First post is up, and it’s what - if anything - we should consider the First Film. It should be in subscribers inboxes now and is free to read at the site as a taste of what we’ll be doing for anyone who wants to subscribe. www.patreon.com/cw/MiddayMat...

Midday Matinées with James Cooray Smith — A newsletter about films and going to the cinema.

Get more from Midday Matinées with James Cooray Smith on Patreon. A newsletter about films and going to the cinema.. Support Midday Matinées with James Cooray Smith and get exclusive access to their w...

patreon.com

Midday Matinées@middaymatinees.bsky.social · 2w ago

First? www.patreon.com/cw/MiddayMat...

Cacao DNA found on pottery from the Etowah site in Georgia shows that this chocolate ingredient was part of Mississippian life, just as it was at Chaco Canyon and Cahokia, pointing to far-reaching cacao trade networks across pre-Columbian North America! 🧪 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Nature have picked up our survey. We think it's the largest survey of AI researchers ever conducted. Here's a quick thread on some of the headlines @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Will AI improve your life? Here’s what 4,000 researchers think

Scientists working on artificial intelligence are more confident than the public that the technology will benefit people.

nature.com

The NHS risks patient harm at an “unprecedented scale and speed” unless weaknesses in digital clinical safety are addressed, a study has warned. www.digitalhealth.net/2026/08/nhs-...

Thanks to @nature.com for covering our @britishacademy.bsky.social trial of partial randomisation in the allocation of our small research grants. As the piece says it seems to have helped diversify those who apply rather than rule themselves out of the process www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I once made a tech start-up happy by saying that, as they used logistic regression, they could say they were using AI.

Only around 9% of NHS technology spending is invested in digital tools that support service transformation, despite growing pressure to improve productivity and shift care out of hospitals, according to a report from management consultancy Baringa. www.digitalhealth.net/2026/07/repo...

Report finds just 9% of NHS tech spending drives transformation

Only around 9% of NHS technology spending is invested in digital tools that support service transformation, according to a report.

digitalhealth.net

Very good piece by Dan Niedle on social care costs: taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/07/27/s...

How social care costs work in England - and why it’s mad

One in seven of us will face care costs above £100,000, decided by luck rather than need. We explain how England’s social care charging system really works.

taxpolicy.org.uk

Please share: One of my counselling psychology professional doctorate students Tahmeena Miah would like to speak to trainee and qualified therapists who have completed 6 sessions with a Muslim client about their experiences of this work. For further details and to consent: lnkd.in/ejsUqFPM

Please share! A rare PhD studentship @kingshistory.bsky.social *fully* funded by @slaveryinwar.bsky.social to work with myself and Maeve Ryan, supported by a broader community of experts in Caribbean history, transatlantic slavery, and the history of war. www.kcl.ac.uk/study/fundin... 🗃️

AHRC Studentship: Slavery and the Seven Years’ War within and across the Caribbean Archipelago | King's College London

The Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) is pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded AHRC doctoral studentship, to be jointly supervised across History and War Studies

kcl.ac.uk

The rollout of high speed internet in Uruguay worsended early childhood development. But not because the kids spent too much time in front of screens, because the parents did. cepr.org/voxeu/column...

High-speed internet and early childhood development: Causal evidence from a countrywide programme

The rapid expansion of high-speed internet has intensified concerns about how digital technologies affect early childhood. Using the staggered rollout of fibre optic to the home in Uruguay as a natura...

cepr.org

Hey Bayeux Tapestry fans have I made the platform game for you? I’m sure someone else will have done this before but well now I have too… bayeuxgo.live

Bayeux Go!

Bayeux Go! Thou art Harold. Go forth and win thine battle. Jump your way to victory, avoiding arrows…

bayeuxgo.live

New episode of Youre Dead To Me now on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds Its about the father of Eugenics Francis Galton, with our guests Subhadra Das (former curator of the Galton collection) and comedian Desiree Burch It’ll go on YouTube/other pod apps in 28 days time www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Further archaeology: you've probably seen this famous Egyptian papyrus with the lion and gazelle playing "chess" etc, but cast your eyes all the way to the right and you'll see another reason why he looks so cheerful www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

papyrus | British Museum

Papyrus with satirical vignettes: a figured scene in which animals ape human activities, but in a topsy-turvy world, they act against their natural instincts. The lion does not attack the gazelle but ...

britishmuseum.org

The review of the BBC Charter has just been announced. In anticipation of this we have published a review of how 10 countries around the world organise their public service media, and what lessons can be drawn for the renewal of the BBC Charter www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...

"Drama therapy is delivered to children in schools; however, little empirical data evaluating the quantitative effect is currently available." This new publication hopes to address that - please do share! @qmul-wiph.bsky.social intellectdiscover.com/content/jour...

