Lara Williams

Here’s how TikTok ‘power users’ end up scrolling 4 hours a day or more Washington Post reporters analyzed data from over 800 TikTok users to learn how the app turns people into power users, some of whom spend hours per day scrolling.

we're so cooked www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/int...

Brassica oleracea / Brassica oleracea / Brassica oleracea

Plan to Reflect Sunlight to Power Solar Panels at Night Upsets Astronomers Reflect Orbital aims to launch its first of a planned 4,000 satellites into orbit next year. Scientists worry that it would be “ruinous” for research.

Whisper: Maybe we should stop messing with the radiative balance of Earth.

Hey Colossal - spend some of your money on saving this real bird!

I wrote about this for @opinion.bloomberg.com.

A key point: Cloud seeding can only enhance whatever moisture is already there. UAE officials say that it can increase rainfall rates by about 10-30% a year. So even if it played a role, a huge amount of rain was due to fall anyway

Without Jane Goodall, Chimps Need New Champions — Us There’s probably no single person who has done as much for chimpanzees as the late Jane Goodall. One of the great British exponents of conservation — the other being the esteemed 99-year-old David Att...

Despite Jane Goodall's incredible efforts, the great apes are still in dire straits.

Humans are eating chimpanzees to death, and killing them with our viruses

free link from @opinion.bloomberg.com

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Without Jane Goodall, Chimps Need New Champions — Us There’s probably no single person who has done as much for chimpanzees as the late Jane Goodall. One of the great British exponents of conservation — the other being the esteemed 99-year-old David Att...

Jane Goodall did so much for chimpanzees. Perhaps most important was the way she helped us see that our closest relatives were deeply intelligent, sentient beings with emotions and unique personalities

🎁free to read via @opinion.bloomberg.com

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

Bloody solar panels, cluttering up the countryside and preventing desertification while providing clean energy and growing food.

Mrs R: "There was a woman on the ward today who didn't want to take paracetamol. We've had to explain that we're not giving it to her because she's got a fever and we want her to feel better, but because she's got a fever and if we don't get her temperature down then her baby is going to die."

Data Geologists Are Key to Making the Energy Transition Work A shortage of workers with the right skills risks undermining the installation of greener power sources.

While Britain's need for engineers, welders and electricians is well documented, less has been said about the rising demand for expertise in geology and geophysics

via @opinion.bloomberg.com (free link!) www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Trump’s Tylenol Briefing Peddled Junk Science Parents deserve answers about autism — not debunked theories and misinformation.

Instead of the promised "answer to autism," Trump offered families distorted science, false hope, and dangerous medical advice. My latest @opinion.bloomberg.com (gift link):

Trump Tells Pregnant Women to ‘Fight Like Hell’ Not to Take Tylenol The president has given autism the MAHA treatment.

"This is based on what I feel"

Just what America (and the world needs): Vibes-based advice www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...

Is Trump on Ozempic? If so, it's done wonders for his ankles. Fair play.

Real reporting: Is this London's busiest Lime bike parking space? www.londoncentric.media/p/london-und...

And, if this one space contains 415 bikes, HOW MANY BIKES IS LIME HIDING FROM US?

is there life on Mars? maybe. is it puppies? definitely not. Earth forever

😂

cannot stress how crazy it is to say no to a solar farm because of a coal-mining related disaster

now do one for EVs!

"My school saves thousands of pounds every year from those solar panels." The TUC directly takes on Reform, a party funded by the fossil fuel Industry. Posted on IG by tradesunioncongress

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Prep With natural disasters increasing, stockpiling food and water and packing a grab-bag of necessities makes sense.

⚠️You received the emergency alert on Sunday, but do you know how to prepare for a crisis?

As I discovered, waiting until the alarm sounds is too late www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The finest response I've seen so far.

Mosquito-borne viruses surge in a warming Europe Chikungunya cases break records in France; West Nile virus appears near Rome

Welcome to the Global Climate Crisis

Mosquito borne diseases surge in Europe as temperatures warms creating optimal conditions for the insects

www.science.org/content/arti...

You guys see where this is going? Right?

Tidal power would be great -- reliable renewable energy, with the benefit of providing flood defences, too www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

percentage point change in selected daily activities between 2019 and 2024 -- chatting down 12.2%, playing down 20.2%, reading down 15.6%, singing down 20.9% and painting/drawing down 15.8%

engagement in activities by parents of children aged 0 to 5 2019 to 2024. chatting, playing, reading, singing, painting/drawing all have seen declines

while researching this article I came across the saddest chart -- declines in parental engagement in chatting, playing, singing, reading, drawing with under fives.

I'm sure most of this is down to things out of control of the parents -- financial/time pressures.

via @literacy-trust.bsky.social

PISA mean reading scores for denmark, oecd average, norway, germany, france, uk. all have seen recent declines

A humble book doesn’t stand a chance against the modern internet’s sophisticated algorithms -- that's now showing up in reading performance and enjoyment around the world

🎁 via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Welsh Rugby Union to propose halving professional sides to two The Welsh Rugby Union is poised to unveil a plan that would cut half of the Welsh professional sides, leaving Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets under threat.

My considered analysis on this is that, on the one hand, the WRU can get fucked, while on the other hand, the WRU can stick it up their arse. You could make a compelling case for either.

www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-...

I think, sadly, that's a feature not a bug of the legal personhood system. If a company gets sued, it's the company not the exec that gets sued etc etc