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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne
@kjcbyrne.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.3K following 590 posts
Science Communicator, Public Engagement person, Geeky McNerderson, sweary and woke. Swoke? If you want a science talk or show about your favourite Sci-Fi, get in touch - I'm your carbon based life form! He/Him
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · Nov 21
Viruses are small. Like, really really tiny.

If a cold virus was actually as large as my perfect replica in the image below (accurate in every detail, except for the eyes. And the fur. And the colour) the equivalent person would be about 9000km tall, with nostrils about 50km wide.
A giant microbe stuffed toy held in my hand. It is blue with small black eyes and has a diameter of 10cm. It's a model of a rhinovirus- the virus that causes the common cold, magnified about 5 million times.
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Reposted by Karl Byrne
dankaszeta.bsky.social
Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 4h
It’s a matter of risk management. The tear gas will be annoying but eye damage could be permanent. See:
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 1d
Providing essential services was madness. And yet it's still pushed by grifters on the Right who will make themselves and their mates a lot of money, and never once care about the damages made to the country.
kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 1d
Another example of the absolute mess Privatisation has made to the UK railways.

Poor service, massively overpriced tickets and unpleasant jobsworths.

The sooner the railways, rolling stocks and tracks are re-Nationalised (along with he water, electricity and gas), the better.
felicityhannah.bsky.social
Felicity Hannah @felicityhannah.bsky.social · 1d
Rail travel - my odyssey:
1) Booked a train to London using split tickets to make it £170 return instead of £240.
2) Train delayed. Next train is the same company and gets in later than planned train but split ticket doesn’t count. Nice staff say it is up to the train manager if he will let me on.
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Reposted by Karl Byrne
ottoenglish.bsky.social
Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 1d
X-tinction - the life and death of the Twitter phenomenon....

And why it was finally time to leave.

Me for

@bylinetimes.bsky.social

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/07/t...
The Great X-Tinction: Why My Time's Up On Twitter
Otto English explains why, after 15 years, he has left the social media platform now disseminating disinformation worldwide under the control of Elon Musk
bylinetimes.com
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Reposted by Karl Byrne
davidosland.bsky.social
David Osland @davidosland.bsky.social · 5d
The highest electricity prices in the world, the highest train fares in Europe and rivers full of sewage. It's almost as if privatisation was fundamentally flawed.
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 6d
So funny, Jay. Such wit.

Have you banned Jesse Signal yet, or are you still just throwing trans folks under the bus so you can be an unfunny piece of shit?
Reposted by Karl Byrne
wearequeeraf.com
QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 6d
An FOI seen by QueerAF shows the anti-trans organisation included in a consultation that led to RSE guidance that will introduce what has been widely described as a 'Section 28 2.0'

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/section-28-2-0-rse-consultation-featured-four-explicitly-anti-trans-groups-foi-reveals
'Section 28 2.0' RSE consultation featured four explicitly anti-trans groups, FOI reveals
An FOI seen by QueerAF shows the anti-trans organisation included in a consultation that led to RSE guidance that will introduce what has been widely described as a 'Section 28 2.0'
www.wearequeeraf.com
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 6d
A deeply pathetic non-statement from the Royal Society. All so they don't get on the wrong side of a drug addled, lying, grifting, racist Nazi billionaire.

