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Reposted by Anneke Lucassen

Doug Parr @dougparr.bsky.social · Aug 4

Plastic is often seen as a cheap material but scientists in The Lancet argue it is expensive when including damage to health

One estimate of the health damage from just three plastic chemicals – PBDE, BPA and DEHP – in 38 countries was $1.5tn a year.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

World in $1.5tn ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns

Plastic production has increased more than 200 times since 1950 and hits health at every stage from extraction to disposal, says review in the Lancet

www.theguardian.com

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Chris Packham @chrisgpackham.bsky.social · Jul 16

Sheep are destroying precious British habitats – and we taxpayers are footing the bill to the tune of millions in a climate and biodiversity emergency - it’s bad and bonkers ! ⁦Me for The Guardian . . . @wildjustice.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Sheep are destroying precious British habitats – and we taxpayers are footing the bill | Chris Packham

Large parts of Dartmoor have been denuded of wildlife, harmed by farming and a mess of government schemes that are costly in every way, says naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham

www.theguardian.com

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Anneke Lucassen @alucassen.bsky.social · Jul 20

Agreed, Brit soc genetic Medicine wrote a briefing on this: bsgm.org.uk/media/12702/...

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Helen Salisbury @helensalisbury.bsky.social · Jul 19

This this this
Washing hands and wiping down surfaces will not do much to protect children from a deadly, highly infectious, airborne virus. Vaccinate and ventilate.

Prof Cath Noakes @cathnoakes.bsky.social · Jul 19

While infection control and cleaning is always a good thing, it’s not going to cut it for measles. Measles is airborne and highly contagious. The best approach is vaccination, and local infection control should focus on ventilation and air cleaning www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Nurseries in England bring in Covid-style protocols as measles cases rise

Staff deploy infection controls and step up cleaning as cases pass 500 for year to date and after one child dies

www.theguardian.com

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Scientista @scientistas.bsky.social · Jul 18

In a world of polarized headlines, Katharine Hayhoe is cutting through the noise.

She’s not just a top climate scientist — she’s showing how to talk about climate in ways that build trust, not division.

📰 Read more on Scientista:

Katharine Hayhoe: Climate Communication that Works

The key to climate communication? Talk about what people already care about.

scientista.substack.com

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Shane McKee @shaneir.bsky.social · Jul 19

Love this. Meanwhile can someone please hunt down whoever "Kiroe" is, and make it manifestly clear to them that their graffiti tag sucks and they're never to deface Belfast/Newtownabbey/Carrick ever again...

The Night Train® @thenighttrain.co.uk · Jul 19

Nice piece about #StreetArt in Belfast. Folks gettin' those dull junction boxes painted.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Belfast artists transform junction boxes with street art - BBC News

The Belfast Canvas project aims to liven up junction boxes across the city with colourful street art.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · Jul 19

Greatly enjoying this book by a physicist turned sociologist explaining why you need more than the laws of physics to explain societal problems.

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Sasha Gusev @sashagusevposts.bsky.social · Jul 19

People often intuitively interpret genetic ancestry PCA plots as simple genetic distances, but this is not always the case. Below are random pairs of individuals that are far apart in PCA space (lines) but actually have fewer total variant differences (numbers).

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Penncat @pennicat.bsky.social · Jul 18

Email Yvette Cooper and tell her that the right to protest is part of any functioning democracy and if she wants to even pretend we’re that, she needs to stop preventing pretty much all protest the government doesn’t like.
action.greenpeace.org.uk/e/854853/4lP...

Yvette Cooper: Stop attacking the right to protest.

Tell the Home Secretary to repeal extreme anti-protest laws and protect our right to protest.

action.greenpeace.org.uk

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hannah @hannahkateboast.bsky.social · Jul 19

Shaimaa has a scholarship to do a PhD on Palestinian literature with me at @uoe-llc.bsky.social, but she's stuck in Gaza because the foreign office won't help. Please share. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

I should be at Cambridge, but I’m trapped in Gaza

Home Office red tape strands dozens of Palestinian scholarship winners in war zone

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Healthwatch @healthwatch.bsky.social · Jul 20

Good but remember more terminally ill die at home. So hospice at home services also need support.
www.gov.uk/government/n...

