VesperUK

Olivia Dean wins the #BRITs award for Artist of the Year.

Opinion | What Exactly Is a ‘Concentration Camp’?

"Always, always, always concentration camps are an end run around the existing legal system. These people that are getting rounded up because whoever’s in power wants to do something that they can’t do using the letter of the law..."

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/o...

Dawn light of a shallow sea. The sun is on the horizon and clouds form a V shape as their form is reflected in the calm sea

Good Day to all. Here is a contribution to the #EastCoastKin theme of #BlueSkyMonday… This dawn scene on the Danish coast I captured one May morning. #PhotographersOfBluesky #photography #outdoorphotography #seacscape #landscapephotography #landscape_lover #Denmark

The first landscape painting I completed.

Cheers and thanks for all the love and support!

Hypnotic photo of a curtain aurora that truly looks like a flying dragon.The image is extraordinary: an enormous serpentine green shape twisting through the night sky above a snow-covered landscape, with tiny human silhouettes that emphasize the epic scale. It looks like something straight out of a fantasy story, yet it is completely real.

🧵
'Dragon Aurora over Norway' is an enchanting pic showing an impressive auroral curtain, captured by Marco Bastoni above Tromsø in Northern Norway.

The aurora's glittering green glow somehow reminds of a large dragon. 🔭

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap18041...

🧪 ⚛️ #sciart #astrophotography #science

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Loss of Infectivity of Influenza Virus and SARS-CoV-2 during Aerosol Sampling Our understanding of transmission of influenza virus and other respiratory viruses is limited by the difficulty of detecting infectious viruses in aerosol particles. Most aerosol sampling methods are believed to contribute to virus inactivation, but the magnitude of this sampling artifact is unknown. To investigate this question, we aerosolized influenza A virus (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2 suspended in human saliva into a small chamber (3.7 L). Aerosols settled for 10 min onto either cells or a thin layer of liquid medium that was immediately transferred to cells for plaque assay. Aerosols that deposited directly onto cells led to the formation of 100× more plaque forming units (PFU) compared to aerosols that deposited first into liquid medium. Further experiments ruled out uneven aerosol distribution in the chamber or inefficient virus recovery as causes of this discrepancy. These findings indicate that aerosolized IAV and SARS-CoV-2 lost infectivity by approximately 2 log10 PFU within ∼10 min unless they attached to cells quickly. As natural infection via inhalation occurs by direct deposition of the virus onto cells, we hypothesize that sampling directly onto cells more accurately reflects the potential for exposure to lead to infection.

Our latest paper shows that most aerosol sampling methods may underestimate infectious virus in air. We observed 100x more infectious flu virus and SARS-CoV-2 if it deposited directly on cells (more realistic) rather than in liquid first and then transferred to cells. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Daily painting of #sunflowers in #support of #Ukraine
#StopRussianWarcrimesNow

Milton Avery - Sunflowers

#UK: We've sent a letter to Yvette Cooper expressing deep concern that funding for the BBC World Service is due to run out at the end of March.

We urge the government to confirm a long-term funding arrangement to ensure their vital work continues ⬇️
www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/02/the-...

Tomorrow everyone will be asking: when will the Russo-Ukrainian war end? The right question is: what can we do to make the Russian invasion fail?

Who’s who in Reform UK’s top team Senior jobs for Jenrick, Braverman, Yusuf and Tice as Farage hopes to convince voters that his party is ready for power

Who’s who in Reform UK’s top team ft.trib.al/BXmSdqV

Homeland Security Wants Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accounts

Homeland Security wants Social Media sites to expose Anti-ICE Accounts!!!!

The Government is trampling on our CIVIL LIBERTIES!!!!!

#ICE

#Epstein

#EpsteinFiles

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...

15 years ago today I arrived on Downing Street in a cage.
I've seen off Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak and I'm still going strong.
Only two Prime Ministers have ever done longer stints here: William Pitt the Younger and Sir Robert Walpole.
Bill and Bob - I'm coming for you...
(Photos AP)

FBI won’t share Alex Pretti shooting evidence, Minnesota authorities say State’s governor had demanded impartial inquiry into the shooting of the VA nurse by federal immigration agents

The reason the FBI won't share evidence in the Alex Pretti shooting case is obvious:

The FBI is NOT investigating the shooting; they are covering it up.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Read and share all over..he nails it

EU to investigate Shein over sale of childlike sex dolls and weapons Bloc also examines ‘addictive design’ of shopping site, including rewards, and its recommender systems

Shein to be formally investigated by EU over sales systems including gamification, recommender methods etc and availability of illegal products such as child like sex dolls and weapons Probe separate to those run by consumer protection authorities.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

📷Engin Akyurt on pexels.com A peace symbol creatively composed of dried yellow flowers on a solid blue background, symbolizing harmony and nature.

