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Lewis Dartnell

@lewisdartnell.bsky.social
1.8K followers 401 following 94 posts

Prof., astrobiology researcher, science communicator & book author (beinghumanbook.org / originsbook.com / the-knowledge.org)

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Reposted by Lewis Dartnell
Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Is this translated from the original German? www.whitehouse.gov/releases/202...
Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller made clear there must be no retreat: “One of the hallmarks of left-wing violence and terrorism is its completely pre-textual and disingenuous appeal to civil liberties in an effort to shield its own violence… When the leftist — who does not believe in freedom, who does not believe in civil rights, who does not believe in any ordinary notion of justice — protests that we are violating his rights, understand the he is lying to try to persuade people who are not closely following the political scene that some injustice has perpetrated against him. We must stay the course and be completely unflinching in the pursuit of justice against these enemies of civilization.”
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Nicholas Pegg @nicholaspegg.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Fans are said to be looking forward to seeing some impressive tackles, getting through to the semis, and something or other about keepie-uppies that I haven’t quite worked out yet.
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Scott Lelli @scott-lelli.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Just finished "Orgins" by @lewisdartnell.bsky.social. Great read. Would recommend. A much more encompassing and expanded version of Guns, Germs and Steel.
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Lee Billings @leebillings.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Now on @sciam.bsky.social: When the Artemis II crew became the "most distant humans ever" in last week's moon flyby, @planet4589.bsky.social wondered where the corresponding "farthest" humans were back here on Earth. Turns out they weren't on Earth at all! www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
scientificamerican.com
How far from humanity were the astronauts of Artemis II? The answer will surprise you
Artemis II’s crew went farther from humanity than anyone has been before. Here’s how one scientist determined whom, specifically, they were farthest from
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UCL-Birkbeck Planetary Science @ucl-bbk-cps.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Article from Ian Crawford, Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology, Birkbeck, University of London. "For those interested, here are some brief thoughts on Artemis II and the geopolitical implications of the cosmic perspective": www.democracywithoutborders.org/42654/artemi... #Artemis 🚀 🌒
democracywithoutborders.org
Artemis II: a planetary perspective for a new generation
Artemis II’s striking images of Earth from lunar distance revive awe in space exploration while revealing our planet as a fragile, borderless world that calls for shared responsibility, argues Ian Cra...
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Steve Lieber @stevelieberart.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
I try to remember @lewisdartnell.bsky.social's useful observation: In an apocalypse, the familiar landmarks are the first to be destroyed, but in a post-apocalypse they are all that remains.
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Natasha Walter @natashawalter.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
This is the saddest thing I’ve seen on the internet today. Now ChatGPT has chewed up all the books, parents are abandoning books to ask it to regurgitate bedtime stories. From Mumsnet.
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Humanists UK @humanists.uk · 12/02/2026
Happy Darwin Day, everyone! Here's a beautiful quote by the birthday boy himself. 'Endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.' Charles Darwin, 'On the Origin of Species'. Perhaps some of the most important words ever written! #DarwinDay
Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
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Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
We (@tomheap.bsky.social & I) have covered so many climate, environment & nature topics on BBC Radio 4’s Rare Earth this year, and here are some of my highlights. Steel, whales, insurance, fashion, insects, night-time ecology... We’ll be back in 2026 with more. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vbt0
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Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Now booking: Narrative Non-fiction (NNF) at City. Alumni books books from Penguin, Faber, Granta etc. New course starts Tuesday 20 January: “Terrific teacher! Encouraging, practical, demystifying and lots of specific feedback” (recent student) www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/prospective-...
citystgeorges.ac.uk
Non-Fiction Writing Course | City St George's, University of London
This Narrative Non-fiction Writing online evening short course supports you in writing non-fiction, from biographies to memoirs or travel writing blogs.
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Christmas is handing each other a pile of Amazon boxes because you both forgot to buy wrapping paper
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NeuroecologyLab @neuroecologylab.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Christmas reading book 3: @lewisdartnell.bsky.social’s Being Human is my kind of book: wide ranging, fast paced, and about the interaction between biology and history
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Jo-ho-ho @jobrodie.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
NASA used textile workers to weave the Apollo Guidance Computer's memory with wires and ferrules to create core rope memory, find out how to make your own (MUCH simpler version!) in today's wreath-themed @cs4fn.bsky.social CS4FN Christmas Computing Advent Calendar post cs4fn.blog/advent/
All my own work ;) A hamfisted attempt at drawing a Christmas wreath.
