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Matthew Cobb

@matthewcobb.bsky.social

7.6K followers 910 following 3.5K posts

Professor Emeritus (University of Manchester), writes on biology, history of science & French Resistance. Biography of Francis Crick, out in Nov 2025. Link to publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8258-4913

orcid.org

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Greg Jefferis @jefferis.bsky.social · 7h

Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint:
“Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We describe the #connectomics reconstruction and analysis of an entire adult #maleCNS #drosophila central nervous system. 1/10

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 10h

Not quite forever. The ISS will be returning to Earth with a splash in 2030… And no replacement likely unless the Chinese step into the gap.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 11h

Space Live: the new TV channel streaming absolutely spellbinding footage of Earth … forever

ITVX’s perpetual real-time broadcast from the International Space Station is awe-inspiring … until it gets boring. But even though it’s hard to watch for long, it’s a humbling reminder of who we are

www.theguardian.com

Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 11h

In case obvs

Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 11h

In parents aren’t sure which is their child

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 13h

NEW

Trying to make sense of the nonsensical decision to drop the Chinese spying prosecutions

How the positions of neither the CPS nor the government stand up to scrutiny

By me

emptycity.substack.com/p/trying-to-...

The more one knows about this case, the more confusing it becomes.

The CPS insists on further evidence it does not require, and the government insists it could not give that evidence, even though it could.

Neither side makes sense, and together they make no sense absolutely.

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Lisa @tuexplorer1.bsky.social · 2d

Feed me Seymour!
Another neat stalked crinoid with some mouth zooms. @nautiluslive.org dive L1008 #CookIslands #MarineLife

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Lisa @tuexplorer1.bsky.social · 2d

5060m stalked crinoid & sponges. @nautiluslive.org dive L1008 #CookIslands #MarineLife

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

David Craven @davidjcraven.bsky.social · 1d

Every country with English expat populations should retaliate.

András Forgács W @andraswf.bsky.social · 1d

Well this will certainly do it www.gov.uk/government/n...

Migrants will be required to pass A Level standard of English

Migrants will be required to pass tough new English language requirements under a law introduced in Parliament today.

www.gov.uk

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Akshat Rathi @akshatrathi.bsky.social · 1d

China's gasoline demand peaked in 2021. www.iea.org/commentaries...

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Hildur Knútsdóttir @hildur.bsky.social · 1d

Do you remember the book thief? Now Iceland seems to have a homegrown one, who – if he can't phish unpublished manuscripts from authors – will then taunt them with passages from their stolen book.

But! Plot twist! Those emails are sent from an address impersonating Bernardini, the original thief.

Óútgefnum handritum stolið: Kallaði rithöfundinn skíthaus - Vísir

Á síðustu mánuðum hafa óútgefin handrit Þórdísar Helgadóttur og Nínu Ólafsdóttur lent í greipum bókaþjófs. Þetta er ekki í fyrsta skipti sem þjófurinn lætur til skarar skríða en ólíkt áður lætur hann ...

www.visir.is

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Moose Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 1d

www.worldofmoose.com/collections/...

Cartoon of a plesiosaur. Seen from the side, the top line of its shape is echoed in ripples up the page, reminiscent of the artwork for the Joy Division album Unknown Pleasure. Caption: Unknown Plesiosaurs

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 1d

Name that city!

A humongous flyover with a pedestrian walkway underneath it

The back of a giant (I mean huge) cat trying to get onto a chair, all of which half blocks a passsgeway

Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Brian G Weber Photography @briangweber.com · 1d

More lovely critters from a September night dive.

#underwaterPhotography #squid #fish #nightdiving #scuba #olympus #macro

Longfin squid showing off its hover skills

A winter flounder shot at f/3.5 to produce that blurry background

Northern pipefish shot at f/3.5 for a shallow depth of field

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 2d

A stunning 2,000 year-old Roman blue glass amphoriskos.

📷 Getty Museum www.getty.edu/art/collecti...

#Archaeology

Getty Museum photo of a translucent, dark blue, two-handled, glass flask (amphoriskos) against a grey background. The free-blown body is bulbous in shape, with a narrow neck with a flattened rim. The two handles were added afterwards and attach to the body and mouth. The handle on the right has been attached slightly higher up on the body than the other side. Height 10.5 cm. There is some incrustation on the interior of the glass.

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 2d

A terrific book!

stevegoldca.bsky.social @stevegoldca.bsky.social · 3d

Great science writing. 5 stars.
www.goodreads.com/review/show/... #TheTreeofLife #Edelweiss @maxjtelford.bsky.social

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 2d

Trafford Park I guess.

Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Slightly out of focus @normandy661944.bsky.social · 2d

Building a Beaufort Fighter - Women's Work in the War (Other than the Services), by Ethel Gabain, 1941.

IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1536)

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Dr Dan Jones @hookean.bsky.social · 3d

That little blue dot is a young exoplanet!
#iTeachPhysics
#Science 🧪
#Astronomy 🔭

www.space.com/astronomy/ex...

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 3d

Well Riot Women on BBC1 is *very* good.

Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 3d

Ladybird book endpapers design.
From the 2007 book published by Penguin called ‘Boys and Girls’

The endpapers design is made up of a series of different ladybird book covers laid out neatly in an 8 x 7 grid

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Jeannine Baker @nenieb.bsky.social · 3d

Fantastic piece by Kate Murphy responding to the devastating change of policy at the @BBC Written Archives Centre, which will make it impossible to undertake new independent research using the collection. cstonline.net/defending-th... #mediahistory

DEFENDING THE WAC: RECOVERING THE INVISIBLE WOMEN OF THE BBC by Kate Murphy

My first visit to the BBC’s Written Archives Centre was in 2002. I was working as a producer on Woman’s Hourand had applied for a three-month attachment to what was then the Diversity Centre…

cstonline.net

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Stephen Graham @stephengraham.bsky.social · 3d

Should be Bluesky's tagline.

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 3d

it's the americans who are most exhausting

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 3d

Too bonkers; didn’t read.

Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Threeoffour. @beckitoo.bsky.social · 3d

A mandatory duck in pastels I did a few weeks ago. I'm really pleased with my progress in pastels. Practice practice practice.
#mandarinduck #duck #bird #riverbird #birdart #natureart #riverlife #wildlife #pastelmat #pastelart #artist #pastellist #ukartist #pastelpencils #panpastels #drake

A colourful male mandarin duck facing left on a river with it's colours reflecting beneath him.

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 5d

In honor of World Squid Day, here's a Moroteuthopsis longimana fr #SouthSandwichIslands. International cephalopod awareness days happen each year in Oct — we celebrate octopuses on the 8th, in honor of their 8 arms, and squid on the 10th, to acknowledge their ten appendages (8 arms and 2 tentacles).

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