Fabrizio Scarpa
@fabrizioscarpa.bsky.social
Academic at Uni Bristol 🏴 FRAeS ERC work on #metamaterials and #biobased #materials. Love for history, geopolitics and climate. Banner shows a 2D metamaterial. Links: ibit.ly/b_Dsn and ibit.ly/MuO03 Personal opinions, etc ... 🧪⚙️🤖👾♻️🚤✈️🏋️♀️🏛🐈
Pinned
Content Analysis: A delightful mix of academic rigor and witty banter, Fabrizio’s style reads like a conversation with a friend at a coffee shop, where every sip comes with a side of insight and a sprinkle of sarcasm. Expect footnotes—a lot of them!
blueskyroast.com
blueskyroast.com
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
So this happened in Oslo yesterday. Four articulated buses got stuck in a roundabout.
November 25, 2025 at 8:23 AM
So this happened in Oslo yesterday. Four articulated buses got stuck in a roundabout.
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
A powerful X-ray imaging technique has enabled direct observation of platinum crystal growth in liquid metal, offering new insights for material science and hydrogen production technologies. doi.org/hbcd76
X-ray technique captures footage of crystals growing in liquid metal
Researchers have successfully grown platinum crystals in liquid metal, using a powerful X-ray technique giving rare insight into how these delicate crystals form and grow.
phys.org
November 24, 2025 at 6:22 PM
A powerful X-ray imaging technique has enabled direct observation of platinum crystal growth in liquid metal, offering new insights for material science and hydrogen production technologies. doi.org/hbcd76
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
Excited to see the paper fully published. It's an important milestone for training SNNs with exact gradients, replacing our earlier tricks of a "delay line augmentation" to capture temporal relationships. Delays can now be learnt alongside weights naturally. Amazing work @mbalazs98.bsky.social !
Our paper on event-based delay learning is now published! @neworderofjamie.bsky.social @drtnowotny.bsky.social
TL;DR: It’s now possible to train synaptic delays in large-scale spiking neural networks with high temporal precision—even in recurrent connections.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
TL;DR: It’s now possible to train synaptic delays in large-scale spiking neural networks with high temporal precision—even in recurrent connections.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Efficient event-based delay learning in spiking neural networks - Nature Communications
Inspired by how neurons in the brain communicate, Spiking Neural Networks are gaining attention as efficient models for solving spatiotemporal AI tasks. The authors introduce a training method for syn...
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Excited to see the paper fully published. It's an important milestone for training SNNs with exact gradients, replacing our earlier tricks of a "delay line augmentation" to capture temporal relationships. Delays can now be learnt alongside weights naturally. Amazing work @mbalazs98.bsky.social !
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment
bylinetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
The Age of the Toddler
November 24, 2025 at 6:31 PM
The Age of the Toddler
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
Brexit: “The most dishonest campaign in our history said it would save us £350m a week, but Brexit actually cost us £250m a day in 2025. That is why we have the highest taxes ever, that is why we have sky-high bills, that is why we have a cost of living crisis” @eddavey.libdems.org.uk
November 25, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Brexit: “The most dishonest campaign in our history said it would save us £350m a week, but Brexit actually cost us £250m a day in 2025. That is why we have the highest taxes ever, that is why we have sky-high bills, that is why we have a cost of living crisis” @eddavey.libdems.org.uk
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
Guess who just got out of bed to update our toilet stats.
Thanks to a Chinese launch, the current count is 10 toilets in space:
International Space Station: 4
Crew Dragon Docked at ISS: 1
Soyuz Docked at ISS: 1
Tiangong Space Station: 2
Tianzhou Docked at TSS: 1
Tianzhou headed to TSS: 1
Thanks to a Chinese launch, the current count is 10 toilets in space:
International Space Station: 4
Crew Dragon Docked at ISS: 1
Soyuz Docked at ISS: 1
Tiangong Space Station: 2
Tianzhou Docked at TSS: 1
Tianzhou headed to TSS: 1
November 25, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Guess who just got out of bed to update our toilet stats.
