Going for the cute rocks. Here's a dinky wee boudinaged bit of dike in some deformed marble. All cut off from his boudin buddies who've been stretched far away. All alone, but hugged by the equally stressed Durness Limestone. Both survivors of the Tertiary Beinn an Dubhaic granite intrusion aureole.

Check out this wee chappie. A tiny but perfectly formed chrinoid star. Found in the Lower Jurassic at Boggle Hole, locally these are known as St Cuthbert's Beads. Up the coast in Northumberland, in Medieval Times, chrinoid stem fossils were strung together to make rosaries.

Here we have a rock with a social history story. A stalactite formed in the inside of a canal tunnel. The white layers formed before steam powered boats, when the canal boats were pulled by horses. From the late 1800s the boats were powered by coal and the sooty smoke coloured the layers black.

Next up, this lovely pahoehoe surface texture in some lavas. The amazing thing is, this is on a beach on Skye, Scotland and the lavas are around 60 million years old!

I just searched 'rock' in my photo album on my phone and will post what comes up. First up, meet this little cutie Rhomb Porphyry cobble used as part of a 20th Century repair to the Roman Walls around York. Almost certainly from Norway, brought here as glacial till.

Some Eocene fossils in volcaniclastic sands of the Yachats Formation. Feather star fossils aren't uncommon in Paleogene coast range rocks in Oregon. Even some crinoid lagerstätte a bit further north. www.researchgate.net/profile/Kath...

A thread of abolsutely fantastic woman and enby pterosaur palaeoartists (you should follow, platform and shower with compliments) 🧵 Like, look at avi🌧️ over here, baller:

avi 🌧️@barghest-land.bsky.social · 2y ago

i think it's time to introduce Gentle Wind - my personal project about pterosaurs. there will be quite a few animations done to appreciate those beautiful creatures. here's one of them :) more to come! i'll be talking about it under #gentle_wind tag☁️ #paleoart #sciart

Feeling a bit melancholy today. Tell me about your favorite rock. Can be your favorite rock type, rock formation, or even a very specific hunk of rock. I will also accept minerals. Photos welcome.

I'm so grateful for the rain. It's desperately needed. I'll dance for joy in this rain. But I am gutted that the only two days holiday I have with the kids this summer is the only two days of rain we'll get all year*

The Data Centre Land Grab: How Britain Is Being Carved Up for Big Tech — Without Your Consent Across Wales, Scotland, and England, the largest peacetime infrastructure seizure of community land and energy in modern British history is accelerating. open.substack.com/pub/european...

The Data Centre Land Grab: How Britain Is Being Carved Up for Big Tech — Without Your Consent

Across Wales, Scotland, and England, the largest peacetime infrastructure seizure of community land and energy in modern British history is accelerating.

open.substack.com

Huh. Fascinating

Suw@suw.bsky.social · 3d ago

Crops grown underneath solar panels produce more, require less water and are more resistant to extreme weather, even during a hot, dry summer. We need agrivoltaics to be rolled out asap, for both the electricity and the better growing conditions. microgridmedia.com/solar-panels...

Only just found out about this For the record, you don't get multiple genetic markers and one of the most effective medications known to science with 'social constructs' Channel 4, this is, in scientific parlance, an absolute fu*king disgrace that will genuinely endanger lives #c4 #ADHD

I keep thinking about this gorgeous essay about how LLMs- so often trained by inheritors of colonial English- has now rendered the kind of language that is natural to us (“fancy” vocabulary, passive voice, reduced relative clauses) artificial and suspect. marcusolang.substack.com/p/im-kenyan-...

I'm Kenyan. I Don't Write Like ChatGPT. ChatGPT Writes Like Me.

I'm calm. I'm calm. I promise.

marcusolang.substack.com

Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social · 4d ago

A Nigerian born author, Jerry Falade, had his $2.4M book deal pulled because he was accused of using AI. There is unavoidable optics of a Black man writing a brilliant novel that people assume must have been written by AI. However the broader issue is we can’t trust any writing isn’t AI generated.

BBC presenter: We all know the seas are warming-up…Anyone taking a dip this summer might appreciate that! 🤮

Hey, geology friends, my nephew would like to know what we’re looking at here. This is from a beach in Maryland.

