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
Link to publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8258-4913
Sutton Hoo burial mounds.
November 30, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Sutton Hoo burial mounds.
The astonishing landscape of Sutton Hoo with the river Deben in the distance
November 30, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The astonishing landscape of Sutton Hoo with the river Deben in the distance
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
The moon is looking beautiful this evening. 🔭
November 30, 2025 at 8:47 AM
The moon is looking beautiful this evening. 🔭
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
A glorious morning for the end of Autumn. The light in Oxford bouncing off the golden stone makes it feel like a Book of Hours on a day like this.
November 30, 2025 at 9:48 AM
A glorious morning for the end of Autumn. The light in Oxford bouncing off the golden stone makes it feel like a Book of Hours on a day like this.
Southwold beach and pier
November 30, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Southwold beach and pier
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
🔭 The Surface of Titan from Huygens
Image Credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, U. Arizona, Huygens Lander
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25113...
Image Credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, U. Arizona, Huygens Lander
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25113...
November 30, 2025 at 8:00 AM
🔭 The Surface of Titan from Huygens
Image Credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, U. Arizona, Huygens Lander
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25113...
Image Credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, U. Arizona, Huygens Lander
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25113...
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
The Observer: Tom Stoppard 1937-2025 #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 29, 2025 at 10:39 PM
The Observer: Tom Stoppard 1937-2025 #TomorrowsPapersToday
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...
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
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...
Guildenstern: No.
Rosencrantz: Nor do I, really. It's silly to be depressed by it.
RIP, Tom Stoppard...
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Southwold beach in the morning
November 29, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Southwold beach in the morning
Southwold beach by moonlight
November 28, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Southwold beach by moonlight
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
I’m sure Crick would have been much amused!
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
To Southwold to spend a wet weekend by the sea with @profhelenward.bsky.social and our partners. And their dog.
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
wahhhh this is actually a good analogy
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
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
Artist: David Palmer
November 27, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Dig the music centre under the telly (*not* a DVD player)
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
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
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
Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S
November 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
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
Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S
Another Labour shitehawk.
Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm hired by company linked to Chinese military
Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm hired by company linked to Chinese military
Global Counsel signed $3m contract with WuXi AppTec in Europe months after it was named in US national security drive
Global Counsel, the lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson, was brought in to advise the Chinese pharmaceutical company WuXi AppTec in Europe months after it was targeted in a US national security crackdown.
WuXi AppTec signed a $3m contract with Global Counsel last year to deal with the international fallout from claims that it had links with the Chinese military and was implicated in human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Another Labour shitehawk.
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
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?
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
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.
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...
www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/o...
November 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM
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...
www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/o...
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 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.
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
This is why Francis Crick built his house in Borrego Springs in the 1990s. The colours, the wildness, the smells of the desert.