Thanks to a Chinese launch, the current count is 10 toilets in space:
International Space Station: 4
Crew Dragon Docked at ISS: 1
Soyuz Docked at ISS: 1
Tiangong Space Station: 2
Tianzhou Docked at TSS: 1
Tianzhou headed to TSS: 1
Thanks to a Chinese launch, the current count is 10 toilets in space:
International Space Station: 4
Crew Dragon Docked at ISS: 1
Soyuz Docked at ISS: 1
Tiangong Space Station: 2
Tianzhou Docked at TSS: 1
Tianzhou headed to TSS: 1
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
Jamaica is seeing an outbreak of leptospirosis, just one of the many, many ways severe Melissa hits wll sicken and kill people there over the coming months and years
November 24, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Jamaica is seeing an outbreak of leptospirosis, just one of the many, many ways severe Melissa hits wll sicken and kill people there over the coming months and years
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
World top soils store 45% more carbon than previously thought, making them a better sequester of carbon but also a bigger threat is soil degradation is allowed to continue
earth.org/soil-is-bigg...
earth.org/soil-is-bigg...
Soil Is Bigger Carbon Sink Than Previously Thought: Report
The world’s soils store 45% more carbon than previously estimated, making them a powerful, largely untapped carbon sink.
earth.org
November 24, 2025 at 4:35 PM
World top soils store 45% more carbon than previously thought, making them a better sequester of carbon but also a bigger threat is soil degradation is allowed to continue
earth.org/soil-is-bigg...
earth.org/soil-is-bigg...
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
The eruption after thousand of years of #HayliGubbi #volcano in #Ethiopia.
According to analyses, part of the eruptive column from the eruption may have reached an altitude between 18 and 20 km.
The #Copernicus #Sentinel5p image on Nov. 23 shows the big plume moving eastward.
According to analyses, part of the eruptive column from the eruption may have reached an altitude between 18 and 20 km.
The #Copernicus #Sentinel5p image on Nov. 23 shows the big plume moving eastward.
November 24, 2025 at 5:29 PM
The eruption after thousand of years of #HayliGubbi #volcano in #Ethiopia.
According to analyses, part of the eruptive column from the eruption may have reached an altitude between 18 and 20 km.
The #Copernicus #Sentinel5p image on Nov. 23 shows the big plume moving eastward.
According to analyses, part of the eruptive column from the eruption may have reached an altitude between 18 and 20 km.
The #Copernicus #Sentinel5p image on Nov. 23 shows the big plume moving eastward.
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
In a functioning democracy, companies that repeatedly flout regulations and pollute our rivers would be shut down permanently, and their senior executives prosecuted.
We live instead in a light-touch regulatory paradise for polluters.
(Reporting by Niall Sargent)
thecurrency.news/articles/208...
We live instead in a light-touch regulatory paradise for polluters.
(Reporting by Niall Sargent)
thecurrency.news/articles/208...
North Cork Creameries temporarily halts production after EPA wasterwater order - The Currency
North Cork Creameries has temporarily ceased production at its major dairy facility in Kanturk after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice to suspend all discharges from its wastew...
thecurrency.news
November 24, 2025 at 3:41 PM
In a functioning democracy, companies that repeatedly flout regulations and pollute our rivers would be shut down permanently, and their senior executives prosecuted.
We live instead in a light-touch regulatory paradise for polluters.
(Reporting by Niall Sargent)
thecurrency.news/articles/208...
We live instead in a light-touch regulatory paradise for polluters.
(Reporting by Niall Sargent)
thecurrency.news/articles/208...
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
I'd like to see the response to this if the question added "if that that means universities have less money to spend on UK students".
With Rachel Reeves reportedly set to apply a new tax on tuition fees paid by overseas students, most Britons support such a move at the previously mooted level of 6%
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
November 24, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I'd like to see the response to this if the question added "if that that means universities have less money to spend on UK students".
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
How is this not the top story on every news bulletin?
This has been happening for years and instead of doing anything to protect children successive governments have made the situation worse. This isn't just on councils. It is part of failings on a State level.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
This has been happening for years and instead of doing anything to protect children successive governments have made the situation worse. This isn't just on councils. It is part of failings on a State level.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
More then 2,000 trafficked children and lone child asylum seekers missing from UK councils’ care
Charities say vulnerable young people are being failed by local authorities, the police and central government
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:43 AM
How is this not the top story on every news bulletin?
