Chris Simms
@chrisnsimms.bsky.social
Science journalist covering all fields. Formerly an editor at New Scientist and Nature. Particular fan of health, mushrooms, amphibians, marine life and nature 🧪🐸 🍄
Selection of articles here: https://www.newscientist.com/author/chris-simms/
Selection of articles here: https://www.newscientist.com/author/chris-simms/
Was this giant, mysterious collection of holes arranged in a snake-like pattern on Monte Sierpe in Peru the world's first spreadsheet?
Evidence suggests it could have been a monumental Inca accounting device for trade and tax. 🧪 #history #archaeology
www.newscientist.com/article/2503...
Evidence suggests it could have been a monumental Inca accounting device for trade and tax. 🧪 #history #archaeology
www.newscientist.com/article/2503...
Mysterious holes in Andean mountain may be an Inca spreadsheet
Thousands of holes arranged in a snake-like pattern on Monte Sierpe in Peru could have been a monumental accounting device for trade and tax
www.newscientist.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Was this giant, mysterious collection of holes arranged in a snake-like pattern on Monte Sierpe in Peru the world's first spreadsheet?
Evidence suggests it could have been a monumental Inca accounting device for trade and tax. 🧪 #history #archaeology
www.newscientist.com/article/2503...
Evidence suggests it could have been a monumental Inca accounting device for trade and tax. 🧪 #history #archaeology
www.newscientist.com/article/2503...
Reposted by Chris Simms
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
I suspect that the feeling that there isn't enough time to do the things you actually need to do is a pretty common phenomenon outside #science research, too. @nature.com
It's certainly how I feel. 🧪
It's certainly how I feel. 🧪
Scientists feel that the pressure to publish is rising, but that the time and resources they have to do the necessary research are falling, according to a survey of 3,200 researchers
go.nature.com/4hNDvuN
go.nature.com/4hNDvuN
Pressure to publish is rising as research time shrinks, finds survey of scientists
Researchers feel that pressures to publish are increasing, but the time and resources available to do research are decreasing, according to a survey by Elsevier.
go.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
I suspect that the feeling that there isn't enough time to do the things you actually need to do is a pretty common phenomenon outside #science research, too. @nature.com
It's certainly how I feel. 🧪
It's certainly how I feel. 🧪
I love every question in this quiz, but my favourite mystery song title clue is this:
10. The Beatles’ Temporal Conjecture of Counterfactual Reasoning
GIVEN: One week contains exactly seven days.
ALSO GIVEN: Love is needed and can be provided for more than seven days a week...
🧪 #math #music
10. The Beatles’ Temporal Conjecture of Counterfactual Reasoning
GIVEN: One week contains exactly seven days.
ALSO GIVEN: Love is needed and can be provided for more than seven days a week...
🧪 #math #music
Pop Song Math Quiz:
EG: 8. Jay-Z’s Limited Problem Set
Let x = the set including Jay’s total number of possible tribulations (maximum = 100).
GIVEN: One of the set “a bitch.” How many other potential quandaries might Jay-Z face? www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/pop...
EG: 8. Jay-Z’s Limited Problem Set
Let x = the set including Jay’s total number of possible tribulations (maximum = 100).
GIVEN: One of the set “a bitch.” How many other potential quandaries might Jay-Z face? www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/pop...
Pop Song Math Quiz
Answer all questions in the form of a song title.
1. The Rob Base Postulate
Given that a number greater than 1(x) is required to make a thing go ri...
www.mcsweeneys.net
November 6, 2025 at 3:25 PM
🧵(1/?) I find the lack of US action on #birdflu so far this year bemusing.
I live in England and have a mere 8 chickens, but because I give spare eggs to neighbours, as of today, I have to abide to stricter biosecurity rules. 🧪 #health
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
I live in England and have a mere 8 chickens, but because I give spare eggs to neighbours, as of today, I have to abide to stricter biosecurity rules. 🧪 #health
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
Bird flu surges among poultry amid a scaled back federal response
Migrating wild birds are spreading the virus to domesticated flocks, increasing the risk of eventually seeing a human outbreak. Scientists are troubled by the muted federal response.
www.npr.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:32 PM
🧵(1/?) I find the lack of US action on #birdflu so far this year bemusing.
I live in England and have a mere 8 chickens, but because I give spare eggs to neighbours, as of today, I have to abide to stricter biosecurity rules. 🧪 #health
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
I live in England and have a mere 8 chickens, but because I give spare eggs to neighbours, as of today, I have to abide to stricter biosecurity rules. 🧪 #health
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
Could Vikings* have settled in Iceland 70 years before the widely accepted date?
