Published in 1950, this brilliant SF short story has plenty of resonances with the real today in the context of the mid 20th century's number one anxiety.

Lisa DeBruine@debruine.bsky.social · 2d ago

Today is the only day you can experience Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” on the day it is set. Audio: archive.org/details/brad... PDF: thephilosopher.net/bredberi/wp-...

Image is from 1967 Cosmopolitan. Dr Grace Hopper became Admiral Hopper of the US Navy, pioneer of early computer languages (creating the precursor of COBOL), veteran educator and coiner of the useful maxim, "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to get permission". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_H...

Grace Hopper - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 2d ago

thevaultoftheatomicspaceage.tumblr.com/post/8240086...

Two additional cases of HIV cure were presented at IAS meeting Rio. Both individuals received stem cell transplantation for cancer treatment. This brings the number of people "cured" to 13. We learn more with every case. Credit @lizhighleyman.bsky.social www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-202...

Two more people cured of HIV after stem cell transplants, offering more clues to long-term remission

Two more people appear to be free of HIV after stem cell transplants for cancer treatment, according to case presentations this week at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio d...

aidsmap.com

The Mountain Mint Patch: Double-banded Scoliid Wasp #wasps #nativeplants #nature #photography

On August 1, 1931, Harriet Creighton and Barbara McClintock published the first experimental proof that genes are physically located on chromosomes—a discovery that transformed genetics. 1/3🧵

Duddo Stone Circle in Northumberland. The circle is incomplete with a sixth stone now missing on the circle’s western side. Excavations in 2008 suggest a construction date during the early Bronze Age. 📸 My own. #StandingStoneSunday #Prehistory #Archaeology #Northumberland

Book blurbs deciphered #booksky

Good grief, how can it be August??

UC Berkeley researchers have identified regions of DNA that humans inherited from two unknown ancestors as a result of long-ago interbreeding among modern humans and at least four other archaic human relatives. #evolution #hominoids #genealogy #genomes

New technique pinpoints human DNA inherited from 'ghost' ancestors

UC Berkeley researchers have identified regions of DNA that humans inherited from two unknown ancestors as a result of long-ago interbreeding among modern humans and at least four other archaic human ...

phys.org

"The whooppoo saith" leaps out. This must be the hoopoe, which is a very rare sighting in the British Isles (I've only ever seen one). Its appearance in this book implies that the hoopoe was much more common here in the 1600s. #birds jncc.gov.uk/news/rbbp-re...

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 6d ago

The Duck quaketh... The Wolf howleth" — from what many consider to be the first picture book for children, Orbis Sensualium Pictus (1658). www.tumblr.com/publicdomain...

A New Chapter It's wattle time here in country Victoria, and the bees are ecstatic! All that glorious yellow cheers up the middle of winter no end. It's such an optimistic color. I'm feeling optimistic, too, even though this month did not go as planned. That began, as disruptions so often do, with…

A New Chapter

It's wattle time here in country Victoria, and the bees are ecstatic! All that glorious yellow cheers up the middle of winter no end. It's such an optimistic color. I'm feeling optimistic, too, even though this month did not go as planned. That began, as disruptions so often do, with an unexpected email. This one was from PLOS, the home of my blog, …

hildabastian.wordpress.com

1 internationalism, interlaminations 2 carthorse, orchestra 3 presbyterians, Britney Spears More of this kind of thing on my instanagram feed.

"The Forever War" is a cracking book I've re-read several times. Knocks "Ender's Game" into a cocked hat.

Bakka Phoenix Books@bakkaphoenix.bsky.social · 2w ago

Our first visitor today said "My husband has some books here." Us: Great, what the name? Her: Joe Haldeman Us: Oh, not the books, we meant your husband's name. Gay Haldeman: It's Joe Haldeman. Such a lovely surprise visit! Related: we now have a few signed @joehaldeman.bsky.social titles.

I am not eligible for this study because i got the AstraZeneca covid vaccine, along with probably a significant proportion of Oxford, so if you didn’t get that particular jab and you’re local and willing to help save lives, please follow the link!

