Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldDr Dean Burnett @drdeanburnett.bsky.social · 06/10/2026"By using AI, tasks like essays that used to take hours can be completed in minutes!" Sure, like how if I arrive at the gym and immediately go for a shower, my workout is done in record time. And if I throw my sandwiches straight in the bin, I can finish my lunch in under 10 seconds. 5859501624
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldMischa Watson @mischawatson.bsky.social · 2hBarnes very famously had to put up with large numbers of English fans giving him racist abuse and saying he shouldn't be playing for the team. 1175
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 2hWe did nothing unlawful is an easy conclusion to draw when marking your own homework. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukReform internal inquiry says party did not break law over donations stingOfficials were recorded by undercover journalists discussing a potential way to secure foreign donations to the party. 010
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 4hSo that's another year of science No Belle prizes, eh? 020
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 20hI imagine she thinks hypocrisy is only for other people. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.comReform MP raises concerns about second homes – then buys one for £800,000Sarah Pochin bought Anglesey property two days after writing to minister about impact of second homes on rural communities 000
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldBeau @loriva.bsky.social · 21hEverything is always everyone else’s fault. 001
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldByline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 21h🔴 NEW Russia Scrambles to Cover Up Potential Plague Outbreak After Years of Spreading Biolab Conspiracy Theories By Caroline Orr Bueno Read below. ↓bylinetimes.comRussia Scrambles to Cover Up Potential Plague Outbreak After Years of Spreading Biolab Conspiracy TheoriesThe Kremlin launched its full invasion of Ukraine claiming it was facing biological attack. Now the disinformation has come back to bite it 03720
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldKaya Burgess | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 @kayaburgess.bsky.social · 06/10/2026🪐✨ A 'phoenix' planet, born from the ashes of a dead star, has been detected It's the first spotted in orbit around a white dwarf Our own sun will meet the same end in 5 billion years Suggests new planets could be born after the Earth meets its demise www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...thetimes.com‘Phoenix planet’ reborn from its star’s ashes is discoveredThe rare discovery around a white dwarf raises intriguing possibilities for the future of our own solar system, according to scientists 021
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldECLAS Project @eclasproject.bsky.social · 30/09/2026🧪Supporting Scientists in Faith🙏 For people working in or studying STEM from Black and multi-ethnic Church communities. Join us for worship, fellowship, and supporting one another in our vocation as scientists. Free event, lunch provided! #Croydon luma.com/o09pq9zp 024
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 21hWe have just started HoD after not rewatching GoT since it ended. It's not bad so far. The distance maybe helps. 020
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldProf. Dr Beth Singler @bvlsingler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Hmmm who does he have in mind...? 021
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldJim Rossignol @rossignol.bsky.social · 06/10/2026This gets said constantly, but it worth reiterating: Games Workshop being bigger than fishing is important to shout about because you wouldn't know it from government talking points, which are rarely about anything creative or artistic. Growth won't involve fish or steel, it will involve goblins. 502602641
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Takes a certain 'high' quality person to descend to this sort of level. 010
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldGreg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026These company reps are starting to sound like bots repeating each others' talking points. "we take it very seriously" They all take privacy very seriously, just so you know! Very! Seriously! 2415
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldGreg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026This hearing thus far is a waste that helps the companies. They WANT to talk about bullshit AGI sci fi scenarios - they DON'T want to talk about current harms from their slop tech like theft from creators, cognitive decline, fraud, environmental damage, disinfo, and links to murder and suicide. 118340
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldGreg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026The Meta rep is doing a little ad for Muse while saying "super intelligence" instead of "artificial intelligence." Deeply unserious. 114718
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldGreg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026At this "A.i." hearing at the NYC City Hall and so far it's all goofy talk about Skynet/Terminator "A.i." superintelligence scenarios and nothing about actual massive current harms of regular schmegular trash "A.i." 1448384
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026The No Belles have begun again. Optogenetics is a fine winner, but a quick Wikipedia read alone suggests the critical involvement of many women at the start. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukNobel Prize 2026 awarded for showing inner workings of the brainUS psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Deisseroth and his German colleagues Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have been awarded for their work. 020
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Are we talking robots or @toyfu332.bsky.social here? 040
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026There is better joint up thinking to be done, but not sure Police having a go at Home Office or Border Force is helpful. Especially not when the 'protestors' themselves are getting away with clearly criminal behaviour and are the only ones bringing shame on themselves. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukProtesters scuffle with police as migrants brought ashore on south coastThe Home Office said 149 migrants were brought ashore and taken by coach to a processing centre in Kent. 010
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldReform Party UK Exposed @reformexposed.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Nigel Farage questioned by standards commissioner over £5m gift www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.comNigel Farage questioned by standards commissioner over £5m giftReform UK leader was interviewed for half an hour last month over money from crypto billionaire 107526
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldAstronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 05/10/2026🔭 M104: The Sombrero Galaxy's Tidal Streams Credit & Copyright: Engelbert Vollmer ap261005 19619
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Just in case anyone thought the Tories were a 'safe' alternative to the likes of Reform they have stepped up to the plate to show you why they are not. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukAndrew Griffith to unveil Tory plans to cut taxes and regulationsShadow ministers will unveil a series of policies on day two of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. 021