*or more accurately, Norse people. #Vikings were the Norse people who raided, traded and explored by sea. All Vikings were Norse, but not all Norse people were Vikings #history 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
*or more accurately, Norse people. #Vikings were the Norse people who raided, traded and explored by sea. All Vikings were Norse, but not all Norse people were Vikings #history 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
Ancient DNA may rewrite the story of Iceland's earliest settlers
Biochemical evidence suggests Norse people settled in Iceland almost 70 years before the accepted arrival date of the 870s, and didn't chop down the island's forests
www.newscientist.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Could Vikings* have settled in Iceland 70 years before the widely accepted date?
*or more accurately, Norse people. #Vikings were the Norse people who raided, traded and explored by sea. All Vikings were Norse, but not all Norse people were Vikings #history 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
*or more accurately, Norse people. #Vikings were the Norse people who raided, traded and explored by sea. All Vikings were Norse, but not all Norse people were Vikings #history 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
You've probably heard that the microbiome is linked to aspects of health, including conditions like anxiety, but did you know that the mix of microbes in the gut might also help shape a child's personality? #science 🧪 #health #microbiome #bacteria #brain
www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
The gut microbiome may play a role in shaping our personality
Rats given a faecal transplant from exuberant toddlers showed more exploratory behaviour, supporting the idea that gut bacteria might affect children’s emotional development
www.newscientist.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:21 PM
You've probably heard that the microbiome is linked to aspects of health, including conditions like anxiety, but did you know that the mix of microbes in the gut might also help shape a child's personality? #science 🧪 #health #microbiome #bacteria #brain
www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
A very nice thread on Nanotyrannus here by @davehone.bsky.social 🧪 #dinosaurs
I'm pretty confident that certain online people are going to be cheering about how they were right all along on Nanotyrannus. Their take will be that they were right all along and their arguments, based on private specimens of uncertain provenance, photos of things without scale bars, and ideas...
October 30, 2025 at 8:22 PM
A very nice thread on Nanotyrannus here by @davehone.bsky.social 🧪 #dinosaurs
This is a cracking bit of research. The tiny tyrannosaur named Nanotyrannus, long thought by many to be just a figment of the imagination (aka a young T. rex that was misclassified) turns out to almost certainly be a real species #science 🧪 #dinosaurs
www.livescience.com/animals/dino...
www.livescience.com/animals/dino...
'I was wrong': Dinosaur scientists agree that small tyrannosaur Nanotyrannus was real, pivotal new study finds
An argument over whether fossils from several small dinosaurs represent a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex or smaller adults of a separate species may finally be settled.
www.livescience.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:10 PM
This is a cracking bit of research. The tiny tyrannosaur named Nanotyrannus, long thought by many to be just a figment of the imagination (aka a young T. rex that was misclassified) turns out to almost certainly be a real species #science 🧪 #dinosaurs
www.livescience.com/animals/dino...
www.livescience.com/animals/dino...
Some lovely cheetah-like examples of the wonderfully named shaggy scalycap (Pholiota squarossa) emerging from the base of a tree in the garden of the Mottisfont @nationaltrust.org.uk property. #fungifriends #mushrooms 🍄
October 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Some lovely cheetah-like examples of the wonderfully named shaggy scalycap (Pholiota squarossa) emerging from the base of a tree in the garden of the Mottisfont @nationaltrust.org.uk property. #fungifriends #mushrooms 🍄
Sight has been restored in people with previously incurable vision loss.
A tiny wireless chip implanted in the back of the eye and a pair of high-tech glasses have helped people with advanced age-related macular degeneration read again. #science #blindness 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2500...
A tiny wireless chip implanted in the back of the eye and a pair of high-tech glasses have helped people with advanced age-related macular degeneration read again. #science #blindness 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2500...
Eye implant and high-tech glasses restore vision lost to age
Age-related macular degeneration is a common cause of vision loss, with existing treatments only able to slow its progression. But now an implant in the back of the eye and a pair of high-tech glasses...
www.newscientist.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Sight has been restored in people with previously incurable vision loss.
A tiny wireless chip implanted in the back of the eye and a pair of high-tech glasses have helped people with advanced age-related macular degeneration read again. #science #blindness 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2500...
A tiny wireless chip implanted in the back of the eye and a pair of high-tech glasses have helped people with advanced age-related macular degeneration read again. #science #blindness 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2500...
I love getting emails like this from "journals". I suspect they didn't review my recent publications too carefully, given that I am not a professor and my only research paper was back in 2001 (it was about marine turtles, though).
