iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

NEW: How inspiration from algae is helping unlock the human brain’s secrets. My report on this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, announced on Monday. www.ft.com/content/817c...

ft.com

Nobel Prize in medicine awarded for light-based brain mapping

Three scientists honoured for research that probes origins of memories, feelings and behaviours — and could help restore sight

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

NEW: George Williamson took over in May as the head of the UK’s Alan Turing Institute. I talked to him about AI costs v capabilities, how the public debate on AI needs to be wider - and his plans for an organisation branded “failing” last year by a cabinet minister. www.ft.com/content/5008...

ft.com

UK urged to embrace cheaper AI models

Head of Alan Turing Institute calls for wider debate over technology’s rollout as fears over risks grow

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

NEW: Whether people are night owls or morning larks may have a big impact on their working lives, a new study from Finland suggests. It raises the question of whether working practices should be more flexible, to take account of when employees function best. www.ft.com/content/f4d1...

ft.com

Night owls more likely to claim disability benefits

Finnish study adds to data suggesting people’s sleep pattern preferences can be linked to poorer health and workplace difficulties

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Bats' extraordinary adaptations to promote long life and stave off disease have long fascinated researchers who are attempting to harness those attributes for human health. Now a genetic trove promises new clues to bat biology - and to the creatures' mysterious origins. www.ft.com/content/7aa3...

ft.com

Genetic trove aims to unlock bats’ secrets to long life

Genomic and fossil records could offer clues to the mammal’s ability to kill damaged cells that might eventually improve human health

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Meet a new extremophile: a shape-shifting amoeba that lives in hot springs and can thrive at a record high 63C temperature. Organisms that flourish in severe environments such as the poles or deep ocean offer lessons in hardiness- and potentially valuable practical uses. www.ft.com/content/83d1...

ft.com

New ‘fire amoeba’ breaks heat survival record

Organism found in California volcanic springs joins club of extremophiles that thrive in most severe environments

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

It is very disturbing how few politicians seem prepared to say without reservation that it is wrong to intimidate people by gathering outside - and in this case entering - places where they are staying.

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Stem cells have extraordinary powers of regeneration - but some clinics offer treatments that may be ineffective or even unsafe. My @financialtimes.com colleague @antoniacundy.ft.com and I investigated a growing industry that critics say urgently needs better regulation. www.ft.com/content/007e...

ft.com

The cowboy clinics selling unproven longevity treatments

An FT investigation has found a thriving market for stem cell therapies in the US promising longer, healthier lives. Experts say such claims are dangerous

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Reposted by Michael Peel

Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 25/07/2026

Having spent a very happy 18 months sinking into its 3,000 pages, I have written about why reading Proust is essential in the 21st century as.ft.com/r/32995bbf-8...

as.ft.com

Proust in the age of TikTok

The French writer’s seven-volume magnum opus was a challenging choice for a book club — but its evocation of the human psyche makes essential reading for our times

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Reposted by Michael Peel

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 21/07/2026

The Gates Foundation pursued its effort to collaborate with the convicted child sex offender to raise money for global health for more than three years but external review has found there was no evidence employees knew of his ongoing crimes. ft.trib.al/bW2ZtvI

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Congratulations to Spain. Really strong 1990 final vibe for those of us old enough to remember it - ageing Argentina talisman, wholly negative play, two red cards, late winner for the opposition after an excruciating game….

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

The desperate and ultimately unavailing defence of a lead felt all too familiar. It seems England learned nothing and forgot nothing from going ahead against Croatia in the 2018 semi-final.

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Two books I wrote 15 years apart have been on my mind during this week of extreme heat and UK political turmoil. One on Nigeria warns of the oil age's destructiveness. The other dissects modern Britain's volatility. There’s a strong through-line of exploitation, denial - and better alternatives.

