Michael Le Page
@mjflepage.bsky.social
Award-winning reporter at New Scientist who clings to the belief that good journalism mattters. I write about life on Earth, inc climate ☀️, food 🍱, CRISPR 🧬 and biomed 💊
My bio & stories: https://www.newscientist.com/author/michael-le-page
My bio & stories: https://www.newscientist.com/author/michael-le-page
Pinned
Redirecting
doi.org
In 2012 the ENCODE project claimed that most of our genome 🧬 wasn't junk after all on the basis that most of it was active in some way 🧪
In response, @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social proposed the random genome project - even random DNA would be mostly active, he suggested 1/2
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
In response, @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social proposed the random genome project - even random DNA would be mostly active, he suggested 1/2
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
I feel seen
Amount Of Water Man Just Used To Wash Dish To Be Prize Of Hand-To-Hand Combat Match In 2065 https://theonion.com/amount-of-water-man-just-used-to-wash-dish-to-be-prize-1819578198/
January 20, 2026 at 3:12 PM
I feel seen
Reposted by Michael Le Page
Really excited to share a new story format now live on @newscientist.com for our 21 best ideas of the 21st century special - explore the full issue here www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
January 20, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Really excited to share a new story format now live on @newscientist.com for our 21 best ideas of the 21st century special - explore the full issue here www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
👇🧪
Burning wood damages our #Climate.
👍 Planting a new tree is great but...
👎 ...it takes decades of growth before that new tree is mature enough to absorb the carbon emitted from the one burnt last night.
#WoodBurning #AirPollution
👍 Planting a new tree is great but...
👎 ...it takes decades of growth before that new tree is mature enough to absorb the carbon emitted from the one burnt last night.
#WoodBurning #AirPollution
Wood Is Not a Carbon-Neutral Energy Source
Treating it as such – and supporting it with subsidies, as the UK and many other EU member states do – is a flawed path to climate action.
chathamhouse.org
January 19, 2026 at 10:33 PM
👇🧪
We know a 🧬 DNA-protecting protein called Dsup helps tardigrades survive doses of radiation that would kill most animals, and the hope was that it could protect us, too 🧪
And it might do still, but it's not going to be as easy as we hoped
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
And it might do still, but it's not going to be as easy as we hoped
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
Giving astronauts tardigrade toughness will be harder than we hoped
The protein that protects tardigrade DNA from radiation and mutagenic chemicals was thought to be harmless, but can in fact have major downsides
www.newscientist.com
January 19, 2026 at 6:31 PM
We know a 🧬 DNA-protecting protein called Dsup helps tardigrades survive doses of radiation that would kill most animals, and the hope was that it could protect us, too 🧪
And it might do still, but it's not going to be as easy as we hoped
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
And it might do still, but it's not going to be as easy as we hoped
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
Cities have to slash emissions from the construction of buildings for the world to avoid zooming past 2C, but most cities don't even know what their construction emissions are 🧪
@shoshannasaxe.bsky.social and colleagues are trying to change this
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
@shoshannasaxe.bsky.social and colleagues are trying to change this
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
We must completely change the way we build homes to stay below 2°C
Construction generates between 10 and 20 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, but cities can slash their climate impact by designing buildings in a more efficient way
www.newscientist.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:55 PM
Cities have to slash emissions from the construction of buildings for the world to avoid zooming past 2C, but most cities don't even know what their construction emissions are 🧪
@shoshannasaxe.bsky.social and colleagues are trying to change this
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
@shoshannasaxe.bsky.social and colleagues are trying to change this
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
Why is same-sex sexual behaviour turning out to be so common among animals? It's often assumed to be a disadvantage in evolutionary terms, but it's looking more and more as if that assumption is entirely wrong 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
Is there an evolutionary reason for same-sex sexual behaviour?
Sexual behaviour among same-sex pairs is common in apes and monkeys, and a wide-ranging analysis suggests it does boost survival
www.newscientist.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:43 PM
Why is same-sex sexual behaviour turning out to be so common among animals? It's often assumed to be a disadvantage in evolutionary terms, but it's looking more and more as if that assumption is entirely wrong 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
Reposted by Michael Le Page
People have been trying to talk London down, but the evidence tells a different story.
