Dominic Manchee
@dpmanchee.bsky.social
Where we came from, and where we may be heading. I post about technology, innovation, space, earth observation, heritage, and bread. MBA (Tech Mgmt) from Open University.
Trump's attacks on US higher ed, and Chinese scholars in particular, has been a gift to China's efforts to surge past the US on science and innovation. One report from Renmin University summed it up: "Thank Trump." 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/china-than...
China: “Thank Trump”
The big winner of Trump’s assault on higher ed is America’s chief geopolitical rival
donmoynihan.substack.com
Latest in @theatlantic.com . What we are seeing now is US weakness across the board. The American Age is over. What comes next will be very different. Gift link. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The End of the American Age
The Iran war marks the conclusion of eight decades of global dominance.
theatlantic.com
Here we go: “the bloc must urgently rethink its partnerships”. “I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU,” von der Leyen told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carne
EU Chief Floats Plan to Make Canada First Associate Member — The Wall Street Journal
Von der Leyen added the eurozone bloc must urgently rethink its partnerships
apple.news
Incredibly helpful updates have been posted online on both the 2026 Nepal-Tibet landslide and the 2023 Teesta Valley GLOF:- eos.org/thelandslide... These are two invaluable pieces of work by Praful Rao of Save The Hills in Darjeeling-Sikkim, India and the Youth Innovation Lab in Nepal.
NASA employees say they've lost vital equipment and staff needed to make sophisticated spacecraft amid the agency's abrupt relocations over the past several months. n.pr/3SK34oz
NASA rushed engineers out of their labs. They say it risks future space missions
NASA employees say they've lost vital equipment and staff needed to make sophisticated spacecraft amid the agency's abrupt relocations over the past several months.
n.pr
"For many U.S. scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the agency they know and loved died on 10 September."
Jeffrey Mervis@policyhound.bsky.social · last wk.A deep dive into the memo that marks the end of how NSF has done business for 76 years www.science.org/content/arti...
📽️ It looks as if the world is about to be engulfed in another spike in the cost of living. Here's my 13m explainer on how we avoided the worst of the energy shock this summer, and why we might not be so lucky this winter...👇 youtu.be/cuhNwc-E3lM?...
War, oil and interest rates: The chain reaction explained | Ed Conway analysis
YouTube video by Sky News
youtu.be
Widespread regional haze impacts of Indonesia fire emissions continuing through mid-September in #CopernicusAtmosphere 5-day organic matter AOD forecast initialized 14 Sept, 00 UTC. Access the data ads.atmosphere.copernicus.eu/datasets/cam... @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social @ecmwf.int
UK full State Pension likely to rise by 3.9%. What this BBC doesn't mention and really should: - As @theifs.bsky.social said in a recent article, the State Pension is the largest benefit in UK ~ £154Bn - that's £154,000 M ! - Taxes, NI, ... pay the State Pension. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
State pension likely to rise by 3.9% next April
The state pension rises by the highest of wage growth, inflation or 2.5%.
bbc.co.uk
“As a result of exquisite planning by our orbital dynamics team, brilliant execution by the operations team, and a precise launch from SpaceX, Roman has fuel for at least 22 years of potential science operations,” said Jamie Dunn, center director at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. #NASARoman 🔭
Fuel Savings Double Potential Lifetime for NASA's Roman Mission - NASA Science
The results are in: NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's very accurate first mid-course correction, along with other fuel savings, are expected to more
science.nasa.gov
Liftoff! 🚀 FLEX and Sentinel-3C are on their way. Vega-C #VV30 has departed Europe’s Spaceport carrying the two Earth observation satellites into orbit. @esaearth.esa.int @transport.esa.int @operations.esa.int
And… we’re connected! Copernicus Sentinel-3C has just sent back its first signall! 📢
ESA Operations@operations.esa.int · last wk.Hello #Copernicus #Sentinel-3C – we hear you loud and clear! KSAT‘s Troll ground station in Antarctica has acquired the satellite's first signal from space. 📡 Telemetry is now flowing into @esa.int’s #ESOC mission control in Germany. 🛰️ 📷 ESA/ATG medialab
BBC article says a new report proposes "10 priority transitions, ranging from reducing black-carbon emissions and expanding glacier monitoring to improving disaster early-warning systems and changing the way tourism is developed in the mountains." Read it here www.systemiq.earth/prosperous-a...
