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Matthew Cobb

@matthewcobb.bsky.social

7.6K followers 910 following 3.5K posts

Professor Emeritus (University of Manchester), writes on biology, history of science & French Resistance. Biography of Francis Crick, out in Nov 2025. Link to publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8258-4913

orcid.org

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Reposted by Matthew Cobb

David Craven @davidjcraven.bsky.social · 7h

Every country with English expat populations should retaliate.

András Forgács W @andraswf.bsky.social · 11h

Well this will certainly do it www.gov.uk/government/n...

Migrants will be required to pass A Level standard of English

Migrants will be required to pass tough new English language requirements under a law introduced in Parliament today.

www.gov.uk

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Akshat Rathi @akshatrathi.bsky.social · 6h

China's gasoline demand peaked in 2021. www.iea.org/commentaries...

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Hildur Knútsdóttir @hildur.bsky.social · 6h

Do you remember the book thief? Now Iceland seems to have a homegrown one, who – if he can't phish unpublished manuscripts from authors – will then taunt them with passages from their stolen book.

But! Plot twist! Those emails are sent from an address impersonating Bernardini, the original thief.

Óútgefnum handritum stolið: Kallaði rithöfundinn skíthaus - Vísir

Á síðustu mánuðum hafa óútgefin handrit Þórdísar Helgadóttur og Nínu Ólafsdóttur lent í greipum bókaþjófs. Þetta er ekki í fyrsta skipti sem þjófurinn lætur til skarar skríða en ólíkt áður lætur hann ...

www.visir.is

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Moose Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 16h

www.worldofmoose.com/collections/...

Cartoon of a plesiosaur. Seen from the side, the top line of its shape is echoed in ripples up the page, reminiscent of the artwork for the Joy Division album Unknown Pleasure. Caption: Unknown Plesiosaurs

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 13h

Name that city!

A humongous flyover with a pedestrian walkway underneath it

The back of a giant (I mean huge) cat trying to get onto a chair, all of which half blocks a passsgeway

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Brian G Weber Photography @briangweber.com · 13h

More lovely critters from a September night dive.

#underwaterPhotography #squid #fish #nightdiving #scuba #olympus #macro

Longfin squid showing off its hover skills

A winter flounder shot at f/3.5 to produce that blurry background

Northern pipefish shot at f/3.5 for a shallow depth of field

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 1d

A stunning 2,000 year-old Roman blue glass amphoriskos.

📷 Getty Museum www.getty.edu/art/collecti...

#Archaeology

Getty Museum photo of a translucent, dark blue, two-handled, glass flask (amphoriskos) against a grey background. The free-blown body is bulbous in shape, with a narrow neck with a flattened rim. The two handles were added afterwards and attach to the body and mouth. The handle on the right has been attached slightly higher up on the body than the other side. Height 10.5 cm. There is some incrustation on the interior of the glass.

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 1d

A terrific book!

stevegoldca.bsky.social @stevegoldca.bsky.social · 2d

Great science writing. 5 stars.
www.goodreads.com/review/show/... #TheTreeofLife #Edelweiss @maxjtelford.bsky.social

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 1d

Trafford Park I guess.

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Slightly out of focus @normandy661944.bsky.social · 1d

Building a Beaufort Fighter - Women's Work in the War (Other than the Services), by Ethel Gabain, 1941.

IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1536)

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Dr Dan Jones @hookean.bsky.social · 2d

That little blue dot is a young exoplanet!
#iTeachPhysics
#Science 🧪
#Astronomy 🔭

www.space.com/astronomy/ex...

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 2d

Well Riot Women on BBC1 is *very* good.

Reposted by Matthew Cobb

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 2d

Ladybird book endpapers design.
From the 2007 book published by Penguin called ‘Boys and Girls’

The endpapers design is made up of a series of different ladybird book covers laid out neatly in an 8 x 7 grid

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Jeannine Baker @nenieb.bsky.social · 2d

Fantastic piece by Kate Murphy responding to the devastating change of policy at the @BBC Written Archives Centre, which will make it impossible to undertake new independent research using the collection. cstonline.net/defending-th... #mediahistory

DEFENDING THE WAC: RECOVERING THE INVISIBLE WOMEN OF THE BBC by Kate Murphy

My first visit to the BBC’s Written Archives Centre was in 2002. I was working as a producer on Woman’s Hourand had applied for a three-month attachment to what was then the Diversity Centre…

cstonline.net

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Stephen Graham @stephengraham.bsky.social · 2d

Should be Bluesky's tagline.

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 2d

it's the americans who are most exhausting

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 2d

Too bonkers; didn’t read.

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Threeoffour. @beckitoo.bsky.social · 2d

A mandatory duck in pastels I did a few weeks ago. I'm really pleased with my progress in pastels. Practice practice practice.
#mandarinduck #duck #bird #riverbird #birdart #natureart #riverlife #wildlife #pastelmat #pastelart #artist #pastellist #ukartist #pastelpencils #panpastels #drake

A colourful male mandarin duck facing left on a river with it's colours reflecting beneath him.

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Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 4d

In honor of World Squid Day, here's a Moroteuthopsis longimana fr #SouthSandwichIslands. International cephalopod awareness days happen each year in Oct — we celebrate octopuses on the 8th, in honor of their 8 arms, and squid on the 10th, to acknowledge their ten appendages (8 arms and 2 tentacles).

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Chris Gug @gugunderwater.bsky.social · 2d

First (and only) time seeing this species - and this doesn’t appear to be a larval-stage - perhaps a juvenile, just post-metamorphosis.

#soapfish #larvalsoapfish #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #blackwaterphotography #chrisgug #gug #gugunderwater

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Terumbu @terumbudivers.com · Feb 17

A friend
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #giliair #trawangan #holidays #sealife #marinelife #moray #eel #padi #ocean #Indonésia

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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 2d

"I've just come from Timbuctoo on my horse, Rumpelstiltskin."

"Your horse is called Rumpelstiltskin??"

"That's right. I've been through the desert on a horse with gnome-name."

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Gaia Vince @wanderinggaia.bsky.social · 2d

Agree. There is a lack of deep discussion on TV across all culture from music to literature to science. (except for a couple of periods of history, which are well catered)

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 2d

I think one reason we have an elitism divide with the arts now has a lot to do with the reduction of proper documentary and discussion from TV. There used to be something on every single night like that.

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LeithMotive @leithmotive.bsky.social · 2d

The 5 year old told me she saw some small flies go into a hole at the back of the cupboard under the stairs and I should go in and have a look, so I crawled in and she's shut and bolted to door behind me. I have about 5 hours of battery life and the BBC iPlayer installed. More fool her.

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Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 2d

Ah not the same. No doubt we will bump into each other - it's a small place.

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Matt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 3d

Octopus track chemosensory plumes to find food

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

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