Maria Hodges

A bit mad. Take a struggling industry whose core problem is relying on intl student fees for funding instead of stable funding... and tax that revenue to... pass it on to the uni's domestic students? The uni already sets domestic fees per what they can afford based on intl fee collections..

attacking Starmer for buying a field so that his disabled mother could watch her beloved donkeys is possibly the dumbest line of inquiry ever

as well summed up by Rob Hutton here: thecritic.co.uk/donkey-work/

Ed Davey, "I'm afraid Nigel Farage should be apologising for helping cause this problem in the first place"

"Before Brexit we didn't have a small boats problem because we had 27 return agreements with EU countries and we could return people"

-Maybe we should call them Farage's Brexit Boats

DeepSeek-R1 incentivizes reasoning in LLMs through reinforcement learning - Nature A new artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, is introduced, demonstrating that the reasoning abilities of large language models can be incentivized through pure reinforcement learning, removing the need for human-annotated demonstrations.

The methodology used to train a large-scale reasoning model in DeepSeek-R1, the open AI model released this year, is published in Nature. The reasoning ability of the LLM is shown to be improved by pure reinforcement learning, reducing the amount of human input needed: spklr.io/63326BylQ4

Transparency of medical artificial intelligence systems - Nature Reviews Bioengineering Artificial intelligence (AI) models are being applied more often across a range of biomedical domains to support clinical decision-making and therapeutic strategies. This Review examines the transparency of medical AI systems, highlighting key approaches to increasing transparency in model design, operation and outcomes.

AI models are being applied more often across a range of biomedical domains to support clinical decision-making and therapeutic strategies. A Review in Nature Reviews Bioengineering examines the transparency of medical AI systems, highlighting key approaches to increasing transparency. 🔒

When a parrot wanted to connect with a distant friend, a touchscreen showed a selection of other birds available online. The parrots learned to activate the screen, designed specially for them, by touching it gently with their tongues rather than pecking aggressively with their beaks. "We had 26 birds involved," said Hirskyj-Douglas. "They would use the system up to three hours a day, with each call lasting up to five minutes." The interactions ranged from preening and playing with toys to loud vocal exchanges. "When we went through the data, we found that most of these parrots had favourite friends," said Hirskyj-Douglas.

Pet parrots which typically live alone (whilst those in the wild live in large flocks) were given the technology to call each other. They would use it for up to three hours a day, and developed favourite friends 💔
on.ft.com/3K05vhS

Octopus arm flexibility facilitates complex behaviors in diverse natural environments - Scientific Reports Octopus arms are among the most flexible of biological structures, yet the full range of arm flexibility has not been investigated in detail, for example in varied benthic marine habitats where structural complexity far exceeds that of lab trials. This field study quantified arm flexibility with a hierarchical analysis of octopus behaviors, arm actions, and arm deformations used throughout diverse natural habitats. Twenty-five videos of naturally behaving octopuses were analyzed from 5 Caribbean sites and 1 site in Spain. Octopus behaviors were delineated into 12 arm actions, consisting of 4 possible arm deformations (shorten, elongate, bend, or torsion). Overall, 3,907 arm action occurrences demonstrated that all arms could execute each action. Anterior arms performed more actions than posterior arms, while there were no differences between left and right arms. Furthermore, 6,871 arm deformation occurrences indicated that all 4 arm deformations were used across all actions; however, the frequencies of these deformations varied by arm region (proximal, medial, distal). The combination of deformations and arm actions implemented to achieve complex behaviors illustrates extreme arm flexibility and coordination during a wide range of arm functions. Such demonstrations of flexibility may help inform ethologists, sensory ecologists, neuroscientists, and engineers designing soft robotic appendages.

Octopuses can use any of their arms to perform tasks, but tend to use a particular arm, or arms, for specific tasks. This finding, presented in a paper in Scientific Reports, reveals more about the complex behaviour these animals display: spklr.io/63328ByzFm

#Zoology #AnimalBehaviour 🦑

UK recovers position in EU’s Horizon Europe science research programme Scientists received €735m in grants in 2024 after UK rejoined programme as associate member post-Brexit

UK recovers position in EU’s Horizon Europe science research programme

Scientists received €735m in grants in 2024 after UK rejoined the programme as associate member post-Brexit 👏
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

ENNNGGGLLLAAANND!!!!

I read it during Lockdown and it resonated then too - the futility, the idleness and the sun.

Lampbrush bivalent of Danio rerio stained with antibodies against m7G and TMG 5′-RNA caps (green) followed by DNA+RNA FISH with the DNA-probe to centromere repeat RFAM (red). Scale bar - 20 μm

🔍 Behind the paper: A recent paper published in Chromosome Research provides the first description of zebrafish lampbrush chromosomes that develop during the diplotene stage of oocyte maturation. bit.ly/4jLdXhc. #AcademicSky

Welcome to our new @springernature.com HSS account on Bluesky! Showcasing the impact of our authors and communities in Humanities & Social Sciences from Nature, Springer, Palgrave Macmillan, Metzler, Apress & BMC.