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
My latest column for BBC Sky at Night magazine: There's a side of the Moon we never see from Earth. Scientists think they've worked out why it's so strange www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-scienc...
skyatnightmagazine.com
There's a side of the Moon we never see from Earth. Scientists think they've worked out why it's so strange | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
It’s a mystery why the Moon formed with a contrast between the far-side and near-side crust. The lunar far-side highlands problem explained.
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
🔊Announcing a new Physics/Astro PhD scholarship scheme in Edinburgh, for students from a Black heritage, inc mixed Black background. Please help me spread the word. The scholarship covers all tuition fees, living costs & research travel. #blackinSTEM 🔭👩‍🔬⚛️ ℹ️: www.ph.ed.ac.uk/studying/pos...
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Amen
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
6-Sept for the win!
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Lore Sjöberg @loresjoberg.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
If they make another Star Trek movie, can we have James Gunn direct it? Not because of his directorial skills; I just think it’s about time a narrative included Gunn’s Chekov.
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Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Tell us who you think deserves a National Blue Plaque! The National Blue Plaques Scheme celebrates inspirational people from all walks of life. Enter your nomination by 17 July at bit.ly/NominateBlue...
bit.ly
How to Make a Nomination | National Blue Plaque Scheme | Historic England
An overview of how to make a nomination and who is eligible for a national blue plaque, along with answers to frequently asked questions.
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
So much excitement for this game. If I could MiB mind-wipe having played the first one and get to do it all fresh I would in a heartbeat
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
My 3yr-old has announced that he isn't all that bothered about Bluey, but he watches it with me because he knows I like it so much. Which is about the cutest thing in the world
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Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
NASA is being told to cancel 19 *active* missions to save $6B, which looks to be less than the ICE *hiring/retention* budget going forward. I need people to let that sentence sink into their bones for a minute.
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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 11/06/2025
ware =🍽️ where = 🗺️ weir = 🐟 wear = 👚
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Jo from Rotherfield @equalityearthling.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
This is not equality. The BBC is supposed to be impartial. Why are they only promoting religious views on R2 and R4? Why is more secular positive messaging from organisations such as the @humanists.uk not included? Pls help equality by signing this petition.
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
I’m devastated to hear that my friend Micky Lachmann has departed this life. He was a fantastic producer - bringing a keen intelligence and a real sense of exploration to documentaries - and he was a lovely person. My thoughts are with his family - especially his boys, who he loved so much.
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SellaTheChemist @sellathechemist.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/06/2025
It is with great sadness that I am doing what I would once have thought unthinkable. Following Salim Abdool Karim's superb Faraday Lecture 10 days ago, i have decided to return my own Faraday prize, awarded in 2014. The silence of the Royal Society in the face of Elon Musk's rampage (a member […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Such tragic news. I've worked with Micky a few times over the years and he was a wonderful TV producer. www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-r...
thetimes.com
Producer behind Brian Cox documentaries dies in Alps
Michael Lachmann, 54, who worked on the ‘Wonders’ series, slipped and fell while coming down the Grands Couloirs glacier in the Vanoise National Park
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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
I don’t know. I love this Joseph Fasano poem and have it pinned on my office door but I don’t know what to actually do about any of this.
FOR A STUDENT WHO USED AI TO WRITE A PAPER
Now I let it fall back in the grasses.
I hear you. I know this life is hard now.
I know your days are precious on this earth.
But what are you trying to be free of?
The living? The miraculous task of it?
Love is for the ones who love the work.
-Joseph Fasano
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Dan Davis @dandavis101.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Signed books now available at @waterstones.bsky.social Ealing
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Great coverage in @theguardian.com of Cormac Cullinan's vision for protecting Antarctica. Cormac just won the Shackleton Medal. I chaired the selection panel and honestly can't think of a more deserving winner. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Antarctica ‘too wild for humans to rule’, says Shackleton medal winner
Environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan lauded for his work to establish continent’s legal status to protect its interests
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Trevor Graham @trevorgraham.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Lovely new paper from @leedham-simon.bsky.social dissecting epithelium-microenvironment crosstalk through BMP & wnt signalling in the intestine. Inhibition of BMP antagonist GREM1 may forestall polyp formation in Hereditary Mixed Polyposis Syndrome (HMPS). www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Epithelial GREMLIN1 disrupts intestinal epithelial-mesenchymal crosstalk to induce a wnt-dependent ectopic stem cell niche through stromal remodelling - Nature Communications
The authors show that aberrant epithelial GREM1 expression remodels intestinal stroma to form ectopic stem cell niches in mice. Anti-GREM1 reversed these changes, highlighting a potential strategy for...
