Reposted by Paul McAuleyRichard Wells @slipperyjack.bsky.social · 21hMy kind of tourist trap! Visited the Museum of Alchemists and Magicians of Old Prague (I attended the puppet theatre production of Faust in its courtyard the other night). Reputedly Edward Kelley's residence where he conducted mad alchemical experiments for the emperor in the late 16th century... 713332
Reposted by Paul McAuleyHiRISE Beautiful Mars (NASA) @uahirise.bsky.social · 21hHiPOD: Trundling Boulders These trundling boulders left behind conspicuous tracks, up to a kilometer long. The tracks resemble dashed lines or perforations, indicating that the boulders bounced as they trundled down the slopes. uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_046381_1665 #Mars #NASA #science 03212
Reposted by Paul McAuleyNatalie Weiner @natalieweiner.bsky.social · 02/10/2026gosh there is so much great music out right now. here's a little bandcamp friday survey of mostly new stuff, out from behind the paywall because we want you to get money to artists! www.dontrocktheinbox.com/put-a-record...dontrocktheinbox.comPut A Record On: Bandcamp Friday EditionTaking down the paywall this week to just share a bunch of new, great music that you can buy — it's Bandcamp Friday, which means that every cent you spend goes directly to the artists (instead of Band... 104519
Reposted by Paul McAuleyAdam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Flashback to when Walnut Whips were a thing. 1104
Reposted by Paul McAuleyThe Oikofuge @oikofuge.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Interested? And how! oikofuge.com/paul-mcauley...oikofuge.comPaul McAuley: The “Jackaroo” Short StoriesEver since first contact, when the Jackaroo kicked off a global war on Earth, and swindled the survivors out of rights to most of the solar system in exchange for a basic fusion drive and access to a ... 121
Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Just been tinkering with the proofed MS of a story* I sold to Asimov's SF a little while back. Should be out early next year. *a new instance in the Jackaroo series, for those who may be interested 1123
Reposted by Paul McAuleyPaul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 02/10/2026This will never stop blowing my mind. A 12-year sequence of real telescope images of a star 133 lightyears away. And around it, four planets slowly orbiting. Four real exoplanets, each more massive than Jupiter, imaged as they move around their host star. 282169616
Reposted by Paul McAuleySpace Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 01/10/2026#NASAWebb has provided a crash course on planet-shattering collisions, providing clues to the amount of energy in their collisions. (1/6) 🧵 🔭 🧪 15217
Reposted by Paul McAuleyCenter for Space Environmentalism @space-environment.bsky.social · 01/10/2026"It is unfortunate that the US has positioned weapons in space. This development is expected to rapidly make space warfare a reality, which is not in the interest of any country in the world." thewire.in/space/the-us... #SpaceWarfare #SpaceEnvironmentthewire.inThe US Decision to Deploy Weapons in Space Sets a Dangerous PrecedentThe growing strategic importance of outer space makes its security a concern for the entire world. Some states may view space-based weapons as instruments of deterrence, but their deployment could tri... 0125
Reposted by Paul McAuleyThe Associated Press @apnews.com · 01/10/2026Spring has arrived in the Southern Hemisphere, and even Chile's Atacama Desert is blossoming.bit.lyEarth’s driest desert is covered in wildflowers right nowSpring has arrived in the Southern Hemisphere, and even Chile's Atacama Desert is blossoming. Known as the driest nonpolar desert, it's now covered in flowers due to heavy rains from the El Niño weather pattern earlier this year. 19820
Reposted by Paul McAuleyPhilip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I'm not going to make this a long WTF biology thread, but just a few comments on this paper. It's about a protein implicated in the stress-adaptive plasticity of intenstinal wound healing and metastasis of colorectal cancer cells. /1 www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comZFP36L2 orchestrates stress-adaptive plasticity in regeneration and cancer - NatureThe RNA-binding protein ZFP36L2 mediates stress-adaptive plasticity in intestinal regeneration and colorectal cancer metastasis. 3144
Reposted by Paul McAuleyAFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 01/10/2026'Catastrophic': Swiss glaciers lose 20% of mass in five years. Swiss glaciers saw 5.5% of their volume melt away just this year, the second-biggest melt on record, Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) network reports u.afp.com/S9B2 06548
Reposted by Paul McAuleyGoldsmiths Prize @goldsmithsprize.bsky.social · 30/09/2026We are delighted to announce the #GoldsmithsPrize2026 shortlist! 🎉🎉 Congratulations to our six brilliant novelists! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Visit our website to find out more www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-p... 03712