Thanks to these efforts we were selected from the nearly 150,000 journals from 22,000 members using @crossref.bsky.social infrastructure for having the highest #metadata completeness (82%) in the small publishers category. You can also read more in their blog www.crossref.org/blog/crossre...

The image is a promotional banner for 'The State of Open Data 2025' survey. It features the logos of Springer Nature, Digital Science, and Figshare at the top. Below the logos, there are aerial photographs of winding roads through different landscapes: one with autumn foliage, one with snow-covered trees, and one with lush green forest. The text on the banner reads 'The State of Open Data 2025 Survey now open.'

🚀 The 2025 #StateOfOpenData survey is live! 🌐 Researchers worldwide, we want to hear about your experiences and challenges with data sharing. Help shape the future of #OpenScience and stand a chance to win 1 of 5 $100 gift cards! Participate today: go.sn.pub/024jk6
@figshare.com @digital-science.com

Lots of data to be analysed, but we know what yesterday means. Labour has fluffed its 1st year in govt: a promise of vague change followed up with no obvious change & the prospect of limited change between now & 2029. Reform is the party best exploiting the frustrations which follow from this.

NIH blocks researchers in China, Russia and other countries from multiple databases The Trump administration has blocked access to multiple data repositories maintained by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for researchers in several countries, including a cancer statistics d | ...

"Trump administration has blocked access to multiple data repositories maintained by the NIH for researchers in several countries"

Still think the solution to science publishing is "the government should just run it..."?

www.fiercebiotech.com/research/nih...

Code-sharing policies are associated with increased reproducibility potential of ecological findings Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo1  ; Bezine, Aya1 ; Purgar, Marija2, 3 ; Culina, Antica2, 4 1 Department of Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany 2 Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb,…

Now published in Peer Community Journal, #ecology section: Code-sharing policies are associated with increased reproducibility potential of ecological findings

Can trauma from violence be genetically inherited? Scientists debate Syria refugee study Study finds genetic imprints in three generations of Syrian refugees. Researchers urge caution in interpreting findings and call for replication.

The idea that trauma can leave epigenetic marks that can be passed onto following generations remains controversial.

New research on 3 generations of Syrian refugees echoes results from studies of children of survivors of the genocide in Rwanda & the Holocaust
🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🌐 Celebrate #WorldWaterDay with us! Explore more with Springer and join the global conversation on Sustainable Water Management and Glacier Preservation. 💦

Brexit a key factor in worst UK medicine shortages in four years, report says Nuffield Trust says supply chains have shifted, with medicines for epilepsy and cystic fibrosis among those now scarce

Drug shortages have been affecting people around the country but haven't really reached Westminster as a story. A big issue unlikely to go away any time soon - complex supply chains providing an ever greater number of drugs will always have vulnerabilities. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

‘Travel agencies charge far more than it would cost an academic to arrange their own travel and accommodations - sometimes staggeringly more.’

Unbelievable news.

Pancreatic is one of the deadliest cancers.

New paper shows personalized mRNA vaccines can induce durable T cells that attack pancreatic cancer, with 75% of patients cancer free at three years—far, far better than standard of care.

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

Attn #ECR2025 attendees, visit the Springer Nature booth. Browse our Springer medicine books and speak to the the publishing team. @springer1842.bsky.social @springernature.com #EuropeanRadiology #ESR2025 #ECR25

Two thirds want EU-UK Youth Mobility Scheme A major new survey shows two thirds of people are in favour of the UK arranging a new Youth Mobility Scheme with the EU.

Why are Labour dithering; It’s a no brainier

Megapoll of almost 15,000 people & MRP analysis undertaken by YouGov on behalf of @bestforbritain.bsky.social shows an overwhelming majority (66%) across Britain want the UK Gov to work with EU to increase the ability of young people to travel and work

‘Patent mills’ sell scientists inventorship of bizarre medical devices Thousands of U.K. “design registrations” sold to Indian academics in past 2 years, new research finds

Check out coverage in @science.org by @cathleenogrady.bsky.social : www.science.org/content/arti...

This is figure 5, which shows human induced modifications on cranial and postcranial remains.

A study in Scientific Reports of remains from the Maszycka Cave from 18,000 years ago finds evidence of cannibalism among these Magdalenian groups. https://go.nature.com/4hwUqAQ 🧪 🏺

Boost For Rachel Reeves As UK Economy Grows To Avoid Recession Official data shows GDP was up 0.4% in December.

BREAKING: Boost For Rachel Reeves As UK Economy Grows To Avoid Recession

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boost-...

UK film and TV production jumps as Hollywood bounces back from strikes Pinewood, Leavesden and Elstree studios in demand as bases for Hollywood blockbusters

At a time of gloom here is a growing industry: more than £5.6bn was spent on making films and TV in the UK last year - a jump of almost a third
on.ft.com/4hGV7He

This is, by some distance, the most unforgivably stupidest thing the government is doing. An easily sellable proposal, which would actually help Brits, and unlocks meaningful negotiation. Irrational and anti-growth.