Matthew Cobb
@matthewcobb.bsky.social
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
Link to publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8258-4913
To Southwold to spend a wet weekend by the sea with @profhelenward.bsky.social and our partners. And their dog.
November 28, 2025 at 7:55 AM
To Southwold to spend a wet weekend by the sea with @profhelenward.bsky.social and our partners. And their dog.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
wahhhh this is actually a good analogy
ChatGPT’s signature writing style is everywhere now, and I hate it. It reminds me of when we tried mixing all the beverages at the soda fountain in middle school. We didn’t actually create the perfect drink, we just made a cloying monstrosity that lost everything good about its constituent parts.
November 27, 2025 at 7:57 PM
wahhhh this is actually a good analogy
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Dig the music centre under the telly (*not* a DVD player)
“It can be nice and cosy at home during the cold weather” (1979)
Artist: David Palmer
Artist: David Palmer
November 27, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Dig the music centre under the telly (*not* a DVD player)
I love this -- analysis of a 1531 manual to find traces of past ingredients. Perfect for a day of cookery 🥧
It’s the first time that proteomics has been used to analyze Renaissance recipes. The project demonstrates an innovative way to study medicine and the circulation and use of medical recipes from the past. cen.acs.org/analytical-c... #chemsky 🧪
November 27, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio
GitHub - alanrogers/popgen: A course on population genetics
A course on population genetics. Contribute to alanrogers/popgen development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
The domestic cat may be a far more recent arrival to Europe than previously thought, a new Science study. finds. The results offer new insight into one of humanity’s most enigmatic animal companions and identify North Africa as the cradle of the modern housecat.
Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S
Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S
November 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The domestic cat may be a far more recent arrival to Europe than previously thought, a new Science study. finds. The results offer new insight into one of humanity’s most enigmatic animal companions and identify North Africa as the cradle of the modern housecat.
Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S
Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S
Another Labour shitehawk.
Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm hired by company linked to Chinese military
Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm hired by company linked to Chinese military
Global Counsel signed $3m contract with WuXi AppTec in Europe months after it was named in US national security drive
Global Counsel, the lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson, was brought in to advise the Chinese pharmaceutical company WuXi AppTec in Europe months after it was targeted in a US national security crackdown.
WuXi AppTec signed a $3m contract with Global Counsel last year to deal with the international fallout from claims that it had links with the Chinese military and was implicated in human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Another Labour shitehawk.
How can you mention this fabulous record without pointing out that the cover of the LP was literally covered in sandpaper, so it would fuck up the records on either side. Will the digital version be similarly clad?
The Durutti Column: The Return of the Durutti Column review – fragile classic that echoes far beyond its time
The delicate experimentation of the band’s debut may not have chimed with the post-punk 1980s, but its durability makes this deluxe reissue thoroughly deserved
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:55 PM
How can you mention this fabulous record without pointing out that the cover of the LP was literally covered in sandpaper, so it would fuck up the records on either side. Will the digital version be similarly clad?
Why is Peter Kyle in the Labour Party? First he backs AI companies stealing our work, now he removes day-one protection against unfair dismissal from the new workers’ rights bill. He is, as they say, a shitehawk.
November 27, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Why is Peter Kyle in the Labour Party? First he backs AI companies stealing our work, now he removes day-one protection against unfair dismissal from the new workers’ rights bill. He is, as they say, a shitehawk.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
9️⃣0️⃣ Yvonne Barr (1932–2016) 🇮🇪 #womeninSTEM Everyone has heard of the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), which causes mononucleosis. But did you know that the virus was discovered in 1964 by Yvonne Barr, an irish virologist, and Michael Epstein ?
www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/o...
November 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM
9️⃣0️⃣ Yvonne Barr (1932–2016) 🇮🇪 #womeninSTEM Everyone has heard of the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), which causes mononucleosis. But did you know that the virus was discovered in 1964 by Yvonne Barr, an irish virologist, and Michael Epstein ?
www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/o...
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
This beautiful ant-mimicking mantis (Acontista festae) was one of the first finds on our survey at Emerald Arch in Ecuador! The adult may not look much like an ant, but its babies will fool you. Acontista nymphs sit on flower heads, so it seems that ants and flying pollinators are their main prey.
November 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
This beautiful ant-mimicking mantis (Acontista festae) was one of the first finds on our survey at Emerald Arch in Ecuador! The adult may not look much like an ant, but its babies will fool you. Acontista nymphs sit on flower heads, so it seems that ants and flying pollinators are their main prey.
