Jane Tinkler

The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM In one email, an AI researcher suggested it’s “hard to be brilliant if you are worrying if you look fat or why another woman hates you.”

“We have this narrative that explicit misogyny is something from the ’50s and ’60s" said Lauren Aulet, a neuroscientist. “I think this made clear that explicit misogyny is still out there in science and in academia, it’s just perhaps behind closed doors.”

19thnews.org/2026/02/epst...

One in six couples experience infertility (that's couples, so not counting the single people who struggle). So that's at least one in six votes he's automatically losing.

Or maybe there will be a special 'it's not my fault' discount on the barren tax?

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!

"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."

Good impact narratives must connect to our everyday lives - LSE Impact Research impact is often communicated in abstract and bureaucratic language. To be meaningful it needs to connect to peoples' everyday lives.

Good impact narratives must connect to our everyday lives.

I mean, it's not rocket science, but it still seems to be for the majority of research (that is of benefit to the public)

@lseimpactblog.bsky.social
blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

New Partnership between The Conversation and PSA - Political Studies Association NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE CONVERSATION AND THE POLITICAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION We are pleased to announce the world’s leading publisher of research-based news and analysis, The Conversation, and The…

*PSA NEWS* 📢 We are pleased to announce a new partnership with The Conversation @uk.theconversation.com, with a commitment to working together over the next 3 years to achieve shared goals. The Conversation will be our media partner for PSA26 annual conference.
➡️ Full details

If you were looking for an exposition of what British values *could* be you could do a lot worse than Ian McKellen wielding Shakespeare like a rapier.

Individual journalists might thrive, but the press as a collective actor - and as understood in constitutions - cannot survive without a minimum of professional solidarity.

Don’t just ask the next question after yet another obscene attack on a female reporter.

Reminder that "jaywalking" was literally made up by american car manufacturers to shift the blame for accidents from drivers to pedestrians. "Jay" was a slang term meaning "idiot" or "rube".

Some initial reactions to the 'published on a Sunday afternoon' letter from the CEO of UKRI. 🧵

www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

are those freedoms in room with us right now

"The idea that trans inclusion at the ponds is somehow imposed against the wishes of users simply does not survive contact with reality. Londoners have looked at the evidence... and overwhelmingly said: this works, this is fair, and this reflects our values."

celord.com/2026/01/29/h...

@404media.co The fascinating @BBCRadio4 #Vastaamo scandal of therapeutic data theft @JennyKleeman is not a one off. Chat & Ask AI leaked data on #mentalhealth & #suicide.

www.404media.co/massive-ai-c...

www.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/ubertherapy

@brisunipress.bsky.social

From the Chartists to the suffragettes, and from the civil rights movement to the anti-apartheid struggle, every great protest movement has found strength in song.

There is extraordinary power in music. More than one injustice has fallen before a hail of ballads.

I know most people find procedure dull as dishwater but I honestly don’t think the media does the public any favours by continually describing the rules of our legislature as if they’re kept in a wizard’s tower guarded by an enchanted rat

“Why am I so sad today?” I ask myself after staring at my little handheld sadness machine and clicking all the sad little things that will definitely make me sad

work with me and @drdaveobrien.bsky.social as part of @creativepec.bsky.social! we're recruiting a postdoc to work on the arts, culture and heritage sectors using quantitative methods. please share, please feel free to email me directly with any Qs! jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Sheffiel...

PSA26 Keynote Speakers - Political Studies Association Helen Margetts is Professor of Society and the Internet at the University of Oxford, and Senior Advisor and Visiting Professor at LSE’s Data Science

*PSA 2026 Annual Conference* #PSA26 opening keynote: ‘AI for Democracy’ with Prof. Helen Margetts OBE FBA, Prof. of Society and the Internet @ox.ac.uk
📆 Monday 30 March 2026
🚨 Early booking deadline extended to 2 February
➡️ Register online

like big tobacco funding cancer research

Again, cutting through the hoopla about AI for mental health is @survivingwork.bsky.social: "And there’s the rub. The people most likely to turn to this form of support are the most likely to be harmed by it." See her book Uber Therapy @ubertherapy.bsky.social

www.survivingwork.org/surviving-wo...

An obviously AI-generated figure with AI slop and fake text all over it, recently published in Scientific Reports.

Since AI slop is again all over Scientific Reports, a thread on the economics of grey-zone publishing.

Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this?

Background readings:
Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy

oh man, lettuce truthers :)

Covid inquiry live: ‘Inexcusable’ delays under Johnson led to 23,000 deaths Lockdowns may have been avoided if Boris Johnson’s government had acted faster, damning report finds

Having Johnson & Cummings in Downing Street when Covid struck was, just like Brexit, an entirely avoidable disaster caused largely by utterly appalling journalism. And now exactly the same clowns, arses & bigots with bylines are rolling out the red carpet for Farage.
www.thetimes.com/article/1b15...

Key points include:

High exit rates among carers and early to mid-career workers: Professionals aged 35 and under are significantly more likely to leave & Those with caregiving responsibilities - often women - face disproportionate challenges of low pay, out-of-hours work and limited flexibility.

Trump says he will sue BBC for at least $1bn over Panorama edit The US president confirmed he intends to sue the broadcaster for at least $1bn over the Panorama edit of a 2021 speech.

Buckle up - because this now amounts to a direct and deliberate attack on our country and its cultural sovereignty. Which side our politicians take - Trump's or the BBC's - over the coming days and weeks will speak volumes about their patriotism.

Trump threatens $1bn legal action against BBC over 6 January speech edit The BBC chair earlier apologises for the

The idea of a $1 billion lawsuit from Donald Trump is utter nonsense

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...

Cancer of the ovary, fallopian tube or peritoneum usually causes symptoms that are similar to common non-cancerous conditions. This can make it difficult to diagnose early. If you have any of these symptoms or get these symptoms regularly, your GP should offer you cancer tests: • a long-lasting bloated or swollen tummy • feeling full quickly when you eat • loss of appetite • pain in the lower tummy area or back • peeing (passing urine) more often than usual • needing to pee urgently (feeling like you cannot hold on). Other symptoms may include: • a change in your normal bowel function (diarrhoea or constipation) • weight loss for no obvious reason • unexplained or extreme tiredness (fatigue) • vaginal bleeding after the menopause. If you are aged 50 or older and develop symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) for the first time, you should also have tests. IBS can cause bloating and changes in bowel function. But it does not usually start after the age of 50.

There’s no screening for ovarian cancer and it’s really difficult to spot: you can’t squidge your ovaries in the shower to check for lumps. Also it’s very good at masquerading at other things, like IBS and diverticulitis.

Please take a look at this list of symptoms - and share if you can.

Most British young men reject the far right - UK in a changing Europe Emilia Belknap and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte explain their analysis on the demographics of Reform UK voters in the UK. They argue that while the dominant narrative is that young men are the most likely ...

"The data shows no evidence to suggest that younger men are more inclined than other demographic groups to support the British far right"

✍️ @turnbulldugarte.com & @emiliabelknap.bsky.social analyse the demographics of Reform voters and argue the gender gap is marginal

ukandeu.ac.uk/most-british...

This is disastrous; hospices do such important work, not only to give people a good death, but to provide pain management and other services to people with terminal conditions. The staff in hospices work so, so hard and the fact that these institutions depend on charity to operate is a scandal.

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Elon Musk is once again inciting violence on British streets because the government has taught him there are literally no consequences for doing so.

They even carry on using his far-right social network to promote government policy as he does it. The absence of backbone is *astounding*.