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Quantum computers theoretically have immense powers of calculation, but for now they make too many errors to be useful. Some companies are betting this might be about to change, with huge implications for fields from chemistry to finance - and for the security of data. www.ft.com/content/7e46...

ft.com

The quantum computing revolution is closer than you think

Companies are betting on big implications for pharmaceuticals, financial services and crypto. But sceptics worry about hype

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

These comments by Andy Burnham underscore how UK politicians fail to argue for fair taxation for the common good. He seems to suggest pensioners, who are already exempt from national insurance, should be shielded in at least some cases from income taxes everyone else has to pay. bit.ly/4vTMalj

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

An athlete’s second life: I went to Marseille to tell the story of how footballer Mathieu Flamini became an environmental chemistry entrepreneur. www.ft.com/content/6218...

ft.com

Elite sportsman. Entrepreneur. What drives Mathieu Flamini?

The midfielder who co-founded a biochemicals business on the difference between the locker room and the boardroom

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Bill Gates is due to appear this week before the US Congress probe into the Jeffrey Epstein case. Here's how Gates' $89bn foundation became entangled with Epstein thanks to the two men's ties. The Gates Foundation says it never ultimately pursued any deal with Epstein. as.ft.com/r/e7168040-1...

as.ft.com

Bill Gates to face Congress as Epstein ties haunt $89bn foundation

Microsoft co-founder will this week appear before US committee inquiry into the late sex offender’s activities

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

The day of the jackal is here in Europe, as human habitations help shield them from apex carnivore wolves. The golden jackal's spread is a tale of how a versatile mid-tier predator adapts to people - and climate change. With bonus audio of jackal howling in Slovenia. www.ft.com/content/d711...

ft.com

Jackals have their day in Europe

Proximity of people appears to reduce stifling effect of wolves on small predator populations, scientists find

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@alphaville.ft.com’s VAT guru @louisashworth.bsky.social entertainingly dives down the many holes of the UK government’s “Great British Summer Savings” financial handout to restaurants. www.ft.com/content/074b...

ft.com

Rachel Reeves would like you to order off the kids’ menu

A VATcident waiting to happen

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

NEW: Global health experts are hunting urgently for a potential vaccine against the virus species that has caused a deadly Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. www.ft.com/content/d777...

ft.com

Lethal Ebola virus outbreak triggers urgent international quest for vaccine

World Health Organization experts will meet to recommend candidate jabs for clinical trials

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

British army personnel have parachuted on to a UK overseas territory that is the world’s most remote inhabited island, to help a man suspected to be infected with the rodent-borne hantavirus from a cruise ship outbreak. Our story on the challenge for UK authorities: as.ft.com/r/8b52a852-2...

as.ft.com

UK grapples with fallout from deadly hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship

British national is being treated on tiny territory of Tristan da Cunha

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

This should surely be a basic communication skill for a leader: avoid confusing double negatives. “But we need to respond. We need to rebuild. We need to set out the path ahead.” As Labour suffers, my book charts why the UK is in a hole - and how it might get out of it. linktr.ee/whateveryone...

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Humanity is hunting for new habitable worlds many light years away. For comparison, it will have taken the Voyager 1 spacecraft launched in 1977 almost 50 years to travel just one light *day* from Earth. Read more in our piece on the new "golden age" of space exploration. as.ft.com/r/b1982295-7...

as.ft.com

The hunt for a new Earth

From the Artemis II Moon mission to investigations of far-flung planets, a new ‘golden age’ of space exploration has arrived

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Reposted by Michael Peel

Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

The real-life version of Project Hail Mary: the expanding search for worlds - and life - light years from Earth. It's part of a new "golden age" of exploration in space, both near and far. It encompasses galactic-scale investigation - and terrestrial political rivalries. as.ft.com/r/aec5dcf9-8...

as.ft.com

The quest for Earth 2.0

From the Artemis II Moon mission to investigations of far-flung planets, a new ‘golden age’ of space exploration has arrived

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

as.ft.com

The quest for Earth 2.0

From the Artemis II Moon mission to investigations of far-flung planets, a new ‘golden age’ of space exploration has arrived

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Reposted by Michael Peel

Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 28/04/2026

Morning! I wrote about having my charity-shop-bargain suit (Paul Smith, £20) visibly mended and what it taught me about taste, power and masculinity, and transgressing all of the above as.ft.com/r/642b5c9d-2...

as.ft.com

What mending a suit taught me about masculinity

If business wear is a way of projecting success and power, what does a visible repair suggest?

