Michael Brooks

Are our bodies full of microplastics or not? There’s a way to resolve this debate, and scientists must hurry | Debora MacKenzie This week’s furore is microplastics researchers’ ozone moment. If they fail, the powerful plastics lobby will step into the breach, says science journalist and author Debora MacKenzie

Great piece by Deb Mackenzie in @theguardian.com: wisdom and insight on the microplastics problem www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Why I'm going to reap the mental health benefits of stargazing in 2026 Navigating the night sky can have a positive effect on our well-being. This will be the year I learn the constellations, resolves Michael Brooks

I have resolved to improve my very poor stargazing skills and just to make sure I follow through I wrote about it for @newscientist.com 😁 www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

Two books that knocked my socks off this year were Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (I know, where have I been etc etc) and Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water, which is, essentially, perfect.

Stargazing in the Lake District: a new forest observatory opens in Grizedale There’s no shortage of stunning scenery and daytime activities in the Lakes. Now, an observatory is offering stellar nocturnal events too

Beautiful, evocative writing from @phoebetaplin.bsky.social in this @theguardian.com piece on a new stargazing opportunity in the Lake District. www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

Was thinking of taking out an Economist digital subscription until I realised I already had one through my local, tax-funded public library. Sometimes you forget how great these things are #publiclibrariesFTW

Christmas Day Yahtzee will never be the same 😁

Haha - just read it again…so good! Here it is for those who haven’t yet had the pleasure 😁 www.scientificamerican.com/blog/roots-o...

Reupping for the Monday crowd, @drmichaelbrooks.bsky.social offers timely digital security advice for researchers who are afraid that they — or their data — could end up in cyberattackers’ crosshairs. @nature.com 🧪

Stay safe from online hate with these five tips In this era of anti-science activism, it‘s wise to take steps to protect your research and reputation in the digital realm.

All scientists, regardless of research discipline or geography, are potential targets of cyberattacks. “The problem is bigger than any one president, prime minister or leader of a totalitarian or authoritarian state.” New @nature.com, some timely advice, by @drmichaelbrooks.bsky.social 🧪

Don’t cheer the scale: Doctors and dieticians untangling body size from health Healthcare professionals, from advanced sports dieticians to general practitioners, are increasingly trading a focus on weight for other, more robust health measures

This is excellent

Standards

Admittedly, some (most?) of the interestingness is due to this @xkcd.com strip:

How open-source software could finally get the world’s microscopes speaking the same language A plethora of standards mean shareable and verifiable microscopy data often get lost in translation. Biologists are working on a solution. A plethora of standards mean shareable and verifiable microsc...

Don’t know who on here needs to hear this, but I wrote a thing for Nature about file formats for biological microscopes that is much more interesting than it sounds 😁

‘The climate is visiting a mental unravelling on all of us’: Charlie Hertzog Young on the danger... The teenage campaigner took politicians to task about the environment – but their apathy contributed to a devastating decline in his mental health. He talks about his recovery and the radical ideas ...

An extraordinary story, beautifully told

No answer from anyone on the Other Site, and it’s a genuine journalistic issue for me: is “compute” a noun now? I’ve had a couple of tech people talk to me about “the compute” they’re working with. I haven’t felt so grammatically uncomfortable since “parent” became a verb

Move over, Cordyceps, there’s a new “zombie” parasite to haunt our dreams The lancet liver fluke controls infected ants with a temperature-based on/off switch.

Move over, Cordyceps, there’s a new “zombie” parasite to haunt our dreams. The lancet liver fluke controls infected ants with a temperature-based on/off switch. arstechnica.com?p=1969792

My cultural day out on the Sussex Art Shuttle With next week’s Turner prize opening in Eastbourne, we try a hop-on, hop-off bus service that takes art lovers around the area’s cultural hotspots

This is right on my doorstep, I really want to do it, and I bet I don’t because there’s always something unimportant that has to be done today, isn’t there?… www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/...

Let’s start with the important things. This is Raffy.