Pietro Spanu
@pietrospanu.bsky.social
father of 3, nature lover, sailor, Homo faber. Prof at Imperial College London, for a little while yet.
Magritte in London
2025
2025
November 9, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Magritte in London
2025
2025
Doc Marts pretending to be Birks...
Is this Cultural Appropriation?
Is this Cultural Appropriation?
November 9, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Doc Marts pretending to be Birks...
Is this Cultural Appropriation?
Is this Cultural Appropriation?
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
Look out for this later #histSTM
(And on Franklin, about whom lots of myths are circulating today, read this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
(And on Franklin, about whom lots of myths are circulating today, read this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
November 8, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Look out for this later #histSTM
(And on Franklin, about whom lots of myths are circulating today, read this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
(And on Franklin, about whom lots of myths are circulating today, read this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
Has anyone mentioned we are are talking about
E Musk *FRS*?
Come on, RS, when are you going to be defrocking him?
Charles III has finally acted... so can you
E Musk *FRS*?
Come on, RS, when are you going to be defrocking him?
Charles III has finally acted... so can you
The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.
November 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Has anyone mentioned we are are talking about
E Musk *FRS*?
Come on, RS, when are you going to be defrocking him?
Charles III has finally acted... so can you
E Musk *FRS*?
Come on, RS, when are you going to be defrocking him?
Charles III has finally acted... so can you
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
Dear GOD if you want to save money in the asylum system
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
November 7, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Dear GOD if you want to save money in the asylum system
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK
2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc
3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
A fellow of the @royalsociety.org bragged about feeding USAID into the woodchipper. The RS says: "We draw on our Fellowship for inspiration to make a positive impact."
I guess the @royalsociety.org now considers the deaths of hundreds of thousands to be a positive impact.
I guess the @royalsociety.org now considers the deaths of hundreds of thousands to be a positive impact.
Today @TheNewYorker released our short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” online.
It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
www.newyorker.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:54 PM
A fellow of the @royalsociety.org bragged about feeding USAID into the woodchipper. The RS says: "We draw on our Fellowship for inspiration to make a positive impact."
I guess the @royalsociety.org now considers the deaths of hundreds of thousands to be a positive impact.
I guess the @royalsociety.org now considers the deaths of hundreds of thousands to be a positive impact.
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
I think this constant push for immigrants to feel & act ‘grateful’ is so insidious. Let’s change the narrative. Migration is a normal part of human behaviour, not a charity case. If you’re doing your best to do your best, you don’t need to do even more to be accepted. It’s your right to be accepted.
November 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
I think this constant push for immigrants to feel & act ‘grateful’ is so insidious. Let’s change the narrative. Migration is a normal part of human behaviour, not a charity case. If you’re doing your best to do your best, you don’t need to do even more to be accepted. It’s your right to be accepted.
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
Delighted to share the latest chapter in the mystery series on how septins sense membrane curvature. Grateful to reviewers for thoughtful critiques and @jcb.org for publishing our work! doi.org/10.1083/jcb....
Lipid packing and local geometry influence septin curvature sensing
Localization of the septin cytoskeleton is controlled by regulatory factors, membrane curvature, and charge. In this study, changes to lipid composition th
doi.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Delighted to share the latest chapter in the mystery series on how septins sense membrane curvature. Grateful to reviewers for thoughtful critiques and @jcb.org for publishing our work! doi.org/10.1083/jcb....
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
Postdoc position in my lab in Cologne starting early next year or latest in spring to get this exciting project started.
jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...
jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...
jobportal.uni-koeln.de
November 2, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Postdoc position in my lab in Cologne starting early next year or latest in spring to get this exciting project started.
jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...
jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
'Net migration will fall very sharply in future years... Any political benefit the government may gain from this fall in immigration could be jeopardised by the economic damage that it causes'. Some eye watering estimates here from @jamesbowes01.bsky.social ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
The coming collapse in immigration to the United Kingdom - UK in a changing Europe
James Bowes analyses the fall in net migration to the UK as a result of government policies and explores some of the political and economic consequences.
ukandeu.ac.uk
October 29, 2025 at 5:08 PM
'Net migration will fall very sharply in future years... Any political benefit the government may gain from this fall in immigration could be jeopardised by the economic damage that it causes'. Some eye watering estimates here from @jamesbowes01.bsky.social ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
National apoptosis
Wonder what happened in 2012?
Home Secretary Theresa May created the "Hostile Environment" in 2012 and launched "Go Home" vans in 2013
Then of course 2016 when 52% of the country voted for forriners to go home
Home Secretary Theresa May created the "Hostile Environment" in 2012 and launched "Go Home" vans in 2013
Then of course 2016 when 52% of the country voted for forriners to go home
NEW from me:
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
November 1, 2025 at 10:49 AM
National apoptosis
And that's just the £££.
