iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 22h

Exciting weather today. The wind is gusty enough that it's just set some car alarms off, and I've just seen a magpie flying backwards before being slammed into a fence by a surprise downdraft. Flew off a bit ruffled.

140

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 22h

Moving house, and one thing I will definitely miss is the ability to pick a perfectly ripe fig directly out of my bedroom window in autumn. That always felt very decadent.

A hand holding a fig with a bite taken out, revealing the juicy red inside. In the background, the open window, the top of a fig tree, and an open removal van.

030

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

April Neander 🏳️‍🌈 @aineander.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Today our paper introducing Megacauda is published in Nature! Which means I can finally share my illustration! Meet this beautifully preserved Jurassic, semi-aquatic swimmer #sciart #paleontology

An illustration of a furry mammaliaform with a long, flattened, scaly tail floating in the greenish water. A salamander looks up from the bottom.

1020669

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 03/10/2026

“We don’t want the tech billionaires' post-human reality. We want this world. The soil between our toes.” Rachel Millward on choosing a future built for people, not billionaires.

4364102

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

As it's National Poetry Day, here's a sample of my own - a poem that was shortlisted for the Brilliant Poetry award for scientific verse. It's in the form of a tritina, and is about the mountain that overlooked my childhood home, both a scientific and folkloric landmark.

The Schiehallion Experiment
by Thomas Halliday

They say this mountain guards the underworld.
That fairies lure men here to lose their way.
Then Hutton came, and Burrow, Maskelyne.

They hung a lead upon a dangling line.
And watched as, slowly, round it gently whirled,
As did, above, the turning Milky Way.

They stilled the weight, and stars revealed which way
Was down, and how the thread ought to incline
And overcome the mass of all the world.

The line itself was lured, the world to weigh.

040

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I'm so fed up with these unnatural machine men with their "machine minds" and "machine hearts".

020

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 21/09/2026

Scientists have found singing lemurs, known as indris, and opera singers use similar mouth shapes to create loud, high-pitched calls.

69020

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

The Wainwright Prizes @wainwrightprize.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

We're delighted to announce that the winner of the 2026 Children's Wainwright Prize Book of the Year is... Otherlands, Thomas Halliday, illustrated by Gavin Scott (@puffinbooksuk.bsky.social) #WainwrightPrize #StoriesThatConnect

1133

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

The Wainwright Prizes @wainwrightprize.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

We’re delighted to announce the 2026 #WainwrightPrize Winners! 🍃 From powerful nature writing & urgent conservation stories to extraordinary illustration, this year’s winners celebrate the many ways stories can connect people & planet. wainwrightprize.com #StoriesThatConnect

13212

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Really sorry that, recovering from surgery, I can't make it to Kent for the @wainwrightprize.bsky.social awards ceremony. Such a great selection of books and authors - Suzanne Simard, Cal Flyn, Harriet Rix, Dave Goulson, and many others. Have a great evening! wainwrightprize.com/shortlist-20...

wainwrightprize.com

Shortlist 2026 - Wainwright Prize

Shortlists Announced From powerful conservation writing and breathtaking illustrated books to unforgettable stories for young readers, we’re delighted to reveal the 2026 Wainwright Prize Shortlists. ...

030

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"Is plastic pollution getting worse?" It's the question we get asked more than any other. After 15 years of data from Lord Howe Island, we finally have a straight answer. 🧵 🔗 agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

A hand holding a plastic fork piece in the foreground. In the background, another hand lays out plastics on a sheet of paper towel. The plastic was in a shearwater chick's stomach.

18359

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I’ve reached the point - well actually, I reached it a while ago - where I’m militantly anti-AI. Fine - use it in bioscience labs and radiology where it might help analyse data more effectively. Use it sparingly for systems engineering. Everywhere else, it can fuck off.

1553156717

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Ketan Joshi always hits the nail on the head.

010

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Rachel Fox @therealdaftbear.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Yup. I’ve decided not to talk about left and right. I go by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Now let’s see who’s calling those “woke” or leftie ideas because they are supposed to be the bar all of our politics does not drop below.

1325

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Enfield Dispatch @enfielddispatch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Council urged to come clean on changes to Enfield Town revamp after project 'paused' There are fears the Conservative administration could be about to scrap long-planned cycle lanes in enfielddispatch.co.uk/council-urged…

enfielddispatch.co.uk

Council urged to come clean on changes to Enfield Town revamp after project 'paused'

There are fears the Conservative administration could be about to scrap long-planned cycle lanes in Enfield Town

122

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Obviously, though, it's still a critical piece of science history given our current situation, and she's a woman who ought to be remembered more than she is.

1120

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

She identified the greenhouse effect and predicted that past high latitude tropical ecosystems like during the Carboniferous would have been allowed by higher carbon atmospheres, but her discovery was before oil was really extracted, so the idea that we might do it ourselves wasn't part of her work.

2111

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

From Victor the healthcare assistant who checked everyone's blood pressure in the waiting room, to Jonty and Max the anaesthetists with brilliant bedside manner, to Nurse Joy (yes, really) who looked after me in the recovery room, so many people in such a short time, in a frankly impressive machine.

120

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Back home after a surprise weekend in hospital. I can't possibly remember everyone's names, but thanks to everyone at Barnet Hospital for their quick care. My appendix was out only about 14 hours after arriving at A&E, and I was home again the next day. Just fantastic NHS care.

140

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

How about ‘but what are they protesting? The idea that the RNLI should not rescue people in trouble in the sea is abhorrent and inhuman and we should be utterly repelled by it.’

