Helen Gray
@helengray.bsky.social
Research student @LSHTM. @wbtiuk Steering Group #Breastfeeding #PolicyMatters #IYCFE #FoodSecurity. IBCLC and mum of three. Also anthropology, archaeology, human evolution, messing about in boats, #ActiveTravel and #ClimateEmergency
Reposted by Helen Gray
Part 1 of 3...
📸 These photos show just how awful the school run in an urban environment can be.
🚲🚶🏽We asked parents in the London borough of Lewisham to share photos capturing their experiences of taking their children to school.
👀 What you see here highlights some recurring issues.
📸 These photos show just how awful the school run in an urban environment can be.
🚲🚶🏽We asked parents in the London borough of Lewisham to share photos capturing their experiences of taking their children to school.
👀 What you see here highlights some recurring issues.
February 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Part 1 of 3...
📸 These photos show just how awful the school run in an urban environment can be.
🚲🚶🏽We asked parents in the London borough of Lewisham to share photos capturing their experiences of taking their children to school.
👀 What you see here highlights some recurring issues.
📸 These photos show just how awful the school run in an urban environment can be.
🚲🚶🏽We asked parents in the London borough of Lewisham to share photos capturing their experiences of taking their children to school.
👀 What you see here highlights some recurring issues.
Reposted by Helen Gray
Ultra-processed. Cheap. Low in goodness.
Too many children are still served unhealthy food at school.
Watch our animation featuring Emma Thompson and young campaigners to see the impact and join the call to improve #schoolfood standards 🍽️🌈
🎬 Watch the animation → youtu.be/DEAaBcKx23A
Too many children are still served unhealthy food at school.
Watch our animation featuring Emma Thompson and young campaigners to see the impact and join the call to improve #schoolfood standards 🍽️🌈
🎬 Watch the animation → youtu.be/DEAaBcKx23A
February 2, 2026 at 10:19 AM
Ultra-processed. Cheap. Low in goodness.
Too many children are still served unhealthy food at school.
Watch our animation featuring Emma Thompson and young campaigners to see the impact and join the call to improve #schoolfood standards 🍽️🌈
🎬 Watch the animation → youtu.be/DEAaBcKx23A
Too many children are still served unhealthy food at school.
Watch our animation featuring Emma Thompson and young campaigners to see the impact and join the call to improve #schoolfood standards 🍽️🌈
🎬 Watch the animation → youtu.be/DEAaBcKx23A
Reposted by Helen Gray
It was such a privilege to get to work on this amazing material from an incredible site and team - now the earliest handheld wooden tools in the archaeological record, taking evidence back to 430,000 years! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Evidence for the earliest hominin use of wooden handheld tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece) | PNAS
The Middle Pleistocene (MP; ca. 774 to 129 ka) marks a critical period of human evolution,
characterized by increasing behavioral complexity and th...
www.pnas.org
January 27, 2026 at 11:01 AM
It was such a privilege to get to work on this amazing material from an incredible site and team - now the earliest handheld wooden tools in the archaeological record, taking evidence back to 430,000 years! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Helen Gray
For a while, it looked like our society was serious about making work life more family friendly. It's a sad day when a large employer, like mine, decides to take a giant step backward.
February 2, 2026 at 3:25 PM
For a while, it looked like our society was serious about making work life more family friendly. It's a sad day when a large employer, like mine, decides to take a giant step backward.
Reposted by Helen Gray
Buckland wrote this despite understanding that women of his time, whether his wife Mary, or #MaryAnning whose work he benefitted from, were serious, skilled palaeontological fieldworkers & thinkers...
Here's the @trowelblazers.bsky.social article on Mary Buckland
trowelblazers.com/2014/05/09/m...
Here's the @trowelblazers.bsky.social article on Mary Buckland
trowelblazers.com/2014/05/09/m...
February 2, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Buckland wrote this despite understanding that women of his time, whether his wife Mary, or #MaryAnning whose work he benefitted from, were serious, skilled palaeontological fieldworkers & thinkers...
Here's the @trowelblazers.bsky.social article on Mary Buckland
trowelblazers.com/2014/05/09/m...
Here's the @trowelblazers.bsky.social article on Mary Buckland
trowelblazers.com/2014/05/09/m...
