David Colquhoun
@davidcolquhoun.bsky.social
Likes #biophysics and #statistics, especially stochastic processes, dislikes pseudo-science.
Twitter refugee: undecided between BlueSky and Mastodon @[email protected]
Blog: https://www.dcscience.net/
Work: https://onemol.org.uk/
Twitter refugee: undecided between BlueSky and Mastodon @[email protected]
Blog: https://www.dcscience.net/
Work: https://onemol.org.uk/
Aha the effect of installing an 18 kWh battery. On Octopus Agile tariff, we charge the battery cheaply at night and draw nothing from the grid all day. (OK we don't use a lot of electricity but when get the heat pump the savings will be much bigger).
November 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Aha the effect of installing an 18 kWh battery. On Octopus Agile tariff, we charge the battery cheaply at night and draw nothing from the grid all day. (OK we don't use a lot of electricity but when get the heat pump the savings will be much bigger).
The hard right covid deniers, now frothing away on Musk's site, are far too uneducated to understand this excellent cartoon. And that includes Claire Fox, on Newsnight.
November 20, 2025 at 10:48 PM
The hard right covid deniers, now frothing away on Musk's site, are far too uneducated to understand this excellent cartoon. And that includes Claire Fox, on Newsnight.
Good! Electricity will be VERY cheap from midnight tonight. Charging our new Sigenergy battery will give means we'll draw nothing from the grid after 6 am tomorrow.
November 12, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Good! Electricity will be VERY cheap from midnight tonight. Charging our new Sigenergy battery will give means we'll draw nothing from the grid after 6 am tomorrow.
There was a lot more to AA Milne than Pooh bear.
November 9, 2025 at 11:18 AM
There was a lot more to AA Milne than Pooh bear.
"This summer the bunting came out. It felt cheap and vulgar. We were remembering winning a war, not why it had been fought"
"I heard raw fury at President Trump for appeasing Vladimir Putin, echoing Neville Chamberlain’s yielding to Hitler."
Anthony Seldon observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
"I heard raw fury at President Trump for appeasing Vladimir Putin, echoing Neville Chamberlain’s yielding to Hitler."
Anthony Seldon observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
November 9, 2025 at 9:51 AM
"This summer the bunting came out. It felt cheap and vulgar. We were remembering winning a war, not why it had been fought"
"I heard raw fury at President Trump for appeasing Vladimir Putin, echoing Neville Chamberlain’s yielding to Hitler."
Anthony Seldon observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
"I heard raw fury at President Trump for appeasing Vladimir Putin, echoing Neville Chamberlain’s yielding to Hitler."
Anthony Seldon observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Wisdom from @davidallengreen.bsky.social
The gotcha mentality of opposition, and of too many journalists, is deeply unhelpful.
The gotcha mentality of opposition, and of too many journalists, is deeply unhelpful.
November 7, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Wisdom from @davidallengreen.bsky.social
The gotcha mentality of opposition, and of too many journalists, is deeply unhelpful.
The gotcha mentality of opposition, and of too many journalists, is deeply unhelpful.
But it sure knows how to be sycophantic. It's a machine and shouldn't pretend to be a (rather creepy) human. Near the end of the session, we got to this.
October 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
But it sure knows how to be sycophantic. It's a machine and shouldn't pretend to be a (rather creepy) human. Near the end of the session, we got to this.
"Because science rejects claims to truth based on authority and depends on the criticism of established ideas, it is the enemy of autocracy. Because scientific knowledge is tentative and provisional, it is the enemy of dogma. "
October 25, 2025 at 9:41 PM
"Because science rejects claims to truth based on authority and depends on the criticism of established ideas, it is the enemy of autocracy. Because scientific knowledge is tentative and provisional, it is the enemy of dogma. "
I don't often cite The Spectator, but this is quite good.
October 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I don't often cite The Spectator, but this is quite good.
The FDA approved a very dubious device. There was no good evidence that the Q Collar "protected the brain" or that it "reduced the risk of concussion". And some of the papers that were submitted in its support were dodgy, eg two samples in 2 papers had identical data.
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
October 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM
The FDA approved a very dubious device. There was no good evidence that the Q Collar "protected the brain" or that it "reduced the risk of concussion". And some of the papers that were submitted in its support were dodgy, eg two samples in 2 papers had identical data.
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
"Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose…I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy."
Possible Worlds . . (1927)
www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1...
Possible Worlds . . (1927)
www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1...
October 7, 2025 at 9:39 AM
"Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose…I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy."
Possible Worlds . . (1927)
www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1...
Possible Worlds . . (1927)
www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1...