Last year saw:
The lowest murder rate per capita since records began
The fewest murders of those aged under 25 this century
One of the lowest numbers of homicides for almost three decades
Last year saw:
The lowest murder rate per capita since records began
The fewest murders of those aged under 25 this century
One of the lowest numbers of homicides for almost three decades
January 12, 2026 at 7:27 AM
People have been trying to talk London down, but the evidence tells a different story.
Last year saw:
The lowest murder rate per capita since records began
The fewest murders of those aged under 25 this century
One of the lowest numbers of homicides for almost three decades
Last year saw:
The lowest murder rate per capita since records began
The fewest murders of those aged under 25 this century
One of the lowest numbers of homicides for almost three decades
🧪
Early contender for headline of the year
www.newscientist.com/article/2510...
www.newscientist.com/article/2510...
Man whose gut made its own alcohol gets relief from faecal transplant
A man with auto-brewery syndrome, a rare condition in which gut microbes produce intoxicating levels of alcohol, has been successfully treated with faeces from a super donor
www.newscientist.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:59 PM
🧪
Reposted by Michael Le Page
New podcast:
Why does America want Greenland?
Resources, strategy and network cities
with @ruthmottram.bsky.social, @martinstendel.bsky.social, and Greenlander Anne Merrild
open.spotify.com/episode/66gW...
Why does America want Greenland?
Resources, strategy and network cities
with @ruthmottram.bsky.social, @martinstendel.bsky.social, and Greenlander Anne Merrild
open.spotify.com/episode/66gW...
Why does America want Greenland?; Mystery of dark DNA; Ozempic weight rebound
Spotify video
open.spotify.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:26 PM
New podcast:
Why does America want Greenland?
Resources, strategy and network cities
with @ruthmottram.bsky.social, @martinstendel.bsky.social, and Greenlander Anne Merrild
open.spotify.com/episode/66gW...
Why does America want Greenland?
Resources, strategy and network cities
with @ruthmottram.bsky.social, @martinstendel.bsky.social, and Greenlander Anne Merrild
open.spotify.com/episode/66gW...
Reposted by Michael Le Page
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
January 8, 2026 at 12:31 PM
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
Reposted by Michael Le Page
You may be familiar with the mood-boost that comes with exercise - now a major review confirms that even light physical activity, like walking, can ease depression symptoms as effectively as talking therapies or antidepressants.
www.newscientist.com/article/2510...
www.newscientist.com/article/2510...
Exercise may relieve depression as effectively as antidepressants
A comprehensive review confirms the benefits of exercise for treating depression, even if the exact reasons remain unclear
www.newscientist.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:18 PM
You may be familiar with the mood-boost that comes with exercise - now a major review confirms that even light physical activity, like walking, can ease depression symptoms as effectively as talking therapies or antidepressants.
www.newscientist.com/article/2510...
www.newscientist.com/article/2510...
Gah, yet another university presser spreading a myth, this time from Kingston Uni www.alphagalileo.org/en-gb/Item-D...
For the nth time, biologists have never, ever thought all noncoding DNA is junk. It has always been understood that that some noncoding DNA is important 🧪
For the nth time, biologists have never, ever thought all noncoding DNA is junk. It has always been understood that that some noncoding DNA is important 🧪
January 7, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Gah, yet another university presser spreading a myth, this time from Kingston Uni www.alphagalileo.org/en-gb/Item-D...
For the nth time, biologists have never, ever thought all noncoding DNA is junk. It has always been understood that that some noncoding DNA is important 🧪
For the nth time, biologists have never, ever thought all noncoding DNA is junk. It has always been understood that that some noncoding DNA is important 🧪
Plants are shifting nearly twice as fast as predicted due to global warming 🧪
"We find that plant species have already shifted their distribution centroids at a median velocity of 5.6 km per year globally, exceeding projected future velocities of 3.27 km yr per year"
doi.org/10.64898/202...