9467113

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Very proud of my brother's partner Rachel Gray, who yesterday won the most prestigious prize at the Raasay Restitution piping competition - the ceòl mòr category for a piobaireachd song, beating an absolutely stellar line up of the legends of modern piping. Keeping the old traditions alive.

Rachel Gray in the foreground playing a black set of Great Highland pipes. She stands on a balcony with a white wrought iron railing on top of a stone wall. Below, the grass, edged with a stand of Scots Pines, stretches away to the sea, across which you can see the mountains of Skye through the haze.

Photo by Fergus Halliday

030

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A committee votes through things unanimously until they don't.

000

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 29/08/2026

The Darwin Medal 2026 is awarded to Professor Michael J Benton OBE FRS for his contribution to many aspects of palaeontological science, as well as authoring the standard textbooks in the field, popular science and children’s books. #RSMedals royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/…

A man in a blue shirt and glasses smiles at the camera in front of a university building interior.

28122

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Professor Anjali Goswami FRS @evoswami.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Absolutely delighted to have been awarded the Faraday Prize! Scientific research is critical for solving the challenges that humanity and the planet currently faces, but ensuring that diverse communities are engaged in & benefit from science are just as important as the work that happens in the lab.

515325

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

We live next to two hospitals. They had to be supplied with water by an ever arriving fleet of tankers so that operation could proceed. The long and hard summers we are having will keep getting more common and keep doing this as we continue to burn fossil fuels.

110

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Well said. We've been washing with bottled water and a flannel for the best part of a week in the middle of a drought. Climate change's effects aren't just different weather, they impact the infrastructure we all depend on.

100

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Gavin Schmidt @climateofgavin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The difference in utility between the use of ML to tackle big data problems that would otherwise be intractable & the use of LLMs to produce pointless slop is so large they cannot both be usefully described as “AI“. The first is making real progress, the second is dragging us towards the abyss.

12718215

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

But are there more pregnant people at any given time than people who have one or zero legs? Surely there are... Balancing those numbers, the number of legs per adult must be more than two - it's just that some are internal. Kneecaps, though, definitely <2.

030

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

It’s time we sorted out the press. Constant misinformation to protect their donors and fossil fuels is destroying lives and our planet. The Government must step up and stop being cowardly.

Sorry Zack Polanski this long hot summer is not the apocalypse - it's like a gloriously long holiday in France
..with village green cricket thrown in good measure

30645961236

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I started school in Dent, the village where Sedgwick was from. The other Sedgwick thing is that he claimed compensation of about £1900 for the abolition of slavery through being the trustee of the will of a local slave owner.

030

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Well done Will - looks really great!

110

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

My silliest discovery of the #eclipse: filming through glass means that you can get a pretty crisp image and make it orbit the sun and dance about into your garden.

010

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

No need to apologise. I misunderstood you as referring to the Greens knowing that the words were in there in advance. And the original post was largely meant to be just a wry observation. Though as wrong as their policies can be, Reform are also some of the most thin-skinned politicians out there.

010

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

As I just said, I'm not suggesting they knew the words, though I can see why you might infer that.

110

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I'm not, though I can see why you might infer that. The malicious compliance is in singing the whole song. I'm speculating as to why Reform might have stepped in to stop it there in particular.

100

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Reform tried to stop them after the third verse. I wonder why it was then? "Not in this land alone, But be God’s mercies known, From shore to shore! Lord make the nations see, That men should brothers be, And form one family, The wide world o’er." Excellent malicious compliance from Kent Greens.

Metro newspaper headline - Councillors wind up Reform by singing too much of the national anthem

1317

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Today, walked down Merryhills Way with the boys. We watched a green woodpecker bounce through the air across the fields, a kestrel hovering and diving, some very camouflaged fritillary butterflies and a rather sad desiccated frog near a small dried-up pond. All on the site of the proposed New Town.

000

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

We've had them during summer in Enfield since at least 2019, when I first noticed them. There have been more this year than any other though.

000

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Another Green @anothergreen.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Elinor Ostrom the first woman to win a Nobel in #economics was born today 7th August 1933, she worked on commons ownership, deep democracy and tackling #climatechange. We should respect her rules for radicals! www.plutobooks.com/product/elin...

19048

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Ed Newton-Rex @ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them. It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out: 🧵 1/10

11788465

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

As if you needed another reason to hate everything that AI companies are doing, this report has them slicing and pulping rare books because they've contaminated the corpus of the internet too much to use...

010

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Ville Sinkkonen @villesinkkonen.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

End cretaceus hell

181917558

Reposted by Dr Thomas Halliday

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Just been sitting right here thinking about that tech bro so desperate to live forever. Just imagine: some of us get to enjoy the privilege of spending time on this astonishing planet, and yet for folks like him it's still not enough.

5535

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Fahnbulleh as Climate minister is a good choice, in my opinion. She will be pushing for more and faster transition to renewables. Mahmood and Phillipson staying on is *much* less reassuring, and seems to be a total failure to read the room on whose votes Labour has lost and why.

010

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Hicham El Guerrouj was my sporting hero as a kid. His running was extraordinary. But if one of his records had to fall, I'm delighted it's to Josh Kerr. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athlet...

bbc.co.uk

London Diamond League results: Josh Kerr smashes men's mile world record

Great Britain's Josh Kerr smashes the long-standing men's mile world record in a spectacular performance at the London Diamond League.

000

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Looked up Life of Brian for Canada and apparently rating is done separately in different provinces so it's R in Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, 14A in Alberta, PG in BC, and G in Quebec. Incredible.

110

Dr Thomas Halliday @tjdhalliday.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Oh, sorry! I didn't know Canada also used R as a rating. It seems the Matrix is a 15 here. I was too young to be convincingly old enough to see that in the cinema but I did get into the showing of Reloaded...

110