Fingers crossed we'll finally get a Muppets version

The Independent@the-independent.com · 9h ago

James Bond producer shares update on 007 casting: ‘It’s got to be really different’

Calling my #astrophotography chums in the Americas: will you be staying up late tonight with your telescopes trained on the Einstein Crater? Impact: 02:34 EDT; 4 tonnes of Space-X metal (15m x 4m diameter) travelling 5400mph Expected: 50km high plume containing ~1Mkg of debris 😲🔭

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 4d ago

"Will I be able to see the crash?" Probably not, but that doesn't mean friends in the Americas shouldn't try (daylight for those in Europe): look to the eastern limb of the Einstein crater. The @eso.org VLT will observe it & NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is taking before and after images! 🔭🧪🛰️

'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)

We just need a space Pokémon cake to complete the Venn diagram of my interests

European Space Agency@esa.int · yesterday

For World Space Week 2026, we're teaming up with Pokémon to unite space exploration and a universe of imagination. More to come soon. ⚡https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Branding_and_Partnerships/ESA_and_Pokemon_team_up_to_celebrate_World_Space_Week #WorldSpaceWeek2026 #PokemonxESA

12 August: for over one minute, day turns to night 🌑 thanks to a total solar eclipse. But will it be visible from your place? Check out these maps to find out. If you're close to the path of totality, but not within it, it is totally worth the travel! 1/2 🔭 🧪 #EuropeanSolarEclipse

OOooh google "solar eclipse" - it's joyful 🤩 #Eclipse 12 August! And if you're in #Edinburgh, drop by Dynamic Earth tomorrow to pick up some free solar specs!!

The Financial Times picking up the case for fundamental research driving the breakthroughs of tomorrow. The UK is very dependent for its research and development on university departments. Funding these is the path to future growth. 🔭🧪⚛️ #UKPol

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 2d ago

Time for Andy Burnham to smile on UK science ft.trib.al/YaGOWfr | opinion

🌱💚🌾 #illustration

Life is short. Embrace your silly hobbies ❤️

"The £2.8m annual cost to the purse of the continued running of Jodrell Bank – amounting, by the way, to about 0.03% of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) budget – figures as little more than spare change. The UKRI, I note, has committed £1.6bn towards AI;"

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d ago

Strongly recommend Sarah Perry on the wonder of Jodrell 🔭 observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Whenever I get asked about my views on climate change, the energy transition, etc, I always stress that whatever pathway lies ahead, the public have very, very good reason not to believe the motives of many if not most *energy* companies…

Center for Climate Integrity@climateintegrity.org · 5d ago

In June 1966, scientist James Lovelock warned Shell in a confidential memo of “the almost certain fact that the climate is worsening and the probability that the combustion of fuel is responsible.” Shell would later become "a founding member of the denialist Global Climate Coalition." 😑

The Guardian view on the Lovell telescope: budget cuts to physics are bad science and worse politics www.theguardian.com/commentisfre.... 🔭

The Guardian view on the Lovell telescope: budget cuts to physics are bad science and worse politics | Editorial

Editorial: Funders have picked a damaging fight with scientists and the public. They should reconsider their plans

theguardian.com

Additionally, the UK and French governments have also issued a similar statement on climate change: "[We] call on all countries to intensify their efforts to tackle its causes while boosting resilience to its effects" www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/presse-et...

++BREAKING++ The UK and Spanish governments have issued a joint statement overnight: "[We] agreed that this summer’s wildfires demonstrated that climate change was now a national security emergency facing Europe and threatening our way of life." www.gov.uk/government/n...

Sadly it's not just #JodrellBank losing funding, with deep cuts across the board for UK astronomy. One example is the HiPERCAM project whose funding has been entirely cut to save £50K/yr - peanut-levels of £s. Spectacular fast transient science lost, for what? 🔭😡 www.zmescience.com/science/astr...

One of Astronomy’s Fastest Cameras May Stop Operating Over a $67,000 Funding Gap

The camera that checked JWST’s clock is losing its funding.

zmescience.com

Wind and solar have just overtaken fossil-fuel power in Germany www.carbonbrief.org/...