This has been happening for years and instead of doing anything to protect children successive governments have made the situation worse. This isn't just on councils. It is part of failings on a State level.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
This has been happening for years and instead of doing anything to protect children successive governments have made the situation worse. This isn't just on councils. It is part of failings on a State level.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
I do think it's worth addressing that the intellectual lodestar of this government is a gibbering idiot.
There are some truly unhinged bits in the piece about Glasman, as to be expected when dealing with Glasman, but seriously what the actual? That's...one hell of a conflation of terminology.
November 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM
I do think it's worth addressing that the intellectual lodestar of this government is a gibbering idiot.
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
Labour's hate-mongering doesn't stop just because it's Sunday.
November 23, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Labour's hate-mongering doesn't stop just because it's Sunday.
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
1/ A two-way Anschluss is happening today, as thousands of cars carrying auxiliary voters go from Serbia to Republika Srpska, which is holding snap presidential elections. Thousands of cars and buses come from there to Serbia when there are elections here. ⬇️
Mediji: Na dan izbora u RS duge kolone vozila iz Srbije na graničnom prelazu Trbušnica - Šepak
Na graničnom prelazu Trbušnica - Šepak danas su neuobičajeno duge kolone vozila, koja iz Srbije ulaze u Bosnu i Hercegovinu (BiH), na dan kada se u Republici Sr
n1info.rs
November 23, 2025 at 3:33 PM
1/ A two-way Anschluss is happening today, as thousands of cars carrying auxiliary voters go from Serbia to Republika Srpska, which is holding snap presidential elections. Thousands of cars and buses come from there to Serbia when there are elections here. ⬇️
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
The theoretical physicists Juan Maldacena and Ying Zhao helped create the “island formula,” a theoretical approach for exploring the interiors of black holes. When this method is applied to a whole universe, a puzzle emerges. www.quantamagazine.org/cosmic-parad...
November 23, 2025 at 2:15 PM
The theoretical physicists Juan Maldacena and Ying Zhao helped create the “island formula,” a theoretical approach for exploring the interiors of black holes. When this method is applied to a whole universe, a puzzle emerges. www.quantamagazine.org/cosmic-parad...
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
There is a post circulating on Bluesky encouraging the moving of a frozen turkey straight into a pot of hot oil. We are combating this misinformation the best way we know how - through the power of dance music.
November 23, 2025 at 1:31 PM
There is a post circulating on Bluesky encouraging the moving of a frozen turkey straight into a pot of hot oil. We are combating this misinformation the best way we know how - through the power of dance music.
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
“Academy schools in working class areas have been instrumental in reducing the range of the curriculum and increasing the amount of repetition and routine memorisation.”
Output planning in neoliberal form #LateSovietBritain
Output planning in neoliberal form #LateSovietBritain
Rigid and joyless teaching for the masses, seems to have becoming increasingly normal (I'm lucky, my very ordinary 80s state education came before the point where we'd been trained *not* to expect the state to do some good things, that has definitely worsened) blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities...
The chronic miseducation of working class children in the UK
A regime of “teaching to the test”, harsh discipline and a narrow curriculum is robbing working class children of a good education and tools for self-expression
blogs.lse.ac.uk
November 23, 2025 at 1:27 PM
“Academy schools in working class areas have been instrumental in reducing the range of the curriculum and increasing the amount of repetition and routine memorisation.”
Output planning in neoliberal form #LateSovietBritain
Output planning in neoliberal form #LateSovietBritain
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
'It is notable that in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise the Department of American Studies at Nottingham was ranked third in the Area Studies unit of assessment and was one of the top-performing units across the whole of the University of Nottingham.' 1/2
RED ALERT: the University of Nottingham is threatening to close its Department of American Studies, putting all staff at risk of redundancy, and ending any American specialist knowledge in the Faculty of Arts.
Sign the petition here to save jobs:
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
Sign the petition here to save jobs:
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
Sign the Petition
SAVE AMERICAN STUDIES TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
www.change.org
November 23, 2025 at 1:38 PM
'It is notable that in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise the Department of American Studies at Nottingham was ranked third in the Area Studies unit of assessment and was one of the top-performing units across the whole of the University of Nottingham.' 1/2
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
Just to stress: if you are a civilian killed by a bomb it doesn't matter what was in the heart of the person who dropped it.
