Sarah Briggs

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Number of US-style ‘battering ram’ pickup trucks on UK roads has nearly doubled in a decade Exclusive: Campaigners say ‘menacing vehicles’ are putting children at risk owing to their large front blind zones

Important analysis by @cleancitiescampaign.org on the rise of US-style pickups in the UK. There isn't a sudden need for these vehicles; this is a lifestyle choice. Large pickups are more dangerous, more polluting & have no place in urban areas.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Applications are open for @acmedsci.bsky.social's Starter Grants!

As a current awardee, the funding is helping me generate data, build research independence, and develop my networks.

The @acmedsci.bsky.social team are also hugely helpful and supportive. Highly recommend applying!

See links 👇

Dr. Joan Schiller & Dr. Leticia Nogueira: Cancer and Climate | Ep. 05 In this episode of The Oncology Insights Podcast, Dr. Abbie Begnaud speaks with Dr. Joan Schiller, Co-Founder of Oncology Advocates United for Climate and Health – International, and Dr. Leticia Nogue...

🎙️ OUCH-International members Dr. Joan Schiller and Dr. Leticia Nogueira discuss how climate change is impacting cancer risk, care delivery, and patient outcomes on The Oncology Insights Podcast.

Listen: www.wisenetix.co/blog/Cancer-...
#ClimateHealth #Oncology

‘A win for nature and people’: Elizabeth line soil used to create Essex bird haven A record 39,000 birds are overwintering on Wallasea island wetlands thanks to soil transported from London tunnels

Happy nature news! Always worth posting!

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Sadly not there 😭 gutted to be missing it!

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

Excited to be in Rotterdam for #PHAM25. Fab train journey here (frantically finishing my poster), and loving the waterways and bike lanes. So many fantastic speakers, it’s going to be a great week!

#academictravel #planetaryhealth

a dirt road going through a desert landscape with mountains in the background ALT: a dirt road going through a desert landscape with mountains in the background

Climate and food scientists: Hey everyone, here's a massive report showing how we need to make radical changes to our diet to avoid environmental catastrophe, but if we did it we could have amazing health benefits!

UK media:

A herd of sheep move across a marshy bridge.

yeah we're into LLMs (Large Lamb-bridge Models)

Public health shouldn’t be centred around individual behaviour change. It should be focused on changing the wider commercial, social, environmental & ultimately political determinants of health. Behaviour change will naturally come when healthy behaviours are facilitated by those structural changes.

Results are in! 💚 @nnuh.bsky.social #GreenTeam saved £481k & 109,297 kgCO2e 🌍
🏆 Winner: Hand Unit — Greener Surgery
✨ Highly commended: ED — Slow IV push antibiotics
Sustainable care = better care for patients & staff 🙌 #SusQI #NetZeroNHS

Very excited to be joining @reubencollege.bsky.social as a Research Fellow in Environmental Change. Can't wait to meet and learn from colleagues and students from diverse disciplines, and feeling very lucky to be part of such a forward looking and vibrant college community. 🎉

Join us and @gchuoxford.bsky.social on 24th September @kelloggoxford.bsky.social for our event, The Future of Low Carbon Health and Care.
Further information and registration can be found here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future...

Thousands of tonnes of toxic landfill liquid added to sewage and spread on English farms Exclusive: Leachate is tankered to treatment works where it mixes with sewage and industrial effluent

Outdated rules, minimal checks… feels like a recurrent story for UK environment, with predictable impacts on nature and human health

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

And potentially reducing environmental impact in addition I would presume… radiology has significant emissions related to machine use and data storage, amongst other factors. There’s a real need to rationalise this, would be great to see in this editorial/paper…
#sustainablehealthcare #radiology

Image shows nine freshly collected conkers, some in their pods and some shelled, shining in the sun on a plain cardboard background

Love this time of year, when every run is punctuated by stops to collect these lovelies. Anyone else’s pockets full at the end of every outing?!

Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study Politicians talk about being pragmatic on climate change to avoid hard decisions.

Happy to share our new research on UK climate politics 🚨

We found Members of Parliament (MPs) use the language of climate "pragmatism" to avoid rapid change. It risks becoming a new discourse of delay.

More detail below and in 🧵

1/
theconversation.com/politicians-...

England 1-1 Spain (England win 3-1 on pens): Women’s Euro 2025 final – live reaction Minute-by-minute report: The Lionesses remain European champions after beating Spain on penalties

I want a Hampton shirt 🥳 whoop whoop

www.theguardian.com/football/liv...

Should healthcare professionals include aspects of environmental sustainability in clinical decision-making? A systematic review of reasons - BMC Medical Ethics Healthcare systems worldwide are large emitters of greenhouse gases and contribute to the worsening climate crisis. Attempts to reduce emissions are already being made at various levels of the healthc...

bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Green Decision Making from an ethical perspective: here's some systematic overview:

We suggest that without considering public perspectives, co-benefits approaches will over-simplify difficult trade-offs. Involving patients and the public in the development of co-benefits approaches, with transparency around assumptions made, would ensure that policies are relevant and build trust.

We found that win-win solutions were appealing to participants, but when they tried to apply them to healthcare scenarios they noted ambiguity and tensions, and were sceptical about motivations. "Benefit" was highly subjective, based on personal experience, need, and expectations around care.

UK Public Focus Groups on Healthcare's Environmental Impacts: A Critical Analysis of Co‐Benefits Approaches The urgency of addressing climate change has accelerated the need for healthcare to mitigate its associated environmental harms. Co-benefits approaches are being used in policymaking to frame mitigat...

New paper! We take a critical look at co-benefits approaches to environmentally sustainable healthcare, based on a series of 12 focus groups we held with members of the public across the UK. Full paper now Sociology of Health & Illness. Key findings 👇

doi.org/10.1111/1467...

Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan among 380 writers and groups to call Gaza war ‘genocide’ Letter also signed by Hanif Kureishi and Russell T Davies urges ceasefire and unrestricted distribution of aid Three hundred and eighty writers and organisations including Zadie Smith, Ian McEwan, Russell T Davies, Hanif Kureishi, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and George Monbiot have signed a letter stating that the Israeli government’s war in Gaza is genocidal and calling for an immediate ceasefire. “The use of the words ‘genocide’ or ‘acts of genocide’ to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations,” reads the letter, which was also signed by William Dalrymple, Jeanette Winterson, Brian Eno, Kate Mosse, Irvine Welsh and Elif Shafak. Continue reading...

Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan among 380 writers and groups to call Gaza war ‘genocide’

We still have a few spaces for our event with OxCODE, 'New vaccines that aim to prevent cancer: Starting the conversation', taking place on Monday 2nd June at St Anne's College, Oxford. Details & schedule can be found here: cpm.ox.ac.uk/event/cancer...
Email cpm@well.ox.ac.uk to book your place.

If you're interested in #sustainablehealthcare and responsible pharmaceuticals, and in Oxford on 12 June, this will be a really interesting discussion.

Hopefully see you there @sarashaw.bsky.social, thanks for the heads up!

Really looking forward to this tomorrow! If you’d like to come follow the link below (in person, Oxford)

#genomics #geneticcounselling #denovo

We’re looking for 2 new Junior Research Fellows to join the @cpmoxford.bsky.social team from September. If you’re an early career academic (incl Dphils) interested in supporting the development of equitable and effective personalised medicine check out the advert. Deadline 16th May.

Labour not protecting people, economy and homes from climate crisis, watchdog says Plans to protect UK from extreme weather are inadequate, Climate Change Committee says in scathing assessment

On the wards this week, medicines exposed to extreme temperatures above optimum storage conditions because the 1960s hospital buildings are not adapted to a changing climate.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...