Matthew Cobb
banner
matthewcobb.bsky.social
Matthew Cobb
@matthewcobb.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
🔭 The Surface of Titan from Huygens

Image Credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, U. Arizona, Huygens Lander

apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25113...
November 30, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
The Observer: Tom Stoppard 1937-2025 #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 29, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Rosencrantz: Did you ever think of yourself as actually dead, lying in a box with a lid on it?
Guildenstern: No.
Rosencrantz: Nor do I, really. It's silly to be depressed by it.

RIP, Tom Stoppard...
Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88
A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
November 29, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Southwold beach in the morning
November 29, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Southwold beach by moonlight
November 28, 2025 at 10:18 PM
I’m sure Crick would have been much amused!
Are you looking for Christmas present ideas? Check out @churchtimes.bsky.social's bookish recommendations, including the biography of the great scientist #Crick by @matthewcobb.bsky.social and Chris Newens' gastronomic journey around Parisian cuisine #MoveableFeasts 📚🎁
Book gift ideas this Christmas
A round-up of newly published titles this festive season
www.churchtimes.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 12:33 PM
To Southwold to spend a wet weekend by the sea with @profhelenward.bsky.social and our partners. And their dog.
November 28, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
wahhhh this is actually a good analogy
ChatGPT’s signature writing style is everywhere now, and I hate it. It reminds me of when we tried mixing all the beverages at the soda fountain in middle school. We didn’t actually create the perfect drink, we just made a cloying monstrosity that lost everything good about its constituent parts.
November 27, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
"But it was so EXPENSIVE!!1"

www.youtube.com/shorts/8-lgJ...
We Have AI Now
YouTube video by Eleanor Morton
www.youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Dig the music centre under the telly (*not* a DVD player)
“It can be nice and cosy at home during the cold weather” (1979)
Artist: David Palmer
November 27, 2025 at 8:23 PM
I love this -- analysis of a 1531 manual to find traces of past ingredients. Perfect for a day of cookery 🥧
It’s the first time that proteomics has been used to analyze Renaissance recipes. The project demonstrates an innovative way to study medicine and the circulation and use of medical recipes from the past. cen.acs.org/analytical-c... #chemsky 🧪
November 27, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio
GitHub - alanrogers/popgen: A course on population genetics
A course on population genetics. Contribute to alanrogers/popgen development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
The domestic cat may be a far more recent arrival to Europe than previously thought, a new Science study. finds. The results offer new insight into one of humanity’s most enigmatic animal companions and identify North Africa as the cradle of the modern housecat.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S
November 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
How can you mention this fabulous record without pointing out that the cover of the LP was literally covered in sandpaper, so it would fuck up the records on either side. Will the digital version be similarly clad?
The Durutti Column: The Return of the Durutti Column review – fragile classic that echoes far beyond its time
The delicate experimentation of the band’s debut may not have chimed with the post-punk 1980s, but its durability makes this deluxe reissue thoroughly deserved
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Why is Peter Kyle in the Labour Party? First he backs AI companies stealing our work, now he removes day-one protection against unfair dismissal from the new workers’ rights bill. He is, as they say, a shitehawk.
November 27, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
9️⃣0️⃣ Yvonne Barr (1932–2016) 🇮🇪 #womeninSTEM Everyone has heard of the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), which causes mononucleosis. But did you know that the virus was discovered in 1964 by Yvonne Barr, an irish virologist, and Michael Epstein ?

www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/o...
November 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
This beautiful ant-mimicking mantis (Acontista festae) was one of the first finds on our survey at Emerald Arch in Ecuador! The adult may not look much like an ant, but its babies will fool you. Acontista nymphs sit on flower heads, so it seems that ants and flying pollinators are their main prey.
November 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
This is why Francis Crick built his house in Borrego Springs in the 1990s. The colours, the wildness, the smells of the desert.
One more view from an earlier storm that led to this intense sunrise in Anza-Borrego Desert (Photo: Sicco Rood).
November 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Spotted in the Deansgate branch of @waterstones.bsky.social today: The Philosophy of Puddings by Yours Truly & Much Ado About Cooking by @mrssbilton.bsky.social !
November 27, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
ISS - Dr. Soyuzlove
YouTube video by Seán Doran
www.youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Hi @gordoncorera.bsky.social @matthewcobb.bsky.social @adamweymouth.bsky.social
@edithmayhall.bsky.social @carol4olivefarm.bsky.social
you're in our great line-up of books 2026! Please spread the word our programme is now complete and may be viewed here: campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/e...
November 27, 2025 at 11:20 AM
No Amazon, I don’t think so.
November 27, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
November 26, 2025 at 8:15 PM