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Alastair McKinstry

@amckinstry.bsky.social

880 followers 640 following 100 posts

Climate Scientist and #GreenParty rep for Conamara South. #IFUT.ie branch chair in University of Galway. #Galway #ConnemaraGreenway. Sé/é/He/him. Also at @[email protected] and matrix: @alastair:mckinstry.ie

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Alastair McKinstry @amckinstry.bsky.social · Nov 14

I'm also available at the Fediverse via @amckinstry.mastodon.ie.ap.brid.gy

This is a bridge between Mastodon and Bluesky. Hopefully I'll be able to follow Bluesky members via it.

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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 9h

Zack Polanski,
"The only way to be morally consistent is to condemn what happened on Oct 7th and to condemn the genocide in Palestine"

"As a Jewish man I feel the genocide very very deeply"

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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 13d

“The ECHR isn’t Brussels meddling. It’s the foundation that protects you from your own government.” 👏👏👏

Leaving the ECHR won’t “Take Back Control” – it will hand your rights to politicians

The myths are seductive, the reality is very different – without the ECHR your freedoms rest on whichever Home Secretary wakes up grumpy

eastangliabylines.co.uk

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Magdalena Skipper @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social · 9h

Less than 70% of science Nobel prize winners awarded this century hail from the country in which they were awarded their prize.
“Mobility benefits everyone. Each newcomer brings fresh ideas, new techniques & different ways of looking at old problems”
🧪 #academicSky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated: see their journeys

The most common destination for eventual Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine since 2000 is the United States, Nature has found.

www.nature.com

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Pádraic Fogarty @whittledaway.bsky.social · 22h

The tragedy of industrial fishing strikes another species off the list. It would appear that this will only end when there are no fish left to catch.

www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ou...

Once 'sustainable' mackerel stocks are drastically declining

While overfishing is the main problem for mackerel stocks, climate change has been having an impact too

www.irishexaminer.com

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Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 1d

“A beef tomato doesn’t contain any beef … Ladies’ fingers are not made of actual ladies’ fingers. Let’s trust consumers and stop this hotdog populism,” says Austrian MEP Anna Stürgkh

Ditto Shepherds pie

Feel free to add your own below 👇

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

‘Veggie burgers’ could be off the menu as MEPs vote to ban plant-based food terms

Vote is victory for MEPs who want to strengthen position of farmers in food supply chain

www.theguardian.com

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Alastair McKinstry @amckinstry.bsky.social · 1d

www.impactcounter.com/dashboard?vi...

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

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jenna newman phd @jennanewman.bsky.social · 2d

“The conceptual advance here lies in moving beyond the paradigm of ‘overcoming the barrier’ toward ‘repairing the barrier.’…
In essence, this work illustrates that the BBB is not merely an obstacle to be bypassed but a dynamic &reparable interface whose dysfunction can be therapeutically reversed”🧪🛟

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · 2d

🧠 Alzheimer’s reversed in mice

A new study found that injecting nanoparticles can 'remind' the blood–brain barrier to function properly again, restoring normal brain activity in mice. Human trials could follow within years.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm #Alzheimers 🧪

Rapid amyloid-β clearance and cognitive recovery through multivalent modulation of blood–brain barrier transport - Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy

Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy - Rapid amyloid-β clearance and cognitive recovery through multivalent modulation of blood–brain barrier transport

www.nature.com

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Catalina Fernandes @catalinafernandes.bsky.social · 2d

The Lancet, one of the world’s leading medical journals, has issued a report on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The report highlights the catastrophic impact of the ongoing genocide on healthcare, with hospitals under siege, clinicians working without basic supplies or power, and at least 772

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Nature @nature.com · 2d

It is time to sound the alarm as the EU’s research priorities face an unprecedented degree of political interference

go.nature.com/46UR4DH

The EU’s Horizon research fund needs to stay a defence-free zone

It is time to sound the alarm as the EU’s research priorities face an unprecedented degree of political interference.

go.nature.com

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Craig Smith @craigmsmith.bsky.social · 2d

fwiw, I wholeheartedly agree. Those taking the "It's not yet fascism here" line are, in a narrow and technical sense, correct, but the point isn't "OK, we're good then" but "OK, but what will keep it that way? In what ways do we reverse the trend toward an (as yet) unfinished project"?

