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John Whitfield

@johnwhitfield.bsky.social
539 followers 328 following 419 posts

(Science) journalist and author. Opinion editor, Research Professional News. Books: Lost Animals; People Will Talk ; In the Beat of a Heart. www.johnwhitfield.co.uk

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Reposted by John Whitfield
Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 22h
SCOOP: Valar Atomics is planning a massive nuclear powered data center on public lands in Utah. The 9,600 acre site would include 456 reactors, along with fuel fabrication and waste storage facilities. www.npr.org/2026/09/30/n...
npr.org
A startup wants to build a massive nuclear-powered data center on public land in Utah
Valar Atomics wants to place over 450 reactors on more than 9,500 acres in Utah to power a huge data center project.
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David Edgerton @davidedgerton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Burnham claims to be providing a more serious and thought- through prospectus for Britain, but believing Britain is the world's innovation nation; trusted world leader in AI; leading the next industrial revolution, is neither serious nor new.
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ECIU @eciu.net · 27/09/2026
🤯 Temp rise at heart of El Niño in Pacific Ocean has now reached 3.05°C 📍 higher than 3.02°C set in late Nov 2015 (which was higher than in the 150 years of modern records) 📍 most recent forecasts predict a peak of 4.0°C in Novand Dec
Graph shows daily sea surface temperatures for Niño 3.4, highlighting a significant rise, peaking near 30°C in late 2023.
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Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Please pass along: I’m recruiting PhD students to join our Macroecology Lab. We study physical ecology, macroecology, and biodiversity — spanning scaling, trait-based ecology, theory, comparative biology & ecoinformatics. Several avenues for funding. Please reach out if interested 🧪🌐🌾
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Drew Engelhardt @amengel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Quite the figure from @tesler.bsky.social in this @goodauth.bsky.social piece. goodauthority.substack.com/p/republican...
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Today's winning Biology All email--in fact this is a contender for best this year
Hi all,

We received a package with no name to GSB 2144 with 80 sheep brains in it. If you are expecting this package, please reach out and we can coordinate the pickup!

Best wishes,
Jenna
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Serhii Nazarovets @serhiinazarovets.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This is the building of the National Academy of Sciences of #Ukraine in central #Kyiv today, after it was hit by a Russian drone. People are climbing out of the windows while the building is burning. #RussiaIsATerroristState
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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Thoughts and prayers for research data managers everywhere. You are not alone. We will get through this together techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/excelbl...
techcommunity.microsoft.com
Excel now supports multiple values in a single cell | Microsoft Community Hub
Lists, arrays in cells, and nested arrays introduce new ways to store and organize related information, helping you keep data together without sacrificing...
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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky
I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. 