🧪 #journals #scientificpublishing #research #science
🧪 #journals #scientificpublishing #research #science
October 17, 2025 at 1:14 PM
I love getting emails like this from "journals". I suspect they didn't review my recent publications too carefully, given that I am not a professor and my only research paper was back in 2001 (it was about marine turtles, though).
🧪 #journals #scientificpublishing #research #science
🧪 #journals #scientificpublishing #research #science
Fortunately I don't know anyone who does this.
It would make me twitch like Commissioner Dreyfuss in the Pink Panther films, much as I do when people mix up "me" and "I" and say things like "Bob and me are going to the shop." #grammar #language #words #subediting #editing #writing
xkcd.com/3143/
It would make me twitch like Commissioner Dreyfuss in the Pink Panther films, much as I do when people mix up "me" and "I" and say things like "Bob and me are going to the shop." #grammar #language #words #subediting #editing #writing
xkcd.com/3143/
Question Mark
xkcd.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Fortunately I don't know anyone who does this.
It would make me twitch like Commissioner Dreyfuss in the Pink Panther films, much as I do when people mix up "me" and "I" and say things like "Bob and me are going to the shop." #grammar #language #words #subediting #editing #writing
xkcd.com/3143/
It would make me twitch like Commissioner Dreyfuss in the Pink Panther films, much as I do when people mix up "me" and "I" and say things like "Bob and me are going to the shop." #grammar #language #words #subediting #editing #writing
xkcd.com/3143/
Reposted by Chris Simms
University administration:
"We need you to complete 26 hours of lab safety training 🧪 each year so that everyone is safe and responsible."
Also university administration:
"We need you to complete 26 hours of lab safety training 🧪 each year so that everyone is safe and responsible."
Also university administration:
October 15, 2025 at 3:09 PM
University administration:
"We need you to complete 26 hours of lab safety training 🧪 each year so that everyone is safe and responsible."
Also university administration:
"We need you to complete 26 hours of lab safety training 🧪 each year so that everyone is safe and responsible."
Also university administration:
I spotted some lovely looking honey fungus (Armillaria mellea, I think) on my run this morning. 🍄 #fungifriends #fungi #mushrooms
October 15, 2025 at 10:50 AM
I spotted some lovely looking honey fungus (Armillaria mellea, I think) on my run this morning. 🍄 #fungifriends #fungi #mushrooms
A beautifully preserved skeleton found near Golden Cap on England's Jurassic Coast has been identified as a new species of ichthyosaur 🧪 #palaeontology #paleontology #jurassic
www.newscientist.com/article/2499...
www.newscientist.com/article/2499...
'Sword Dragon' ichthyosaur had enormous eyes and a lethal snout
A beautifully preserved skeleton found on the UK’s Jurassic Coast has been identified as a new species of the marine reptiles known as ichthyosaurs
www.newscientist.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:27 AM
A beautifully preserved skeleton found near Golden Cap on England's Jurassic Coast has been identified as a new species of ichthyosaur 🧪 #palaeontology #paleontology #jurassic
www.newscientist.com/article/2499...
www.newscientist.com/article/2499...
It's amazing what science can tell us about the past.
We now know what was in King Richard III's oral microbiome from an investigation of the plaque on his teeth. #science #history #archaeology 🧪
Read more @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
We now know what was in King Richard III's oral microbiome from an investigation of the plaque on his teeth. #science #history #archaeology 🧪
Read more @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
King Richard III's oral microbiome hints he had severe gum disease
The skeleton of King Richard III, which was found beneath a car park more than a decade ago, has well-preserved teeth, allowing scientists to sequence his oral microbiome
www.newscientist.com
October 9, 2025 at 9:05 AM
It's amazing what science can tell us about the past.
We now know what was in King Richard III's oral microbiome from an investigation of the plaque on his teeth. #science #history #archaeology 🧪
Read more @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
We now know what was in King Richard III's oral microbiome from an investigation of the plaque on his teeth. #science #history #archaeology 🧪
Read more @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
Naked mole-rat workers may have specific roles, such as cleaning the toilet chamber or transporting waste, rather than being generalist helpers. The findings suggest their colonies are even more complex than we thought. 🧪 #animals #zoology #nature
www.livescience.com/animals/land...
www.livescience.com/animals/land...