There are a thousand decision points that lead up to a Reaper Drone firing a Hellfire Missile and the procedures and values guiding those decisions matter.
There are a thousand decision points that lead up to a Reaper Drone firing a Hellfire Missile and the procedures and values guiding those decisions matter.
November 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Just to stress: if you are a civilian killed by a bomb it doesn't matter what was in the heart of the person who dropped it.
There are a thousand decision points that lead up to a Reaper Drone firing a Hellfire Missile and the procedures and values guiding those decisions matter.
There are a thousand decision points that lead up to a Reaper Drone firing a Hellfire Missile and the procedures and values guiding those decisions matter.
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
'The religious city of Mashhad has entered full rationing, Nasrollah Pejmanfar, a lawmaker, said on Friday.
The city’s Dousti dam, he added, “has no water left to transfer, and the reservoirs supplying Mashhad have reached zero” '
#Iran 🇮🇷
The city’s Dousti dam, he added, “has no water left to transfer, and the reservoirs supplying Mashhad have reached zero” '
#Iran 🇮🇷
Iran’s deepening water crisis nears critical levels in major cities
Iran’s worsening drought has pushed water supplies in several provinces to critical levels, with officials in Tehran, Mashhad and Kerman warning that some reservoirs are close to the point where routi...
www.iranintl.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:49 AM
'The religious city of Mashhad has entered full rationing, Nasrollah Pejmanfar, a lawmaker, said on Friday.
The city’s Dousti dam, he added, “has no water left to transfer, and the reservoirs supplying Mashhad have reached zero” '
#Iran 🇮🇷
The city’s Dousti dam, he added, “has no water left to transfer, and the reservoirs supplying Mashhad have reached zero” '
#Iran 🇮🇷
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
Rigid and joyless teaching for the masses, seems to have becoming increasingly normal (I'm lucky, my very ordinary 80s state education came before the point where we'd been trained *not* to expect the state to do some good things, that has definitely worsened) blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities...
The chronic miseducation of working class children in the UK
A regime of “teaching to the test”, harsh discipline and a narrow curriculum is robbing working class children of a good education and tools for self-expression
blogs.lse.ac.uk
November 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Rigid and joyless teaching for the masses, seems to have becoming increasingly normal (I'm lucky, my very ordinary 80s state education came before the point where we'd been trained *not* to expect the state to do some good things, that has definitely worsened) blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities...
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
Open letter from over 1,000 UK scientists urging all MPs to attend the National Emergency Briefing. A huge list full of highly respected names.
"Without much more urgent and decisive action, we risk seeing these impacts overwhelm our capacity to respond."
Please share with your MP. #NEB2025
"Without much more urgent and decisive action, we risk seeing these impacts overwhelm our capacity to respond."
Please share with your MP. #NEB2025
National Emergency Briefing
An unfiltered assessment of the latest threats to UK food supply, health and national security from eight leading experts to an invitation-only audience - also covering positive solutions. Westminster...
www.nebriefing.org
November 23, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Open letter from over 1,000 UK scientists urging all MPs to attend the National Emergency Briefing. A huge list full of highly respected names.
"Without much more urgent and decisive action, we risk seeing these impacts overwhelm our capacity to respond."
Please share with your MP. #NEB2025
"Without much more urgent and decisive action, we risk seeing these impacts overwhelm our capacity to respond."
Please share with your MP. #NEB2025
Reposted by Fabrizio Scarpa
The EU has published a world-first risk landscape report under the #DSA.
It flags systemic risks on big platforms — from illegal content to generative AI— and tracks how platforms are addressing them.
More transparency. More accountability.
A safer online space for all.
link.europa.eu/NKM4yd
It flags systemic risks on big platforms — from illegal content to generative AI— and tracks how platforms are addressing them.
More transparency. More accountability.
A safer online space for all.
link.europa.eu/NKM4yd
November 23, 2025 at 9:13 AM
The EU has published a world-first risk landscape report under the #DSA.
It flags systemic risks on big platforms — from illegal content to generative AI— and tracks how platforms are addressing them.
More transparency. More accountability.
A safer online space for all.
link.europa.eu/NKM4yd
It flags systemic risks on big platforms — from illegal content to generative AI— and tracks how platforms are addressing them.
More transparency. More accountability.
A safer online space for all.
link.europa.eu/NKM4yd