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review.  Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage.  To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
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Estación Biológica de Doñana - CSIC @ebdonana.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
➡️ New study shows that reservoirs play a crucial role in conservation. While natural lakes face more severe and unpredictable conditions that limit the range of species able to survive, reservoirs allow species with key ecological functions to arrive and establish. www.ebd.csic.es/en/outreach/...
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Tom Hale @tommyhale.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Interesting editor's note in News from Science: an article has been deleted after "determining the author was impersonating the identity of an established science journalist." Ai agent?
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Miguel Clavero @chikichanka.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Having non-natives species as conservation priorities is a form of the shifting baselines syndrome My @conbiology.bsky.social text on this issue has just reached 100 GS citations I built on the cases of the Italian crayfish and European mink, present in Spain since 1588 and the 1940s, respectively
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
'San Diego, California, has the only natural history museum in the US with a collection of nature specimens that they allow members of the general public to check out and take home, just like checking out books from a library.'
theguardian.com
Want to borrow a dinosaur fossil? Try California’s one-of-a-kind taxidermy lending library
A natural history museum lets residents take home 1,400 specimens, from bobcats and beetles to snakes in jars
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That Librarian: Amanda Jones @librarianjones.com · 06/09/2026
Guess who won an Emmy!!!! @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social
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Jon Turney @jonturney.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Interesting. See also Helen Mialet’s excellent Hawking Incorporated for another analysis of some of this scienceobserved.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/t...
scienceobserved.wordpress.com
The opposite of a “lone genius”
There’s a new batch of commentaries on Stephen Hawking, and his career, prompted by the new biopic. Time, I think, to revisit Helene Mialet’s excellent study of Hawking, and “Hawk…
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
What does 'from scratch' mean? Will she have a memory wipe?
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Reposted by John Whitfield
Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Insider's perspective on the asset stripping of Thames Water: www.the-londoner.co.uk/why-thames-w... Very much looking forward to hearing more about govt. plans to tackle this sorry industry.
the-londoner.co.uk
How Thames Water fell apart, according to its own engineer
‘It was all about selling things off. Sell, sell, sell’
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Oliver Morton, Eater of Sun @eaterofsun.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I have yet to read this, but for UNEP to offer the world a report on overshoot that contains no mention whatsoever of solar geoengineering is a) evidence of really impressive message discipline and b) a disservice
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BirdGuides @birdguides.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Zitting Cisticola has bred successfully in Britain for a second consecutive year, with at least seven juveniles from three broods recorded at Walberswick NNR, Suffolk, this summer:
f.mtr.cool
Zitting Cisticola nests in Suffolk for second year running
Zitting Cisticola has bred once again at Walberswick NNR this summer, with two pairs raising three broods.
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Reposted by John Whitfield
Robin Bisson @robinbisson.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Speaking to people before Jodrell Bank cuts were public, there was a high level of expectation that Burnham would reverse them as PM First Commons speech and he commits to doing so Definitely a Mancunian angle. He told MPs "“Every one of my generation went on a school trip to Jodrell Bank"
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This by Brandon Taylor is excellent on writing, reading and several other important things. blgtylr.substack.com/p/i-quit-rea...
blgtylr.substack.com
i quit reading and almost died
but tennis and reddit saved me
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Reposted by John Whitfield
Josie Glausiusz @josiegz.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
SCIENCE! Five years ago, 1,000 volunteers across Switzerland buried more than 2,000 pairs of cotton underwear. The unconventional citizen science project, led by the University of Zurich, aimed to gain a better understanding of the activity of soil organisms. www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/...
news.uzh.ch
Buried Underwear Shows Land Use Is Key to Soil Health
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
There's a group of braconid wasps, the Alysiinae, that attack maggots, develop inside the hardened puparia, and have to force their way out. So their mandibles open away from the head to push rather than crush, the teeth appearing to face the wrong direction.
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Chemistry World @chemistryworld.com · 01/09/2026
‘It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of the origin of life,’ Charles Darwin wrote to his friend Joseph Hooker in 1863. Phil Ball unpacks some of these theories and looks into the research around the key ‘ingredients of life’. @philipcball.bsky.social www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/our-...
chemistryworld.com
Our cosmic origins remain plausible, not proven
The evidence is there that the molecular ingredients for life can form in space, but that doesn't mean that they did
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James Butler @piercepenniless.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Yes, @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social filed a review with τῇ καλλίστῃ jotted as a title and nobody thought about the consequences. (Fortunately you can access the living oral tradition on the podcast feed.)
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Jonathan C Slaght @jonathanslaght.com · 24/07/2026
I love seeing solutions like this. Great report from @mongabay.com: news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zero...
news.mongabay.com
Zero roadkill as Amazon canopy bridges secure 15,000 crossings
For some of the world's rarest monkeys, the path to survival now runs through a simple network of ropes.
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Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
🚨Breaking🚨 Patrick Vallance appointed chair of prime minister’s new AI taskforce. Story: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...
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Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Opinion: Science took a back seat in Dsit—don’t mourn its demise. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
researchprofessionalnews.com
Science took a back seat in Dsit—don't mourn its demise - Research Professional News
Kieron Flanagan says change might benefit UK science and innovation
