Help! Parton Community Council has 60 days to raise £70k to buy Parton Kirk (resting place of James Clerk Maxwell). They plan to turn it into a visitor centre celebrating our great hero! The other buyers could turn it into long-term storage 😬 Even £5 would help 🙏🧪⚛️ www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

Help raise £70000 to Save Parton Kirk – JustGiving Crowdfunding

Iʼm raising money to Save Parton Kirk. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

justgiving.com

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Went on a little pilgrimage today to Parton, the resting place of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scotland’s very own Einstein, James Clerk Maxwell. Quite the pause when I realised he was only one year older than me (48) when he died. ⚛️🔭

What's most upsetting me as a journal editor is that many papers we receive where AI use is disclosed for editing and language refinement actually appear to have been ruined rather than improved by AI. We get what seem like promising underpinning studies, but totally obscured by over-complex text.

The new issue of Leviathan has landed! 38 articles discuss topics including hegemonic masculinity, gender and authoritarianism, collective mobilisation, public trust, and a lot more! journals.ed.ac.uk/leviathan/is...

Now is a great time to make the switch from Audible to Libro.fm Why? Because Libro will be adding e-books to their offerings & one of the features will be "LibroSync: When you own both formats, you can toggle between the ebook and the audiobook, or follow the text while you listen."

Buy audiobooks & support local bookstores

Libro.fm makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks directly through local bookstores.

libro.fm

Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of The Odyssey was alright, but not a patch on the classic 1980s kids TV show Ulysses.

"...Secondary Publishing Right is a legislative response to the abusive practice of non-negotiated publishing agreements that require authors to sign away their rights in return for journal publication – and very little else." legalblogs.wolterskluwer.com/copyright-bl...

Misleading Claims about the Secondary Publication Right

In her recent post, Molly Stech of STM, the international association of scientific publishers, discusses Problems Presented by the Secondary Publication Right. According to its website, “STM advances...

legalblogs.wolterskluwer.com

Ban disposable BBQs. Burnt patches of grass in my local park wind me up far more than is objectively reasonable.

Lorraine Wilson@rainewilson.bsky.social · 3mo ago

They've finally run out of toffs to stand as PM, your name has been pulled from the hat, what's your one (1) manifesto pledge? Let's assume UBI, PR & tax/eat the rich are standard. I want your petty policies, your extremely personal grudges, your old man yells at cloud laws

I see the bus stop debating society are at it again in Edinburgh.

We said goodbye to our 20 year old cat today. I wasn’t too fussed when we first got her but she stole my heart anyway. Absolutely gutted 😿

In 1908 the Lancet called for an 18+ age limit on reading in bed for U.K. children.

Very pleased we're able to support @ojcollective.bsky.social. If you're wondering what on earth to do with your Wellcome block grant now you can't charge back TAs to them - think about supporting some Diamond resources!

Open Journals Collective@ojcollective.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Delighted to share that the Francis Crick Institute has joined the @ojcollective.bsky.social! We are very pleased to have their support for our STEM collection of diamond open access journals. A huge thank you to @drbeth.bsky.social for helping to make this happen!

Westworld should have been canned after Season 1

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 3mo ago

What about this: Name your fav TV show that was cancelled too *late*

Here is the slide that was removed. I'll leave you to infer which private companies might have complained about the suggestion that you think twice about buying their products.

A brand new article from @kjsanders.eurosky.social @alittleroad.bsky.social @scholtom.bsky.social @kirahopkins.bsky.social @anna-r-hughes.bsky.social has been published in the new(ish) Scottish Journal of Open Research: journals.gla.ac.uk/SJOR/article...

This week is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week! Although the week is almost over, I thought I’d post a thread about my experience as I was diagnosed with MS last year. This will be a long thread, so please feel free to mute! I promise I won’t be offended :) 1/ #MSThinkAgain

Another vanishingly rare post from me on here to say that my PhD thesis has now been uploaded to the Edinburgh Research Archive! Find it here: doi.org/10.7488/era/... Images of the manga/anime had to be redacted for copyright reasons, but hopefully there is still something to take from it!

