Who invented non-reflective glass?

American physicist & chemist Katharine Burr Blodgett in 1938.

It revolutionized optics--& led to the coatings used today in everything from eyeglasses to phone screens. She was the first woman to earn a PhD in #physics from Cambridge, 1926. #WomenInSTEM #inventor

Biochemist Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn was born #OTD in 1948.

She shared the 2009 #Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the enzyme telomerase & how chromosomes are protected by telomeres. This has 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 implications for the fields of #aging and #cancer research. #WomenInSTEM

If you're in London on November 29th, come to London Euphonia Orchestra's concert "From Arabian Nights to Hollywood Lights", in which we play both Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade and film music from E.T., Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Greatest Showman. www.londoneuphonia.com

My three favourite reads of 2025 are up on Shepherd #booksky shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/...

Many thanks to @londonfirebrigade.bsky.social for their proactive approach to fire prevention. They very helpfully installed new smoke alarms in my flat today. THANK YOU!

TWO WEEKS AWAY from publication of #TheCutThroatTrial and hardbacks have landed! They exist! This is happening!

As Counting Crows crooned in Shrek, I think I’m accidentally in love.

If grimly authentic crime fiction is your bag, you can pre-order in paper, e-book and audio here bio.to/7zNmPU

Carl Sagan explains how the ancient Greeks knew the Earth was round and calculated its circumference over 2,000 years ago.

This is Jakob Two Trees, a wooden troll living in the forest created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo. It's huge. 14 ft tall. There are six of them in the #PNW (each different). Amazing - just there, out in the woods, for all to see!

#art #seattle #love #socool #photography #sculpture #hiking #walk

Farage should never be interviewed without being forced to answer for failures of Brexit. That the man whose lies fuelled Brexit vote which has cost UK Billions & who said Liz Truss budget was “best Tory budget since 1986” could be trusted on *anything* is mind-boggling #bbclaura

A most intriguing stat from the latest “Births in England and Wales 2023” from ONS (UK): “Boxing Day (26 December) remained the least likely birth date for the 11th year in a row”.

Bullet Train

Looking back at one of my fave photos this year

A train shoots out of the tunnel, down the platform & towards a Hamilton theatre poster. It looks like the man is staring down the barrel of his shotgun at the approaching train at Oxford Circus Underground station

#photography #railway

Thanks @willhawkes.bsky.social for highlighting this pathetic attack on a historic pub by a sad little bunch of nimbys

It’s worth taking 2mins out of your day to email Islington council & defend The Sekforde -unless you want to find yourself sitting on a bus for an hour to drink in an All Bar One

“Don’t feed the trolls” also extends to bad opinion pieces in papers of record.

They run them bc people react to them the most.

If we stop linking to bad columns and instead post thinkers we find valuable (& generate convo around it), incentives change.

It’s not easy and takes constant practice!

Tha actual quote is even better (from quoteinvestigator.com)

This ~ 💯%

I'm totally OK with being called woke. It just means that I'm showing off my green flags. Happy to follow others with green flags.

#woke

Yes, libraries are invaluable for their collections and public services they offer, but also social contact without the expectation to interact with anyone or spend any money is so important to so many people