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UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) @ukceh.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
New study shows that heat-induced restrictions on global photosynthesis are worsening, threatening ecosystem productivity worldwide. Areas suffering heat stress have expanded 57% in 22 years; 90%+ vegetated areas showing only partial acclimation to rising temps academic.oup.com/nsr/article/... 🧪
academic.oup.com
Increasingly severe thermal stresses on global photosynthesis using insights from observations of canopy temperature
Satellite-derived canopy temperatures reveal a rapidly escalating heat threat to global photosynthesis over the past 22 years. Although vegetation can part
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UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) @ukceh.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The 2025 State of the UK Climate report highlights how rapidly the UK's climate is changing The report, with input from UKCEH, puts the year and decade into historical context. 2025 was the UK’s warmest year on record and there has been warming of ~0.25°C per decade since the 1980s. 1/
View across dry fields
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Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This is an interesting and good take on multiverse analyses…
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This is what I took from the New Statesman profile last year - Starmer is motivated to right wrongs that have befallen individuals, but not to analyse or remedy societal wrongs. www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
newstatesman.com
What Keir Starmer can’t say
The Prime Minister believes he will heal Britain – but can he find the words?
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I can answer this: It comes out of people's bums.
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 16/07/2026
Kalshi Will Offer Sports-Style Betting on Drug Trial Results www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Kalshi Will Offer Sports-Style Betting on Drug Trial Results
Kalshi Inc. is expanding in biotechnology by offering wagers on the outcomes of clinical trials and regulatory decisions, giving traders a more direct way to bet on key industry catalysts.
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Miguel Clavero @chikichanka.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Very nice review on the cultural integration of non-native species In 2014 I interpreted this integration as a form of shifting baselines syndrome, since degraded (ie invaded) ecosystem states are perceived as normal or desirable See paper below www.nature.com/articles/s44...
nature.com
Cultural integration of invasive species - npj Biodiversity
npj Biodiversity - Cultural integration of invasive species
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Jack Stilgoe @jackstilgoe.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I opened my recent piece for the Arts Council with a gentle dig at Suno. Maybe I should have been sharper www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/defaul...
artscouncil.org.uk
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
This is one of the more enticing list of summer reading recommendations that I have seen. (Disclaimer: Doesn't necessarily mean I'll read any of them.) britishprogress.substack.com/p/hot-progre...
britishprogress.substack.com
Hot Progress Summer: A reading list
Book recommendations to spark big ideas
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
As this review notes, From the Earth to the Moon also devotes a surprising amount of its story to the dynamics of research-funding, scientific collaboration, and similarly wonkish matters.
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Amazon is stockpiling economists
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
At the risk of revealing how the magic happens, Monya Baker has written about how journalists approach editing experts for @theopennotebook.bsky.social. www.theopennotebook.com/2026/07/07/b...
theopennotebook.com
Building Relationships While Editing Experts - The Open Notebook
Editing experts draws on all the skills required to edit journalists, but demands more diplomacy and upfront orientation. Often the most important work comes before the author starts their draft. It’s...
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Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Our new commentary rdcu.be/ftx6h in @natecoevo.nature.com written with folks from @inaturalist.bsky.social and @cornellbirds.bsky.social shows that use of AI to manipulate existing or create new wildlife images undermines the huge value of vast citizen science databases. 🌍🪰🪶 #Ornithology 🧵 1/10
rdcu.be
Citizen science platforms must mitigate against the threat of generative AI
Nature Ecology & Evolution - Citizen science platforms must mitigate against the threat of generative AI
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Karen Yip @kbyip.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Dear humanity, please stop with the balloons. @nautiluslive.org ROVLittle Hercules is nearly 6000m deep on abyssal plain seafloor far from land. The 3rd item they zoomed on was this balloon 😩😢 nautiluslive.org #NoBalloons
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Thomas Jones @moonjets.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
About the time I saw Ann Widdecombe in panto (Bridlington 2016) www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2016/de...
lrb.co.uk
Thomas Jones | Booooooooooooooo!
I went to the pantomime in Bridlington yesterday: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, with a special guest star who had '...
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I have nothing against the French-born Arthur Fery representing the UK, but I suggest we offer to swap him for Michael Olise.
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Thomas Ekman Jorgensen @thomasjorgensen.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/07/2026
"The idea of a unified academic community defending academic freedom against external threats is ... misleading. In reality, academia is marked by ideological, professional and generational divisions that shape how freedom is exercised and constrained." A very worthwhile read #HigherEd […]
eupolicy.social
Original post on eupolicy.social
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Robin Bisson @robinbisson.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
For 6 months the line from DSIT & UKRI on STFC cuts has been that no final decisions have been taken That is no longer the case, after DSIT approved UKRI's proposal for how to save £162m British research at Cern will be hit, along with UK science facilities Scoop by me & @francesjones.bsky.social
researchprofessionalnews.com
UK research at Cern to shrink as government approves STFC cuts - Research Professional News
Exclusive: Science department approves UKRI’s cost-saving proposal, with major UK facilities also facing cutbacks
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John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Your reminder that @resprofnews.bsky.social is set to go the way of (allegedly) Jodrell Bank at the end of the year. Who will get these stories then?
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Eccentrist Dad @slothlydad.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
So as a proportion, the money paid out in relation to e-bikes, e-motorcycles, dockless ebikes and e-scooters? < drum roll > 0.3% Zero. Point three. Per cent.
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