Prof Michael Rigby

The 'centre of the world' and the global race for research Lead the research and lead the way on Antarctica but as the US cuts environmental funding questions are raised about the future of science there.

🌊 "The beauty of #Antarctica is really it's often seen as the bottom of the world, but it's really the centre of the world. It's one continent surrounded by an ocean that is connecting all the other oceans together." — Prof Delphine Lannuzel, AAPP @utas.edu.au

▶️ www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Mo Salah criticises UEFA tribute to 'Palestinian Pele' - and asks: 'Can you tell us how he died?' UEFA had posted a tribute to al Obeid without mentioning reports that he was killed by an "Israeli airstrike targeting civilians" in Gaza.

For those whose media will not report this.

news.sky.com/story/mo-sal...

We grieve for our friends in the US, but learn from you. We do not want to follow the same route.
(A minority are impressed, aided by oligarchs and captive media, but increasingly they are being ignored or called out.)
Democracy is fragile, and increasingly we are learning to value and practice it.

False premise. Many governments are pro science, and scientifically grounded policies and economies. Their societies expect this.
Current US political regression is stark learning, stimulating other electorates to value progressive policies, with science, social science, and governance as central.

At his confirmation hearing, RFK Jr claimed he wouldn’t take away vaccines. So far he has:

Removed COVID vaccine recommendations

Fired the CDC’s vaccine committee

Replaced scientists with antivaxxers

Cancelled vaccine hesitancy research

Pulled $500m in mRNA vaccine research

A peacock showing off its art.

- Stuck to principles on standards and regulation. against major pressure, protecting people over profit
- Steady shift away from US dominance
- EU may lose some trade, but US citizens are the ones who pay the tariffs.

Know Your Menu Hamburger menu --3 horizontal stacked lines Doner menu --3 stacked lines in diminishing width Bento menu --3 rows of 3 dots with 3 columns Kebab menu--3 vertical dots Meatballs menu---3 horizontal dots

TIL this is how UX designers talk

Otherwise it's like all airlines doubling the capacity of planes and filling the seats, but no one increasing airport capacity and access. More people get a good in air experience, but the overall journey is worse and stressful for everyone.

Great, but also vital to ensure equal addressing of societal impacts, including:

- food supply
- pensions and welfare
- housing
- healthcare - normal illnesses
- other service sectors

Also democracy - workers and young adults become smaller % of voters.

# Social responsibility in science.

A newspaper clipping from 1906 that reads: "Noisy, Hungry Frogs Sadden Farmer's Life. They scare his cattle and they also eat his flannel shirt."

Still, I'm reminded things could be worse...

Newspaper clipping, 1906.

And how would that have panned out differently without gratuitous Western and Israeli military intervention?
Diplomacy, aid, and other levers take time but don't slaughter.

There is a strong aspect of political subtlety in what at first sight seems an equivocal position. Israel is given the chance to avoid this recognition, but only if they accede to a set of key points on which lasting stability can be based.

No problem. We all benefit from honest open dialogue.

Yes really. Time to check the facts and stand up for something.

Stop kowtowing to the global bully, which is in so many ways a failed state dictatorship.
Important for nations with principles to stand together for fairness and progress.

No.
And anyway, Palestine is far more than Gaza. A recognised state would need to establish a representative government. Recognition would empower this process and act against occupying neighbour dominance.

But not the safest walking track.

American exceptionalism

25% of the globe’s prisoners

Highest maternal mortality rate in industrialized world

Highest infant mortality rate too

Most deaths from COVID-19 world wide

Spends more on defense than the next 9 countries combined

NOT exceptional- empire fell in less than 250 years

Why does this look like a live Looney Toons cartoon?? 👀😅🤣

Self-defence Sir Keir?

When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.

76 year old Audrey White, ex-secretary of Merseyside Pensioners Association, who is credited with paving the way to the formation of anti-sexual harrassment laws via her campaigning in the 1980s, was arrested as a terrorist yesterday for taking part in a pro-Palestine rally.

The BBC is now really FionaK'd up.

Risk of being all cut up with only one wheel to stand on.

Changed career feeling he kneaded more dough.

What a Coin From 1792 Reveals About America’s Scientific Enterprise What does the very first coin ever produced by the United States Mint have to do with the American scientific enterprise?

“LIBERTY, PARENT OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY.”

This was inscribed on the front of the FIRST One Cent Coin minted in the USA.

This was the dream our founding fathers aspired to.

[Ahem] GOD is NOT on it

issues.org/birch-cent-1...

🚨BREAKING NEWS:arrests at Turo Cathedral

The Terrorism Act does not conform to international law. The UN Human Rights Committee said the definition of terrorism is “unduly restrictive of political expression”.
In times of destruction & genocide, the courage to act is a right & moral responsibility.

This 👇

“How many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?

How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn’t see?

How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?

How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?”