"We find that plant species have already shifted their distribution centroids at a median velocity of 5.6 km per year globally, exceeding projected future velocities of 3.27 km yr per year"
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Vascular plant extinctions outpace colonizations under climate change
Climate change is expected to shift plant distributions poleward and upslope, yet requires global empirical evidence. Using historical range shifts from global herbarium specimens for 109,242 vascular...
doi.org
January 7, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Plants are shifting nearly twice as fast as predicted due to global warming 🧪
"We find that plant species have already shifted their distribution centroids at a median velocity of 5.6 km per year globally, exceeding projected future velocities of 3.27 km yr per year"
doi.org/10.64898/202...
"We find that plant species have already shifted their distribution centroids at a median velocity of 5.6 km per year globally, exceeding projected future velocities of 3.27 km yr per year"
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Michael Le Page
This wheel is to the boy squirrel the way that the football is to Charlie Brown and it still makes me laugh every time he tries to use it only to be immediately spun.
January 6, 2026 at 2:53 AM
This wheel is to the boy squirrel the way that the football is to Charlie Brown and it still makes me laugh every time he tries to use it only to be immediately spun.
@wanderinggaia.bsky.social You might want to read the last par especially
This is a crime worthy of excommunication from Bluesky: a link to something I've posted on LinkedIn.
But in case you want to read it...here's a short list of things I changed my mind on in 2025 (on energy, heating, the economy and the climate)
But in case you want to read it...here's a short list of things I changed my mind on in 2025 (on energy, heating, the economy and the climate)
Things I changed my mind about in 2025
Energy Network costs. This was a straightforward mistake: I underestimated how much of an impact rising network costs were having on electricity bills.
www.linkedin.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:18 PM
@wanderinggaia.bsky.social You might want to read the last par especially
Reposted by Michael Le Page
One of the 1st sediment cores from Greenland shows a 500m thick ice dome melted entirely at warming similar to what we'll likely see by 2100.
"This is very direct evidence that the ice sheet is as sensitive as we feared to even a relatively small amount of warming." newscientist.com/article/2510...
"This is very direct evidence that the ice sheet is as sensitive as we feared to even a relatively small amount of warming." newscientist.com/article/2510...
Northern Greenland ice dome melted before and could melt again
Prudhoe Ice Dome disappeared during a warm period 7000 years ago. Global warming could cause similar temperatures by 2100, showing the ice sheet’s vulnerability
newscientist.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:55 PM
One of the 1st sediment cores from Greenland shows a 500m thick ice dome melted entirely at warming similar to what we'll likely see by 2100.
"This is very direct evidence that the ice sheet is as sensitive as we feared to even a relatively small amount of warming." newscientist.com/article/2510...
"This is very direct evidence that the ice sheet is as sensitive as we feared to even a relatively small amount of warming." newscientist.com/article/2510...
The cost of GLP-1 drugs could start to come down this year thanks to the likely approval of a pill form called orforglipron, and the expiry of semaglutide (Ozempic) patents in several countries 1/
www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
The cost of weight-loss drugs should fall in 2026
The price of weight-loss drugs like Wegovy put them out of reach for most people with obesity, but new arrivals and expiring patents should change that this year
www.newscientist.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:20 PM
The cost of GLP-1 drugs could start to come down this year thanks to the likely approval of a pill form called orforglipron, and the expiry of semaglutide (Ozempic) patents in several countries 1/
www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
The EU's carbon border tariff starts to kick in this year, and other countries plan to introduce them too.
Why should you care? Well, this could become a way to penalise countries that are lagging on climate action - but the devil is in the details
www.newscientist.com/article/2506...
Why should you care? Well, this could become a way to penalise countries that are lagging on climate action - but the devil is in the details
www.newscientist.com/article/2506...