Reposted by Helen Gray
Remember this one? “Humans aren’t very efficient movers—until you put us on a bicycle, when we become some of the most energy-efficient land travelers in the animal kingdom.” Proven science via Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social #CityMakingMath
The Most Efficient Traveler Isn’t a Bird or a Fish—It’s You on a Bike
A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom
www.scientificamerican.com
January 31, 2026 at 8:59 AM
Remember this one? “Humans aren’t very efficient movers—until you put us on a bicycle, when we become some of the most energy-efficient land travelers in the animal kingdom.” Proven science via Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social #CityMakingMath
Reposted by Helen Gray
Point from @ndzitina.bsky.social govt is looking at policies in isolation ex. bf + shared parental leave. They can clash &d put families in really difficult situations. Govt needs to look at this holistically, so many impacts, so many different depts have a role to play : climate, housing etc
January 29, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Point from @ndzitina.bsky.social govt is looking at policies in isolation ex. bf + shared parental leave. They can clash &d put families in really difficult situations. Govt needs to look at this holistically, so many impacts, so many different depts have a role to play : climate, housing etc
Reposted by Helen Gray
Being able to identify hoaxes, avoid scams & debunk propaganda is a civic skill required in today's information society. That's why curriculum for students in Finland includes media literacy lessons, aimed at safeguarding a precious resource: the truth. Via @aljazeera.com
Finland teaches media literacy to fight fake news and disinformation
YouTube video by Al Jazeera English
youtube.com
January 28, 2026 at 8:10 AM
Being able to identify hoaxes, avoid scams & debunk propaganda is a civic skill required in today's information society. That's why curriculum for students in Finland includes media literacy lessons, aimed at safeguarding a precious resource: the truth. Via @aljazeera.com
Over to you, @wandsworthlabour.bsky.social @TFL @london.gov.uk
“They cut speed limits, changed street design, removed space for cars… Now it appears that work is paying off. #Oslo & #Helsinki are reaping the rewards of committed action on making their roads safer, reducing pedestrian fatalities to zero last year.” #VisionZero #SpeedKills
How Helsinki and Oslo cut pedestrian deaths to zero
After years of committed action, neither city recorded a single pedestrian fatality in 2019
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 6:06 PM
Over to you, @wandsworthlabour.bsky.social @TFL @london.gov.uk
Reposted by Helen Gray
Him: a wombat and his girlfriend were caught on a backyard camera.
Me: how do you know it wasn't a wombat and her boyfriend
Him: you know you could be called strident lol
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...
Me: how do you know it wasn't a wombat and her boyfriend
Him: you know you could be called strident lol
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...
January 28, 2026 at 12:48 PM
Him: a wombat and his girlfriend were caught on a backyard camera.
Me: how do you know it wasn't a wombat and her boyfriend
Him: you know you could be called strident lol
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...
Me: how do you know it wasn't a wombat and her boyfriend
Him: you know you could be called strident lol
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...
Reposted by Helen Gray
Big moment for Europe: in December, fully electric cars outsold petrol-only cars in the EU for the first time.
This shows that clear, consistent policy works. Which is exactly why backtracking now would be a mistake. Rolling back targets or creating uncertainty would slow investment and innovation.
This shows that clear, consistent policy works. Which is exactly why backtracking now would be a mistake. Rolling back targets or creating uncertainty would slow investment and innovation.
January 27, 2026 at 9:42 AM
Big moment for Europe: in December, fully electric cars outsold petrol-only cars in the EU for the first time.
This shows that clear, consistent policy works. Which is exactly why backtracking now would be a mistake. Rolling back targets or creating uncertainty would slow investment and innovation.
This shows that clear, consistent policy works. Which is exactly why backtracking now would be a mistake. Rolling back targets or creating uncertainty would slow investment and innovation.
Reposted by Helen Gray
“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.”
Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability and quality of life.
Common sense.
Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.
Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability and quality of life.
Common sense.
Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.
Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.
Air pollution fell substantially as the city restricted car traffic and made way for parks and bike lanes.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:16 AM
“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.”
Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability and quality of life.
Common sense.
Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.
Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability and quality of life.
Common sense.
Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.