What the hell is even the point of you, if this is the best you can muster?
royalsociety.org
The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 7d
"I am increasingly concerned over threats to the values that allow science to flourish." Read the full statement from the President of the Royal Society Sir Adrian Smith: royalsociety.org/news/2025/10...
A statement from the President of the Royal Society | Royal Society
A statement from the President of the Royal Society regarding threats to the values that allow science to flourish.
royalsociety.org
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 6d
Cowards.
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bowlerhatscience.org
Free Łink - Matthew R Francis @bowlerhatscience.org · 6d
I wrote this open letter to my fellow science journalists, but it could very easily be adapted to address @jay.bsky.team and the rest of the bsky team galileospendulum.org/2025/06/05/o...
Open Letter to Anti-Trans Science Journalists
To my science journalist colleagues at the New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and elsewhere: I write this open letter on the day the New York Times begins a podcast series…
galileospendulum.org
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nickreeves.bsky.social
Nick Reeves #FBPE #NAFO @nickreeves.bsky.social · 10d
1/ This speech made by Farage in September 2014, after Russia's first invasion of Ukraine, is a stream of Russian propaganda lies that could have come from Lavrov's mouth.
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anarchygoose.bsky.social
A Spooky Goose @anarchygoose.bsky.social · 9d
One of the things I take great pleasure in is that JK published her detective series under a false name because she was insecure about the idea that her literary work would stand on its own merits.

And it didn't.

They leaked her name to recoup their losses.

I hope that haunts her every day.
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 13d
a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a destroyed building and says please disperse
Alt: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a destroyed building, explosions and people running away, and says nothing to see here please disperse
media.tenor.com
kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 14d
A DUP official being an annoying, bigoted asshole? Say it ain't so!!!
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elisecutts.bsky.social
Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 14d
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin ✨ figured out what stars are made of ✨ when she was just 25. 🔭🧪

Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.

I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:
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mrjohncrace.bsky.social
John Crace @mrjohncrace.bsky.social · 14d
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Nigel Farage swans around peddling hate on Nick Ferrari’s phone-in | John Crace
From immigrants eating the king’s waterfowl to sharia law in London, it’s all there in our Nige’s relativist world
www.theguardian.com
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Reposted by Karl Byrne
bladeofthes.bsky.social
BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 16d
Mick Lynch "Nigel Farage is a racist."

RT if Mick is right.
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 14d
The Guardian.never misses a chance to be transphobic. If they can also oversimplify the science in a misleading way, that's just a bonus for them
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drandrealove.bsky.social
Andrea Love, PhD | Biomedical Scientist @drandrealove.bsky.social · 17d
Weird some scicomm accounts gave the new “Tylenol in pregnancy & autism” review some weight.

They don’t know the lead author, Baccarelli, had the exact claims thrown out of federal court for having ZERO scientific merit,

when he was a paid “expert witness” in lawsuits against Tylenol makers.

1/
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 14d
In completely different news, Fuck the racist South African with the exploding rockets & death cars, Fuck the Facebook guy with the tech that doesn't work, and fuck the mold infested woman who wrote about the wizard boy.

All deeply unpleasant, creepy and nasty dickheads with too much money & power.
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 14d
This is an entirely different deeply unlikeable, unsettling weird and laughably cringeworthy tech-bro billionaire than the usual one that repeatedly breaks his chatbot because he thinks is too "woke".

Maybe, MAYBE the issue isn't with the chatbots.

Maybe the issue is with the creepy billionaires
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 14d
Deeply unlikeable, unsettling weird and laughably cringeworthy tech-bro billionaire thinks his chatbot ( which has been taught on the stolen knowledge of our entire civilisation) is too "woke".
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kjcbyrne.bsky.social
Karl Byrne @kjcbyrne.bsky.social · 14d
How utterly unexpected!!
a woman with a surprised look on her face and the words `` pretends to be shocked '' .
Alt: a woman with a surprised look on her face and the words `` pretends to be shocked '' .
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Karl Byrne
marcveld.bsky.social
Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · Nov 15
Are we vaccinating under 2s more than a generation (30 years) ago? We used fewer vaccines, protecting against 8 infectious diseases. These complex vaccines, containing over 3000 antigens, were good, but there was room for improvement.
1/8
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eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14d
'Even when women were mentioned, the report found they were more often victims than protagonists, with the women murdered by Jack the Ripper more likely to be taught in lessons than the female code breakers at Bletchley Park during the second world war 1/2
School history lessons minimise the role of women, report finds
Campaigners say key stage 3 curriculum plays to misogny and teaches a ‘false version of the past’
www.theguardian.com
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