Author | Lightnews

Dessy Pontikos @mouseinlondon.bsky.social · 1d

Perhaps the Beeb needs a proofreader.

“Palace: Andrew removed from official role of peerage”

BBC chyron referring to the role instead of the roll of peerage.

1

Dessy Pontikos @mouseinlondon.bsky.social · 11d

Or as Charles Darwin said, “ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”.

1

Dessy Pontikos @mouseinlondon.bsky.social · Oct 1

And the world is much poorer for it.

Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · Oct 1

Jane Goodall, who made startling discoveries about chimpanzee behavior and worked tirelessly to protect their habitats, has died. She was 91.

Jane Goodall, Who Befriended and Studied Chimpanzees, Dies at 91

Jane Goodall, who made startling discoveries about chimpanzee behavior and worked tirelessly to protect their habitats during a life dedicated to animals and environmental conservation, has died. She was 91.

bloom.bg

1

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · Sep 22

At this exact time and date — 14:19 Eastern US time on September 22, 2025 — the center of the Sun is directly over Earth's equator (in technical terms, it has a declination of 0°), marking the moment of the September equinox.

Happy equinox!

16 120 560

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · Aug 28

In one of our archive strong rooms there is a shelf. The shelf does not contain the most exciting or interesting item in the archive but it does contain something amazing.

Read this short thread to find out more. 🧵👇

A row of Archive stacks with turning handles

9 98 280

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · Aug 10

The Trump admin declares open season for imperialist conquest. Conquer as much as you can and you can keep your loot if you promise to stop.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 10

NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker on Ukraine's territorial concessions: "No big chunks or sections are going to be just given that haven't been fought for or earned on the battlefield."

12 33 130

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · Nov 24

Open this photo up and look for the small, white dot just left of centre.

It looks like Venus, shining brightly in the twilight sky.

But it's us.

It's Earth.

From Mars.

59 520 2.2K

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · Aug 2

American journalist, historian, and author Anne Applebaum on the West's biggest mistake in Russia's war against #Ukraine:

"The West doesn't understand the extremism of Putinism. They keep imagining that there's a deal to be done, that if we just give Crimea to Russia, then he'll stop fighting.⤵️

94 990 2.5K

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · Aug 1

1 in 3 doctors were born overseas.

1 in 2 builders were born overseas.

1 in 6 nurses were born overseas.

1 in 4 transport workers were born overseas.

1 in 7 UK business founders were born overseas.

1 in 5 university academics were born overseas.

The UK would be screwed without them.

69 760 1.7K

Dessy Pontikos @mouseinlondon.bsky.social · Jul 28

Fwiw, loved them all but Creation did indeed change life, my universe and everything. Looking forward to the next one.

PS: Was recently listening to WAYRF? while having a lumbar puncture and was laughing out loud throughout.

Dessy Pontikos @mouseinlondon.bsky.social · Jul 27

Interesting. And rather cute.

“Maybe with more examples we'll get a better understanding of how dinosaurs really sounded.”

Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · Jul 26

‘Despite what the movies tell us, dinosaurs probably didn't roar at their prey. It's more likely that they chirped like birds, based on a well-preserved new fossil with an intact voice box’ www.sciencealert.com/ancient-voic...

Ancient Voice Box Finally Reveals How Dinosaurs May Have Sounded

Despite what the movies tell us, dinosaurs probably didn't roar at their prey.

www.sciencealert.com

1

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Nova Scotia Museum @novascotiamuseum.bsky.social · Jul 25

If you time it right during a Partridge Island Beach tour you can see the bubbling tide and learn the Mi’Kmaq legend of Glooscap Grandmother's cooking pot. This is Fundy Geological Museum’s Regan Maloney.

3 30 190

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Adam Rutherford @adamrutherford.bsky.social · Jul 25

Scientists don’t say this.

Finding molecules in space that are biomolecules in living organisms only shows that the universe finds chemistry much easier to do than biochemists.

10 36 190

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Jul 18

Worth your time
www.channel4.com/programmes/t...

Trump: Moscow’s Man in the White House?

What’s the truth about Trump and Putin’s relationship?

www.channel4.com

33 190 550

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 @maks23.bsky.social · Jun 5

😂 "Russian aircraft were not destroyed, but damaged in the attack - they will be restored," - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Ryabkov

110 120 860

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · May 10

You’re allowed to argue that black people and women are genetically inferior. But you’re NOT allowed to argue they are NOT inferior because that’s divisive. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...

This expands a similar purge recently at the Naval Academy library, in Maryland. Last month, civilian Navy officials, following orders originating from Mr. Hegseth, pulled from shelves books including one that critiqued “The Bell Curve,” a 1994 text that argues that Black men and women are genetically less intelligent than white people. But the academy kept “The Bell Curve” itself on its shelves.

140 2.6K 8.4K

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Pádraig Belton @padraigbelton.bsky.social · May 13

I so enjoyed talking to Nasa and the ESA for this story on reinventing the wheel for the moon and Mars.

If journalists like me don’t write stories about space, schoolkids won’t want to grow up to be astronauts. And what a very sad world that would be.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Moon missions: How to avoid a puncture on the Moon

Giant tyre firms are testing tyres that can survive conditions on the Moon and Mars.

www.bbc.com

2 5 23

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · Mar 11

russia won't give up its goal of taking control of Ukr any time soon whtr this war ends or not. For that, they need deimperialization and there's no sign anyone in Ru wants to pursue it. This means the "root of the conflict " which Pu talked abt can't be solved. Ru can only be stopped not satisfied

1 8 60

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Feb 23

Please share this fact sheet on Ukraine with anyone who needs it

understandingwar.org/backgrounder...

130 3.6K 6.7K

Dessy Pontikos @mouseinlondon.bsky.social · Feb 9

bsky.app/profile/numb...

bsky.app

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · Feb 9

Watching 'Brief Encounter' (1945) again, one of my favourite films of all time.
I found this little clip to be both comforting and depressing at the same time.
So some of you may need it.
Enjoy... sort of, ish.

7 11 120

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · Jan 30

Do yourself a favour and open up this photo.

Indulge in the absurd beauty of comets.

This is Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard, photographed by Michael Jäger in 2021. The tail, millions of km long, shows a region of greater density from when part of the comet nucleus disintegrated about 10 days before.

4 120 370

Dessy Pontikos @mouseinlondon.bsky.social · Jan 29

There is an expression in Greek, “ειρωνεία της τύχης”, which means irony of fortune. I think it would be ironic if it rained on your wedding day in August in Famagusta but not ironic in monsoon season in Mumbai. You reasonably expected one thing and your luck laughed you.

1

Reposted by Dessy Pontikos

Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · Jan 24

Bilingualism is associated with a bigger brain. Similar to other cognitively demanding skills, it leads to dynamic subcortical structural adaptations which can be nonlinear, in line with expansion-renormalisation models of experience-dependent neuroplasticity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Dynamic effects of bilingualism on brain structure map onto general principles of experience-based neuroplasticity - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Dynamic effects of bilingualism on brain structure map onto general principles of experience-based neuroplasticity

www.nature.com

130 500 3.4K

Dessy Pontikos @mouseinlondon.bsky.social · Jan 5

“Tweaks in DNA caused by somatic mutations mean that we have not just one genome, perfectly replicated in every cell of our body. […] we each have closer to 30 trillion genomes, dispersed across our many cells.”
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Doctors Thought They Knew What a Genetic Disease Is. They Were Wrong.

Mutations that happen throughout a person’s life may contribute to disease more than we realized.

www.theatlantic.com

1