Dr. Aaron Thierry@thierryaaron.bsky.social · 2w ago" @icimod.bsky.social says "peak water" is expected around mid-century in most Hindu Kush Himalayan river basins - the point at which glacier runoff reaches its maximum before declining as glaciers lose mass " #ClimateEmergency
EU-UK reset talks delayed again amid tension over ‘Made in Europe’ rules - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Late Nov, at best, for summit
EU-UK reset talks delayed again amid tension over ‘Made in Europe’ rules
Summit pushed back until late November against backdrop of challenges facing UK industry
giftarticle.ft.com
Hopefully the UK's new Space Strategy will deliver more than the 2021 one. That had a market led approach. It was produced prior to Russian invasion of Ukraine. And didn't have a concrete roadmap. The UK still lacks a clear synergies action plan for dual use civil / military technology.
Rafael Mentges@mentges.bsky.social · 2w agoNew UK Space Strategy "The UK Space Strategy sets out the UK’s enhanced intentions for the space sector, focussing on defence, national security and economic growth, backed by £7.8 billion of investment to 2030." With detailed budget plans for the different programmes in the annex.
Rather useful update from the MS SysInternals team ... an update to ZoomIt utility has just dropped. For all those who want to capture info currently displayed, or just want to zoom into the finer detail. Yes, you can even draw onto screen with a pen. learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysint...
Dover unrest exposes serious flaws in Britain’s handling of far-right extremism Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor Authorities were caught off guard by the disruption, which they labelled a ‘protest’ despite mass intimidation tactics
Dover unrest exposes serious flaws in Britain’s handling of far-right extremism
Authorities were caught off guard by the disruption, which they labelled a ‘protest’ despite mass intimidation tactics
theguardian.com
It’s not too late to stop this madness - the government has said the uk mega donors are a problem. The lords can bring in a cap on UK donors to stop any attempt to buy the next election. Share this and ask your MP to join us protecting British democracy.
The @bradstulberg.bsky.social quote goes on "The synthetic slop revolution is doing to our brains what the industrial revolution did to our bodies." Just imagine what years of #AI slop will do your brain and your beliefs in later life ? Take back control. www.bradstulberg.org/p/the-end-of...
The End of Reading
Save your brain, be the counterculture.
bradstulberg.org
After Dinner Conversation®@afterdinnerconversation.com · 2w ago
Great 🧵 from @katemac.bsky.social on the ongoing situation in Nepal. Complexities of event are still being worked on. - Hanging glacier. The heat pulse likely caused rapid glacier melting day and night - Loss of US funding impacted early warning - Why no systematic Chinese SAR 🛰️ acquisitions ?
Kate Mackenzie@katemac.bsky.social · 2w agoa lot of things stood out to me about Nepal when writing this piece with @70sbachchan.bsky.social @advaitarun.bsky.social
By now we've all heard of the 'Gulf of America'. Should the oil price rocketing since Feb 2026 be called the 'Trump Line' ? How much has this contributed to core inflation across the globe ? tradingeconomics.com/commodity/cr...
Justin Wolfers@justinwolfers.bsky.social · 2w agoToday's report was for August. We already know there's a bunch more energy-related inflation in the system for September. Things in Iran aren't quite going to (4-6 week) plan...
Europe will go it alone on Venus mission after NASA yanks synthetic aperture radar instrument arstechnica.com/space/2026/0...
Europe will go it alone on Venus mission after NASA yanks radar instrument
Europe is looking inward, and perhaps to China, as the White House tries to cancel some NASA partnerships.
arstechnica.com
NEW Why holding a placard is a terrorist act, while causing disruption in a balaclava is not The mess caused by ministers and the police not taking terrorism law seriously By me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
@theguardian.com @channel4news.bsky.social Why are people happy to pay the 15-20% 'service charge' that is applied to UK AirBnB and Booking dot com accommodation bookings, yet get outraged when the government wants to bring in a nominal tourist tax ? We pay tourist taxes when we holiday in EU.
Make communicating well with spatial data easier! Whether you're new to QGIS or experienced, this workshop is designed to help you make better design choices to build attractive maps that communicate your point clearly and efficiently. www.foss4gna.org #gischat #geosky #qgis #gis
New Climate Council report just out on the cost of sea level rise to Australia this century, based on a paper published in Nature today by Tom Kompass. TL:DR Conservatively, at least $855b by 2100 Report: www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/ri... Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rising Seas, Rising Bills: How sea level rise will cost every Australian
This report finds sea level rise will conservatively cost Australia $855 billion this century, and become a constant drag on our economy.
climatecouncil.org.au
On Sept 8th 2026 #Copernicus #Sentinel2 acquired clearer post event scenes over the Langtang Glacier in Nepal. The extent of devastation, runup, and debris flow splatter up the valleys, is now a lot clearer. Imagery via Copernicus Browser. @davepetley.bsky.social @drgeoffsmith.bsky.social
