Nick Fisher

Unpopular opinion, but it's by far my favourite of the series. Yes it's slow, but you have to let it draw you in, and go with it. It's also a perfectly good SF yarn. And the 70s retro future aesthetic is wonderful.

Ancient metagenomics reveals subglacial microbiomes driven by oxygen availability Beneath Earth's glaciers and ice sheets lies an aquatic realm where ice, water, rock, and microbial life interact, driving chemical reactions that can collectively influence the global carbon cycle, p...

What's living in the dark, isolated subglacial waters underneath the Antarctic ice sheet, and why should we care?

Read our new preprint to find out! It combines ancient DNA, microbiology, hydrology and geochemistry. 🦠🇦🇶🪨🧬

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Oof, he’d scarf them down in the privacy of his chambers, though.

I had a very good cup of tea and piece of cake there one morning a couple of decades back while waiting for a job interview. (Reader, I got the job).

Coco the cat enjoying an episode of Star Trek. (Don’t judge, it’s his favourite programme).

Evening!

It's all fun and games until you win a pig.

My great grandfather was the Cornish county surveyor in the 1930s, and was particularly proud of the camber of a stretch of road nearby. He would point it out to us every time we travelled along it, as I do now (quite rightly).

"During a reading of the poem, four audience members died of internal haemorrhaging and the President of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one of his own legs off. Grunthos was reported to have been "disappointed" by the poem's reception."

Thank you Simon. These two were mortal enemies until about a year ago, now they're inseparable.

Stray boys Mister and Edward Fleas dozing by the fire.

Sunday evening plans.

Good with lots of tea.

Dining on a superficially damaged chocolate caterpillar cake courtesy of a neighbour who installs factory machinery. I'm not sophisticated enough to decline it.

It's sad to see the paywall going up. I appreciate you need to raise money, but £144/year for a digital-only subscription? No thanks.

🍃 Save the date 🍃

Photosynthesis 2026 is coming to Liverpool!
📆 26 - 30th July 2026
📍 ACC Liverpool, UK

Join us - abstract submission is now open!

Find out more 👉 photosynthesis2026.com

#photosynthesis #plantscience #ICPR26

A cowpea study (genetic mapping of photosynthetic responses associated with cold stress) I was involved with a while ago. Good to see it in print!

A second class weekly ticket between East Finchley and Mile End. £3.65.

I found this one in a recent purchase. It’s not transferable.

Sally ❤️

Peter Falk as YOU KNOW WHO

I'm a big fan. It's a ridiculously heavy biennial cropper. Scruffy apples, sweet, lots of esters, popular with the village!

Yellow apples on a bare tree. Very sweet, esters.

Still a few scruffy apples around - Pitmaston Pineapple I think? - which at this time of year, and after a couple of hard frosts, taste more of pear than anything else.

Similarly, last night I dropped an extremely buttery piece of toast on my trousers, and it landed the right side up.

Memories of an antimalarial conference years ago when one decorated researcher accused another of being a 'mouse doctor'.

There's a Nick Drake tribute concert from 2010 on BBC4 at 2215 tonight, which might be your cup of tea.

No greater danger according to my nan than slightly damp clothing.

A malfunctioning cat.

He’s decided that the best way to negotiate the staircase is by sliding down on his head, and I say don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.

Welcoming in the cold snap with a spritz aperitivo, because why not, damn your eyes.

Definitely colder, the cats have moved in for the evening.

Alert for growlers from the settee.

Always good to read about a live beaked whale sighting (especially this one).

Yes I had one catch a nesting house martin a year or so ago. Not on, stick to pigeons!