Carsten Timmermann
@ctimmermann.bsky.social
Historian of Biology and Medicine. Science is culture, and long live the Humanities. Director of @manchstm.bsky.social. Lapsed biochemist. Migrant. Rheinländer in 🇩🇪. Northerner in 🇬🇧. Gen X. Cyclist. Owned by dog. Often online. Here privately. He/him.
Pinned
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Just a friendly reminder on this hallowed day of overconsumption via @earthlyeducation.bsky.social
November 28, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Just a friendly reminder on this hallowed day of overconsumption via @earthlyeducation.bsky.social
Useful reminder here from historian of medicine Fay Bound-Alberti that assumptions that the human body can be repaired like a machine as long as spare parts can be sourced, are misguided.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Face transplants promised hope. Patients were put through the unthinkable
Twenty years after the first face transplant, patients are dying, data is missing, and the experimental procedure’s future hangs in the balance
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Useful reminder here from historian of medicine Fay Bound-Alberti that assumptions that the human body can be repaired like a machine as long as spare parts can be sourced, are misguided.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Our CHSTM PhD Krittapak Ngamvaseenont (@ngamvaseenont.bsky.social) will give his talk “Can Phi Pob Speak? Spirit Possession, Psychoanalysis, Transcultural Psychiatry, Buddhism, and Cold War Thailand” at the ANZSHM NSW Seminar. #HistSTM #histmed
Register here: events.humanitix.com/can-phi-pob-...
Register here: events.humanitix.com/can-phi-pob-...
Can Phi Pob Speak? ANZSHM NSW Seminar with Krittapak Ngamvaseenont
Get tickets on Humanitix - Can Phi Pob Speak? ANZSHM NSW Seminar with Krittapak Ngamvaseenont. Online. Monday 1st December 2025. Find event information.
events.humanitix.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Our CHSTM PhD Krittapak Ngamvaseenont (@ngamvaseenont.bsky.social) will give his talk “Can Phi Pob Speak? Spirit Possession, Psychoanalysis, Transcultural Psychiatry, Buddhism, and Cold War Thailand” at the ANZSHM NSW Seminar. #HistSTM #histmed
Register here: events.humanitix.com/can-phi-pob-...
Register here: events.humanitix.com/can-phi-pob-...
Do we know what the autumn budget means for UK universities? Am I right in assuming that the change to salary sacrifice tax breaks on workplace pensions will mean a significant increase in NI payments and thus salary costs for most universities?
November 27, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Do we know what the autumn budget means for UK universities? Am I right in assuming that the change to salary sacrifice tax breaks on workplace pensions will mean a significant increase in NI payments and thus salary costs for most universities?
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Net migration fell sharply agaim to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, having been 344k in 2024 and 848k in 2023. But falling immigration has been the biggest secret - and it is time for the media and political debate to catch up with this change
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
UK net migration fell to 204,000 in year to June - live updates
Net migration, the difference between those entering and leaving the country, was 345,000 in 2024 according to revised figures.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Net migration fell sharply agaim to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, having been 344k in 2024 and 848k in 2023. But falling immigration has been the biggest secret - and it is time for the media and political debate to catch up with this change
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
"Figure 1 shows the overall methodology."
Ladies & gentlemen: science is in serious trouble.
bsky.app/profile/erik...
Ladies & gentlemen: science is in serious trouble.
bsky.app/profile/erik...
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 27, 2025 at 9:39 AM
"Figure 1 shows the overall methodology."
Ladies & gentlemen: science is in serious trouble.
bsky.app/profile/erik...
Ladies & gentlemen: science is in serious trouble.
bsky.app/profile/erik...
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
1/5 It was entirely predictable that The Telegraph would jump on @DavidOlusoga’s Empire series to fight its right wing culture war for control of our public history. Let’s see what they’ve done:
November 27, 2025 at 8:28 AM
1/5 It was entirely predictable that The Telegraph would jump on @DavidOlusoga’s Empire series to fight its right wing culture war for control of our public history. Let’s see what they’ve done:
Sally Wainwright fans and Happy Valley aficionados will appreciate that Britain's bus driver of the year is from Sowerby Bridge.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
‘It is a dream come true!’ Meet Britain’s bus driver of the year – and six other unsung heroes
From the top lollipop person to the most dedicated convenience store managers, we celebrate the winners of the year’s most unusual accolades
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Sally Wainwright fans and Happy Valley aficionados will appreciate that Britain's bus driver of the year is from Sowerby Bridge.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
The Manchester skyline (as it presented itself last night)
November 26, 2025 at 9:11 AM
The Manchester skyline (as it presented itself last night)
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Coming out in February, this must read: "Intoxicated Ways of Knowing. The Untold Story of Intoxicants and the Biological Subject in Nineteenth-Century Germany."
Intoxicated Ways of Knowing
Argues that intoxication was fundamental to German physiological, psychological, and psychiatric research during the nineteenth century. Intoxicating substances can be found lurking in every corner ...
press.uchicago.edu
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Coming out in February, this must read: "Intoxicated Ways of Knowing. The Untold Story of Intoxicants and the Biological Subject in Nineteenth-Century Germany."
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Nominations are open for the BSHS Pickstone Prize 2026, recognising the best scholarly English-language book in the history of science.
📆 Deadline: 31 Jan 2026.
Anyone may nominate (self-nominations welcome).
Submit via our online form on the BSHS website www.bshs.org.uk/the-bshs-pic...
📆 Deadline: 31 Jan 2026.
