@andyextance.bsky.social
Bag of chemicals posing as a science journalist; member of the board of the Association of British Science Writers; on the organising committee of the World Conference of Science Journalists 2027 in London, activist, widower.
@chemistryworld.comReposted by @andyextance.bsky.socialAs optogenetics is lauded with the @nobelprize.org in Physiology or Medicine, here’s a look back at Andy Extance’s feature looking at the biochemistry of our brains, including the role of light-sensitive cells.
Read:
@andyextance.bsky.social #ChemSky @rsc.org
www.chemistryworld.com/features/bra...
@andyextance.bsky.socialOh wow, lovely to connect again! Thanks for following and reading! Here's the rest of my stuff muckrack.com/andyextance 🤣
@andyextance.bsky.socialI was also on a CAT course! Were we on the same one? Don't suppose you live(d) in the Blackdown Hills?
@andyextance.bsky.socialHuh, interesting. Has anyone tried it?
@andyextance.bsky.socialTrue that, I considered setting up a biodiesel business exactly 20 years ago!
@andyextance.bsky.socialThat's a good shout - perhaps I should try to write for them! I write for Nature and have written for Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
@andyextance.bsky.socialAfter my partner died of cancer, the fact I write about new treatments for it in my work has been complicated. Inspired by this, I am launching an Instagram account called The Widowers Guide to the Science of Cancer today - you can see the first post here:
www.instagram.com/p/Dd-__vcALl...
🧪
@andyextance.bsky.socialYes, absolutely, and it's a tricky line to tread!
@andyextance.bsky.socialTrue - but I think we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good here
@elliemaeohagan.bsky.socialReposted by @andyextance.bsky.socialOK now I'm back at work I want to talk about GB Grid. I think the govt did the best it could at communicating this announcement but it's quite technical and you need to understand the energy system to fully get it, so it's almost impossible to sum up in a soundbite. Let me explain as far as I can:
@andyextance.bsky.socialEnvironmentalists' positions on removing carbon dioxide from air are increasingly split: the US National Resources Defense Council says "There is no longer a plausible route to climate stability without carbon dioxide removal", while many argue against carbon capture. www.nrdc.org/resources/en... 🧪
@andyextance.bsky.socialLast year the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) evaluated that there's sufficient evidence to assign perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as being carcinogenic to humans. www.iarc.who.int/news-events/...
Thornton-Cleveley residents will be a bellwether for how PFAS affects us all. 🧪
@andyextance.bsky.socialEnjoyed my cycle ride into town and back earlier, and I didn't even know!
@andyextance.bsky.socialFor the sake of impartiality, those reporting on the Jim Ratcliffe/Ineos decision to close UK chemical plants, please also mention that they decided to close the Grangemouth refinery just as refining profit margins went through the roof
@andyextance.bsky.socialAstronomers describe the weather on the brown dwarf SIMP 0136, which is 20 light years from Earth: Scalding hot, with a patchwork of hotter, thinner-cloud regions, alongside cooler areas with thicker, vertically extended clouds www.eurekalert.org/news-release... 🧪🤯🪐 Loving the exoplanet weather!
@andyextance.bsky.socialIf you're interested in hearing more, you can get tickets for the talk here: britishscienceassociation-tickets.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/...
@andyextance.bsky.socialI'm referring to the @reutersinstitute.bsky.social digital news report for my "Trust, Truth and Tiktok" session at the British Science Festival tomorrow. In doing so I've noticed something weird: the BBC is more highly trusted in Ireland and Australia than it is in the UK! Why could that be? 🤔
@leanahosea.bsky.socialReposted by @andyextance.bsky.socialLancashire:
mercury-contaminated sludge left by a chemical firm. Documents suggest leaking between underground storage chambers.
Subsidence in the area has led to yawning craters in the ground.
Could groundwater be at risk from cavern 107?
@jackstilgoe.bsky.socialReposted by @andyextance.bsky.socialFor AI governance, 'pacing', 'pausing' and 'slowing down' are the wrong metaphors. Only used by people who want this to be seen as a race. This is about steering, not braking. But...
@andyextance.bsky.socialIt will be great to speak about trust and science journalism at the University of Southampton, where I did my chemistry degree, next Thursday at 7pm, with Deborah Cohen. Come and watch! Book seats at: britishscienceassociation-tickets.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/... 🧪 FYI @absw.bsky.social