And good luck finding businesses to offer meaningful work experience to hundreds of thousands of 14 and 15 year olds. As ever a failure to acknowledge that our big challenge with vocational ed is our labour market.

Laura McInerney@missmc.bsky.social · last wk.

Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ve thought through how this will be staffed, funded, and the class size implications for GCSE options. They learned that from the last time, right? RIGHT? www.tes.com/magazine/new...

This is Beily. He was miraculously found alive under rubble 29 days after the Venezuela earthquakes. He has since been reunited with his 11-year-old human Victoria and is expected to make a full recovery. 14/10 for all (TT: fuerzavzla1)

Confirmation that Jodrell Bank Observatory has lost funding (via the e-Merlin project) under STFC cuts, as first reported by RPN in early July www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

bbc.co.uk

Robin Bisson@robinbisson.bsky.social · 4w ago

For 6 months the line from DSIT & UKRI on STFC cuts has been that no final decisions have been taken That is no longer the case, after DSIT approved UKRI's proposal for how to save £162m British research at Cern will be hit, along with UK science facilities Scoop by me & @francesjones.bsky.social

🔊Calling #Edinburgh: 5th Aug, Dynamic Earth, @astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social and I will be joining forces for a day of free activities to get you ready for the 90% partial solar eclipse 6pm-8pm 12th August! 👩‍🔬🔭🧪 Big thanks to @iop.org for funding the event 🥳 ℹ️: dynamicearth.org.uk/event/get-re...

Astronomical Society of Edinburgh@astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social · 2w ago

www.astronomyedinburgh.org/event/partia... We'll be holding an event on Calton Hill to view the partial solar eclipse on 12th August. We'll have some solar telescopes with us and lots of eclipse glasses so that people can view the eclipse safely. Remember THE SUN IS DANGEROUS TO OBSERVE.

They are one step away from

This Is Fine Dog Meme in Burning House

Alt: This Is Fine Dog Meme The dog drinks his coffee inside a burning building

static.klipy.com

Leo Hickman@leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 2w ago

You see this frontpage and do genuinely wonder what on earth the conversation must have been between the senior editors when they were laying it out...

When the story of why humanity didn't stop climate change is written, it will feature front pages like this. Even as the skies blacken with climate change-induced wildfires, right wing media continue their relentless crusade against measures to tackle it.

important 🦈 #art #sharks #seals

"Sunny Jim" in Private Eye nails the Tories' new approach to climate change...

Reminder that the winner of the 2026 MNRAS Student Prize will be announced at NAM2026 tomorrow. If you're here at the @unibirmingham.bsky.social, please join us in room LG18 at 11am!

Thinking about this xkcd for some reason today xkcd.com/1827/ #NAM2026

Astronomer Royal for Scotland @astroroyalscot.bsky.social giving overview of the state of UK astronomy funding Rising facility costs has led to a budget chasm. Huge cuts to labs. Postdocs protected, but at historically low level. To balance this, projects will be cut. 🔭 #SaveUKAstronomy #NAM2026

HiPERCAM is such a cool instrument with so many applications across Astrophysics, its ring measurements of Quaoar are beautiful! Awesome science on a small budget. But now it’s a victim of STFC’s cuts to world-leading astrophysics in the UK. Gutting. #NAM2026

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2w ago

...and just as I post that, Vik announces that the camera is at the end of its life due to cuts by STFC, who are not renewing the tiny operations grant for the team. A tragic loss of capability, saves only about £50k/year. #NAM2026

It’s frustrating how much UKRI is spinning its figures in a way that obscures the reality of cuts to STFC funding. Could it not just own its choices? lheurtier.github.io/STFCprio.html

The STFC Prioritisation Outcome: What the Numbers Really Mean

UKRI's 2.7% PPAN headline compares 2029/30 with 2025/26 in cash terms. A longer-run inflation-adjusted comparison points to a roughly 16% contraction since 2021/22.

lheurtier.github.io