James Stark

A vase of yellow flowers.

A board game in the shape of a map of the British Isles.

An empty stage with a Christmas tree and a screen advertising the show Elf

A late floral flourish from the garden, a stone cold classic board game, and watching the son nail his part in Elf. A Advent family weekend for the ages.

Finally, the recording has landed! If you missed @jontopham.bsky.social's inaugural lecture on "Science and religion from the ground up" back in April, you can now catch up online at mymedia.leeds.ac.uk/Mediasite/Pl.... @bshsnews.bsky.social @leedsprhs.bsky.social

I’m so pleased this turned out so well. I also still love it! (And what a great collection of essays to boot!) 📖

SSHM 2026: In/Out Location: University of Leeds Dates: 30 June to 3 July 2026 Submission Deadline: 5.00pm (GMT) 11th January 2026 Conference Co-Convenors: Dr Alexia Moncrieff & Dr Katherine Rawling Conference Co…

The 2026 SSHM Conference will be @universityofleeds.bsky.social. The theme will be In/Out and we are inviting papers that consider experiences of being in and/or out of health or health care in any period or geographical location. #HistMed #HistSTM
sshm.org/sshm-2026/

I’ll try to get there. The session I’m running is from 10.30-12 so it’ll be either before or just after that (have a 1pm train back to Leeds so it’s a flying visit!).

Barts North Wing Visit or hire Barts North Wing – a City of London masterpiece, home to the stunning interiors of the Great Hall and the Hogarth Stair

An early start today: heading down to deliver a training session for heritage volunteers at Barts North Wing. Really looking forward to discussing how we can engage visitors responsibly in histories of health, illness and disability bartsnorthwing.org.uk

A super seminar line-up for the coming Semester! All talks will be hybrid, with joining details on the @hpsleeds.bsky.social website #histsci #philsci #HPS

Congratulations to PhD researcher Monica Stenzel, who has secured a grant from @pasoldresearchfund.bsky.social to support her project on the history of "wool science"! Supervised by @kingtekkers.bsky.social and @graemegooday.bsky.social, her work bridges science, textiles and sustainability #histsci

📣Exciting News 📣
Dates & host institution for the SSHM Biennial Conference #SSHM2026 are confirmed!
Save the Date in your planners 📅
Theme and CFPs to follow later
#histmed #medhumanities #histSTM

Sloped off a bit early today before the evening plenary, but not before a chance to showcase my support for the history/philosophy of marine science…. Even whales can reach for the moon! #ISHPSSB2025

And bringing the session to an end is a cool-sounding paper from Andrea Núñez Casal, who is talking about “Re-embodying Resistance.” She’ll be bringing the concept of “microbiomisation” to bear on concepts of gender and class, via “more-than-human” studies #ISHPSSB2025

@crinamoreno.bsky.social is first in the second session of “Microbes and Gender” panel. A fascinating account of discovery in beta-lactamase research, focusing on Clara Roy and Karen Bush. Fascinating to see this as a connection between clinical microbiology and experimental biology #ISHPSSB2025

And lastly we have Maria Santesmases presenting work done with Isabel Rodriguez on “Plasmids and Gender: from Antimicrobial Resistances to Molecular Genetics, 1960s-1990s”.

*Adopting some modern terminology to make sense of what is philosophical project was.

(Otherwise it’s hard to situate him in the wider “modernisation”/“Westernisation” project of the Meiji Period.)

In this session, we now have Marta Velasco Martín, who is taking about “Rubella virus and women: gendered vulnerabilities and relationships” and joins us virtually. She begins with a striking global map about the distribution of endemic Rubella: Africa and S, E and SE Asia almost exclusively.

Honda highlights how Kumagusu foregrounded “wisdom-knowledge” (“science required for society to civilise”), which had to reflect key principles about human flourishing, knowing, and immersion in nature #ISHPSSB2025 #hps #philbio #histbio

If you are a multi species enthusiast, see here! #ISHPSSB2025 #histbio #histsci #HPS

Eiko Honda offers us amazing insights into Minakata Kumagusu (1867-1941), who elaborated a “cellular metaphysics” through his investigations of slime mould in 1890s. He challenged binaries by drawing on both science and Buddhist philosophy, and critiqued materialism #ISHPSSB2025

Could not agree more - gender, race, politics: all enriched by centering the microbe in our thinking! #ISHPSSB2025

“From the co-construction of gendered hierarchies of laboratory work to that of human-microbe relationships and mutual resistances, the focus on gender provides renewed approaches to histories and cultures for a social microbiology.”

Just waiting for “Microbes and Gender” to get started - such an exciting session in prospect! The organisers say…

Sadly some technical troubles for the third talk, by Matt Brewer, who was all locked and ready to go for a comparative paper between biological and geological classification 😔 #ISHPSSB2025

Feeling really ropey this morning, so grateful to be able to join the Classification panel remotely. Super first paper from George Alexandrou exploring classification of cell types, and it’ll be followed by two Matthews - Slater and Barker - on “norm-driven” classification #ISHPSSB2025 #philbio

A pleasure. Your paper stimulated some great discussion! Fascinated to see where the research leads.

A super, jam-packed first full day of #ISHPSSB2025! Rounding it off with a jaunt around Boavista to grab some food and a beer, including some lovely street art, evening sunshine, and squawking gulls overhead. (Spotted a very fine U. Porto stained glass window at our conference venue too!)

Muka: marine historical research is not separate from, but integral to, broader histories of the sciences and can reveal more about transnational political, social, geographical issues.

And now Sam Muka is up, discussing the somewhat thin historiography of marine science. What value is there in a sub-field which foregrounds marine science, in contrast to terrestrial histories of science? #ISHPSSB2025

And first up @elisj.bsky.social kicks us off. Do we need a philosophy of marine science? He starts with the sense that there is no such thing as “marine science”… Whatever we take this to mean by that, do we need a specific philosophical approach/approaches to it?

To finish off Day 1, a first “mini-plenary” on the history, philosophy and social studies of marine science aka. “Discovering the Sea”. Let’s dive in! #ISHPSSB2025

Kirsh: Scientists who worked there also spoke about their emotional connection to the desert, being moved “spiritually and intellectually” by the sacred nature of the space.