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
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
What made Troilus and Cressida so relevant to audiences who had lived through two world wars?
Why did it speak to the 'angry young men' of the post-war era and to the countercultural movements of the 1960s?
Find out here 👇
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526103574/
@stevetpurcell.bsky.social
Why did it speak to the 'angry young men' of the post-war era and to the countercultural movements of the 1960s?
Find out here 👇
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526103574/
@stevetpurcell.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 10:16 AM
What made Troilus and Cressida so relevant to audiences who had lived through two world wars?
Why did it speak to the 'angry young men' of the post-war era and to the countercultural movements of the 1960s?
Find out here 👇
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526103574/
@stevetpurcell.bsky.social
Why did it speak to the 'angry young men' of the post-war era and to the countercultural movements of the 1960s?
Find out here 👇
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526103574/
@stevetpurcell.bsky.social
Says it all. They won’t get my vote, locally or nationally.
Intrigued that the Labour Party has a Denmark policy - seize jewellery and assets from asylum seekers - and also an anti-Denmark policy - don’t tax middle earners enough to support welfare state.
November 17, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Says it all. They won’t get my vote, locally or nationally.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
The real issue isn’t immigration, it’s the feedback loop: platforms amplify anxiety → voters feel it → politicians chase it → hollow policy follows. Until we break that cycle, we won’t get functional decisions or functional democracy.
November 16, 2025 at 1:13 PM
The real issue isn’t immigration, it’s the feedback loop: platforms amplify anxiety → voters feel it → politicians chase it → hollow policy follows. Until we break that cycle, we won’t get functional decisions or functional democracy.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
@rorycoleman.bsky.social and I wrote an opinion piece called
'From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution'
We argue that now is a great time for neuro-evo research
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
'From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution'
We argue that now is a great time for neuro-evo research
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution
The vast diversity of animal behaviors has long inspired ethologists and neuroscientists, but circuit mechanisms driving this variation remain elusive…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:57 AM
@rorycoleman.bsky.social and I wrote an opinion piece called
'From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution'
We argue that now is a great time for neuro-evo research
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
'From neurons to novelty: Circuit mechanisms shaping courtship evolution'
We argue that now is a great time for neuro-evo research
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
My mother in law has this book on her coffee table and the first sentence of chapter 1 is, “one cannot spend 35 years looking at barley without acquiring an enormous amount of observations”
November 17, 2025 at 1:33 AM
My mother in law has this book on her coffee table and the first sentence of chapter 1 is, “one cannot spend 35 years looking at barley without acquiring an enormous amount of observations”
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
After years of being curious but lazy, I finally got around to documenting what's inside the black walnuts in my yard. In the process I became obsessed with the strange wasp that hunts down the pupae of the resident flies. 🌿 #wasps #diapriidae #nature #diptera colinpurrington.com/2025/11/life...
Life inside rotting walnut husks » Colin Purrington's blog
There’s an eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra) on my neighbor’s property that rains down fruit every fall, and I finally got curious about what species might be inside. So far I’ve found four flies, ...
colinpurrington.com
November 16, 2025 at 10:26 PM
After years of being curious but lazy, I finally got around to documenting what's inside the black walnuts in my yard. In the process I became obsessed with the strange wasp that hunts down the pupae of the resident flies. 🌿 #wasps #diapriidae #nature #diptera colinpurrington.com/2025/11/life...
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Reeves should risk it all on one last roll of the dice.
Raise income tax, break the triple lock, slay the deficit, spend the money on the things she believes in.
It may not work - but better than waiting for doom to overtake her.
open.substack.com/pub/edrith/p...
Raise income tax, break the triple lock, slay the deficit, spend the money on the things she believes in.
It may not work - but better than waiting for doom to overtake her.
open.substack.com/pub/edrith/p...
Reeves in Zugzwang
Incremental politics no longer works
open.substack.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reeves should risk it all on one last roll of the dice.
Raise income tax, break the triple lock, slay the deficit, spend the money on the things she believes in.
It may not work - but better than waiting for doom to overtake her.
open.substack.com/pub/edrith/p...
Raise income tax, break the triple lock, slay the deficit, spend the money on the things she believes in.
It may not work - but better than waiting for doom to overtake her.
open.substack.com/pub/edrith/p...
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Great news obviously, but surely this is a Doctor Who episode? The Sausages of Tremedioth.
British and Australian chemists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic called pre-methylenomycin C lactone, hiding in a well-known soil bacterium. This molecule kills drug-resistant bacteria without triggering resistance. buff.ly/YlXaONo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Scientists find hidden antibiotic 100x stronger against deadly superbugs
A team of scientists discovered a hidden antibiotic 100 times stronger than existing drugs against deadly superbugs like MRSA. The molecule had been overlooked for decades in a familiar bacterium. It…
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Great news obviously, but surely this is a Doctor Who episode? The Sausages of Tremedioth.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
An unexpected piece of Dublin history
#speirgoirm
#speirgoirm
November 14, 2025 at 10:01 PM
An unexpected piece of Dublin history
#speirgoirm
#speirgoirm
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Labour's MP for Folkestone says the government has taken "the wrong turning" on its plans for asylum seekers.
"The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."
"The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."
November 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Labour's MP for Folkestone says the government has taken "the wrong turning" on its plans for asylum seekers.
"The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."
"The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities."
@adamroberts.bsky.social did you see this interview with David Szalay in The Observer? Not sure if it has 'long been a source of speculation' but you nailed it!
November 16, 2025 at 5:34 PM
@adamroberts.bsky.social did you see this interview with David Szalay in The Observer? Not sure if it has 'long been a source of speculation' but you nailed it!