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Roderic O’Gorman TD @rodericogorman.bsky.social · 2d

Over the summer, the Government raided the Climate & Nature fund to pay for gaps in their infrastructure bill. Today's Budget could have fixed that and committed new investment for nature and the environment.
Unfortunately, there has been no change in their approach. A wasted opportunity.

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Feljin Jose @feljin.ie · 2d

This is an eye-watering tax cut that will go directly into the pockets of big chain restaurants. This tax cut would fund the equivalent of building Luas Finglas every year.

Green Party / Comhaontas Glas @greenpartyie.bsky.social · 2d

It's official. They're giving big restaurant chains a massive tax cut, costing nearly €700m in the #VAT cut to hospitality.

For that kind of money you could:

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Bring in a second tier of child benefit - lifting 55,000 children out of poverty
🚌 Make public transport free

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Mr Thursday @mr-thursday.bsky.social · 3d

In 1930s Britain it was “All in Against Fascism”. People put aside differences and worked together to stop Mosley and his Blackshirts (infamously supported by the Daily Mail).
In German, the opposition to the Nazis was hopelessly divided, and the Nazis gained power.
A good lesson from history.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 3d

No sudden rupture is now required for the far right to take power in this country. For what we're seeing is a steady normalisation of extremists by the Conservative and Labour Parties, BBC, Telegraph, Mail and others. A shift once considered unthinkable beings to look acceptable, even inevitable.🧵

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Roderic O’Gorman TD @rodericogorman.bsky.social · 2d

Nothing in the Budget to advance a Public Model of Childcare.
Big reforms like this take time, need to be supported through each budget. The Government is failing to progress this vital reform that will address affordability and capacity.

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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 3d

Two of the most common climate misconceptions I see, even among knowledgeable folks, are that (1) most people aren't worried about climate change, and (2) if they were, they'd act.

Not true! Data show (1) most people are worried, but (2) they won’t act if they don’t know what to do-and most don’t.

A map of the world showing how levels of worry in most countries are greater than 70%. Source: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, International Public Opinion on Climate Change, 2023.

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Andy Brockman @andybrockman.bsky.social · Sep 19

Everybody makes money out of academic authors except the authors...News.

Wiley is the latest academic publisher to reach a multi-million deal to allow access to its content to AI developers, with no opt out, let alone payment, for the authors who created that content.

Wiley set to earn $44m from AI rights deals, confirms “no opt-out" for authors

The US publisher is the latest to capitalise on deals to give tech firms access to its authors’ content to train their Large Language Models (LLMs).

www.thebookseller.com

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Anne-Marie @amflynn.bsky.social · 3d

The GRA was passed in 2015 with very little fanfare following years of courageous campaigning by trans people. We have yet to see any negative ramifications in society - and we won't.

We simply *cannot* have a President of Ireland who speaks about trans women or their human rights in this way.

Reg Coppinger @regcoppinger.bsky.social · 3d

I'm not linking to the article but Heather Humphries thinks the Gender recognition act needs to be looked at, and trans women are not women. #Aras25 #SpeirGorm

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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 3d

Greta Thunberg, deported to Greece, says the targeting of the Sumud Flotilla is "not the story" @teenvogue.com — instead, she says:

"Israel once again violated international humanitarian law by preventing aid from getting into Gaza while people are being starved.”

Greta Thunberg On Her Detention: I'm "Not The Story" — It's Israel Violating International Humanitarian Law

“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me. But that is not the story.”

www.teenvogue.com

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Dr. Sarah Fortner @erthsarah.bsky.social · 3d

A reality check for me was working with students on an internal carbon accounting platform that Bon App our food provider uses. Beef was less than 5% of our purchases but around 50% of our food emissions even with international work to be plant forward.

apnews.com/article/plan...

A recipe for avoiding 15 million deaths a year and climate disaster is fixing food, scientists say

Scientists are presenting new evidence that the worst effects of climate change can’t be avoided without a major transformation of food systems.

apnews.com

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Paul Kenny @paulkenny.bsky.social · 3d

This morning I read the article from @irishtimes.com and rang & wrote to them to ask for a correction. They corrected the headline, and the article author @conorpope.bsky.social wrote back to confirm that it had changed. I opened up the app this evening and it’s wrong again.

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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 3d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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The Volatile Mermaid @ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social · 3d

Halloween is going to be weird now that there are scary masked people on the streets all year long.

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Bartelds @bartelds.bsky.social · 3d

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