This is why Francis Crick built his house in Borrego Springs in the 1990s. The colours, the wildness, the smells of the desert.
One more view from an earlier storm that led to this intense sunrise in Anza-Borrego Desert (Photo: Sicco Rood).
November 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
This is why Francis Crick built his house in Borrego Springs in the 1990s. The colours, the wildness, the smells of the desert.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Spotted in the Deansgate branch of @waterstones.bsky.social today: The Philosophy of Puddings by Yours Truly & Much Ado About Cooking by @mrssbilton.bsky.social !
November 27, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Spotted in the Deansgate branch of @waterstones.bsky.social today: The Philosophy of Puddings by Yours Truly & Much Ado About Cooking by @mrssbilton.bsky.social !
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Hi @gordoncorera.bsky.social @matthewcobb.bsky.social @adamweymouth.bsky.social
@edithmayhall.bsky.social @carol4olivefarm.bsky.social
you're in our great line-up of books 2026! Please spread the word our programme is now complete and may be viewed here: campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/e...
@edithmayhall.bsky.social @carol4olivefarm.bsky.social
you're in our great line-up of books 2026! Please spread the word our programme is now complete and may be viewed here: campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/e...
November 27, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Hi @gordoncorera.bsky.social @matthewcobb.bsky.social @adamweymouth.bsky.social
@edithmayhall.bsky.social @carol4olivefarm.bsky.social
you're in our great line-up of books 2026! Please spread the word our programme is now complete and may be viewed here: campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/e...
@edithmayhall.bsky.social @carol4olivefarm.bsky.social
you're in our great line-up of books 2026! Please spread the word our programme is now complete and may be viewed here: campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/e...
No Amazon, I don’t think so.
November 27, 2025 at 11:19 AM
No Amazon, I don’t think so.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
@rhodri.biz I have had an Asylums in Jerusalem earworm for the last week. I blame you. (Well actually I blame Green but you know what I mean).
November 27, 2025 at 7:50 AM
@rhodri.biz I have had an Asylums in Jerusalem earworm for the last week. I blame you. (Well actually I blame Green but you know what I mean).
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
i’m so happy for him
November 26, 2025 at 10:48 PM
i’m so happy for him
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
#ToucanButtoftheDay
Something away from Bijagua (finally!), a Fiery-billed Aracari (Pteroglossus frantzii) at San Vito, Puntarenas #CostaRica
#toucans #birds #nature
Something away from Bijagua (finally!), a Fiery-billed Aracari (Pteroglossus frantzii) at San Vito, Puntarenas #CostaRica
#toucans #birds #nature
November 27, 2025 at 2:35 AM
#ToucanButtoftheDay
Something away from Bijagua (finally!), a Fiery-billed Aracari (Pteroglossus frantzii) at San Vito, Puntarenas #CostaRica
#toucans #birds #nature
Something away from Bijagua (finally!), a Fiery-billed Aracari (Pteroglossus frantzii) at San Vito, Puntarenas #CostaRica
#toucans #birds #nature
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
November 27, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Read this thread
I am really proud that eLife have published this paper. It is a very nice paper, but you need to also read the reviews to understand why! 1/n
"The inevitability and superfluousness of cell types in spatial cognition". Intuitive cell types are found in random artificial networks using the same selection criteria neuroscientists use with actual data. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre... 1/2
November 26, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Read this thread
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Been researching this man, Hezekiah Moscow, since February 2019. He went by a nickname that was spelled a billion different ways so getting to the truth is TOUGH. Findings today for the book have blown open doors. New things after six years! AND all because of collaboration. Buy my book. Thanks 😂
November 26, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Been researching this man, Hezekiah Moscow, since February 2019. He went by a nickname that was spelled a billion different ways so getting to the truth is TOUGH. Findings today for the book have blown open doors. New things after six years! AND all because of collaboration. Buy my book. Thanks 😂
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
I don't know why this idea is suddenly flaring up online so early, but yeah, this time next year, Voyager 1 will be one light-DAY away – meaning it will take light a whole 24 hours to travel between Earth and the spacecraft. For comparison: Mars is a few light MINUTES from Earth!
November 26, 2025 at 9:01 PM
I don't know why this idea is suddenly flaring up online so early, but yeah, this time next year, Voyager 1 will be one light-DAY away – meaning it will take light a whole 24 hours to travel between Earth and the spacecraft. For comparison: Mars is a few light MINUTES from Earth!