Diana Briggs
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dmab.bsky.social
Diana Briggs
@dmab.bsky.social
54 followers 26 following 23 posts
Molecular & Cell Biology, nature & wide open spaces, science & faith, the arts and ancient history, anything mediaeval, europhile, Micah 6:8. Views my own.
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Reposted by Diana Briggs
chapps.bsky.social
Such a beautiful polychrome terracotta group of two female figures sitting on a couch, leaning towards one another as if to share a secret. The older woman clasps her bare breast. They are thought to be Demeter and her daughter Persephone, but the identification is unsure. 🏺 1/ #ancientbluesky

📸 me
Terracotta group of two female figures sitting on a couch with elaborately turned legs, thick cushions, and draped with brightly painted textiles. They lean towards one another as if to share a secret, and the older woman on the right, with her himation pulled over her head, places a hand over her bared breast. The younger woman on the left raises her right hand over her breast under her own himation, mirroring her companion; on her left hand, we can see a large ring with a circular bezel. Each woman wears thick-soled sandals, and the older woman's sole is painted dark red. We see remains of the white slip - the base coat over which pigments would have been applied - as well as the bright remains of blue on the couch's drapery, and vibrant rose madder pigment on the younger woman's himation (cloak) and the cushions of the couch, red on the sole of the older woman's sandal and the younger woman's chiton (tunic), and a pale pink on the flesh of both women. Hellenistic, circa 100 BCE. Made in Myrina (Turkey), Asia Minor, where it was said to be found. Terracotta with pigments. British Museum (1885,0316.1)
December 12, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Gold octopus-shaped ornaments from Bronze Age Mycenae, Grave IV, Grave Circle A.

The curled tips of the arms create eyelets for stitching the ornaments onto a garment or shroud some 3,500 years ago.

National Archaeological Museum, Athens. 📷 by me

#Archaeology
My photo shows a display of octopus-shaped funerary gold ornaments excavated from Grave IV, Grave Circle A, at ancient Mycenae, Greece. Each octopus is 6.8 cm wide and has seven writhing arms with suckers. The curled tips create small holes enabling them to be sewn onto fabric. They were probably sewn onto a funerary garment or shroud. Dated 1,500 BC. On display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens
December 14, 2025 at 12:30 PM
dmab.bsky.social
+972 Magazine
@972mag
Israel preparing largest ever act of ‘archeological cleansing’ in West Bank.
Subordinating scientific value to colonial expansion, Israeli archeologists are putting up no resistance as the state moves to expropriate swaths of Sebastia.

