Sign in

John Whitfield

@johnwhitfield.bsky.social
541 followers 328 following 420 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

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by John Whitfield
Robin Bisson @robinbisson.bsky.social · 27m
1. There will be a 'rewiring the state' white paper by Christmas and it will have a chapter on innovation, @richardaljones.bsky.social said He said “people will be surprised about how fast and how seriously this is being driven” So more than just devolving the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund?
101
Reposted by John Whitfield
Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 1h
🍿🍿🍿🍿
042
Reposted by John Whitfield
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3h
'The Arts and Humanities Research Council was linked with 42 spinouts, putting it ahead of the Economic and Social Research Council (22), the Natural Environment Research Council (22) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.'
022
Reposted by John Whitfield
Flora Graham @floragraham.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
WTF? curse the bots that are making it necessary for me do this. CURSE THEM
141
Reposted by John Whitfield
Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
How else might we address the question of diagnosis? Some thoughts in advance of the welfare storm to come substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
What do want from diagnosis?
Or how to circumvent a culture war
42416
Reposted by John Whitfield
Met Office - weather and climate @metoffice.gov.uk · 06/10/2026
Today is the 117th consecutive day somewhere in the UK has recorded a temperature of 20°C or higher. The 11th of June was the last time we didn't reach this threshold. Fresher air comes in on Wednesday allowing temperatures to fall, and likely to stay just below 20°C.
11196111
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Ian's liveblog of STM publishing sessions at the Frankfurt book fair is worth a look.
000
Reposted by John Whitfield
Ruth Siddall @pavementgeology.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
BIG NEWS! Check out our brand new website and logo, designed by Livetech and now live at www.londonpavementgeology.co.uk
An image of the new logo. Text reads London Pavement geology and the icon is a graphic image showing layers of grey, green and blue, representing a street shown in perspective and disappearing towards a vanishing point.
02812
Reposted by John Whitfield
Samuel Moore @samuelmoore.org · 02/10/2026
"The University of Cambridge refused to sign plagiarism detection software Turnitin’s new licence agreement, which could have allowed students’ work to be used to train artificial intelligence (AI) models."
varsity.co.uk
Uni opposes Turnitin AI training plans
The University is now exploring alternatives to the plagiarism detection service, according to the SU
220359
Reposted by John Whitfield
Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
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.
156946
Reposted by John Whitfield
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.
062
Reposted by John Whitfield
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.
12017
Reposted by John Whitfield
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 🧪🌐🌾
295130
Reposted by John Whitfield
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...
510949
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
36865184
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
023
Reposted by John Whitfield
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...
2842186
Reposted by John Whitfield
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.
40435241
Reposted by John Whitfield
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/...
197
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I've never been on a wildlife holiday, and only been on one guided trek, but I assume leading the former demands additional expertise - becoming an expert naturalist is a 10,000-hours kind of thing.
010
Reposted by John Whitfield
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?
174
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
22810
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
171
Reposted by John Whitfield
That Librarian: Amanda Jones @librarianjones.com · 06/09/2026
Guess who won an Emmy!!!! @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social
13611115
Reposted by John Whitfield
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…
111
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
What does 'from scratch' mean? Will she have a memory wipe?
000
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’
48934
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
112
Reposted by John Whitfield
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.
0303
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"
131
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
(It's adult content, but not in the way that BlueSky seems to be implying.)
000
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
100
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
097
Reposted by John Whitfield
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.
1548
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Congratulations, Frances! They're lucky to have you.
110
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
11110
Reposted by John Whitfield
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.)
1283
Reposted by John Whitfield
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.
18330
Reposted by John Whitfield
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...
022
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
001
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
01913
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
There's one at the Odeon near the dome.
000
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Leaving it to the giants was true to Homer's version.
100
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
also it got rid of two of the ships.
100
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Good point - certainly compared with how good the cyclops, Circe and underworld bits were. Although they did add to the sense that Odysseus et al were out of their depth and reeling/fleeing from one crisis to the next.
110
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I like to make myself laugh, as my wife has been known to point out.
010
John Whitfield @johnwhitfield.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The origin myth I heard was that Nature picked it up from a trendy design firm that had gone bust.
010
Reposted by John Whitfield
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
1159