A big thank you to all the Bluesky Heroes 🦋 for your incredible boost next week! A wave of peace! 😊

YouTube video by The Damage Report Jon Stewart DESTROYS Palantir As TERRIFYING Leak Goes Public

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_yr...
Canada has contracts with Palantir. Tell your representative how you feel!

I'll never forget Surya Bonaly's name.

As EPA Weakens Air Pollution Regulations, Black Women Stand to Face the Greatest Health Risks They already face the highest rates of asthma-related mortality in the nation. Dirtier air will make that worse.

Black women currently face the highest rates of asthma-related mortality in the nation. The EPA overturning clean air regulations will only make this public health crisis worse. This story was originally reported by @19thnews.org, and republished through RNG‘s partnership with The 19th News Network.

Gabbard Whistleblower Complaint Based on Intercepted Conversation About Jared Kushner The substance of the conversation, which covered in part issues related to Iran, isn’t known.

Breaking WSJ:

The highly classified whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is related to a conversation intercepted last spring in which two foreign nationals discussed Jared Kushner, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

WATCH: Trump, EPA's Zeldin announce end of scientific basis for U.S. action on climate change The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressiv...

Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change—all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.

Pink flowers by Mahmud on pexels.com

A big merci for sharing peaceful vibes... 🌸 @allexf931.bsky.social
@betterworld3.bsky.social
@paullus-09.bsky.social
@punalady.bsky.social
@rvmrn69.bsky.social
@martyrye62.bsky.social
@thestampedehero.bsky.social

How has the Electoral College survived, despite being perennially unpopular? Despite its substantial-sounding name, the Electoral College isn’t a permanent body: It’s more of a process. For decades, a majority of Americans have wanted it to be changed.

The electoral college is unnecessary for a democracy. In fact we're the only democracy that has one. No more insanity of gerrymandering.

One vote per person. That's all. 👍👍👍

Working on it...

‘White Hot’ Abercrombie Doc Producer Options Book On Vegas Mogul Steve Wynn Christina Binkley’s ‘Winner Takes All’ biography of the casino and hotel mogul was picked up by Scott Jay Kaplan and Emmet McDermott’s CoverStory banner.

Oh hi. Yep, thats me. t.co/AtJLn0728O?s...

🚨I hate having to write this.

He was scheduled for surgery this morning, but our family vet found his red blood cell count had dropped. They told us if he bleeds during surgery there, he could die on the table because they don’t have blood products.

Far too many ICE agents are lawless, cruel and despicable bullies.

Lower courts can't fix what's broken in Minnesota But a functioning Congress could.

"If ICE murdering people in the streets doesn’t warrant immediate relief, what does? The most facile — but nonetheless true — answer is that the Supreme Court can do whatever it wants, but other courts can’t."

A vibrant, composite portrait of the brilliant Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017), the first woman and first Iranian to win the Fields Medal. She is shown in a close-up head-and-shoulders view, facing the camera with a gentle, thoughtful expression—short brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a calm smile. She wears a navy blue fleece over a teal/green collared shirt. Overlaid transparently behind and around her is a dense blackboard filled with intricate handwritten mathematical equations in white chalk, featuring complex expressions involving binomial coefficients (e.g., n! / (k!(n-k)!)), factorials, summations, powers, and terms suggestive of hypergeometric series or combinatorial identities. The equations partially surround and frame her face, symbolizing her deep immersion in advanced mathematics, particularly in hyperbolic geometry, Teichmüller theory, and dynamical systems, while evoking the creative, exploratory nature of her work as a Stanford professor and groundbreaking researcher.

Remembering Dr. Maryam Mirzakhani on #WorldCancerDay.

Dr. Mirzakhani was first woman to win the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in #mathematics. She died in 2017 from #breastcancer at the age of 40.

stanford.io/2C0io2A #WomenInSTEM

Excellent news.