📢 Paleobiology Early Career Researcher Award | First Award in 2027 Paleobiology has announced a new Early Career Researcher Award to recognize outstanding papers led by students and early-career researchers. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

UK “Drill baby drill”? Data beats slogans New study finds a fully renewable UK could save households ~£441/yr on energy bills 🛢️ Maximising North Sea oil & gas production on would save £16–£82/yr only if gov redistributed extra tax revenues to households www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/news/drill-b...

“Drill baby drill” approach to North Sea would cost households more than a fully renewable UK, finds Oxford analysis

A UK powered fully by renewable energy could save all households up to £441 a year on their energy bills, according to a new Oxford Smith School analysis. In comparison, maximising oil & gas extractio...

smithschool.ox.ac.uk

If you think your subject is safe because we need graduates wth those skills, think again.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d ago

Recruitment suspended on UG environment & sustainability, mathematics and physics. At postgraduate level, suspended courses include international corporate finance, water & environmental engineering and environmental strategy. If you think your subject is safe because not Humanities, rethink. 1/2

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

Of all the many impacts of climate change, it is the collapse of food security that haunts me the most. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘It’s too fast, too big’: speed of climate crisis is devastating crops, say farmers

Drought and extreme heat are killing plants, driving up prices while also making some farms economically unviable

theguardian.com

The fact that ai art and writing programs are built on stolen work really seems to be fading from the discussion even amongst artists and writers, which is a bit shit.

You wouldn't know it from how some people talk, but it is incredibly easy to not use AI for anything.

Please enjoy this dazzling video of penguins swimming in a rainbow

Microsoft wants to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...

Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!

Microsoft want to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.

you.38degrees.org.uk

Who has the time and knowledge to put together nominations for Dorothy Bishop? And Andrew Millar?

Sense about Science@senseaboutsci.bsky.social · last wk.

🚨 Only 1 week to go! 🚨 Make sure to submit your nominations soon for the 2026 John Maddox Prize, as the entry portal closes at midnight on Sunday 2 August. The 2026 John Maddox Prize is supported by the @royalsociety.org Finalise your entry now! 👇️ johnmaddoxprize.awardstage.com

Do you know an extraordinary scientist or researcher who has been courageous in standing up for science? There's still a few days to make your nominations for the John Maddox Prize, which recognises individuals who stand up for science and evidence. Find out more below:

Sense about Science@senseaboutsci.bsky.social · last wk.

🚨 Only 1 week to go! 🚨 Make sure to submit your nominations soon for the 2026 John Maddox Prize, as the entry portal closes at midnight on Sunday 2 August. The 2026 John Maddox Prize is supported by the @royalsociety.org Finalise your entry now! 👇️ johnmaddoxprize.awardstage.com

The BBC treats climate change as a political subject, which it is not. This gives them the excuse of "both sidesing" an overwhelming scientific consensus and outright lying. It is a propaganda machine downplaying a deadly emergency and questions need to be asked at the highest level as to why.

Michael E. Mann@michaelemann.bsky.social · 6d ago

I was not informed by the BBC that they would have a right wing political figure or lobbyist on after me to rebut what I said. The individual in question went on to spout lies about China, etc. to distract attention from the Trump administration's assault on climate action. This is unacceptable.

Can't be the first to say this, but (and yay UEFA - brilliant) this works equally well if you swap out "football" for maybe "water" or "a stable climate". Look at me being the revolutionary socialist. "No one has the moral authority to sell what they merely hold in trust for the next generation."

This is wildly irresponsible of Google - allowing people to create AI generated satellite images. Satellite imagery has always been such a useful and reliable source because it came from reliable sources, but now Google is messing with it at source. www.digitaldigging.org/p/how-to-pla...

How to plant a nuclear plant in Iran

The question is: what on earth is Google doing?

digitaldigging.org

This episode is so 🔥, I cannot recommend it enough.

Greg Jenner (Historian)@gregjenner.bsky.social · 5d ago

Hello! The Francis Galton episode of You’re Dead To Me is now available on all global podcast apps, and will be uploaded to YouTube later today I’m joined by comedian Desiree Burch and museum curator Subhadra Das to discuss the 19th century scientist and father of Eugenics