Scholarship is a lot more than that.
It all adds up.
Scholarship is a lot more than that.
It all adds up.
‘The CBI and Universities UK… said universities already subsidised research by £5.4 billion a year, largely through international student income. A levy would "accelerate contraction" in research and innovation, they warned.’
www.thetimes.com/article/95f2...
www.thetimes.com/article/95f2...
Tax on international students would be crippling, universities say
The Confederation of British Industry and Universities UK warn plans for a 6% levy will also affect the wider economy
www.thetimes.com
November 1, 2025 at 10:48 AM
And that's just the £££.
Scholarship is a lot more than that.
It all adds up.
Scholarship is a lot more than that.
It all adds up.
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
‘The CBI and Universities UK… said universities already subsidised research by £5.4 billion a year, largely through international student income. A levy would "accelerate contraction" in research and innovation, they warned.’
www.thetimes.com/article/95f2...
www.thetimes.com/article/95f2...
Tax on international students would be crippling, universities say
The Confederation of British Industry and Universities UK warn plans for a 6% levy will also affect the wider economy
www.thetimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:15 AM
‘The CBI and Universities UK… said universities already subsidised research by £5.4 billion a year, largely through international student income. A levy would "accelerate contraction" in research and innovation, they warned.’
www.thetimes.com/article/95f2...
www.thetimes.com/article/95f2...
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
New Article: "A mobile DELLA controls Medicago truncatula root cortex patterning to host arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi" rdcu.be/eJO9O
Mobile transcriptional regulators DELLA and SHORT-ROOT control the number of root inner cortex cell layers able to host symbiotic AMF.
Mobile transcriptional regulators DELLA and SHORT-ROOT control the number of root inner cortex cell layers able to host symbiotic AMF.
October 7, 2025 at 11:05 AM
New Article: "A mobile DELLA controls Medicago truncatula root cortex patterning to host arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi" rdcu.be/eJO9O
Mobile transcriptional regulators DELLA and SHORT-ROOT control the number of root inner cortex cell layers able to host symbiotic AMF.
Mobile transcriptional regulators DELLA and SHORT-ROOT control the number of root inner cortex cell layers able to host symbiotic AMF.
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
It's mad how much people care about immigration when it is so proportionately unimportant compared to healthcare, cost of living, poverty, climate change, wealth inequality, war etc. How easily people are convinced to rage about the wrong things by charismatic manipulators and social media posts.
October 30, 2025 at 6:28 PM
It's mad how much people care about immigration when it is so proportionately unimportant compared to healthcare, cost of living, poverty, climate change, wealth inequality, war etc. How easily people are convinced to rage about the wrong things by charismatic manipulators and social media posts.
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
Heartfelt congratulations to @zackpolanski.bsky.social and all of the @greenparty.org.uk members that are working so hard 💚👏 - this is quite incredible.
Westminster Voting Intention:
RFM: 32% (=)
GRN: 17% (+2)
CON: 16% (-1)
LAB: 16% (=)
LDM: 12% (=)
SNP: 2% (=)
Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 29 Oct.
Changes w/ 22 Oct.
RFM: 32% (=)
GRN: 17% (+2)
CON: 16% (-1)
LAB: 16% (=)
LDM: 12% (=)
SNP: 2% (=)
Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 29 Oct.
Changes w/ 22 Oct.
October 30, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Heartfelt congratulations to @zackpolanski.bsky.social and all of the @greenparty.org.uk members that are working so hard 💚👏 - this is quite incredible.
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
@prczhaoyansong.bsky.social’s deep dive into the dark matter of compost communities is now out 🎉 Genomic islands hijack jumbo phages—whose capsids enable transfer of large tracts of DNA—shedding new light on the scale & scope of phage-mediated gene flow 😎
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Jumbo phage–mediated transduction of genomic islands | PNAS
Bacteria acquire new genes by horizontal gene transfer, typically mediated by mobile
genetic elements (MGEs). While plasmids, bacteriophages, and c...
www.pnas.org
October 28, 2025 at 6:36 PM
@prczhaoyansong.bsky.social’s deep dive into the dark matter of compost communities is now out 🎉 Genomic islands hijack jumbo phages—whose capsids enable transfer of large tracts of DNA—shedding new light on the scale & scope of phage-mediated gene flow 😎
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
Labour's changes to family reunification routes are pure, unmitigated, cruelty.
They will trap people in unsafe countries, deny people the ability to be with spouses and children, and increase the use of irregular routes. An abhorrent policy by any reasonable measure.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
They will trap people in unsafe countries, deny people the ability to be with spouses and children, and increase the use of irregular routes. An abhorrent policy by any reasonable measure.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Teesside refugee warns of damage from family reunion change
The government is looking to end automatic family reunion rights for refugees.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Labour's changes to family reunification routes are pure, unmitigated, cruelty.