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldAlasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 04/10/2026This is almost certainly true, and the UK fails women refugees in multiple ways, including by refusing safe routes to come here, wrongly rejecting asylum claims, barring family reunion & not recognising trafficking victims promptly or at all. If only Mahmood had the power to do something about thistheguardian.comNearly all women arriving on small boats have been raped, says Shabana MahmoodHome secretary warns people traffickers will exploit asylum seekers because they decide who comes to the UK 10482163
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/20261) Thundercats are antiques now?? 2) Wow! My gnawed up tatty Cats are worth megabucks! I saw it on TV!! 130
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield🎃 Rik (but a bit spookier) 🎃 @slightlyonfire.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Thundercats on the Antiques Roadshow tonight so thoughts & prayers to all the dealers getting contacted in the morning by folk now convinced their tatty cats are worth megabucks. Interesting how utterly clueless the bullshitting “expert” was, makes you wonder how accurate the actual antiques info is 2283
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldJacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 04/10/2026So much of LLM boosting is talking about what they may do, not what they can do now. It means that sceptics end up talking about the past and boosters talk about the future - no wonder they talk past each other 1294
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldAstronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 04/10/2026🔭 Supernumerary Rainbows over New Jersey Credit & Copyright: John Entwistle ap261004 429564
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 03/10/2026The usual Tory guff. 1) helping the richest 2) portraying the most well off as under financial threat 3) equating earnings with effort 4) scrapping culture support and environmental protection to fund their ideas. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.uk 000
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldGraham 🔜 TFN Swindon @thomsongraham.bsky.social · 21/09/2026🎉 To celebrate six years of The TFUK Guide, I am giving away this brand-new Transformers Retro Optimus Prime! 🎉 To enter: - Follow this account - Share this post The winner will be randomly picked on 3 October 2026. Open worldwide. Good luck! 19186195
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026general lack of disengagement from not just science and history but critical thinking too. This stuff is transparent nonsense both scientifically and theologically. We must do better. 010
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I'd like to think that the inevitable null result that will come out of this will at least help convince some in the news to look for better ways of handling Scripture.. but unfortunately the damage here is already done. Aided by poor media reporting, public figures who should know better and a  100
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026When people say why do you do what you do for a job, I point them to the damaging and completely unhelpful things like this that some Christians do around science and faith, rather than being able to have evidenced based action on things that actually matter. 110
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Bad enough that the extremes of some in the Church and well known public adventurers who should know better are losing their minds over this, but journalists should know to do better. 110
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Not sure what is more extraordinary and completely unsubstantiated here, the claims being made or that journalists appear to have lost all sense of responsibility and need for basic fact checking. metro.co.uk/2026/10/01/f...metro.co.uk‘Final resting place of Noah’s Ark’ found to hide man-made object, new study claims 110
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldMatthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Formalisation has been key to the explosion of AI mathematics - it allows companies to "prove" their results are correct. But AI has already learned to hack its way to fake success. Tricking humans is sometimes easier than doing real mathematics... www.newscientist.com/article/2591...newscientist.comMathematicians and AI in behind-the-scenes battle over what's true | New ScientistAI models are solving mathematics problems with increasing pace, and a technique called formalisation is key to demonstrating that their claimed solutions are indeed correct. But can we trust the form... 186
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldAstronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 02/10/2026🔭 The Complete Sharpless Catalog: 313 Nebulas Credit: Bing Xin ap261002 111934
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldJames Roberts @jroberts332.bsky.social · 02/10/2026The six books that launch the new MTMTE Annotated Scripts series are now available to order If you’ve ever ordered anything from me (or simply made an enquiry) I’ll email you details of what’s in each book and how to get them within the next week or so 218293
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldJacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 01/10/2026arXiv limits people to 2 submissions a month, to hold back the tide of AI papers. Feels entirely sensible - today I happened to notice one person had submitted 3 papers, all AI-assisted, in September. Totally out of step with academic norms and simply not sustainable blog.arxiv.org/2026/10/01/u...blog.arxiv.orgFair Moderation, Equitable Access, and AI: arXiv’s Updated Rate Limit PolicyarXiv, and the scientific community at large, are facing a watershed moment. Scholarly publishing is currently changing at a rapid pace, and we are seeing a… 14616
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldNick from Toy-Fu @toyfu332.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Friend of the show and regular Toy-Fu supporter and volunteer Erin of The Nerdy Bizarre (which could stand to have a few more subscribers) very kindly made this video about how Toy-Fu came to be the out-of-control kaiju it is today!youtube.comThe rise of ToyfuYouTube video by The Nerdy Bizarre 04219
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldTarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026He is not burning cash. He is investing money to shape political discourse and public opinion in line with his ideology and interests. And it's a successful strategy. Also, for a billionaire losing 10 million is like losing 1000 pounds for a middle class person. 111032
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldAaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 30/09/2026like a good cultist, DNI Jay Clayton dutifully uses Trump's made up "super intelligence" term 86798123
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldJim Metcalf @thermochronic.bsky.social · 30/09/2026This really summarizes the “I did my own research” dudes 301173181
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldYour Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 30/09/2026christ this infuriates me. ACA bridged the gap between my divorce (with loss of spousal benefits) and medicare eligibility. without it, I would not have had access to health care for eight years. 411559236
Reposted by Dr Gavin MerrifieldAaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 30/09/2026Klobuchar: "You got this guy who clearly thinks he's got this gotcha moment. And I am sitting there listening because I was the next one up, and starting to think to myself, it's not really major sleuth here, 'I just don't think Jack Smith would lie under oath that he hadn't been at the game.'" 732111410