England is now experiencing a significant Covid wave, after 10 months of relative quiet The latest Covid situation in England and a look at where NHS services are as we head into winter

After a long pause, I've just done another England Covid & NHS update as we head into the autumn/winter season.

TLDR: we're in a significant Covid wave now, the NHS is stretched, get boosted if you're eligible.

christinapagel.substack.com/p/england-is...

If you’re frustrated with governments not reeling in social media, read this.

Twinkies aren’t unhealthy because they have GMOs in them. They’re unhealthy because they’re Twinkies! GMO crops are safe, and gene-edited crops can help make more food with less land. There’s no need to freak out about them.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

― George Orwell, 1984

Soil scientist previously named in citation scandal appointed to editor role at Elsevier journal Artemi Cerdà A soil scientist who resigned from several journals in 2017 after being linked to manipulated citations has been appointed to the editorial board of a journal copublished by Elsevier a…

A soil scientist who resigned from several journals in 2017 after being linked to manipulated citations has been appointed to the editorial board of a journal copublished by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media.

Update: www.eenews.net/articles/cli...
#RogerPielkeJr #ScienceUnderSiege

Tick, tock.....
One day left to enter the Brian Chambers Award for early career scientists. We have some great entries, add yours and see if you can be standing here this December.
Details here: buff.ly/55AdXwT

Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash

***NEW*** #openaccess
How a Decade of Different Tillage Intensity Influences Yield Response to Seasonal Weather Variations.
Cannon & Rial-Lovera
#soil #soilscience
doi.org/10.1111/sum....

UK air temperatures and soil temperatures are warming at the same rate

climatelabbook.substack.com/p/monitoring...

Blog with CGD colleagues: Cholera in Africa: Rising Deaths, Shrinking US Aid.

Africa seeing rising cholera deaths, but US foreign assistance not responding...

ISRIC, the 🌍 World Data Centre for Soils 🌏, has a new website, explore at isric.org

One of Earth’s most vital carbon sinks is faltering. Can we save it? For decades, forest, grasslands and other land ecosystems have collectively absorbed up to a third of the carbon dioxide we emit each year - but this climate buffer may be collapsing far sooner than a...

Over the past two years, the land carbon sink appears to have weakened dramatically, driving the largest one year jump in atmospheric CO2 on record in 2024. Is this the end of the land carbon sink? I asked around for @newscientist.com.

UK plastic waste exports to developing countries rose 84% in a year, data shows Campaigners say increase in exports mostly to Malaysia and Indonesia is ‘unethical and irresponsible waste imperialism’

Another benefit of Brexit ... the UK has returned to its traditional role as the dirty man of Europe.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Tempting say to governments, inc UK, and industry and academic enthusiasts for these technologies "told you so". But perhaps just let facts speak for themselves.

Defence ministry spends millions on private schools to avoid Welsh Military personnel receive a private education allowance to avoid lessons in Welsh in state schools.

"The Ministry of Defence spends around £1m a year sending children to private schools in north Wales because 'state schools teach some or all lessons in the Welsh language' "

What complete and utter stupidity - and an insult to us Welsh

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Fungicide alternative: Would your crops benefit from a genetically engineered vaccine? Disease control within crop production systems has been very much centred on the development of complex organic chemicals such as fungicides. But all of

Fungicide alternative: Would your crops benefit from a genetically engineered vaccine? geneticliteracyproject.org/2025/10/06/f...

Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries monitors a world out of balance - Nature A revised ‘Doughnut’ providing a visual assessment of trends in social deprivation and planetary degradation over the past two decades shows more than doubling of global GDP accompanied by accelerating ecological overshoot but only a modest reduction in human deprivation.

"The richest 20% of nations, with 15% of the global population, contribute more than 40% of annual ecological overshoot, whereas the poorest 40% of countries, with 42% of the global population, experience more than 60% of the social shortfall.

#Overshoot

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The @metoffice.gov.uk use weather station observations to reconstruct changes in UK average temperature since 1884.

@copernicusecmwf.bsky.social produce the ERA5 reanalysis which reconstructs global weather every hour back to 1950 using a weather forecast model.

Their estimates agree. Just sayin'.

This looks horribly like facism, or at least a result of autocracy. Even if the autocrat himself, or close associates, are not directly responsible for violence against rivals some followers are emboldened to do crazy and dreadful acts. Trump is only one step away fro Putins tactics.