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Great to appear again on the BBC World Service weekend morning show with presenter Paul Henley, fellow panellist @kadriliik.bsky.social and guests @renaeffendi.bsky.social and @rebeccasealwriter.bsky.social! Big thanks to @albanakasapi.bsky.social and Rumella Dasgupta for the invitation.

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Reposted by Michael Peel

Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

at screening of this yesterday, and I think it's factual, urgent, well put together, compelling I recommend seeing it I'm also aware of similar energy around Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' — but the resulting lack of real impact afterwards, twenty years ago and I see a similar flawed analysis…

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

The sacking of senior civil servant Olly Robbins over the Peter Mandelson affair has the smell of scandals during the last Tory government, when officials rather than ministers took the fall. I wrote about how in 2020s politics, it always seems to be someone else's fault. linktr.ee/whateveryone...

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

"Space exploration needs heart as well as hardware to truly captivate." Our @financialtimes.com coverage as the Artemis II astronauts return from their mission to fly around the Moon, having travelled further from Earth than anyone before them. as.ft.com/r/b02f199d-f... www.ft.com/content/8f92...

ft.com

Historic Nasa Moon mission returns safely to Earth

Artemis voyage entranced world and highlighted space race between US and China

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

“This is a vindication for investigative journalism and for the victims whose stories of abuse we reported,” said the FT’s editor, Roula Khalaf. “The FT was always confident in its reporting. This is a case that should have never been brought.”

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Keir Starmer’s unrealistic goal to build a country where “people are not at the mercy of events abroad” suggests governments are still not willing to be open with the public about the UK’s place in the world. I wrote in my book about how politicians infantilise voters: linktr.ee/whateveryone...

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

The Iran war has triggered anxiety about the UK’s use of North Sea oil and the country’s vulnerability to disruptions in supplies of key resources. I write in What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British) about why these problems became inevitable. More: linktr.ee/whateveryone...

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Journey into deep time and the aesthetics of nature through fossils that are more than half a billion years old. They suggest complex animals may have appeared on Earth earlier than thought - and they show the power of symmetry in evolution. Lovely illustrations too. as.ft.com/r/a6c91a3c-7...

ft.com

‘Big bang’ of animal life may have begun earlier than thought

Fossils from south-west China offer new clues to date of crucial evolutionary period

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

The Iran war has laid bare a growing global battle for supplies of chemical elements with crucial industrial uses from car-making to computer chips. The Gulf conflict has disrupted shipments of substances such as helium, sulphur and aluminium. Our updated visual story: www.ft.com/content/de4d...

ft.com

The battle for the world’s most coveted elements

The Iran war highlights how dozens of substances in the periodic table are in growing demand, including for green technologies and military uses

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

St Paul’s Cathedral looked striking under the post-equinoctial setting sun yesterday.

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Masripithecus is a newly-identified ancient relative of all living apes including people, scientists say. It lived an estimated 17mn-18mn years ago and the discovery of its remains in north Egypt shows the geographical range of the search for the human evolutionary tree. www.ft.com/content/0520...

ft.com

New ancient human relative unearthed in Egypt

Discovery of 18mn-year-old fossil suggests modern apes may have originated in northeastern Afro-Arabia

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

The expansion of the Wellcome Genome Campus outside Cambridge is a big scientific deal aimed at generating new disease treatments and other healthcare breakthroughs. But it faces logistical tests - including transport for its scientists to get to work each day. as.ft.com/r/3efd1ea6-d...

as.ft.com

Wellcome’s flagship genetic campus seeks missing transport link

[FREE TO READ] Facility near Cambridge is undergoing ambitious expansion — but faces logistical challenges

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Incisive analysis from @nixonsimon.bsky.social on the UK overseas military base vulnerabilities revealed by the Iran war. In What Everyone Knows About Britain* (*Except the British), I discuss how London seems to have forgotten a lesson from more than 50 years ago. linktr.ee/whateveryone...