Reposted by Helen Gray
It has become increasingly clear that X - a platform now actively producing explicit and abusive material against women and children - is not an appropriate platform to be using for our comms.
I will keep pushing for action from the govt & relevant authorities in this area.
I will keep pushing for action from the govt & relevant authorities in this area.
January 7, 2026 at 4:16 PM
It has become increasingly clear that X - a platform now actively producing explicit and abusive material against women and children - is not an appropriate platform to be using for our comms.
I will keep pushing for action from the govt & relevant authorities in this area.
I will keep pushing for action from the govt & relevant authorities in this area.
It could also help tackle illegal 'fake ebikes', and the unsustainable and dangerous pressures placed on delivery riders that drive demand for these dangerous machines. The fact 'or engagers' is added after 'employers' suggests delivery apps won't be able to hide behind gig worker status on this 🤞
January 7, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Helen Gray
The government's Road Safety Strategy was just published. Could it spell the end of Ghost Plates? Find out, here lauralaker.substack.com/p/goodbye-to...
Goodbye to ghosts on the road?
Government takes on vehicle reg plate tampering
lauralaker.substack.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:28 PM
The government's Road Safety Strategy was just published. Could it spell the end of Ghost Plates? Find out, here lauralaker.substack.com/p/goodbye-to...
Reposted by Helen Gray
Are you a PhD student interested in using museum collections in your research?
Our next free doctoral training webinar takes place next Wednesday. Join us for guidance and examples of uncovering marginalised and minoritised stories in collections.
collections.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/doc...
Our next free doctoral training webinar takes place next Wednesday. Join us for guidance and examples of uncovering marginalised and minoritised stories in collections.
collections.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/doc...
Doctoral Training Programme: What's Not There? Absences in Collections | Museums and Collections
Explore techniques to research 'against the grain' and uncover marginalised stories.
collections.reading.ac.uk
January 7, 2026 at 12:51 PM
Are you a PhD student interested in using museum collections in your research?
Our next free doctoral training webinar takes place next Wednesday. Join us for guidance and examples of uncovering marginalised and minoritised stories in collections.
collections.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/doc...
Our next free doctoral training webinar takes place next Wednesday. Join us for guidance and examples of uncovering marginalised and minoritised stories in collections.
collections.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/doc...
Reposted by Helen Gray
this is incredible stuff. most state DOTs would spend tens of billions on highway expansions to try and see numbers like this (that wouldn’t even pan out anyway thanks to induced demand lol)
January 14, 2025 at 12:31 AM
this is incredible stuff. most state DOTs would spend tens of billions on highway expansions to try and see numbers like this (that wouldn’t even pan out anyway thanks to induced demand lol)
Reposted by Helen Gray
If your house of worship is silent about the cruelty and the attacks on your neighbors by ICE, you’re at the wrong church, mosque, synagogue, temple, or gurdwara.
Powerful ad by Interfaith Alliance — a plea for humanity.
Powerful ad by Interfaith Alliance — a plea for humanity.
December 19, 2025 at 2:20 PM
If your house of worship is silent about the cruelty and the attacks on your neighbors by ICE, you’re at the wrong church, mosque, synagogue, temple, or gurdwara.
Powerful ad by Interfaith Alliance — a plea for humanity.
Powerful ad by Interfaith Alliance — a plea for humanity.
Reposted by Helen Gray
RUTHERFORD COUNTY: “Her whole focus is regaining custody of her daughter.”
Woman gives birth in custody, ICE separates from her baby for 35 days even after all charges dropped - locked up in Louisiana while her newborn is in state custody in Tennessee.
Woman gives birth in custody, ICE separates from her baby for 35 days even after all charges dropped - locked up in Louisiana while her newborn is in state custody in Tennessee.
December 18, 2025 at 10:38 PM
RUTHERFORD COUNTY: “Her whole focus is regaining custody of her daughter.”
Woman gives birth in custody, ICE separates from her baby for 35 days even after all charges dropped - locked up in Louisiana while her newborn is in state custody in Tennessee.
Woman gives birth in custody, ICE separates from her baby for 35 days even after all charges dropped - locked up in Louisiana while her newborn is in state custody in Tennessee.