The World's Soy: is it used for Food, Fuel, or Animal Feed? Shown is the allocation of global soy production to its end uses by weight. This is based on data from 2017 to 2019. Our World in Data Global soy production Direct human food 20% • Tofu (2.6%) •Soy milk (2.1%) •Other e.g. tempeh (2.2%) oil (13.2%) Animal feed 76% Soybeans processed to soy cake for feed Poultry (37%) Pig (20.2%) Aquaculture (5.6%) Other animals (4.9%) - Dairy (1.4%) — Beef (0.5%) - Pets (0.5%) Soybeans fed directly •to livestock (7%) Industry 4% •Biodiesel (2.8%) — Lubricants (0.3%) - Other (0.7%) Data source: Food Climate Resource Network (FCRN), University of Oxford; and USDA PSD Database. OurWorldinData.org - Research and data to make progress against the world's largest problems. Licensed under CC-BY by the author Hannah Ritchie.

Here’s a good chart showing how soybeans are used globally. About 3/4 is for feeding the animals we eat (especially for chickens, pigs, and farmed fish), about 1/5 directly feeds humans, and 4% is for biofuel or other industrial uses. ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-d...

Before and after images show glaciers vanishing before our eyes They are melting like never seen before, changing landscapes around the world beyond recognition.

Thorough reporting on the scale of the loss of Switzerland’s glaciers

Biofuel demand to soak up more than half of US soyoil production next year, USDA says U.S. biofuel makers will consume more than half of all soybean oil produced in the United States next year as a recent flurry of federal policy moves has transformed the sector, including higher blending mandates and curbs on foreign biofuel imports and feedstocks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday.

Biofuel is a small but growing part of global soybean use. Here in the US, a number of recent policy moves (higher blending mandates, tax credits, curbs on foreign biofuel imports and feedstocks) are likely to result in MORE THAN HALF of all US soybean oil being burned as biofuel next year.

Yes it often is. Because the amount of additional C that can be sequestered in soils that continue in agriculture is often greatly overstated. OK goes in right direction but fairly small effect. But extra organic C in soil is good for soil functioning and sustainability.

Still time to apply:

What if publication bias is the rule and net carbon loss from priming the exception? Abstract. Priming effects in soil science describe the influence of fresh carbon (C) inputs on rates of microbial mineralisation of native soil organic matter, which can either increase (positive prim...

🆕 New publication in SOIL journal!
📖 What if publication bias is the rule and net carbon loss from priming the exception?

👥 Michel et al.

🔗 soil.copernicus.org/articles/11/...

#SoilScience #SoilJournal #Research #OpenAccess #EGU_SSS

Food and Nutrition Crises Burgeon in Face of Conflict, Funding Cuts: GRFC Mid-Year Update Released | Food Security Portal Hunger and food crisis have reached catastrophic levels in multiple places around the world, according to the Global Report on Food Crises Mid-Year Update. Famine has been confirmed in the Gaza Strip ...

Multiple man-made food crises are ongoing globally.

Famine is currently occurring in Gaza and Sudan. South Sudan is at risk of famine.

Areas of Yemen, Haiti and Mali are experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC level 5).

Jane Goodall, famed primatologist and conservationist, dies at 91 Jane Goodall, the most prolific primatologist of a generation, has died. She was 91 years old.

Such a loss...
abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

Scandal at the UN—Donald Trump denies climate change and calls it “the greatest scam in history” while scientists and island nations accuse him of betraying the most vulnerable Donald Trump called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” At the United Nations General Assembly. He also added that, “If you

"Scandal at the UN—Donald Trump denies climate change and calls it 'the greatest scam in history' while scientists and island nations accuse him of betraying the most vulnerable" | Article by Victoria Flores for Blanquivioletas EN:

www.blanquivioletas.com/en/un-donald...

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91 Jane Goodall Institute says ‘tireless advocate’ for natural world died in California during US speaking tour

Wonderful she was working for good to the end. I had the privilege of meeting her a couple of times. Inspiring.
I probably didn't agree with her on everything but a great force for good. Thank you Jane.

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91 www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Pope Leo hits out at critics of global warming In his first major statement on climate change, the pontiff criticises those who minimise climate change.

"Some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming, and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most."

BBC News - Pope Leo condemns climate change critics
www.bbc.com/news/article...