www.972mag.com/sebastia-arc...
Israel preparing largest ever ‘archeological cleansing’ in West Bank
Subordinating scientific value to colonial expansion, Israeli archeologists are putting up no resistance as the state moves to expropriate swaths of Sebastia.
www.972mag.com
December 14, 2025 at 2:20 PM
dmab.bsky.social
William Dalrymple
@DalrympleWill
Recovering the lost history of Gaza
My @NewStatesman review of two remarkable new histories of Gaza by @anneirfan & Jean-Pierre Filiu
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
Recovering the lost history of Gaza
Decades of conflict and displacement have obliterated the history of one of the world’s oldest human settlements
www.newstatesman.com
December 14, 2025 at 2:19 PM
dmab.bsky.social
White storks to be reintroduced into East London in a rewilding project that will later see beavers introduced as well.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
White storks to make historic return to London in 2026
Species extinct as breeding birds in Britain since 1416 to be reintroduced in Barking and Dagenham as part of rewilding effort
www.theguardian.com
December 14, 2025 at 2:17 PM
dmab.bsky.social
Fresh Perceptions of Reality
A conference to be held at Wolfson College, Oxford OX2 6UD, on Friday 23rd January, 2.00-6.30 pm. Free entry but registration required. Everyone welcome. nature-of-reality.com
Registration on Eventbrite www.eventbrite.fr/e/workshop-f...
nature of reality
Workshop Fresh Perceptions of Reality, Wolfson College Oxford Friday 23rd January 2026
nature-of-reality.com
December 14, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
chapps.bsky.social
What an amazing finding! Amazing to think this is the first skeletal evidence of humans vs. animals: the #Roman venatio. But this was just one skeleton among more than *80*, all young, all perhaps gladiators. 🏺 (paywall-free link below)
Bite Marks on Skeleton Offer First Evidence of Gladiator Combat With Lion (Gift Article)
A discovery in an English garden led to the first direct evidence that man fought beast to entertain the subjects of the Roman Empire.
www.nytimes.com
April 23, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
jackwallington.com
Peat is a natural carbon store and a water store, it prevents flooding when well managed and not drained or dried - please sign this petition for a response from the Government who said in their manifesto they would protect peat petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
Petition: Ban wind farms on protected peat land in England
In its recent consultation on new onshore wind planning regulations, the government asked if some habitats, such as those containing peat soils, need extra protection from renewable energy development...
petition.parliament.uk
March 27, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
philipcball.bsky.social
In my latest column for @theneweuropean.bsky.social I discuss why the "stranded astronauts on the ISS" episode was so unedifying in every way - except perhaps in highlighting the foolishness of putting oneself in hock to Musk.
www.theneweuropean.co.uk/philip-ball-...
Critical Mass: The return of Nasa’s ‘stranded’ astronauts
The politicisation of SpaceX’s routine mission raises concerns over Nasa’s reliance on the increasingly erratic Elon Musk
www.theneweuropean.co.uk
March 27, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
philipcball.bsky.social
This should be good. X inactivation is fascinating, and brought to light one of the first known long noncoding RNAs.
royalsociety.org/science-even...
Life with two X chromosomes | Royal Society
Croonian Prize Lecture delivered by Professor Edith Heard FRS
royalsociety.org
March 25, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
womensartbluesky.bsky.social
UK contemporary sculptor known as Anna & the Willow creates nature-inspired sculptures made from rods of willow #womensart
Photo of a brown willow sculpture of a female archer holding a bow as if about to release an arrow, with hair tied back and in a long flowing skirt, the sculpture is on a path in a green woodland setting
March 26, 2025 at 6:31 AM
dmab.bsky.social
Complaining the Babylonian way.
March 20, 2025 at 9:53 AM
dmab.bsky.social
'...when commending Christianity to people, “make it attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is.” Such proofs as there are for Christianity can convince those who hope it is true, but will never convince those who don’t.' GrahamTomlin anglicanism.org/wp-content/u...
anglicanism.org
March 20, 2025 at 9:47 AM
dmab.bsky.social
For conversations on poetry, psalms, God, art and beauty with poet and artist Roger Wagner, go to The Penultimate Image Podcast. Roger talks with Malcolm Guite, Sue Gillingham, Ian McGilchrist and others.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
The Penultimate Image Podcast - YouTube
Conversations with artist, poet and scholar Roger Wagner
www.youtube.com
February 19, 2025 at 9:00 AM
dmab.bsky.social
The mediaeval world loved their owls…
February 15, 2025 at 2:22 PM
dmab.bsky.social
Understanding how the earth’s core works is important for understanding earth’s magnetic field. The inner core has been changing shape in the last 20 yrs. Additionally, changes have also been observed in the speed at which it rotates.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Earth's inner core may have changed shape, say scientists - BBC News
The findings shed light on a deeply mysterious part of Earth that is key to life on our planet.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2025 at 2:20 PM
dmab.bsky.social
Excellent review of Peter Harrison's latest book, Some New World. Highly recommended. churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/a-c...
Peter Harrison's Challenge to the Secular Mythos
James Ungureanu on assumptions.
churchlifejournal.nd.edu
February 15, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
arealmofwonder.bsky.social
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
~ G.K. Chesterton

The Rainbow (1892)
🎨 Nikolay Dubovskoy
January 21, 2025 at 12:53 PM
dmab.bsky.social
Fascinating article shedding light on some areas which I worked on in my former life as a molecular and cell biologist. Insights and connections I never would have imagined 20+ years ago!
philipcball.bsky.social Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · Jan 21
In the cover story of the February issue of @sciam.bsky.social I explain what biomolecular condensates are and why they are transforming cell biology. A short 🧵
(You'll need a subscription to read the article.)
www.scientificamerican.com/article/myst...
Mysterious Blobs in Cells Are Changing the Way We Understand Life
Tiny specks called biomolecular condensates are leading to a new understanding of the cell
www.scientificamerican.com
January 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
dmab.bsky.social
Found an old travel diary from 1976 in which I had recorded on a night journey thru Andhra Pradesh, the sighting towards dawn of a comet. Fascinated, I googled it and discovered it was called Comet West, not due to visit us again for another 1/2 million years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_W...
Comet West - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 20, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
ox.ac.uk
NEW: In a stunning find, researchers from Oxford University and @unibirmingham.bsky.social have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints, creating multiple enormous trackways.

More info ⬇️
www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-01...
Major new footprint discoveries on Britain’s ‘dinosaur highway’ |
In a stunning find, researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints, creating multiple
www.ox.ac.uk
January 2, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
ox.ac.uk
NEW: Researchers have found that head injuries, such as those induced in sports and the military, may re-awaken dormant viruses in the brain - triggering the onset of conditions including Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.

Find out more ⬇️
www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-01...
New study reveals link between head injuries and viruses in
Researchers from Oxford’s Institute of Population Ageing and the University of Manchester, and Tufts University have found that head injuries, such as those induced in sports and the military, may
www.ox.ac.uk
January 8, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Diana Briggs
astrojaz.bsky.social
one of the best hubble images ever
The star cluster Pismis 24 lies within the much larger emission nebula called NGC 6357, located about 8,000 light-years from Earth. The cluster is seen here above a small portion of the nebula. The gas below the stars glows through ionization caused by intense ultraviolet radiation from the massive young stars within the cluster. The strong radiation and stellar winds from from these blazing, blue-white stars also pushes the nebular material outward, creating one of many low-density bubbles within NGC 6357. image credit: NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain); acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)
December 12, 2024 at 4:46 AM