Ian Sample

Brook’s hoodlum hundred deserves to sit in its own brilliant square of light | Barney Ronay An England victory on the final day against India would probably nudge his 111 as the greatest at the Oval in the modern age

Such a ludicrously enjoyable piece from @barneyronay.bsky.social on yesterday at The Oval: www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...

How will the UK’s recognition of Palestine help those starving in Gaza? Podcast Episode · Today in Focus · 31/07/2025 · 28m

“The world is sitting back and watching a genocide being carried out.”

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

This made us laugh… and cry. If you felt it too, here’s one way to help two agencies in the bunker 👇

Today in Focus Daily News Podcast · Updated daily · Hosted by Michael Safi and Helen Pidd, Today in Focus brings you closer to Guardian journalism. Combining storytelling with insightful analysis and personal testim...

This is brilliant from @lukeharding1968.bsky.social and @helenpidd.bsky.social on Ukraine under intensifying drone attacks and autocracy vs democracy:

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

We’re hiring for a major role in the US, an investigative journalist to cover what’s happening with science in the US and beyond. This is extremely important territory for us. 🧪

workforus.theguardian.com/jobs/795 The Guardian :: Senior Science Investigative Reporter

Scientific publishing needs urgent reform to retain trust in research process | Letters Letters: Readers respond to an article on how too many low-quality papers and journals are being churned out

A few letters came in on my piece about the state of scientific publishing. One line that leaps out: “The academic publishing market systematically diverts public research funds into shareholder profits.” 🧪

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

RFK Jr tells Congress ‘people shouldn’t take medical advice from me’ Health secretary demurs on questions about vaccine stance and defends Republican plans to cut healthcare

I don’t know where to look.

From @jessicaglenza.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Authors for Forthcoming Sixth National Climate Assessment Disbanded by Trump Administration Authors of the Sixth National Climate Assessment were disbanded today by the Trump administration with a notice that the assessment is being “reevaluated.” Statement by Dr. Rachel Cleetus, a UCS exper...

“Today, the Trump administration senselessly took a hatchet to a crucial and comprehensive U.S. climate science report by dismissing its authors without cause or a plan.”

www.ucs.org/about/news/a...

Student rescued from Mount Fuji twice in one week Chinese national, 27, reportedly returned to Japan’s highest mountain days after first rescue to retrieve his phone

“It emerged that he had returned to the scene of his first rescue to retrieve his phone.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Richard Dawkins’ prophetic vision of ‘new colour’ Letters: The scientist reflects on a speculative idea about human perception in a 2004 book he co-wrote and, two decades on, an experiment that has produced a colour no one has seen before

Love this letter from Richard Dawkins almost as much as I loved the headline on my article about scientists seeing a new colour. Seriously, top marks to the headline writer ❤️

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

The authors taking on Mark Zuckerberg Podcast Episode · Today in Focus · 21/04/2025 · 29m

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Trump officials cut billions in Harvard funds after university defies demands Education department says $2.3bn in funds to be frozen after university rejects slew of demands as political ploy

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump officials cut billions in Harvard funds after university defies demands

‘Parasites should get more fame’: the nominees for world’s finest invertebrate – podcast Invertebrates don’t get the attention lavished on cute pets or apex predators, but these unsung heroes are some of the most impressive and resilient creatures on the planet. So when the Guardian opene...

Love this chat between @madifinlay.bsky.social and @patrickbarkham.bsky.social on the Guardian’s (who else?) Invertebrate of the Year comp. There are some bonkers creatures out there. I want a bee-riding beetle. I don’t want a tongue-biting louse. They’re mean. 🧪

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Meta has stolen books’: authors to protest in London against AI trained using ‘shadow library’ Writers will gather at the Facebook owner’s King’s Cross office in opposition to its use of the LibGen database to train its AI models

Protest at Meta in Granary Sq in London today:

“A book can take a year or longer to write. Meta has stolen books so that their AI can reproduce creative content, potentially putting these same authors out of business.”

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

Study finds strongest evidence yet that shingles vaccine helps cut dementia risk Older adults in Wales who had the jab were 20% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia that those not vaccinated

Scientists have the strongest evidence yet that shingles vaccination reduces the risk of dementia. Would love to hear thoughts from researchers on why this might work. Is it all about reducing inflammation?
🧪

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Higher multipoles of the cow The spherical cow approximation is widely used in the literature, but is rarely justified. Here, I propose several schemes for extending the spherical cow approximation to a full multipole expansion, ...

