I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to
28.02.2026 16:09
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I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to
As a mouse blastocyst forms, tiny bubbles pry cells apart, creating a hollow space for the fetus to grow inside. www.quantamagazine.org/break-it-to-...
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Sometimes, the only way to build back up is to let everything fall apart. This is certainly true at the cellular level. www.quantamagazine.org/break-it-to-...
And now: It's been nominated for an ASME for Best News and Information Design! 💫 Don't sleep on visiting this jewel box of a special issue with design by @markabelan.bsky.social and art director Samuel Velasco!
“Facts don’t cease to exist because they are ignored,”
—Aldous Huxley
An estimated 1 billion biochemical reactions occur every second in every cell of our bodies. New research is revealing how cells harness physics by packing molecules into tiny spaces to make these reactions happen.
Forget the textbook view of a cell as a calm, orderly place. Glowing trackers reveal that it is jam-packed as a crowded nightclub — raising questions about how molecules can encounter their partners for the reactions that enable life. www.quantamagazine.org/the-biophysi...
notorious radical left communist rag says tax the rich
I'm very happy to see this nice discussion. The cytosol and crowding are a big deal in cell biology, but it's still not uncommon to see cells treated as though they were a bag of dilute, well-mixed molecules...
Recent studies in living animals reveal that the cytoplasm is a thick, jam-like fluid. And yet, miraculously, hoards of molecules find their way to each other in every crowded cell. www.quantamagazine.org/the-biophysi...
A lovely article about our research on Gannets featuring interviews with #seabirders @heyjooode.bsky.social and @sue-lewis.bsky.social
#ornithology
Pretty good summary of the forces arrayed against the CO2 endangerment finding. I think they are counting their chickens prematurely.
🎁 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/c...
Biologists have fed genetic data from millions of mouse brain cells into a custom machine learning algorithm. The program delivered maps of the brain with unprecedented detail, revealing a thousand-plus novel regions.
www.quantamagazine.org/fed-on-reams...
Another excellent Epstein story this week comes from @danvergano.bsky.social, on the murky intersections with science journalism as well as scientists:
www.scientificamerican.com/article/epst... 🧪
Sorry for the preview pic in your feed, but we've posted a thoughtful story by @dangaristo.bsky.social that delves into the tangled web of relationships between Jeffrey Epstein and various scientists: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
For a long time, astrocytes were considered mere support and scaffolding for all-important neurons. The new experiments reveal in great detail the cells’ influence over neuronal signaling in the brain.
Even with the largest zoom on a classic compound optical system, scientists struggle to make sense of finer details. Microbiologists are turning to an unexpected source to clear things up: a moisture-absorbing material found in diapers. www.quantamagazine.org/expansion-mi...
This is tremendous. Take the time to watch it.
Journalism coops give me — and most of the journalists I know — a lot of hope for the industry. But I've been curious: What's it like to actually work at one? I spent the last few months talking to a bunch of brilliant worker-owners to find out.
www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...
Astrocytes have complex and varied shapes, and sometimes tendrils, that can reach millions of synapses, the junctions where neurons exchange molecular signals. This anatomical arrangement perfectly positions astrocytes to affect information flow.
www.quantamagazine.org/once-thought...
I've had this experience too... I see piezo everywhere I look
(they'd like to take us to the bank)
'"For the astrocyte field, at least conceptually, we are not very far ahead of where people were for neurons" at the onset of modern neuroscience in the 1950s' www.quantamagazine.org/once-thought...
In many of the first generation of modern concentration camp systems (near the turn of the twentieth century), the vast majority of deaths were caused by disease and malnutrition. Most of the victims were women and children.
BIG news from @bloomberg.com, which confirms that ICE has gone ahead and *purchased* multiple commercial warehouses with the aim of converting them into mass detention camps.
This is likely to be the big detention story of 2026 — literal warehousing of people.
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Once considered merely packing peanuts for the brain, new studies suggest that large brain cells called astrocytes supervise the circuits that control brain states like hopelessness, sleep, and hunger. Ingrid Wickelgren reports: www.quantamagazine.org/once-thought...