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
If you’re looking for an animated apocalyptic comedy (and who isn’t?!), ‘Carol & the End of the World’ is absolutely superb. Currently available on Netflix. 1/2
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Poor ExoMars... Its can has been kicked down the road half a dozen times now
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Nature @nature.com · 06/06/2025
Europe’s ExoMars mission is among the highest-profile causalities of the US president’s plan to slash research funding go.nature.com/4mOeZvy
go.nature.com
How Trump’s budget cuts could derail global science collaborations
Europe’s ExoMars mission is among the highest-profile causalities of the US president’s plan to slash research funding.
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⭐ ᗰᗩᖇᛕ ᗩ. ǤᗩᖇᒪIᑕᛕ ⭐ @markgarlick.com · 06/06/2025
With art by yours truly
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Jenny Winder she/her @ladyastrojenny.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Mars may once have had rings, which could help explain where its largest moon came from www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/mars-ma...
skyatnightmagazine.com
Mars may once have had rings, which could help explain where its largest moon came from | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Phobos could be the latest incarnation in a cycle of creation and destruction of rings around Mars, and is only around 100 million years old.
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
My latest column for BBC Sky at Night magazine www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/mars-ma...
skyatnightmagazine.com
Mars may once have had rings, which could help explain where its largest moon came from | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Phobos could be the latest incarnation in a cycle of creation and destruction of rings around Mars, and is only around 100 million years old.
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Well played Pimlico Plumbers, well played
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socrates80.bsky.social @socrates80.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Enjoyed this collection of essays on #TheExpanse, with titles like “Is Amos Evil?” (heck no!) and “Hannah Arendt and Naomi Nagata on Making and Doing Politics” (badass!) Unfortunately none were dedicated to Drummer and too few to Avasarala, but still a fun read! 💙📚
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Andrew Steele @statto.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Great thread from Kit explaining why this is still good news—but needs careful interpretation. Further context here is that most cancer is caused by ageing, so if we want to prevent it we should probably try targeting the ageing process rather than just screening for cancer…
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Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) @cs4fn.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Computing by all, for all - TODAY June 1 2004 Yvonne Rogers & team publish paper on Ambient woods where probes help us see more of the woods. Her vision was to use computing not to shut us off from the world but to spark imagination, challenging us to think & see more cs4fn.blog/2025/06/01/i...
cs4fn.blog
If you go down to the woods today…
Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay In the 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show there was one garden that was about technology as well as plants: The Avanade Intelligent Garden  exploring how AI might be…
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
In hospital with the birth of our second. They've just tested his hearing with a little in-ear device that detects the cochlear response. It's called otoacoustic emission, and it was predicted by an astrophysicist, Thomas Gold. 1/2
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
So excited to have seen the launch event of @nhm-london.bsky.social new exhibition 'Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?' last night
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Dr Emily Grossman 🧬✍️🎤✊🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️♾️🐱 @dremilygrossman.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Calling all scientists, science postgrads & anyone who’s ever worked in a scientific discipline! Can you spare even just half an hour next Tues 12pm to join me, Chris Packham & 100+ scientists to urge for government policy to be informed by science? Let’s fill Parliament Square with scientists! 💪
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Lewis Dartnell @lewisdartnell.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Really looking forward to tucking into this by Sadiah Qureshi - looks fascinating!
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Live in 15 minutes or so with a topical lecture on asteroids after Lucy’s marvellous flyby this weekend: do join me. www.youtube.com/live/KpDwv7z... cc @greshamcollege.bsky.social
youtube.com
Asteroid Adventures
This is a live-stream of the lecture. An edited version of the lecture will be uploaded in due course. Have a Question? No Registration Required https://app.sli.do/event/7mGQhBxj9N6q7AjhxH7H2B A lec...
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The Mary Rose Museum @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we thought we'd answer a question that's often asked, "If they raised the Mary Rose, why not raise the Titanic?" Allow our scaled diagram to explain...
A light blue diagram depicting the sea, with the water's surface at the top, and just below it is an outline of the Mary Rose, with the depth (12m, 40ft or 6.7 fathoms). There is a line showing the seabed, which takes a rapid dive into the vertical...
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Dr Emily Grossman 🧬✍️🎤✊🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️♾️🐱 @dremilygrossman.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Hugely proud of @scientistsx.bsky.social on the launch of their new book #ScientistsOnSurvival Personal Stories of Climate Action. This is a deeply moving and inspiring book that everyone needs to read -every chapter left me in tears or with goosebumps. Read more: www.scientistsforxr.earth/our-book
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Harry Wallop @harrywallop.co.uk · 03/04/2025
I am one of the authors whom Meta stole (sorry, ‘scraped’) from, by using their books to train Libgen. So I’m biased. But this from @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social is👌
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