Fabrizio Scarpa

UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

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The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

1/11

From science museum.org.uk

The first self-propelled wheelchair was invented in 1655 by Stephen Farfler.

Farfler used his expertise as a clockmaker to create a wheeled chair that would allow him to move independently.

kyivindependent.com/serbia-sends...

And Labour voted en masse for the ´deal' negotiated by that foreigner.

Tracking the world’s major cocaine route to Europe - and why it’s growing The UK is now a major market for cocaine in Europe - and that's affecting people around the world.

Since Brexit the UK has also become a major drug smuggling hotspot and most of it is coming via food logistics.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

So much of the "OMG young uns don't party anymore" discourse never really grapples with how much more expensive it is for young uns to party than it was a decade ago

The discovery of new metagenomic urethanases utilising a novel colorimetric assay for applications in the biodegradation of polyurethanes The enzymatic molecular recycling of plastics is of increasing interest, where polymers are converted into monomers for reuse or upcycled into value added chemicals. Polyurethanes are an important cla...

Stretchy jeans might be recyclable using enzymes. Our work is showing some promise. Led by Silvia Anselmi, Jack Jeffries and Helen Hailes we show that enzymes can biodegrade spandex in lab conditions. Full paper here: share.google/gdpM87tlnZsj...

Another ‘narco submarine’ found in the Solomon Islands, after it sailed all the way across the Pacific(!). This is the 3rd publicly reported example there.

Note that it’s empty and the outboard motors have been removed

From the AskReddit community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the AskReddit community

"...I was at the dog park (with my dog) and was on the phone speaking Spanish. There was another lady there and apparently she felt the need to call ICE on me....I’ve since moved to Spain and am happy to not be there anymore. I’m a US citizen born in the US btw."

www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/...

National Emergency Briefing on climate & nature An unfiltered assessment of the latest threats to UK food supply, health and national security from eight leading experts to an invitation-only audience - also covering positive solutions. Westminster...

The National Emergency Briefing on the grave threats posed by the #climate and #nature crisis, on the other hand, will still be going ahead next month. Also setting out how emergency action on a wartime scale can take us to a better place.

Has your MP confirmed yet? www.nebriefing.org
#TimeToStepUp

Water crowfoot in the River Wye

And, yes, wildlife, we need to stop washing nitrate + phosphate into a river where salmon are perilously close to becoming locally extinct.

River Wye pollution prompts UK's largest environmental lawsuit Livestock and water companies are accused of “extensive” pollution in the Wye, Lugg and Usk rivers.

Campaigners + local businesses claim phosphates + nitrates from the collective poo of as many as 23million chickens packed into the Wye catchment from a growing number of intensive chicken farms are driving algal blooms, harming fish + wildlife.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

National security threatened by climate crisis, UK intelligence chiefs due to warn Report by joint intelligence committee delayed, with concerns expressed that it may not be published

´One source told the Guardian they feared [the report] was being suppressed because the government was unwilling to face the issues raised'

Hope UKG will change their mind, otherwise history will not be kind.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

If BoJo, one of the laziest gits on the planet did it, why not Fromage?

And incredibly expensive.

Wish you all the best, take care 💐

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Spain’s Renewable-Energy Boom Loosens Gas’s Grip on Power Prices Soaring renewables output in Spain is weakening gas’s grip on electricity prices, setting the country apart from much of Europe where fossil fuels still dictate the cost of power.

"Spain’s rapid renewables build-out means its power prices were set by fossil generation just 19% of the time, down from 75% in 2019. As a result, wholesale electricity was almost a third cheaper than the EU average"

Imagine having cheaper power

Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Ni se os ocurra usar la integración de Gemini en Gmail.

Es vulnerable a ataques de prompt injection* y Google suda de arreglarlo.

En general, no recomiendo dar acceso a tus cuentas a ningún agente de IA salvo que sepas muy bien lo que haces.

NVIDIA and OpenAi:

Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“

@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

Blue line shows share of household wealth held by top 1%; red by top 10%. The chart shows declining wealth inequality from 1900-1980 and a flatlining since then.

After 80yrs of declining wealth inequality, top 1% and top 10% wealth share in the UK has flatlined for the past 40yrs.

via @resfoundation.bsky.social www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

International interest in US masters degrees falls by 61% The United States is experiencing its lowest level of international student interest in studying for a masters degree in over five years owing to regu...

Message received loud and clear ... "International interest in studying for a master's degree in the United States has fallen by 61% since 6 January" www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...

Synthetic pectin-cellulose nanofiber capsule provides minimal model capturing mechanics of a regenerating plant cell wall https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.07.680914v1

related to how cutting sub-sea cables in international waters can be difficult to prosecute (and thus almost legal for the perpetrators).

tricky given the amount of subsea cables for energy and data…

Just logged onto LinkedIn to see this government insult to intelligence, £250bn in investment since June. What does this even mean? If it was inward FDI that would be over 10% of total stock in three months. It clearly isn't. It is just bad government comms in almost every way.

Generally it would be helpful if more UK journalists took a closer look at how far Reform, Conservative Party and even Blue Labour figures have become immersed in an American MAGA Trump social media world that is increasingly using the language of civil war

Project 2025: The UK Edition (Part 2) A Cambridge academic, a YouTube influencer, and Reform UK’s old HQ - the ingredients for our own Project 2025 are already mixed.

How the Far Right Project 2025 is going to be brought to the UK through the Reform Trojan horse.

Once again, Europe fails to defend its own values. The EU’s & its member states timid response to Georgia’s sham elections emboldens the Kremlin and disheartens the brave Georgians fighting for freedom. Europe needs courage, not complacency. #StandWithGeorgia 🇬🇪 🇪🇺

In fact The Beast is on the altar