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
This is true.
The husband just found me having a little cry in my studio.
He’s making me a hot Vimto and I’m having a word with myself.
Have a look at my website and please repost.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk
Thank you.
The husband just found me having a little cry in my studio.
He’s making me a hot Vimto and I’m having a word with myself.
Have a look at my website and please repost.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk
Thank you.
November 14, 2025 at 4:10 PM
This is true.
The husband just found me having a little cry in my studio.
He’s making me a hot Vimto and I’m having a word with myself.
Have a look at my website and please repost.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk
Thank you.
The husband just found me having a little cry in my studio.
He’s making me a hot Vimto and I’m having a word with myself.
Have a look at my website and please repost.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk
Thank you.
This is mainly the kind of thing I have been reading recently – early medieval debates about incest. NB this post is so much clearer than many sources - it's by Rachel Stone aka @magistraetmater on the hellsite.
Karl Ubl and cousin marriage
I didn’t discuss Karl Ubl, Inzestverbot und Gesetzgebung: die Konstruktion eines Verbrechens (300-1100) (de Gruyter, 2008) as much as I should have done in my book-of-the-PhD-thesis Morality …
magistraetmater.wordpress.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:27 PM
This is mainly the kind of thing I have been reading recently – early medieval debates about incest. NB this post is so much clearer than many sources - it's by Rachel Stone aka @magistraetmater on the hellsite.
TIL that there was an IPCRESS FILE boardgame...
Deighton Miscellany
A guide to the miscellaneous items associated with the books of Len Deighton
www.deightondossier.net
November 16, 2025 at 2:53 PM
TIL that there was an IPCRESS FILE boardgame...
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
November 16, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Outkast - Hey Ya! (Official HD Video)
YouTube video by OutkastVEVO
youtu.be
November 16, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Len Deighton, the king of cool, apparently the first author to use a word processor (the thing that takes up the right side of the photo), working on his novel BOMBER with cutaway images of a Ju88 and (?) a Beaufort.
November 16, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Len Deighton, the king of cool, apparently the first author to use a word processor (the thing that takes up the right side of the photo), working on his novel BOMBER with cutaway images of a Ju88 and (?) a Beaufort.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Oito Line,Nagano
(2024)
(2024)
November 15, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Oito Line,Nagano
(2024)
(2024)
Too early in the morning for irritable ppl playing chess with pigeons (or vice versa) on my feed. I’m going back to reading historians arguing about why the church became obsessed with rules about supposedly incestuous marriages in the period 570-1200. At least they are polite.
November 16, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Too early in the morning for irritable ppl playing chess with pigeons (or vice versa) on my feed. I’m going back to reading historians arguing about why the church became obsessed with rules about supposedly incestuous marriages in the period 570-1200. At least they are polite.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Now he’s talking about some work I really love: how anesthesia works. Earl holds up the example of his “reductionist colleagues” who propose that 3 anesthetics have 3 diff molecular mechanisms. But! all have the same effects on consciousness. How do you explain that? You guessed it, brainwaves!
November 16, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Now he’s talking about some work I really love: how anesthesia works. Earl holds up the example of his “reductionist colleagues” who propose that 3 anesthetics have 3 diff molecular mechanisms. But! all have the same effects on consciousness. How do you explain that? You guessed it, brainwaves!
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
No, I'd say it's racists and those pandering to them.
November 15, 2025 at 9:58 PM
No, I'd say it's racists and those pandering to them.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
For #StandingStoneSunday #Stunday... Corrower Ogham Stone, Mayo, Ireland
A tall ogham stone with a worn inscription
#IrishArchaeology #Archaeology #Neolithic #Megalithic #PhotographersOfBluesky #Photography #Infrared #Monochrome #ClassicMono #Art #BlueSky #EastCoastKin #PhotographersOfBluesky #Mayo
A tall ogham stone with a worn inscription
#IrishArchaeology #Archaeology #Neolithic #Megalithic #PhotographersOfBluesky #Photography #Infrared #Monochrome #ClassicMono #Art #BlueSky #EastCoastKin #PhotographersOfBluesky #Mayo
November 16, 2025 at 8:14 AM
For #StandingStoneSunday #Stunday... Corrower Ogham Stone, Mayo, Ireland
A tall ogham stone with a worn inscription
#IrishArchaeology #Archaeology #Neolithic #Megalithic #PhotographersOfBluesky #Photography #Infrared #Monochrome #ClassicMono #Art #BlueSky #EastCoastKin #PhotographersOfBluesky #Mayo
A tall ogham stone with a worn inscription
#IrishArchaeology #Archaeology #Neolithic #Megalithic #PhotographersOfBluesky #Photography #Infrared #Monochrome #ClassicMono #Art #BlueSky #EastCoastKin #PhotographersOfBluesky #Mayo
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
years ago I was losing my mind arguing with a rude man on twitter and my husband said "you're playing chess with a pigeon" and it flipped a switch in me.
November 16, 2025 at 2:26 AM
years ago I was losing my mind arguing with a rude man on twitter and my husband said "you're playing chess with a pigeon" and it flipped a switch in me.
Reposted by Matthew Cobb
Some of the remarkable 12th century carved capitals from St. Peter’s Church in Northampton. The church is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. 📸 My own. #StoneworkSunday #StPetersChurch #Northampton #ChurchesConservationTrust
November 16, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Some of the remarkable 12th century carved capitals from St. Peter’s Church in Northampton. The church is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. 📸 My own. #StoneworkSunday #StPetersChurch #Northampton #ChurchesConservationTrust