join my group at UCL, both funded for 3 years, to investigate how commensal bacteria contribute to the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens. Please share! Links below 👇 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSU266/r... www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSU268/r...

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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:

channel4news.substack.com

Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Good to see, inter alia, that a donation (that seems to have emanated from Peter Thiel) was rejected by Cambridge 'because, contrary to university policy, the non-profit fund would not reveal the name of the underlying donor'.

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Inigo Martincorena @imartincorena.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Big paper alert! This project has been years in the making. A comprehensive description of somatic mutation rates and signatures across 53 tissues or cell types using NanoSeq. A large collective effort led by Mimy Pham, Mike Stratton and @r-rahbari.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

A comprehensive atlas of somatic mutation rates and mutational signatures in normal human cells

Over the course of a lifetime, somatic mutations accrue in normal human cells, causing variation in cell phenotype and engendering somatic evolution with outcomes ranging from the adaptive immune syst...

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Madness indeed, but this behaviour from the US is not because of Trump. The embargo started under Eisenhower, became total under Kennedy, and was continued by every administration since.

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Yeah, OK, but can we just start with the basics and get universities, journals and publishers to *act* when someone literally cuts and pastes someone else's prose?

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Aaron Quinlan (he/him) @aaronquinlan.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I am delighted to announce that The Department of Human Genetics at the University of Utah is continuing a multi-year recruiting initiative for multiple tenure-track faculty positions at the rank of Assistant Professor. Please share and consider applying! utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/208...

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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Visited the Papyrus Museum in Vienna, thanks to #icbs2026, and my goodness, what a collection they have. For instance, an original papyrus copy of the Council of Constantinople of 681 (17th session) (!)....

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This chap de Vries is the recipient of an actual ERC starting grant. Cofnas got a Leverhulme fellowship. Where is the scrutiny directed at these funding bodies? The mind boggles when you look at their publications. It's Faculty of Education level stuff.

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This is a thoughtful piece by @ent3c.bsky.social, articulating a view of hereditarianism that I think is shared by many in anthropology, psychology & elsewhere. It's also one that I, as a geneticist working on human evolution, fundamentally disagree with. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/the-cofnas...

ericturkheimer.substack.com

The Cofnas Manifesto

The social consequences of hereditarianism

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This response in particular from Ghent (which echoes a similar one from Cambridge re Arday) shows that some HR practices are part of the problem when it comes to ensuring standards of scholarship. People need to be considered in the round, not just as functionaries fitting a role.

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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Evan Charlton was closely associated with Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden, a virtuoso at capturing everyday scenes and little details from English provincial life. This work (1944) depicts a couple of 'canal girls,' who transported vital goods on the canal system during WW2.

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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 24/08/2026

Man abhors a vacuum.

SHOULD MEN VACUUM MORE?
Bouke de Vries
Cross-national surveys show that among heterosexual couples who share
a household, women tend to perform more housework than their male
partners. Many feminists believe that this must be unjust, the assumption
being that justice requires an equal distribution of housework between the
sexes. My aim in this contribution is to challenge this view. To do so, I dis-
tinguish three possible interpretations of it. The first says that heterosexual
co-residential partners, construed broadly to include married individuals,
should do as much housework as their partner and not more. The second
interpretation maintains that they should split evenly the housework that
must be done to realize a minimally decent living standard. And the third
maintains that the housework co-residential male and female partners
each perform as a group ought to be equal, whether or not the constituent
loads are equalized on an individual household level. All three versions
are found to be untenable.
Keywords: Housework, domestic labor, romantic
relationships, gender inequality, feminism

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I largely agree with Sasha's thread here, but definitely don't think Cofnas should have been employed or his work funded. His warmed-over hereditarian motte & bailey schtick was outed in Cambridge, and that should have been the end of his academic career. Let Thiel pay for him if he wants.

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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Seems to me Ghent should have known all about Cofnas at the time of employment, since the whole episode at Cambridge was public knowledge. So it's not clear how well this will stand up legally. Either way it will be another boost to his victim-of-the-left credentials, and more right-wing funding.

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Chance the Lawyer @chancethelawyer.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

say what you will about the myriad valid concerns with current LLMs but I personally will never get over the fact that Aaron Swartz was prosecuted to his literal death for downloading JSTOR and then a decade later, they downloaded & ingested the entire world and our IP laws just went ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Trinity College Library, Cambridge @trincolllibcam.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Fancy a trip round Anglo Saxon England? A wonderful collection of hand drawn maps have been digitised and are available here:https://archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/maps-of-anglo-saxon-england #anglosaxon #maps #england

A detailed map of England and Wales showing Anglo Saxon place names.
Drawn by and in black ink.

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