Reposted by Helen Gray
Still looking for that perfect Christmas gift?
We have a huge range of unique, expert-led workshops lined up for 2026! From bronze casting and Stone Age sewing, to corn dollies, belt weaving, chainmail & flintknapping..
Check out our 2026 workshops: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/cal...
We have a huge range of unique, expert-led workshops lined up for 2026! From bronze casting and Stone Age sewing, to corn dollies, belt weaving, chainmail & flintknapping..
Check out our 2026 workshops: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/cal...
December 18, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Still looking for that perfect Christmas gift?
We have a huge range of unique, expert-led workshops lined up for 2026! From bronze casting and Stone Age sewing, to corn dollies, belt weaving, chainmail & flintknapping..
Check out our 2026 workshops: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/cal...
We have a huge range of unique, expert-led workshops lined up for 2026! From bronze casting and Stone Age sewing, to corn dollies, belt weaving, chainmail & flintknapping..
Check out our 2026 workshops: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/cal...
Reposted by Helen Gray
I lived thru the end of public smoking. Early in my career I presented to city councils who were smoking, in front of audiences who were smoking.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
It’s crazy that people used to be able to just smoke cigarettes wherever they wanted
December 15, 2025 at 8:04 AM
I lived thru the end of public smoking. Early in my career I presented to city councils who were smoking, in front of audiences who were smoking.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
Smoking in restaurants, airplanes, hospitals…
All of that seems insane now, but it was very controversial when we DID change it.
We CAN change things.
Reposted by Helen Gray
Hello!
A little Sunday evening survey... 📝
We're looking for examples where info or resources concerning achievements of 🏺⛏️ #trowelblazing women in archaeology, geology or palaeontology have been removed or vanished from public sources in the past year due to external pressures...
Pls repost!
A little Sunday evening survey... 📝
We're looking for examples where info or resources concerning achievements of 🏺⛏️ #trowelblazing women in archaeology, geology or palaeontology have been removed or vanished from public sources in the past year due to external pressures...
Pls repost!
December 14, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Hello!
A little Sunday evening survey... 📝
We're looking for examples where info or resources concerning achievements of 🏺⛏️ #trowelblazing women in archaeology, geology or palaeontology have been removed or vanished from public sources in the past year due to external pressures...
Pls repost!
A little Sunday evening survey... 📝
We're looking for examples where info or resources concerning achievements of 🏺⛏️ #trowelblazing women in archaeology, geology or palaeontology have been removed or vanished from public sources in the past year due to external pressures...
Pls repost!
Reposted by Helen Gray
Every 1/10th degree of warming that we can still prevent is an essential gift we can give our children and grandchildren.
Every 1/10th degree of warming we fail to prevent is a profound burden on—if not a crime against—our children and grandchildren.
Every 1/10th degree of warming we fail to prevent is a profound burden on—if not a crime against—our children and grandchildren.
December 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Every 1/10th degree of warming that we can still prevent is an essential gift we can give our children and grandchildren.
Every 1/10th degree of warming we fail to prevent is a profound burden on—if not a crime against—our children and grandchildren.
Every 1/10th degree of warming we fail to prevent is a profound burden on—if not a crime against—our children and grandchildren.
Reposted by Helen Gray
🧪 #Palaeolithic scicomm : words & visuals matter in reporting.
Based on Google News results, all but three major news sites used some variation of "human" or "people" to report this. Those that didn't?
BBC & The Guardian used "man" (now altered)... and GB news used "cavemen" (I'd bet deliberately)
Based on Google News results, all but three major news sites used some variation of "human" or "people" to report this. Those that didn't?
BBC & The Guardian used "man" (now altered)... and GB news used "cavemen" (I'd bet deliberately)
December 11, 2025 at 3:38 PM
🧪 #Palaeolithic scicomm : words & visuals matter in reporting.
Based on Google News results, all but three major news sites used some variation of "human" or "people" to report this. Those that didn't?
BBC & The Guardian used "man" (now altered)... and GB news used "cavemen" (I'd bet deliberately)
Based on Google News results, all but three major news sites used some variation of "human" or "people" to report this. Those that didn't?
BBC & The Guardian used "man" (now altered)... and GB news used "cavemen" (I'd bet deliberately)