T-Cat is tackling the heat by sleeping next to her collection of water bowls. (She likes to have more than one.)

My comments on the CJEU's judgment this week on Internet liability, for the @irishexaminer.bsky.social www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

EU Court of Justice ruling may have just radically changed social media regulation

The rule exempting internet service providers from liability as a publisher is the foundation of modern social networks, but the court said it doesn't apply where an algorithm is used

irishexaminer.com

Grim. Plenty of research showing public service broadcasting delivers real benefits to health of democracy. Yet here we are, in these polarised times, slowly starving our public service broadcaster.

Scott Bryan@scottygb.bsky.social · 3mo ago

BREAKING – BBC CUTS: Radio 4 to end The World Tonight, Midnight News, Money Box Live, AntiSocial, The Law Show and Crossing Continents next year. Newshour will replace The World Tonight on Radio 4 and World Service.

The report is available here: cdn.prod.website-files.com/6638c5104324...

Digital Health@digitalhealth2.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The rollout of AI scribes across the NHS should be accompanied by national oversight to ensure safe and trustworthy use of the technology, according to a new public dialogue report. www.digitalhealth.net/2026/06/nhs-...

Amazon has knocked more than 20% off the price of A History of World in 47 Borders in some kind of summer sale, so if you have somehow STILL not read it then THIS IS YOUR CHANCE

bsky.app/profile/scia...

Scientific American@sciam.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Listen in on scientists finding (and falling for) a new species of octopus now called Microeledone galapagensis. Read more here www.scientificamerican.com/article/tiny...

📢 New paper: we explore how extended reality (VR/AR) can make physical activity more enjoyable and why those affective responses matter for long-term behaviour change. Includes a roadmap for future research. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #XR #DigitalHealth #PhysicalActivity

Enhancing affective responses to physical activity with extended reality (XR) technology: Current progress and future roadmap

Physical inactivity remains a global health challenge, with recent estimates indicating that nearly one-third of adults (1.8 billion) fail to reach ph…

sciencedirect.com

‘I think there are some professions where it matters that it’s a human that’s doing it. Emotionally, you want to feel cared for by another human being – not by a chatbot.’ Paul Taylor (@paul3548.bsky.social) on AI and the future of work, on the podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

When will AI replace us?

Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 14 May · 43min

podcasts.apple.com

📢 "How Cancer Online Support Groups Work, for Whom, and in What Circumstances: Realist Review" Our new paper reviews what is known and provides recommendations for online support groups for cancer. www.jmir.org/2026/1/e77445 #cancer

How Cancer Online Support Groups Work, for Whom, and in What Circumstances: Realist Review

Background: Online support groups (OSGs) offer a convenient way for patients with cancer and survivors of cancer to obtain information and support. However, not all OSGs are helpful, and in some cases...

jmir.org

This week on Untitled History pod we talk about the origins of the EBU, Eurovision and its weird historical quirks and borders And of course there was only one person I was getting back on for this... @jonnelledge.bsky.social #history #eurovision Available on Youtube and your pod app of choice!

The Surprising History Behind the Eurovision Song Contest | Untitled History Podcast Episode: 14

YouTube video by The Untitled History Podcast

youtu.be

From sewers to skyscrapers to the streets on which they stand. Introducing 31 Inventions that Built our World by @jonnelledge.bsky.social the Sunday Times #1 Bestselling author of A History of the World in 47 Borders✏️ Coming August 2026 Pre-order now!🔗 linktr.ee/31Inventions...

NHS code clampdown draws open source backlash www.theregister.com/software/202...

NHS code clampdown draws open source backlash

Plus a petition for the UK Civil Service to go FOSS by default

theregister.com

📢New paper: Association of oral contraceptives with depression symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment in healthy women: A meta-analysis I helped on this new study showing oral contraceptive use is associated with increased risks of depression www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Association of oral contraceptives with depression symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment in healthy women: A meta-analysis

Oral contraceptives are a popular choice of contraception globally.The objective was to assess whether oral contraceptive use is associated with diagn…

sciencedirect.com

A lovely review of Yes's new single "Aurora" from Simon Barrow and the first comments about the whole album from Stephen Lambe on the latest Yes Music Podcast episode, as well as an interview with orchestrator Paul K Joyce: yesmusicpodcast.com/in-conversat...

In conversation with Paul K Joyce about his contributions to the new Yes album, Aurora – 718 – Yes Music Podcast

Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius Kevin is back! He and Mark bang on at length about the recent Oliver Wakeman concert with his band at Worcester, the remastere...

yesmusicpodcast.com