Henry Gee

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

Let’s hope they do it sooner rather than later.

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...

Eventually, but even a small amount of genetic interchange with Earth will delay this. Speciation is promoted by small population size but that also makes extinction more likely. Colonising Mars is a barmy idea IMHO

🚨There is still time to apply! Deadline March 11

Environmental exposure trains the immune system to dampen allergic responses Clean living conditions that lessen exposure to microorganisms are linked to an increase in allergies. Mouse data reveal how the environment affects allergic immune responses.

The most influential explanation of a recent surge in allergies is the hygiene hypothesis

go.nature.com/40woBkB

Donate them to your Alma Mater, and make more space in your house.

Clonal-aggregative multicellularity tuned by salinity in a choanoflagellate - Nature The choanoflagellate Choanoeca flexa forms motile and contractile cell monolayers purely clonally, purely aggregatively or through a combination of both processes depending on environmental conditions.

A study in Nature shows that the single-celled form of a tiny, aquatic organism can turn into a multicellular version by three different routes. The discovery adds insight to the possible origins of multicellular life, suggesting a previously unrecognized degree of flexibility. 🧪

Human hippocampal neurogenesis in adulthood, ageing and Alzheimer’s disease - Nature Mapping of neurogenesis in human hippocampi across ages and different cognitive abilities using multiomic single-cell sequencing reveals distinct signatures between cognitive preservation and decline.

Aged adults with extraordinary memory capacity – known as SuperAgers – exhibit a unique neurogenesis profile with a surprisingly high number of young neurons, according to a study published in Nature. 🧪 #Neuroscience

No. Keep them and donate them with all your other papers to a University so that one day there’ll be a Philip Ball Archive.

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

What I read in January and February occamstypewriter.org/cromercrox/2...

Flexible paths to multicellularity Close relatives of animals can become multicellular if distinct individuals join together or if dividing cells remain attached. A species has been found to use both mechanisms.

Thanks to reviewers who helped us considerably improve and extend the work (which is now very large indeed), and to the editor @endofthepier.bsky.social for shepherding this to publication. S Coelho and
J Lotharukpong wrote a News & Views with a cleverly punny title. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Look, I don't know if this is true... I just want it to be

I confess, right now the title "Scientific American" reads like an oxymoron. And it's not the publisher's fault.

A silly simple pen drawing of a paper-clip-shaped ammonite with eyes like those of Clippy the office assistant. A speech bubble reads "It looks like you're evolving. Would you like help?"

Yes yes yes

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

Sea-urchin spines generate electrical signals in flowing water The spines of sea urchins can generate a voltage when water moves around them — a phenomenon that could be used to design underwater flow sensors.

The spines of sea urchins can generate a voltage when water moves around them

go.nature.com/4kXv0yQ

There are still people who think climate change is a scam. Well, as Bobbi Flekman, the Hostess with the Mostest, once said - money talks. Bull$h1t walks.

Oooh!

An ancient mass grave reveals targeted killing of women and children in the Early Iron Age Nature Human Behaviour, Published online: 26 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41562-025-02400-5On discovering that one of the largest prehistoric mass graves of Europe predominantly held violently killed women and children, we used a battery of methods to investigate how this gender-selective and age-selective pattern reflected the strategic disruption of power networks and lineages in the Early Iron Age.

An ancient mass grave reveals targeted killing of women and children in the Early Iron Age

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...

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...

Clonal-aggregative multicellularity tuned by salinity in a choanoflagellate - Nature The choanoflagellate Choanoeca flexa forms motile and contractile cell monolayers purely clonally, purely aggregatively or through a combination of both processes depending on environmental condi...

Salinity tunes mode of multicellularity in a tidepool choanoflagellate www.nature.com/articles/s41... - paper in @nature.com

Argentine fossil rewrites evolutionary history of a baffling dinosaur clade - Nature A skeleton of the alvarezsauroid Alnashetri cerropoliciensis—representing a highly complete alvarezsauroid skeleton from South America—provides evidence on the evolution of the peculiar anatomy and mi...

The tiniest and most complete alvarezsaur from South America reveals many routes to miniaturisation in this intriguing dinosaur group www.nature.com/articles/s41... - paper in @nature.com

This is figure 1, which shows the anatomy of A. cerropoliciensis based on the new specimen MPCA Pv 377.

A paper in Nature presents a nearly complete fossil of a dinosaur from Argentina that would have weighed less than 1 kg when alive and may be the smallest known dinosaur from South America discovered to date. go.nature.com/4kVlgox #Paleosky 🧪

Hungry for Affirmation, Vulnerable to Scams: As a Writer, I Know the Feeling

All authors read this: if unsolicited praise sounds too good to be true, it probably is. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/b...

Do you: Have a strong interest in science? A passion for journalism and writing? Our paid 3-month internship might be for you! We are looking for talented candidates from all backgrounds, especially those traditionally underrepresented in publishing. Applications close 9 March 2026.

Calling all budding science writers!

Applications for our paid London-based internship, starting in June, are now open.

Deadline: 9 March 2026

Full info here: springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Spring...

#PaidInternship #Internship #Journalism

I for one welcome our Turdine Overlords.