Another fun April Fool paper on Arxiv:

arxiv.org/abs/2504.00506

The Rizzeta Stone: Adopting Gen-$α$ Colloquial Language to Improve Scientific Paper Rizz and Aura from a Skibidi Perspective The field of astronomy evolves rapidly, and it is essential to keep up with these changes in order to effectively communicate with the broader community. However, communication itself also changes as ...

“While we recognize the importance of outreach and communication with younger generations, our results demonstrate that most children find it “cringe” when adults or authority figures attempt to extend their vocabulary into the domain of modern slang.”

arxiv.org/abs/2504.00073

If the head of Doge becomes embroiled in a protracted scandal will the press call it Elongate?

Sorry.

Tesla suffers worst quarter since 2022 as deliveries tumble Company loses crown of world’s best-selling electric-vehicle maker to China’s BYD

Sad

www.ft.com/content/0ebc...

Love this. And that bottom left data point made me laugh out loud.

Really worrying data from USGS on Myanmar earthquake. Estimated fatalities and economic losses both classed as red.

earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

The rise and fall of DNA testing company 23andMe – podcast To understand the highs and lows of 23andMe’s journey, Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian US tech reporter and editor Johana Bhuiyan, and from Timothy Caulfield, a professor of law at the Univer...

The rise and fall of 23andMe - great discussion on Science Weekly with @jmbooyah.bsky.social and @caulfieldtim.bsky.social
@madifinlay.bsky.social 🧪

www.theguardian.com/science/audi...

European universities offer ‘scientific asylum’ to US researchers fleeing Trump’s cuts

Nasa rover discovers largest organic compounds yet found on Mars Presence of long-chain alkanes in rock raises new questions about possible existence of life billions of years ago

“The best chance we have seen for identifying the remains of life on Mars”
Tantalising organics found in Sheepbed mudstone on Mars 🧪

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Where do our early childhood memories go? – podcast It’s a mystery that has long puzzled researchers. Why can’t we remember our early childhood experiences? Freud called the phenomenon infantile amnesia, and for many years scientists have wondered whet...

Why don’t we remember being a baby?
Fascinating chat with Nick Turk-Browne @Yale about his work with @tristansyates.bsky.social @columbiauniversity.bsky.social 🧪
www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
@madifinlay.bsky.social
@elliebury.bsky.social

Dark energy: mysterious cosmic force appears to be weakening, say scientists Findings could open up possibility the universe will end in a reverse big bang or ‘big crunch’, say cosmologists

And here’s a great piece on the dark energy 🧪 work by @hannahdevlin.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
@desisurvey.bsky.social

What a dark energy discovery means for the fate of the universe – podcast Dark energy, the mysterious force powering the expansion of the universe, appears to be weakening over time, according to a major cosmological survey that has thrown the laws of modern physics into do...

Interested in the new result on dark energy from @desisurvey.bsky.social? We spoke to Saul Perlmutter, who shared the Nobel prize for his work on the expansion of the universe, for Science Weekly 🧪

www.theguardian.com/science/audi...

@madifinlay.bsky.social
@elliebury.bsky.social

Science Weekly podcast: Sounds of the space shuttle – an acoustic tribute As the space shuttle programme draws to a close, Piers Sellers and Scott Altman describe what it was like to fly on the shuttle – and we recreate the sounds

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally heading back to Earth. The return trip from the ISS is awesome, as recounted in an old Science Weekly I recorded with Piers Sellers and Sam “Scooter” Altman of Top Gun fame. 🧪
www.theguardian.com/science/audi...

Use it or lose it: how to sharpen your brain as you age – podcast Many of us believe that cognitive decline is an inevitable part of ageing, but a new study looking at how our skills change with age challenges that idea. Ian Sample talks to Ludger Wößmann, a profess...

Is cognitive decline inevitable with age? Perhaps not…

We talk to Prof Ludger Woesmann, an economist, about his recent Science Advances study 🧪

www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
@madifinlay.bsky.social
@woessmann.bsky.social