Some naked mole rats are designated toilet cleaners, study suggests
Naked mole rats may have specific roles, such as cleaning the toilet chamber or transporting waste, rather than being generalist helpers. The findings suggest naked-mole-rat colonies are even more com...
www.livescience.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Naked mole-rat workers may have specific roles, such as cleaning the toilet chamber or transporting waste, rather than being generalist helpers. The findings suggest their colonies are even more complex than we thought. 🧪 #animals #zoology #nature
www.livescience.com/animals/land...
www.livescience.com/animals/land...
This seems an eye-catching finding. H5N1 flu viruses - like the avian influenza H5N1 virus infecting dairy cattle in the US – can persist in cheese made from contaminated raw milk. Raw milk-cheeses include Cheddar, Comté and Parmigiano Reggiano, to name but a few. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
H5N1 influenza virus stability and transmission risk in raw milk and cheese - Nature Medicine
The pathogenic avian flu H5N1 virus remains stable in raw milk and throughout the cheese-making process, but contaminated cheese fed to ferrets did not lead to infection, whereas raw milk did.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 5:08 PM
This seems an eye-catching finding. H5N1 flu viruses - like the avian influenza H5N1 virus infecting dairy cattle in the US – can persist in cheese made from contaminated raw milk. Raw milk-cheeses include Cheddar, Comté and Parmigiano Reggiano, to name but a few. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Looks like vultures don't do much in the way of cleaning out the old junk in the attic. #birds #science #history #nature 🧪
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
750-year-old grass shoe discovered in a vulture's nest in Spain
Bearded vultures in medieval Spain stole various things from humans to feather their nests.
www.livescience.com
October 6, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Looks like vultures don't do much in the way of cleaning out the old junk in the attic. #birds #science #history #nature 🧪
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
Reposted by Chris Simms
![Comic. “Measure [Twice], cut [Once]” -Carpenty Proverb. [Scatter plot with number of measurements on y axis and number of cuts on x axis. Points in a descending line on graph: surveyor, surgeon, good carpenter, careless carpenter, really bad carpenter, serial killer]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiays4e3ux4dpkjxctmx73fzfwspzw3cjdckve3dwj5hzt4y75itxa@jpeg)
October 3, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Are any of the other big science awards catching up with the #Nobels?
For @nature.com, I spoke to a panoply of prize-winning scientists including Andre Geim, @saraseager.bsky.social and Robert Langer to see what they thought. 🧪 #science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
For @nature.com, I spoke to a panoply of prize-winning scientists including Andre Geim, @saraseager.bsky.social and Robert Langer to see what they thought. 🧪 #science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
These science prizes want to rival the Nobels: how do they compare?
Being named as a Nobel laureate is the ultimate prize for many scientists, but how do other science prizes compare?
www.nature.com
October 3, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Are any of the other big science awards catching up with the #Nobels?
For @nature.com, I spoke to a panoply of prize-winning scientists including Andre Geim, @saraseager.bsky.social and Robert Langer to see what they thought. 🧪 #science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
For @nature.com, I spoke to a panoply of prize-winning scientists including Andre Geim, @saraseager.bsky.social and Robert Langer to see what they thought. 🧪 #science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
In a very cool example of shared communication, 21 species of birds from different continents use and understand similar alarm calls when they see a nest invader like a cuckoo. This happens despite their last common ancestor being 53 million years ago. 🧪 #birds
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
20 bird species can understand each other’s anti-cuckoo call
Several species of birds from different continents use and understand similar alarm calls when they see an invader that might lay an egg in their nest – this shared call hints at the origin of languag...
www.newscientist.com
October 3, 2025 at 12:47 PM
In a very cool example of shared communication, 21 species of birds from different continents use and understand similar alarm calls when they see a nest invader like a cuckoo. This happens despite their last common ancestor being 53 million years ago. 🧪 #birds
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
We knew learning to play an instrument seemed to help reading skills in young children, but we didn't know how.
It turns out that it seems to work by enhancing the ability to recognise and manipulate the sounds that make up words. 🧪 #mind #reading #music
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
It turns out that it seems to work by enhancing the ability to recognise and manipulate the sounds that make up words. 🧪 #mind #reading #music
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
How playing a musical instrument helps children learn to read
Learning to play an instrument has long been linked to improved reading skills among children, and we may finally understand why
www.newscientist.com
October 2, 2025 at 8:16 PM
We knew learning to play an instrument seemed to help reading skills in young children, but we didn't know how.
It turns out that it seems to work by enhancing the ability to recognise and manipulate the sounds that make up words. 🧪 #mind #reading #music
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
It turns out that it seems to work by enhancing the ability to recognise and manipulate the sounds that make up words. 🧪 #mind #reading #music
www.newscientist.com/article/2498...