They will trap people in unsafe countries, deny people the ability to be with spouses and children, and increase the use of irregular routes. An abhorrent policy by any reasonable measure.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
They will trap people in unsafe countries, deny people the ability to be with spouses and children, and increase the use of irregular routes. An abhorrent policy by any reasonable measure.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
fish and chips, the native British dish invented by sephardic Jewish migrants in the 18th century using a vegetable no one on this island had encountered before the 16th
The British Right are just in total freefall into savagery at this point
October 18, 2025 at 11:49 AM
fish and chips, the native British dish invented by sephardic Jewish migrants in the 18th century using a vegetable no one on this island had encountered before the 16th
Well, Farrige will have achieved what he set out to do.
Stop all those Turks coming here.
Abetted by Johnson, May and co
Stop all those Turks coming here.
Abetted by Johnson, May and co
Well this is a proper head scratcher.
But yeah, fiddling around with tax and getting rid of consumer protections should sort it.
Wonder what those ‘former chancellors and prime ministers’ had to say about this shitshow. Any mention of Brexit at all??
(Times and Private Eye)
But yeah, fiddling around with tax and getting rid of consumer protections should sort it.
Wonder what those ‘former chancellors and prime ministers’ had to say about this shitshow. Any mention of Brexit at all??
(Times and Private Eye)
October 18, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Well, Farrige will have achieved what he set out to do.
Stop all those Turks coming here.
Abetted by Johnson, May and co
Stop all those Turks coming here.
Abetted by Johnson, May and co
The wind of fascist xenophobia is sweeping the world.
It's evil miasma pollutes our humanity.
Call it out whenever you smell its vile stink.
It's evil miasma pollutes our humanity.
Call it out whenever you smell its vile stink.
So my looks and appearance decide whether I fit into the "typical" German city landscape? Not surprising — even after 42 years, people still can’t seem to process that Germany is my home.
Migration und das Stadtbild... bemerkenswerte Aussage von #Merz: "Bei der Migration sind wir sehr weit [...] Aber wir haben natürlich immer im Stadtbild noch dieses Problem und deswegen ist der Bundesinnenminister ja auch dabei jetzt in sehr großem Umfang auch Rückführungen zu ermöglichen" 1/x
October 16, 2025 at 7:08 PM
The wind of fascist xenophobia is sweeping the world.
It's evil miasma pollutes our humanity.
Call it out whenever you smell its vile stink.
It's evil miasma pollutes our humanity.
Call it out whenever you smell its vile stink.
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
So my looks and appearance decide whether I fit into the "typical" German city landscape? Not surprising — even after 42 years, people still can’t seem to process that Germany is my home.
Migration und das Stadtbild... bemerkenswerte Aussage von #Merz: "Bei der Migration sind wir sehr weit [...] Aber wir haben natürlich immer im Stadtbild noch dieses Problem und deswegen ist der Bundesinnenminister ja auch dabei jetzt in sehr großem Umfang auch Rückführungen zu ermöglichen" 1/x
October 16, 2025 at 7:17 AM
So my looks and appearance decide whether I fit into the "typical" German city landscape? Not surprising — even after 42 years, people still can’t seem to process that Germany is my home.
Todays broken clock.
SJ is right, for once
We all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel - it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it | Simon Jenkins www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
SJ is right, for once
We all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel - it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it | Simon Jenkins www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel - it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it | Simon Jenkins
With British industry faltering, the excuse that the public wants this is risible. Parliament must force Starmer to act, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
www.theguardian.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Todays broken clock.
SJ is right, for once
We all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel - it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it | Simon Jenkins www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
SJ is right, for once
We all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel - it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it | Simon Jenkins www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
What a great outcome
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 12:56 PM
What a great outcome
Reposted by Pietro Spanu
Heseltine at the Tory conf:
"Fascists of the 30s are back... Trump's language coincides with words here... The immigrant has replaced the Jew as the problem. We must make clear we will never have any part in the populist extremism of Farage... We don't need Trump's mouthpiece anywhere near No. 10.”
"Fascists of the 30s are back... Trump's language coincides with words here... The immigrant has replaced the Jew as the problem. We must make clear we will never have any part in the populist extremism of Farage... We don't need Trump's mouthpiece anywhere near No. 10.”
October 7, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Heseltine at the Tory conf:
"Fascists of the 30s are back... Trump's language coincides with words here... The immigrant has replaced the Jew as the problem. We must make clear we will never have any part in the populist extremism of Farage... We don't need Trump's mouthpiece anywhere near No. 10.”
"Fascists of the 30s are back... Trump's language coincides with words here... The immigrant has replaced the Jew as the problem. We must make clear we will never have any part in the populist extremism of Farage... We don't need Trump's mouthpiece anywhere near No. 10.”