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 2w ago

Oxford University has successfully vaccinated the first volunteer in the world’s first clinical trial of a vaccine designed to protect against Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV). www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-07...

Somebody pitched Universal studio the latest installment in the Jason Bourne franchise. It was called "The Bourne Again Shell". The studio rejected it because the script was deemed too slow and unintelligible.

Matt Damon Jason Bourne

Alt: Matt Damon Jason Bourne

static.klipy.com

Today, almost all new electricity is coming from clean energy Once clean-energy growth consistently exceeds demand, fossil-fuel power will start to decline Source: IEA

New standard for genetic pedigrees: Kahlo format display

I’ve been standing stock still in this wood for about 10 minutes while I mess about with a photo on my phone. I look up, notice the shape, and slowly crouch down to film This has made me so happy I feel I could cry. It’s as close to magic as I hope to get.

Unshelled walnuts left in Diet Pepsi overnight will completely dissolve, creating a delicious and nutritious drink that tastes of almonds

James McLeod@jamespmcleod.ca · 2w ago

It's safe to assume that all major LLMs are scraping Bluesky data to train future models. As an open protocol, Bluesky is one of the few sources of fresh human-generated content that anybody can gobble up. So all this is probably going in the models. There are submarines in the Great Lakes.

Wow

Wow. What a spectacular, epic story. I had no idea, and feel all the better for learning of this. Despite many deeply uncomfortable truths associated with it. www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...

How an enslaved, shipwrecked African became the US's first great explorer

Nearly 500 years ago, a Moroccan man travelled thousands of miles from Florida to the Pacific Coast, becoming the first known outsider to see the American West.

bbc.co.uk

Maggie May was the first single I bought. It got to number 1 in the UK despite being over five minutes long & not having a middle eight: Ray's mandolin solo at the end elevated the song to 11/10. On the Top of the Pops version, John Peel mimed playing the mandolin while the band played football.

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 2w ago

Ray Jackson, the Lindisfarne musician who played the famous mandolin solo on Rod Stewart’s hit Maggie May, has bought a rare £2,800 instrument from Oxfam’s Abingdon shop – celebrating with an impromptu performance. Jackson collects mandolins and still has the instrument he played on Maggie May.

Yeast (S. cerevisiae) can survive despite all 300 spliceosomal introns being engineered out. Marketing opportunity for "made with 0% intron yeast" beer right there. www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

A spliceosome-independent eukaryote generated by complete intron removal

Elimination of all spliceosomal introns reveals a spliceosome-independent eukaryote.

cell.com

Biologists pinpoint how common virus triggers multiple sclerosis www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Biologists pinpoint how common virus triggers multiple sclerosis

A connection between Epstein–Barr virus and MS has long been suspected, but the underlying mechanism was unclear until now.

nature.com

Setting up clinical trials in only 6 weeks! Always interesting when epidemics speed up ponderous processes - and leave the hope that even a fraction of such fleetness could channel towards more mundane trials too one day #IDSky #Ebola

BK. Titanji@boghuma.bsky.social · 4w ago

Really impressive to see these trials underway. I remain hopeful for positive results showing an impact on mortality. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Another view of that tall space beneath the M8 Kingston Bridge approach, a kind of cathedral to the internal combustion engine.

Meet the Pacific stargazer, an ambush hunter spends most of its life buried beneath the sand. Its upturned face allows it to see even when most of its body is concealed. And? It's capable of stunning prey with electrical shocks of ~50 volts! Photo: alboertoalcala, CC BY 4.0 iNaturalist

Um..... so I did a thing 🫣 📽️: youtube.com/shorts/krnxj... Indie 📕: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/how-... Amazon 🔗: www.amazon.co.uk/How-Design-U... 🔭👩‍🔬🎢

Exciting new Announcement!!

youtube.com

Compartilhei na outra rede o Black Serval Cat, o gato mais mal diagramado que já vi.