Yet another ghastly suggestion for my next video, made by #YouTube 's #AI. It's an utterly inaccurate summary of a topi that I'd never want to write about. And the style is that of an advertising agent who has drunk too much. Another really dramatic illustration of why #AI is a failure.
October 4, 2025 at 5:12 PM
More totally absurd unsolicited suggestions from YouTube about for my next video. I would NEVER write anything in the horrible hyped up style they suggest, and the suggested contents are utterly vacuous. #AI is still rubbish -it's worse than that -it encourages cheating.
October 2, 2025 at 8:18 PM
More totally absurd unsolicited suggestions from YouTube about for my next video. I would NEVER write anything in the horrible hyped up style they suggest, and the suggested contents are utterly vacuous. #AI is still rubbish -it's worse than that -it encourages cheating.
Here's an example of #YouTube's invitation to cheat by having #AI make videos for you. The suggestions are terrible, and the details, when you expand them, are even worse. #YouTube is corrupting knowledge, science and it's facilitating cheating and crime. Very disappointing.
September 30, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Here's an example of #YouTube's invitation to cheat by having #AI make videos for you. The suggestions are terrible, and the details, when you expand them, are even worse. #YouTube is corrupting knowledge, science and it's facilitating cheating and crime. Very disappointing.
At last, ChatGPT has done something useful. It made this chart showing the absolute differences in number of cases between pregnant sisters, one of whom had taken #paracetamol and the other not. No difference! Ahlquist et al 2024 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
#Tylenol #Trump
#Tylenol #Trump
September 25, 2025 at 9:11 PM
At last, ChatGPT has done something useful. It made this chart showing the absolute differences in number of cases between pregnant sisters, one of whom had taken #paracetamol and the other not. No difference! Ahlquist et al 2024 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
#Tylenol #Trump
#Tylenol #Trump
Weleda, a company that sells crackpot "medicines" based on #Steiner (aka #Waldorf) ideas traded happily with Nazi regime #anthroposophy
www.jpost.com/history/arti...
and
www.dcscience.net/2010/12/16/s...
www.jpost.com/history/arti...
and
www.dcscience.net/2010/12/16/s...
September 10, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Weleda, a company that sells crackpot "medicines" based on #Steiner (aka #Waldorf) ideas traded happily with Nazi regime #anthroposophy
www.jpost.com/history/arti...
and
www.dcscience.net/2010/12/16/s...
www.jpost.com/history/arti...
and
www.dcscience.net/2010/12/16/s...
"Can quantum physics contribute to better ingredient delivery in the body? "
A prime example of Betteridge's law oh headlines. Yet more utter nonsense to sell alt med.
A prime example of Betteridge's law oh headlines. Yet more utter nonsense to sell alt med.
August 27, 2025 at 9:22 AM
"Can quantum physics contribute to better ingredient delivery in the body? "
A prime example of Betteridge's law oh headlines. Yet more utter nonsense to sell alt med.
A prime example of Betteridge's law oh headlines. Yet more utter nonsense to sell alt med.
And so it starts. Welcome to life under a county council led by ReformUK. The council leader bans local newspaper from asking questions. That's Trump like disdain for honest government,
www.nottinghampost.com/news/news-op...
www.nottinghampost.com/news/news-op...
August 26, 2025 at 10:47 PM
And so it starts. Welcome to life under a county council led by ReformUK. The council leader bans local newspaper from asking questions. That's Trump like disdain for honest government,
www.nottinghampost.com/news/news-op...
www.nottinghampost.com/news/news-op...
This swan, on Attenborough Nature reserve, barely moves. It seems to be dying? I think that it's the young one that we called Moriarty because in the winter it used to aggressively mug passers-by for food. The female mallard seemed to be staying with it. We were told to let nature take its course.
August 14, 2025 at 10:31 PM
This swan, on Attenborough Nature reserve, barely moves. It seems to be dying? I think that it's the young one that we called Moriarty because in the winter it used to aggressively mug passers-by for food. The female mallard seemed to be staying with it. We were told to let nature take its course.
The US State Department survey of human rights -another thing destroyed by Trump.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
August 14, 2025 at 8:48 AM
The US State Department survey of human rights -another thing destroyed by Trump.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Trump - a medical genius.
August 13, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Trump - a medical genius.
These have never been as relevant as they are in the age of Trump and Farage
August 13, 2025 at 8:03 PM
These have never been as relevant as they are in the age of Trump and Farage
Makes me think of this
August 11, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Makes me think of this
Excellent piece in @prospectmagazine.co.uk
August 5, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Excellent piece in @prospectmagazine.co.uk