£75 Million boost for hospices to transform end-of-life care

£75 million to modernise facilities and deliver upgrades to hospices across England including specially adapted beds, rooms, and technology.

www.gov.uk

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · Jul 20

'Moonshine' by contemporary UK printmaker Janis Goodman #WomensArt

Print featuring a night scene with a central path through a wheat field leading to a hedgerow and tree under a full moon

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Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social · Jul 4

AI is going to revolutionize everything

Image of Google AI overview
Yes, British websites use the term "biscuits" to refer to what Americans call "cookies". In the context of website usage, "cookies" refers to small pieces of data websites store on users' computers, not the baked treat. While some British websites might use "cookies" in this technical sense, the term "biscuits" is often used interchangeably with "cookies" for the digital data.
Here's why:
British English vs. American English:
In British English, "biscuit" is the general term for what Americans call "cookies".
Website Terminology:
Even though the technical term for website data is "cookies," some British websites might use "biscuits" to refer to them, especially when explaining the concept to users who might not be familiar with the technical term.
Chocolate Chip Cookies:
The term "cookie" in the UK often refers specifically to chocolate chip cookies.
Example:
A British website might say, "This website uses biscuits to improve your experience," meaning they use cookies for tracking and personalization.

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Jun 29

Review of PROOF @thelancet.com by @philipcball.bsky.social
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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Cambridge Skeptics @cambskeptics.bsky.social · Jun 29

ChatGPT and Grok absorb fake news and regurgitate it when asked. Due to their design, these models and their competitors are highly susceptible to disinformation, reports Pablo G. Bejerano for El País. english.elpais.com/technology/2...

AI swallows misinformation and spits it back at us: ‘It’s optimized to give useful information, but not for it to be correct’

ChatGPT and Grok absorb fake news and regurgitate it when asked. Due to their design, these models and their competitors are highly susceptible to disinformation

english.elpais.com

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Patsy “Resistance Kitty” Evans Ph.D. @drharmony.net · Jun 29

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Anneke Lucassen @alucassen.bsky.social · Jun 22

Thank you for sharing, especially important now that the health secretary will want you to practice preventative medicine from the cloudy crystal ball of whole genomes at birth!

Margaret McCartney @mgtmccartney.bsky.social · Jun 22

notes on rcgp council yesterday margaretmccartney.com/2025/06/22/r...

RCGP council 21/6/25

As ever, I can only report what I say, and I try not to repeat what others have. Council members have 2mins only to speak on subjects. I do have problems with this; it’s not a good quality co…

margaretmccartney.com

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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · Jun 14

In the new issue of @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social, @wiringthebrain.bsky.social & Nick Cheney seek out a better metaphor. They propose a generative model concept to capture the indirect, distributed, & non-linear relationship between info in the genome & form of the organism. Worth a read: 🧬👇🧪 11/11

The Genomic Code: the genome instantiates a generative model of the organism

How does the genome encode the form of the organism? What is the nature of this genomic code? Inspired by recent work in machine learning and neuroscience, we propose that the genome encodes a generat...

www.cell.com

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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · Jun 14

Why is this important? The reach of genetics is increasing, with relevance to disease, health, society, & education, & misunderstandings of the science are exploited towards nefarious purposes by bad actors. We must communicate its concepts in an accessible way while avoiding broken metaphors.🧬🧪10/n

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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · Jun 14

Your genome is not a blueprint. A thread about misleading metaphors in science communication. 🧬🧪 1/n

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Prof Michael Rigby @michaeljrigby.bsky.social · Jun 22

England has such an inglorious tradition of Health Secretaries espousing emergent technologies ahead of real evidence or cost-benefit analysis. Attention seeking, image promotion, diversion from real problems and solutions, or facilitating potential donors?

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Anneke Lucassen @alucassen.bsky.social · Jun 22

Yes, but mainly that these are predicted poorly in the newborn screening setting, and since no (proven) intervention available to alter disease onset or course, we should not screen for these at that point. Wes also seems to be getting confused between screening and diagnosis

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Centre for Personalised Medicine @cpmoxford.bsky.social · May 29

You can take a look at the entries from all of the finalists here: cpm.ox.ac.uk/centre-for-p...

We plan to run the competition again next year, so please keep an eye on our website for the details!

Centre for Personalised Medicine Art Competition 2024-25 - cpm

Earlier this year, the CPM ran an art competition asking UK students in Years 7 to 9 (approx. 11 to 14 years old) to send in art on a theme of ‘how personalised medicine affects our planet’ (click her...

cpm.ox.ac.uk

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Centre for Personalised Medicine @cpmoxford.bsky.social · Jun 2

A panel session to round off a fascinating afternoon

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Research Podcasts @researchpodcasts.bsky.social · Jun 1

Podcast of the Month: The Centre for Personalised Medicine

Explore how healthcare is evolving to fit the individual, not the average. Thought-provoking episodes on science, ethics & society.

Start listening: open.spotify.com/show/5QIsdk4...

#PersonalisedMedicine #PodcastoftheMonth

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