@josiegz.bsky.social
Science journalist writing for Nature, Scientific American, National Geographic, Guardian Books, BBC Future, Washington Post Opinions, Prospect Magazine. Passionate reader. #PoetryIsMedicine #ClimateCrisis She/Her
I feel like I live in this poem.
"Sentimental Value" might not have the high concepts, whizzes and bangs of some of the other nominees, but in its place it offers something raw, real and satisfyingly grownup.
Why Sentimental Value should win best picture Oscar
(It probably won't, that's OK)
www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ma...
On the first day of the attacks on Iran, a school in Iran was bombed, killing more than 175. Nobody knows for sure what happened, and nobody wants to take responsibility.
Gary Marcus @garymarcus.bsky.social thinks there's a "good chance" that the incident stems from the use of AI.
A dangerous precedent is being set in Trump’s new Middle East war: targeting critical and highly vulnerable desalination plants that provide vital freshwater resources for the region.
Desalination plants have become critical for water supply here.
@thebulletin.org
thebulletin.org/2026/03/desa...
Two new scientific studies show the huge impact that sheep removal has had for nature across the 1500-hectare landscape, with plant diversity increased by over 40% and a five-fold increase in the number of butterflies in the absence of sheep.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Using strips of grass, harvest mice weave perfectly spherical nests in the stalk zone of vegetation.
Volunteers at Woodhouse Washlands nature reserve recorded 215 harvest mouse nests, a dramatic increase compared with previous monitoring years.
www.wildsheffield.com/record-harve...
Q&A: What is a quango?
Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation.
And what does that mean exactly?
It is an organisation that is funded by taxpayers, but not controlled directly by central government.
www.bbc.com/news/uk-poli...
Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods are off-limits to the public, says a study by Forest Research, a government-funded quango.
Many woodlands are off-limits as they are used for business interests such as pheasant shoots and timber plantations.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
(Washington, D.C., March 12, 2026) – In response to the Israeli military prosecutor's decision to drop charges against five soldiers accused of assaulting and raping a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman prison, DAWN issues the following statement:
@idoliven.com I highly recommend reading this interview with Mehrangiz Kar, a pioneering Iranian feminist:
"People hate this regime and are more angry at it than you can imagine, but we don't know whether the regime will change as a result of this war."
Gift link:
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
@idoliven.com I highly recommend reading this interview with Mehrangiz Kar, a pioneering Iranian feminist:
"People hate this regime and are more angry at it than you can imagine, but we don't know whether the regime will change as a result of this war."
Gift link:
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
I suspect that "toppling the regime" was never the goal (as per Pete Hegseth) but that cloaking these attacks in some sort of humanitarian urge was a useful PR device.
On the further bank the willows wept in perpetual lamentation, their hair about their shoulders.
~ Virginia Woolf, from ‘A Room of One’s Own’ (1929)
#Photography, the gardens of Le Clos Lucé in Amboise, France, the mansion where Leonardo da Vinci lived the final three years of his life.
Alex Karp’s message is loud and clear: My technology will take political capital away from one of your greatest enemies—liberal women with degrees—and give one of your favorite demographics to patronize—working-class men—more political power to transfer to you.
Israel Is 'Mowing the Lawn' in Iran
Israel's bombardment of Iran resembles its previous wars against Hamas & Hezbollah: a form of perpetual conflict management which can never achieve the 'total victory' of its most delusional propagandists: @haaretzcom.bsky.social
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Was in parliament yesterday talking about how the manosphere = sales funnel. They aren’t just content creators; they are masculinity entrepreneurs - businessmen who profit from making young men feel inadequate
“Israel is not willing or able to capitalise on its dramatic military achievements by trying to move to the more political aspect of building new alliances,” another former senior [Israeli] official said. “I am fearful we will still be stuck in this place.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
Just realized that my BlueSky feed is a curious mix of war, death, air pollution, climate crisis, human rights violations, as well as mating penguins gifting pebbles, possums-thought-extinct but actually alive, Harry-and-Meghan, books, cats and oh here's some pink apple blossom.
Yay, amazing!
I lived in the first century of world wars.
Most mornings I would be more or less insane [...]
Slowly I would get to pen and paper,
Make my poems for others unseen and unborn.
--Muriel Rukeyser
www.poetryfoundation.org/video/146443...
Some US officials are growing pessimistic about the lack of a clear strategy to finish the war. But they have been careful not to express that directly to the president, who has repeatedly declared that the military operation is a complete success.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/u...
oh dear
The deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime, the UN has said.
Ukraine says almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
“Of course I want to go home and be with my family,” adds Pelayo. “But there is no job that will [match] my salary here.
“My daughter now is asking me – they saw the news in the Philippines – she’s asking me mama why you don’t go home,” says Pelayo. “[I asked her] pray for me.”
Joycee Pelayo is among 2.4 million Filipinos living across the Middle East, who moved in pursuit of higher wages and a chance to give a better life to families back home, but now find themselves living with a daily barrage of drone and missile strikes.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
Some cancers may be less common among vegetarians
A 15-year study monitoring several cohorts in four countries found that individuals who abstain from eating meat have a lower risk of developing multiple myeloma, pancreatic, breast, prostate and kidney cancer.
www.lemonde.fr/en/environme...
Toad of Toad Hall
London, San Francisco and Beijing are among 19 global cities that have achieved “remarkable reductions” in air pollution, analysis has found.
Report highlights London’s restrictions on dirty vehicles and Warsaw’s shift away from coal and wood home heating.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The buildings were, clearly, marked. They struck them, anyway.
“blue shield signs – denoting historical treasures under the 1954 Hague convention for the protection of cultural objects in war – had been put on the roofs of important buildings.”
“It took us decades to build democracy in all these countries,” said Santiago Canton. “The Bukele model that these Latin American politicians are lauding implies its destruction.”
Study: El Salvador’s mass arrest policy may have led to crimes against humanity.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...