Katherine Heller@katherineh.bsky.social · 8mo ago

A little celebration the fact that I am now officially Dr Katherine! 🥳 Was recently able to submit the final version of my thesis (Fan Culture and Retranslation: The Sailor Moon Franchise). Hopefully it will soon be available to read (I'll post a link here when that happens) 😊

“For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor of Mankind had sat immobile on the Golden Throne….He is the Carrion Lord of the vast Imperium of Man for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day so that He may never truly die”

Jonathan Edward Durham@thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 5mo ago

What’s your favorite Bible verse? (Wrong answers only)

Registration is now open for Edinburgh Open Research Conference (@edopenresearch.bsky.social) 2026! 📆 Thursday 18 June, 2026 📍 50 George Square, Edinburgh & Online Register to attend in person: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/edinburgh-... Register to attend online: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/edinburgh-...

Edinburgh Open Research Conference 2026 (in Person)

Good Research is Open Research - so what's stopping us from making research more open? Join the conversation at EORC26 person!

eventbrite.co.uk

“I am a leading academic, who publishes regularly in high impact journals, and I can assure you that the data are indeed available on request.”

This scam seems to be becoming more prevalent -- some of our authors are being targeted by it. More information about how it works is available here: medium.com/@claude.whit...

The New “Book Club” Scam Targeting Authors and How to Spot It

A Public Service Post for Writers

medium.com

Lucy Barnes@alittleroad.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Has anyone come across the "book club scam" where authors receive a (probably AI-generated) email telling them that a suspiciously well-attended book club wants to feature their book, bringing them many vague but wonderful benefits, in exchange for a fee?

Your Kindle's not obsolete, it just needs a jailbreak — and I'll show you how it's done You can transform your old Kindle — even a bricked device — into the ultimate open-source reader. Here's how. www.zdnet.com/article/your...

Your Kindle's not obsolete, it just needs a jailbreak - and I'll show you how it's done

You can transform your old Kindle - even a bricked device - into the ultimate open-source reader. Here's how.

zdnet.com

“Policy analysis reveals that only combined interventions such as review infrastructure investment paired with institutional quality standards can restore positive knowledge production” 👀

Ronen Tamari@ronentk.me · 6mo ago

Interesting piece claiming that the asymmetry between writing acceleration and review acceleration is breaking science. Essentially Brandolini’s law (The amount of energy needed to refute bs is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it) applied to science publishing >

Conference bullies. It's not on, for senior researchers to humiliate junior colleagues in public at conferences. The chairperson, other researchers or maybe even you need to step in. #PhDchat #ECRchat #postdoc #PhDforum

Sadly my wee publishing company is closing next month. I’m clearing out my goffice and offering 66% off all our exceptionally talented author’s books. Sales and shares appreciated!

Haunt Publishing@hauntpublishing.bsky.social · 6mo ago

66% OFF ALL BOOKS! There's just over one month left until we close our creaking doors for good, so head to our website and grab yourself a scarily good 66% off all our books. Use code at checkout: HAUNT66 www.hauntpublishing.com/books #Gothic #Horror #DarkFiction #GothicLiterature #HorrorBooks

So many fantastic things from this mission but this timely quote stood out for me Hansen said "Our purpose on the planet as humans is to find joy, to find the joy in lifting each other up, by creating solutions together instead of destroying," www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Artemis II astronauts prepare for experience of 'riding a fireball through the atmosphere' to get home | CBC News

The Artemis II crew woke to the sounds of Queen and David Bowie's classic Under Pressure as they continued their journey through space Wednesday. Now preparing for Friday's re-entry, the astronauts also reflected on watching the eclipse of the Earth, the camaraderie of the mission and humanity's purpose on Earth.

cbc.ca

I was honoured to join the @openingthefuture.bsky.social team on this panel. What a great bunch of folk working hard for a fair, just and open future for scholarly books!

OpeningTheFuture@openingthefuture.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Some photos from #UKSG26 last week where the team discussed university presses, corporate takeovers, and implications for the future of scholarly books 📚 Featuring @kirahopkins.bsky.social @scholtom.bsky.social @ceu-press.bsky.social @earthowned.bsky.social Photos by Peter Lawson Photography.

On this day of mean jokes, I would like to point out that @the-phoenix-comic.bsky.social consistently understands the assignment. This year it is soup, but my eldest is hoarding it, so for your enjoyment-last year’s incredible offer.

Cancer Research UK is fed up of paying too much for open access publishing so they are completely stopping funding this activity: news.cancerresearchuk.org/2026/04/01/w...

Why we won’t be funding open access publishing any more - Cancer Research UK - Cancer News

The open access movement was bold and promising, but ultimately disappointing. Now is the time to stop and call for a new way to make publishing work…

news.cancerresearchuk.org