Sign in

Dr Gavin Merrifield

@drgavinm.bsky.social
554 followers 933 following 1.8K posts

Science in Churches and Communities. Also fun with spiders, MRI and giant converting robots.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Dr 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 Merrifield
Mischa Watson @mischawatson.bsky.social · 2h
Barnes 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 · 2h
We did nothing unlawful is an easy conclusion to draw when marking your own homework. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Reform internal inquiry says party did not break law over donations sting
Officials were recorded by undercover journalists discussing a potential way to secure foreign donations to the party.
010
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 4h
So that's another year of science No Belle prizes, eh?
020
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 20h
I imagine she thinks hypocrisy is only for other people. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform MP raises concerns about second homes – then buys one for £800,000
Sarah Pochin bought Anglesey property two days after writing to minister about impact of second homes on rural communities
000
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Beau @loriva.bsky.social · 21h
Everything is always everyone else’s fault.
001
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Byline 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.com
Russia Scrambles to Cover Up Potential Plague Outbreak After Years of Spreading Biolab Conspiracy Theories
The 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 Merrifield
Kaya 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 discovered
The 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 Merrifield
ECLAS 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 · 21h
We have just started HoD after not rewatching GoT since it ended. It's not bad so far. The distance maybe helps.
020
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 21h
That one!
010
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Prof. Dr Beth Singler @bvlsingler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Hmmm who does he have in mind...?
021
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Jim Rossignol @rossignol.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This 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 · 05/10/2026
Forgive me! I thought you knew!
010
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Takes a certain 'high' quality person to descend to this sort of level.
010
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026
These 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 Merrifield
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026
This 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 Merrifield
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026
The Meta rep is doing a little ad for Muse while saying "super intelligence" instead of "artificial intelligence." Deeply unserious.
114718
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 05/10/2026
At 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."
testimony table and packed audience at NYC city hallcity council members at their seats in city hall. full member hearing
1448384
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The 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.uk
Nobel Prize 2026 awarded for showing inner workings of the brain
US 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 · 05/10/2026
Are we talking robots or @toyfu332.bsky.social here?
040
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
There 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.uk
Protesters scuffle with police as migrants brought ashore on south coast
The Home Office said 149 migrants were brought ashore and taken by coach to a processing centre in Kent.
010
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Reform Party UK Exposed @reformexposed.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Nigel Farage questioned by standards commissioner over £5m gift www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Nigel Farage questioned by standards commissioner over £5m gift
Reform UK leader was interviewed for half an hour last month over money from crypto billionaire
107526
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 05/10/2026
🔭 M104: The Sombrero Galaxy's Tidal Streams Credit & Copyright: Engelbert Vollmer ap261005
A starfield has an bright blobby mess in middle. Running vertically through the very middle is a dark streak. A diagonal ring of brightness surrounds the central blob.
19619
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Just 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.uk
Andrew Griffith to unveil Tory plans to cut taxes and regulations
Shadow ministers will unveil a series of policies on day two of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
021
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This 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 this
theguardian.com
Nearly all women arriving on small boats have been raped, says Shabana Mahmood
Home secretary warns people traffickers will exploit asylum seekers because they decide who comes to the UK
10482163
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
1) 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 · 04/10/2026
Thundercats 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
A pile of slightly tatty carded Thundercats featured on the BBC Antiques Roadshow. The Lion-O was a Childbro card, moderately interesting, though the “expert” clearly didn’t know this or indeed anything she hadn’t half-arsedly googled 10 minutes before taping
2283
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
So 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 Merrifield
Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 04/10/2026
🔭 Supernumerary Rainbows over New Jersey Credit & Copyright: John Entwistle ap261004
The top of a house is shown beneath a dark and cloudy sky. Many rainbow stripes are seen above the house.
429564
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The 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 Merrifield
Graham 🔜 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!
A photograph of a MISB Transformers Retro Optimus Prime toy
19186195
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
general 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 · 02/10/2026
I'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 · 02/10/2026
When 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 · 02/10/2026
Bad 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 · 02/10/2026
Not 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 Merrifield
Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Formalisation 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.com
Mathematicians and AI in behind-the-scenes battle over what's true | New Scientist
AI 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 Merrifield
Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 02/10/2026
🔭 The Complete Sharpless Catalog: 313 Nebulas Credit: Bing Xin ap261002
313 separate images of nebulae that resemble a variety of shapes and brightnesses. Some are dim and whispy, others are bright and create structure. Each image traces the complex behavior of interstellar gas.
111934
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
James Roberts @jroberts332.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The 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
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Just great..!
010
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
arXiv 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.org
Fair Moderation, Equitable Access, and AI: arXiv’s Updated Rate Limit Policy
arXiv, 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 Merrifield
Nick from Toy-Fu @toyfu332.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Friend 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.com
The rise of Toyfu
YouTube video by The Nerdy Bizarre
04219
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
He 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 Merrifield
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 30/09/2026
like a good cultist, DNI Jay Clayton dutifully uses Trump's made up "super intelligence" term
86798123
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Jim Metcalf @thermochronic.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This really summarizes the “I did my own research” dudes
301173181
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
christ 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
Dr Gavin Merrifield @drgavinm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Imagine if it was Biden.
000
Reposted by Dr Gavin Merrifield
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 30/09/2026
Klobuchar: "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