EU carbon border tax will force others to cut emissions from 2026
In 2026, the European Union will start charging a carbon-emissions-based tax on imported goods such as steel, cement and fertilisers – and countries including the UK are likely to follow
www.newscientist.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:00 PM
The EU's carbon border tariff starts to kick in this year, and other countries plan to introduce them too.
Why should you care? Well, this could become a way to penalise countries that are lagging on climate action - but the devil is in the details
www.newscientist.com/article/2506...
Why should you care? Well, this could become a way to penalise countries that are lagging on climate action - but the devil is in the details
www.newscientist.com/article/2506...
Reposted by Michael Le Page
In 2012 the ENCODE project claimed that most of our genome 🧬 wasn't junk after all on the basis that most of it was active in some way 🧪
In response, @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social proposed the random genome project - even random DNA would be mostly active, he suggested 1/2
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
In response, @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social proposed the random genome project - even random DNA would be mostly active, he suggested 1/2
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
Redirecting
doi.org
December 31, 2025 at 12:50 PM
In 2012 the ENCODE project claimed that most of our genome 🧬 wasn't junk after all on the basis that most of it was active in some way 🧪
In response, @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social proposed the random genome project - even random DNA would be mostly active, he suggested 1/2
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
In response, @cryptogenomicon.bsky.social proposed the random genome project - even random DNA would be mostly active, he suggested 1/2
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
A murder victim had a very rare kind of chimerism, with varying proportions of male and female cells in different parts of the body 🧪
This was likely due to a single egg being fertilised by two sperm instead of just one
www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
This was likely due to a single egg being fertilised by two sperm instead of just one
www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
Murder victim discovered to have two sets of DNA due to rare condition
A woman's body has been found to consist of varying proportions of male and female cells because of an extremely rare form of chimerism
www.newscientist.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:10 AM
A murder victim had a very rare kind of chimerism, with varying proportions of male and female cells in different parts of the body 🧪
This was likely due to a single egg being fertilised by two sperm instead of just one
www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
This was likely due to a single egg being fertilised by two sperm instead of just one
www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
January 2, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Michael Le Page
For our first podcast of 2026 we pick out some of the big science stories coming this year
👇 with @pennysarchet.bsky.social, @jjaron.bsky.social, @mjflepage.bsky.social and @alexthompo.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/2Ybb...
👇 with @pennysarchet.bsky.social, @jjaron.bsky.social, @mjflepage.bsky.social and @alexthompo.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/2Ybb...
Humans are finally heading back to the moon; Cheaper weight loss drugs are coming; Milestone for LSD trials; Promise of new carbon tax
Spotify video
open.spotify.com
January 2, 2026 at 10:35 AM
For our first podcast of 2026 we pick out some of the big science stories coming this year
👇 with @pennysarchet.bsky.social, @jjaron.bsky.social, @mjflepage.bsky.social and @alexthompo.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/2Ybb...
👇 with @pennysarchet.bsky.social, @jjaron.bsky.social, @mjflepage.bsky.social and @alexthompo.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/2Ybb...
Reposted by Michael Le Page
Incredible story from @mjflepage.bsky.social - a murder victim revealed to have two sets of DNA www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
Murder victim discovered to have two sets of DNA due to rare condition
A woman's body has been found to consist of varying proportions of male and female cells because of an extremely rare form of chimerism
www.newscientist.com
January 2, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Incredible story from @mjflepage.bsky.social - a murder victim revealed to have two sets of DNA www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
Reposted by Michael Le Page
It’s junk. It has always been junk. www.newscientist.com/article/2508...
Human-plant hybrid cells reveal truth about dark DNA in our genome
It has been claimed that because most of our DNA is active, it must be important, but now human-plant hybrid cells have been used to show this activity is mostly random noise
www.newscientist.com
December 31, 2025 at 6:48 PM
It’s junk. It has always been junk. www.newscientist.com/article/2508...
The @newscientist.com editor asked reporters what their favourite stories were this year, so I thought I'd post some of mine 1/
December 31, 2025 at 1:04 PM
The @newscientist.com editor asked reporters what their favourite stories were this year, so I thought I'd post some of mine 1/