michael

@proseandpassion
843 Followers
635 Following
12.9K Posts
Science writer covering nano to astro via bio, but mostly bio these days (Latest book: Intertwined - from insects to icebergs, JHUP 2024). Known for cycling around Oxford with a cello on my back and/or half a dozen other instruments in my baskets. Rescuing and restoring unloved violins. Writing musical family history memoir and digging up old photos and postcards. Mostly tooting in English, but might also use French, German, Spanish, Galician if and when required.
bloghttps://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/
ancient websitehttp://michaelgross.info/index.html
pinteresthttps://uk.pinterest.com/gross3605/
flickrhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelgrr/
Moody Essays

RE: https://chaos.social/@stdevel/116742003461098433

not suitable for vegetarians ....

New #Ebola situation report is out:
Seems I spoke too soon about numbers now being reliable and consistent.
Sitrep has added 17 new confirmed cases in Ituri, but also 4 cases have been removed in North Kivu from last sitrep.
So 689 confirmed cases now, +13. 🧪

https://insp.cd/sitrep-n28-mvb_11-06-2026/

How 'algorithm' got its name from a 9th-century Persian mathematician

by Scott Neuman

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/11/nx-s1-5848013/algorithm-word-week-etymology

The Concise Book of Calculation by Restoration and Balancing at @wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jabr

The algebra of Mohammed ben Musa at @internetarchive
https://archive.org/details/algebraofmohamme00khuwrich

#Books #mathematics

another piece of anecdotal evidence on this: I haven't been skating in an enclosed icerink for a few years but I seem to remember these run anticlockwise normally, with some offering a five minute break to go the other way round. Probably as a result of this I can do the sharp turn technique (putting the front foot further inside than the back foot) in left turns but not in right turns.

11-Jun-2026
People show a natural tendency to walk to the left

... as has been reported in the Guardian as well. There's a bug though. If I enter a room where I want to do a full circle, such as in a museum, I only make one decision, coming in through the door. If I turn left then, I'll have to walk clockwise from then on to follow the walls of the room. So left bias means more right turns?

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1131815

#science #humans #asymmetry #chirality #coriolis

11-Jun-2026
#Collagen, the human body’s most abundant #protein, is liquid-like inside #cells
New study overturns a 60-year-old assumption about the body's primary structural building block, opening new avenues for treating fibrosis and cancer.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1131325

#science #nanoworld #structuralBiology

11-Jun-2026
#AncientDNA study of post-Roman Europeans reveals the emergence of a complex new society
Study published in #Science challenges the myth of simple Barbarian domination in the Early #MiddleAges

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1131905

#europe #history #genome

Ancient DNA study of post-Roman Europeans reveals the emergence of a complex new society

A new study in Science has challenged the myth that life in the Little Hungarian Plain in the Early Middle Ages was dominated by "barbarians." The results have been published by the HistoGenes project, of which Patrick Geary, Professor Emeritus in the IAS School of Historical Studies, is co-principal investigator.

EurekAlert!

12-Jun-2026
"What if there is no one to farm? KAIST reveals a hidden risk to future #foodSecurity
• KAIST and the University of Tokyo develop an #agricultural land-use model based on climate, social, and economic data • Quantitatively proving that low birth rates and rural extinction can threaten future #foodProduction

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1131946

#science #sustainability #food #farming #humans