FT calling for the new PM to stop the bloodletting of UK fundamental curiosity driven science.

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 2d ago

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

Deciding whether kids are "academic" or "technical" at an early age is going to work out particularly badly for boys, who are generally later developers and where stereotyping is likely to push them towards the non-academic path.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2d ago

Why do so many progressives want this? I just don't get it.

One reason I'm so opposed to early selection is it means the sorting process is essentially done in advance by teachers/parents and so kids aren't even given a chance on the route that leads to the high status and well paid jobs.

Sam Altman's kids

Veerender Singh Jubbal@veerenderjubbal.bsky.social · 5d ago

13. Hence our dismal conclusion: rather than finding that LLMs free us to do a better job of what we were doing before they came along, they shift scientific incentives (and the playing field of academic competition) in ways that compel us to do more and more, faster and faster, less and less well.

Writing a paper at the moment...

Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.

Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says

LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance

ft.com

Was watching PBS Nova short about expanding space time with 6yo and she asked (waving her arms dramatically) “but dad what is it expanding *into*?” And so it begins .

🧵On @thenewsagents.co.uk yesterday, school closures and the lab leak theory were offered as two examples of legitimate questions that were hard to ask. Both have in fact been asked constantly since 2020. But here's a thread on why I think they were wrong and dangerous on school closures 1/12

No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...

Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation

PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...

theonion.com

People think my job is professor. My job... it's just email.

Ken's Beach Job - Ryan Gosling in Barbie Movie

Alt: Blond white man in a pink t-shirt in front of a pink background says "My job...it's just beach"

static.klipy.com

Half the planet is having a massive fight about how to correctly interpret an Ancient Greek poem but go ahead, close some more humanities departments.

Every commentator saying too many kids go to university has to tell their own kid to not do a degree

I wonder how a plane audience might also enjoy a talk on black holes and the information paradox ? 🤔

Hemant Mehta@friendlyatheist.com · last wk.

Evangelist Whitney Lynn says she preaches on planes because she loves “a captive audience.” She's not alone. It's becoming a trend. If spreading your message requires listeners who can't escape, maybe it's not as compelling as you think. www.friendlyatheist.com/p/christian-...

Apropos of nothing, Michael Palin is the best Python.

On top of everythng Kirsty says, the funding call for the "AI Lab" was launched with such a short deadline as to make the writing of thorough, well-considered proposals virtully impossible....

Kirsty Grainger @kirstygrainger.bsky.social · last wk.

Earlier this year UKRI launched a funding call to invest £40M in ONE AI lab. www.ukri.org/opportunity/... For some unknown reason they decided to fund TWO AI labs at the cost of £60M. An extra £20M. Just found. That's the equivalent of 7 more years of Jodrell Bank. www.ukri.org/news/ukri-la...

Jodrell Bank telescope loses funding as STFC confirms cuts Today, the Science and Technology Facilities Council has announced that nine projects are “not prioritised for further funding”... www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Jodrell Bank telescope loses funding as STFC confirms cuts - Research Professional News

Science and Technology Facilities Council announces nine projects “not prioritised for further funding”

researchprofessionalnews.com

Short-sighted, stupid cuts to the UKRI budget include shutting down Jodrell Bank, the icon of British astronomy. (Many other cuts too, including 20% to our brand new @vrubinobs.bsky.social). Interesting politically to shut down a major facility in...um..Manchester 🔭 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

Today, @ukri.org informed particle, astro and nuclear groups across the UKRI of the profound cuts they are laying on them. These cuts are at odds with the @ukri.org 2026-2031 strategy. www.ukri.org/publications... 1/n

I'm absolutely devastated for colleagues at Jodrell Bank who found out this morning that funding for the UK's e-MERLIN radio telescope array will be terminated. This is a short-sighted move, to save a tiny fraction of the overall UK science budget. #SaveJodrellBank 🔭🧪 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

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 3w ago

“What will the Lovell Telescope discover/enable 20 yrs from now? I can’t tell you, and that’s the point. It will either be something extraordinary that none of us can yet predict, or we will defund it and leave Cheshire with a rusting monument to unfulfilled potential and discoveries never made.” 🔭🧪

While the Fields Medal celebrates the under-40s, the mathematician Joan Birman has, at the age of 99, solved a major open problem in representations of the Braid groups, a topic she has worked on for more than 60 years.

E bikes are not bikes, e bikes are motorcycles with pedals.

Dave Hill@davehillonlondon.bsky.social · last wk.

Only half? Is that a larger or a smaller percentage of other types of cyclists who also ignore red lights? There's a bunch of issues about street behaviour and environments that the capital needs to address, and this is one of them.

One of the biggest challenges to teaching right now is trust, which has been eroded by gen AI — for professors AND students. Copware isn’t the way to get it back.

Eileen Clancy 🧿@clancyny.bsky.social · 2w ago

Universities drop AI detection tools over fears about accuracy Some institutions are overhauling assessment and trying to move away from the emphasis on surveillance By Ima Jackson-Obot

Larry laid his mouse in front of the press to be photographed. Lest you ask, this is a real photograph via the Press Association.

One week left to apply for this position on stellar streams. Happy to answer any questions so please let me know! aas.org/jobregister/...

Denis Erkal@derkal.bsky.social · 4w ago

Interested in a 3 year postdoc working on stellar streams and dark matter? Come join our amazing Astro group in Surrey to work with me and Eugene Vasiliev. Details here and the deadline is July 30th. Let me know if you have any questions! jobs.surrey.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... 🧪🔭☄️

Now repeat the experiment with instant £50 vs 50/50 of £1000 (the stats will reverse). People are arguing in the threads about the population/old/young appreciation of "basic statistics". It's not about statistics, as Daniel Kahneman pointed out long time ago : it's about loss aversion.

YouGov@yougov.co.uk · 2w ago

If you had a choice between instantly receiving £50,000 or a 50% chance to win £1m, which would you pick? £50,000: 73% 50/50 chance of winning £1m: 21% yougov.com/en-gb/daily-...

Happy birthday to #astronomer Vera Rubin (neé Cooper, ‘28-‘16) & her discovery that angular motion of galaxies deviates from predictions, 1st evidence for dark matter, now known as 5x as common as matter & the stuff which dictates dynamics of galaxies & evolution of our universe! 👩🏼‍🔬🔭🧪🐡 #histsci 🧵

@ukri.org STFC continues to be a basket case of mismanagement. More good work by @robinbisson.bsky.social that lines up with my own assessment. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

STFC’s true cost overrun revealed as nearly £700m - Research Professional News

Exclusive: Figure calls into question transparency from UKRI leadership amid cuts to science facilities

researchprofessionalnews.com

I had very low expectations and yet I am still disappointed.

Eugene Lim@tukohbin.bsky.social · last mo.

I think getting rid of Mahmood will automatically get him +5. On the other hand keeping her on the job will lose a chunk of his bounce.

Oh ok. Let’s abolish the department that is at the present doing the most massive reorganisation of funding streams in 20 years that have left Uk scientists in limbo for the past 12 months. What could possibly go wrong.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2w ago

'The incoming prime minister has asked officials to draw up plans to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as part of a wider Whitehall shake-up.' Although not yet signed off, quite a 'thing' if you're a university researcher or at a university that undertakes research. 1/3