Anyone may nominate (self-nominations welcome).
Submit via our online form on the BSHS website www.bshs.org.uk/the-bshs-pic...
November 19, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Nominations are open for the BSHS Pickstone Prize 2026, recognising the best scholarly English-language book in the history of science.
📆 Deadline: 31 Jan 2026.
Anyone may nominate (self-nominations welcome).
Submit via our online form on the BSHS website www.bshs.org.uk/the-bshs-pic...
📆 Deadline: 31 Jan 2026.
Anyone may nominate (self-nominations welcome).
Submit via our online form on the BSHS website www.bshs.org.uk/the-bshs-pic...
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Devastating ongoing self-immolation.
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
November 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Devastating ongoing self-immolation.
I listened to the podcast now, for which this essay review clearly was part of the preparation: David Runciman talking to the paleontologist Henry Gee, who thinks we (as in homo sapiens) are on the way out; it's inevitable, and it's ok, and we might as well get used to the idea and prepare for it.
‘This is not a new story caused by new technology. It has been true for as long as birth rates have been measured, going back many centuries.’
David Runciman on the depopulation problem.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman on the depopulation problem.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species
Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM
I listened to the podcast now, for which this essay review clearly was part of the preparation: David Runciman talking to the paleontologist Henry Gee, who thinks we (as in homo sapiens) are on the way out; it's inevitable, and it's ok, and we might as well get used to the idea and prepare for it.
UDO KIER im Gespräch mit Peter Fässlacher
YouTube video by globetrotter
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Man, I'm glad I have, like, friends, like, people, like, who I can, like, actually talk to, even, like, at parties.
I prefer "conventional fun", I think.
I prefer "conventional fun", I think.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Man, I'm glad I have, like, friends, like, people, like, who I can, like, actually talk to, even, like, at parties.
I prefer "conventional fun", I think.
I prefer "conventional fun", I think.
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
We pour billions into saving an economically tiny steel industry whilst actively destroying one of our largest export industries. (Yes, higher education to overseas students who already massively subsidise UK students, are counted as exports).
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 7:37 AM
We pour billions into saving an economically tiny steel industry whilst actively destroying one of our largest export industries. (Yes, higher education to overseas students who already massively subsidise UK students, are counted as exports).
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Over at the Daily Telegraph, they're scratching their heads as to why the former mining and steel producinv city of Gliwice in Poland is now 45% more prosperous than Darlington... and why it has new shiny infrastructure... without mentioning EU funds for urban and regional development...
November 24, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Over at the Daily Telegraph, they're scratching their heads as to why the former mining and steel producinv city of Gliwice in Poland is now 45% more prosperous than Darlington... and why it has new shiny infrastructure... without mentioning EU funds for urban and regional development...
Interesting
‘This is not a new story caused by new technology. It has been true for as long as birth rates have been measured, going back many centuries.’
David Runciman on the depopulation problem.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman on the depopulation problem.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species
Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Interesting
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
BBC News - Reform plans to strip EU citizens of benefit rights, says Farage - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Meanwhile and without batting an eyelid, Nigel is entitled to his EU pension of £100k aged 63 and his transitional allowance of £153k after his long, dignified service as an MEP.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Meanwhile and without batting an eyelid, Nigel is entitled to his EU pension of £100k aged 63 and his transitional allowance of £153k after his long, dignified service as an MEP.
Reform plans to strip EU citizens of benefit rights, says Farage
Leader Nigel Farage says his party would renegotiate the Brexit deal struck by the Tory government.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 6:44 PM
BBC News - Reform plans to strip EU citizens of benefit rights, says Farage - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Meanwhile and without batting an eyelid, Nigel is entitled to his EU pension of £100k aged 63 and his transitional allowance of £153k after his long, dignified service as an MEP.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Meanwhile and without batting an eyelid, Nigel is entitled to his EU pension of £100k aged 63 and his transitional allowance of £153k after his long, dignified service as an MEP.
Useful. The Europeans should reject the proposal.
Useful @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social analysis of Trump proposal on Russia, skewering it point-by-point in an easily digestible way:
www.arcdigital.media/p/trump-and-...
www.arcdigital.media/p/trump-and-...
Trump and Witkoff Try to Get Russia a Win
The joint U.S.-Russia proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, taken point-by-point
www.arcdigital.media
November 22, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Useful. The Europeans should reject the proposal.
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
Useful @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social analysis of Trump proposal on Russia, skewering it point-by-point in an easily digestible way:
www.arcdigital.media/p/trump-and-...
www.arcdigital.media/p/trump-and-...
Trump and Witkoff Try to Get Russia a Win
The joint U.S.-Russia proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, taken point-by-point
www.arcdigital.media
November 22, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Useful @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social analysis of Trump proposal on Russia, skewering it point-by-point in an easily digestible way:
www.arcdigital.media/p/trump-and-...
www.arcdigital.media/p/trump-and-...
Reposted by Carsten Timmermann
'Michael Lynas, the UK country director for the Duolingo language app, who argues there is no good substitute for the hard graft of learning a language as a way of seeing another country’s culture from the inside.' 1/3
Universities blame ‘societal shift’ for axing foreign language degrees
Numbers taking languages at A-level and beyond has been falling for decades, although Duolingo says its app is most popular with young people
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:14 PM
'Michael Lynas, the UK country director for the Duolingo language app, who argues there is no good substitute for the hard graft of learning a language as a way of seeing another country’s culture from the inside.' 1/3