Reposted by Paul McAuleyR.S.A. Garcia (BUY THE NIGHTWARD) @rsagarcia.bsky.social · 28/09/2026The Mighty Sparrow played in my house & my grandparents' house my entire life. Like him, my grandparents were immigrants from Grenada who helped build Trinidad & Tobago. He was one of my first storytellers. RIP Calypso King of the World, gone at 91. We'll never forget you youtu.be/K872vZRTT5M?...youtu.beMighty Sparrow - SlaveYouTube video by Remy Gumbs 0116
Reposted by Paul McAuleyPaul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 28/09/2026These are what the clouds on Jupiter look up close. The small patches of white are cloud tops, soaring above the main, colourful cloud layer. Image from NASA's Juno spacecraft during its 38th close approach to Jupiter on 29 November 2021, processed by Kevin Gill (@kevinmgill.bsky.social) 18894177
Reposted by Paul McAuleyRuairi Dubh @ruairidubh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026✨Bullet Shattered Cafe windows in Paris 1944 by Photographer Lee Miller✨🇨🇵💥 323754
Reposted by Paul McAuleyThe Cosmic Shambles Network @cosmicshambles.com · 25/09/2026In part 6 of 'For the Record' we travel to North America to talk to former Smithsonian curator and member of the Mohawk nation, Tim Johnson, about the influence of the music of indigenous Americans on genres such as the blues. Watch the full series for free at www.youtube.com/show/VLPLoVT... 0137
Reposted by Paul McAuleyMike Curry Photography ©️ 📷 @mikecurryphotography.com · 16/09/2026Just daydreaming. A reflection of a building in water. No Photoshop, no AI 46310
Reposted by Paul McAuleyMark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026This is a wonderful story, weaving together historians, hippies, old apple tree fanatics and DNA sequencers to reveal how French immigrants in Maine brought along one of the ancestors of American apples 🧪 04513
Reposted by Paul McAuleyDr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Cannot tell you how much I hate this & how ashamed & angry I am that @ukri.org have taken this step. We KNOW this sort of gAI is socially biased, we KNOW it favours slopAI output over human-written. Our research landscape is falling apart due to underfunding, & they do this? it's *appalling* 718690
Reposted by Paul McAuleyEthan Hein @ethanhein.bsky.social · 24/09/2026In a few weeks in pop history, we get to talk about Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, one of my favorite favorite bands of all time. I love how impossible it is to categorize them. At 1:49 the guitarist plays an unmistakeable Charlie Christian lick! youtu.be/jtbZ8dp2AIw?...youtu.beIda Red - Bob Wills & His Texas PlayboysYouTube video by ClassicCountry1978 4125
Reposted by Paul McAuleyJennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 23/09/2026A new report from Europe raises serious alarms about orbital collisions arstechnica.com/space/2026/0...arstechnica.comA new report from Europe raises serious alarms about orbital collisionsI think we are going to lose the ability to use certain orbits." 63413
Reposted by Paul McAuleyKirkdale Bookshop @kirkdalebooks.bsky.social · 24/09/2026👇🍟 as it's his birthday (HT @johnnymains.co.uk ) 1104
Reposted by Paul McAuleyBart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves. 10381382830
Reposted by Paul McAuleySteve Rose @steverose7.bsky.social · 24/09/2026This is one of the longest, hardest, most worthwhile pieces I’ve ever written. The story of a pollution incident in rural Sussex that’s Britain in microcosm - polluted rivers, dumping on farmland, govt agencies doing nothing. But also plans for a better way… www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.com‘The eels were climbing out of the water to die’: why did every fish in this idyllic lake perish overnight?Furnace Brook in East Sussex was home to carp, tench, bream, roach and trout – and 15 trailer-loads had to be buried. The mystery led to a neighbouring farm, and a story of waste, pollution and dirty ... 22013
Reposted by Paul McAuleyPavel @spavel.bsky.social · 24/09/2026This kind of smart sustainable urban infrastructure is illegal in most American cities 311531
Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Repainted the bedroom so that I could finally hang a photograph I bought four years ago. 31568
Reposted by Paul McAuleyThe Booker Prizes @thebookerprizes.com · 22/09/2026Presenting the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist. Find out more about the books and authors that make up this year's list. thebookerprizes.com/bp2026 411771
Reposted by Paul McAuleySimon and Gargamel @kellylink.bsky.social · 22/09/2026theguardian.com‘To sleep in a sculpture is a wonderful idea’: a hike along Andy Goldsworthy’s epic art trail in Haute-ProvenceA long-distance walking route in the south of France devised by the celebrated land artist offers intrepid hikers an opportunity to immerse themselves in nature and art 2177
Reposted by Paul McAuleySETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 22/09/2026What if we could search for alien life without knowing what alien life looks like? Research involving SETI Institute affiliate Stuart Bartlett explores whether the complexity of reflected light could help distinguish living worlds from lifeless ones. @sciworthy.bsky.social: buff.ly/nKxochP 🧪 🔭sciworthy.comFinding alien life with light signals – SciworthyScientists found that planets with life produce more complex, information-dense signals than nonliving worlds. 0316
Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 21/09/2026'Asgard are by far the coolest thing to happen to microbiology in the last 30 to 40 years.' Difficulties and rewards of cultivating lab cultures of contemporary relatives of the ancestor of all complex life on Earth.nature.comThese bizarre, much-coveted microbes are revealing the origins of complex lifeResearchers are racing to culture a menagerie of exotic organisms and finding lots of surprises along the way. 093
Reposted by Paul McAuleyGuy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Over 100,000 people have now signed the @nationaltrust.org.uk’s petition calling for climate resilience to be made a national mission, and for the government to restore nature to defend against wildfires and floods. Add your name below: bsky.app/profile/nati... 011252
Reposted by Paul McAuleyWilliam Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Akin to writing fiction, for some of us 1842262
Reposted by Paul McAuleyChristopher Brown @christopherbrown.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Field Notes from a trip to NYC’s rewilded landfill, with urban prairies, industrial estuaries, harriers & herons, abandoned shopping centers, 9/11 memories, and packrafting for the psychogeographer: fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/in-the-bur...fieldnotes.christopherbrown.comIn the Burial Mounds of EghquhousNo. 201 23513
Reposted by Paul McAuleyAstronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026NASA picture of the day today is a real 🏴beauty! This is a composite image of the ~5000yo Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The amazing Giuseppe Petricca has only gone and photographed the Sun at noon there, every few days, for a whole year. #Dedication 🔭🧪👌 ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/image-articl... 6744241396
Reposted by Paul McAuleyLit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 20/09/2026We love a good win. buff.ly/tI3Q7DKbuff.lySally Rooney just defeated a data center.Here’s a rare piece of heartening tech news to buoy you toward the weekend: A West of Ireland data center objected to by novelist Sally Rooney has just had its planning permission overturned … 17419
Reposted by Paul McAuleyFuture Revisitations @futurerevisited.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Celebrated author Keith Roberts was born OTD 1935. Still best known for his superb alternative history novel ‘Pavane‘ - although I was delighted to discover that there’s a whole body of work that‘s equally captivating. One of the few authors to have ignited the ‘completist’ gene in me.📚📖📚🙂 #booksky 3259
Reposted by Paul McAuleyJonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 20/09/2026Although the cost of housing in London is insane and makes life difficult for anyone under 50, youngsters are mostly unaware much of the city used to look like this 3338187
Reposted by Paul McAuleyJonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 20/09/2026taken in the year I was born on the street I live in.. 5484
Reposted by Paul McAuley#BruceSterling @bruces.bsky.social · 20/09/2026"Homo Sapiens Declared Extinct" (1999) medium.com/@bruces/homo...medium.com“Homo sapiens declared extinct” by Bruce Sterling (1999)First published in Nature magazine, November 1999. 04215
Reposted by Paul McAuleyMatthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Eidolons in @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social SOMETHING COMING THROUGH, though whether they are true ghosts (whatever that is) is another matter. But is it ethical to buy a ghost? 132
Reposted by Paul McAuleySpace.com @space.com · 17/09/2026A NASA spacecraft just found a giant new crater on the moon. Here's why everyone's talking about the 'once-in-a-century' discovery www.space.com/astronomy/mo...space.comA NASA spacecraft just found a giant new crater on the moon. Here's why everyone's talking about the 'once-in-a-century' discovery"McGetchin crater is exceptional because it is the largest newly formed impact crater that has been identified to date." 0207
Reposted by Paul McAuleyBenjamín Schultz-Figueroa @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Some pretty awesome images from this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist: 24317
Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Brain organoids for Algernon.nature.comHuman brain cells transplanted into mice in ‘most extensive’ integration everLab-grown organoids wire into mice missing a key part of their brain, offering a new way to test drugs for developmental conditions. 292
Reposted by Paul McAuleySF Encyclopedia @sfencyclopedia.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Lisa Tuttle sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/tuttle... was born on this day, so here are some of her covers (Artist: 4th by Enrique Jiménez Corominas, couldn't identify the others): 178
Reposted by Paul McAuleyEmily Lakdawalla 🏳️⚧️ Uranus Expert @elakdawalla.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Not a crazy thing to assert! Jupiter's moons Io and Europa are also terrestrial planets, under a definition of "terrestrial planet" that would include our Moon. Yeah that's right I said Europa. Its mean density is basalt. It's a terrestrial planet. Fight me. 4506