Henry Gee

'The Origin and Nature of Life on Earth' by Eric Smith and Harold J Morowitz, Cambridge, 2016. But I'm no physicist so I might have misinterpreted it.

And other stuff.

I learned all this before 11am.

Mind blown for rest of the day.

I bloody love science. /end

Also, that, when the Earth formed, ferric iron ions (Fe3+), being smaller than ferrous ions (Fe2+), sunk further into the primordial mantle, thus setting up a redox gradient that the earliest proto-life could exploit. 5/n

Anyway, all this means that the hydrogen fuel hangs around for billions of years before it can get used up. 4/n

But this is so massive (about 80 protons) and consequently so energetic that protons rarely smash into each other hard enough to conjure one up out of the probabilistic quantum soup. The W+ particle as massive as it is because it interacts very strongly with the Higgs field, but I digress. 3/n

The reason is that nuclear fusion requires a hydrogen nucleus (a proton) to fuse with a deuterium nucleus (a deuteron, which is a proton plus a neutron). But deuterons can’t be made from two protons unless one turns into a neutron, and this requires the intercession of a W+ particle. 2/n

Yesterday I learned that if the W+ intermediate vector boson wasn’t as massive as it is, stars wouldn’t burn hydrogen long enough to form planets that could host life. 1/n

#OnThisDay in 1938, American evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis was born. Margulis is most known for developing and popularising the endosymbiotic theory, which explains how eukaryotic cells evolved organelles from simpler prokaryotic organisms that resided within another and became incorporated.

Thanks Steve.

After Hans, after Alan - seize the day. It could be your last. occamstypewriter.org/cromercrox/2...

Reporting the death of Prof Alan M. Wilson FRS in a light plane crash in Namibia, while doing wildlife research. He was 62. He built and flew his own planes but I do not know if he either built or flew this one. He even flew from London to Cromer to meet me for lunch (he brought cake). Devastated.

Henry Gee Henry Gee

Apparently it's #WorldBookDay today. You know what to do. www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henr... #booksky

The Age of Dinosaurs with Henry Gee | The Ancients

with @trishughes21.bsky.social chatting about dinosaurs on The Ancients, from History Hit shows.acast.com/the-ancients...

Henry Gee Henry Gee

Apparently it's #WorldBookDay today. You know what to do. www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henr... #booksky

Henry Gee Henry Gee

Apparently it's #WorldBookDay today. You know what to do. www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henr...

thank you!

Published Tomorrow! (5th March)

The oldest articulated bony fish from the early Silurian period - Nature A tiny, articulated, near-complete osteichthyan from the early Silurian Chongqing Lagerstätte, represents the oldest osteichthyan occurrence including microfossils, and the earliest articulated remain...

A tiny fossil fish (less than 3cm long) from the 436-million-year-old Chongqing Fish Bed represents the earliest articulated remains of any bony fish in the fossil record, and informs our understanding on the origins of all bony fishes today.🧪👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Largest Silurian fish illuminates the origin of osteichthyan characters - Nature New findings from articulated head and trunk material of Megamastax amblyodus yield previously unseen morphological details of a Silurian stem osteichthyan.

Megamastax, a mighty chew from the Silurian - paper in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The oldest articulated bony fish from the early Silurian period - Nature A tiny, articulated, near-complete osteichthyan from the early Silurian Chongqing Lagerstätte, represents the oldest osteichthyan occurrence including microfossils, and the earliest articulated remain...

Meet Eosteus, a tiny bony fish from the Silurian - paper in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Limited thermal tolerance in tropical insects and its genomic signature - Nature A survey of tropical insect populations and thermal tolerance limits indicates that species from lowland areas have low capacity to survive increased temperatures, and that thermal tolerance is limited by fundamental properties of protein architecture.

Nature research paper: Limited thermal tolerance in tropical insects and its genomic signature

go.nature.com/4ua5R82

Hello, book people! I am the book content editor for Reactor Mag and I'm looking for 2026 sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romantasy, and speculative books coming out in the second half of the year! If you have an adult or YA SFF/H book out July-Dec (or publicist), share the link/info here!

Deadline for applying is 9 march. Don't miss out!

The hardest part of writing a book is getting a synopsis into a state that's good enough to be shown to publishers. It never gets easier. After several versions and the help of my agent @jillgrinberglit.bsky.social I've managed it for my next book. (Advice to new authors - GET AN AGENT)

The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire by Henry Gee Find out more about The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire by Henry Gee

'The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire' - out in paperback on 5 March (excl. US and Canada) www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henr...

Books on display at WHSmiths in Heathrow Airport, including the paperback of The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire.

Some good news to end the week. The paperback of ’The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire’ comes out in paperback next week. WHSmith Travel, which runs bookshops in airports, has ordered 2,000 copies. Here is the book on display at Heathrow. @picadorbooks.bsky.social @jillgrinberglit.bsky.social

Country Diary Wales | Travel Journal Travel with John Gilbey from his home near Aberystwyth, as he sets out to provide a monthly image of the rural landscape across Wales: from Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, to Powys and Gwynedd. These wa...

To celebrate St David's Day, the nice folk at @graffegbooks.bsky.social are offering 25% off the price my book Country Diary Wales. Grab one while they are going cheap!

You can find it here...
graffeg.com/products/cou...
You don't see the discount until it's in the basket...

The Wonder of Life on Earth by Henry Gee Find out more about The Wonder of Life on Earth by Henry Gee

THE WONDER OF LIFE ON EARTH is out now. Illustrations by Raxenne Maniquiz. Published by @twohootsbooks.bsky.social. All-new text by me. Suitable for very all ages. Available in all good bookshops. For details, inquire within www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henr...

Ursula K. Le Guin — Nominate a Book for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

It's time! Nominations are now open for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, which will be given to a work of imaginative fiction, published in 2025, that reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula’s own work.

How an exercise-activated enzyme helps to keep the brain young Nature - A protein reinforces the blood–brain barrier, which becomes leaky with age.

Exercise prevents brain ageing and memory loss by strengthening the blood–brain barrier

go.nature.com/3OAsmD2