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

How a deadly UK meningitis outbreak has brought back bad Covid memories and revealed public health problems we need urgently to solve. With @laurahughesft.bsky.social, Sarah Neville and @amyborrett.ft.com www.ft.com/content/c9e1...

ft.com

The UK’s meningitis outbreak and the grim legacy of Covid

What the Club Chemistry cases tell us about lessons unlearnt from the pandemic

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

The Iran War energy supply turmoil reminds me how relevant the dark story of oil in Nigeria is today. In A Swamp Full of Dollars, I wrote how Nigeria's experience showed the "arrogance of a fossil fuel-obsessed world". Links: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/swamp-ful... www.theguardian.com/books/2009/s...

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

ft.com

The UK’s meningitis outbreak and the grim legacy of Covid

What the Club Chemistry cases tell us about lessons unlearnt from the pandemic

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Reposted by Michael Peel

Josh Gabert-Doyon @joshgd100.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

The Enhanced Games, the 'steroid olympics' backed by Peter Thiel, Don Jr and others, are the first to dive into peptide commercialisation off the back off an RFK Jr. appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast. Story with @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social and Patrick Temple-West as.ft.com/r/4d2cf814-5...

as.ft.com

‘Steroid Olympics’ company to start selling peptides after Kennedy signals deregulation

[FREE TO READ] Enhanced Games, backed by Donald Trump Jr and Peter Thiel, is moving into consumer products

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

A potential new type of planet beyond our solar system resembles human visions of hell. A sulphurous atmosphere sits above an ocean of magma thick with yet more brimstone. An apparently unpromising bolt-hole for humanity, but let's see how things go in the next while... www.ft.com/content/2bc3...

ft.com

Hellish new planet identified beyond solar system

Observations add to scientists’ expanding picture of far-flung worlds

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Could weight loss drugs be an effective treatment for many addictions, including to alcohol, nicotine and opioids? This fascinating research raises the question of whether these medicines work by damping biological processes that stoke a wide range of cravings. www.ft.com/content/899f...

ft.com

Obesity jab users show lower risk of alcohol and drug addictions

Researchers find people who take GLP-1s are less prone to substance use disorders

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Two stories this week highlight growing resource fights in UK science. Leading physicists are battling the government over cost cuts. www.ft.com/content/a235... Meanwhile the private London Institute for Mathematical Sciences aims to make itself a research power. www.ft.com/content/6e0e...

ft.com

Pardoned crypto tycoon gives £20mn to UK maths and physics institute

Ben Delo donation is part of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences’ effort to raise £60mn for research

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Peptides - the building blocks of proteins - are promoted by health influencers as having all kinds of benefits. But the claims are often thinly evidenced. Here we run the rule over the hopes and hype around four popular peptide supplements. www.ft.com/content/0f68...

ft.com

Longevity and ‘wellness’ craze breaks untested drugs out of the lab

Health influencers promise an astonishing range of benefits from peptides, almost none of them tested in humans

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

ft.com

Longevity and ‘wellness’ craze breaks untested drugs out of the lab

Health influencers promise an astonishing range of benefits from peptides, almost none of them tested in humans

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

A study of more than 1.8mn people across three continents has found vegetarians are at lower risk than meat-eaters of at least five cancers. Important details too on how non meat-eaters should supplement micronutrients to avoid potential elevated risk of some tumours. www.ft.com/content/ce5a...

ft.com

Vegetarians have lower risk of five cancers, study finds

Meat-eaters have a higher chance of developing cancers of the breast, prostate and kidney, scientists say

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Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Good news: a new single-pill daily HIV therapy promises vital protection to long-term survivors of the virus whose health is especially vulnerable because of underlying conditions, resistance to other drugs and difficulties adhering to complex multi-tablet treatments. www.ft.com/content/4fe5...

ft.com

New single-pill HIV therapy promises boost for long-term virus survivors

Solo tablet worked well for patients who were older and in many cases resistant to existing treatments

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