Elia Kabanov
@kabanov.bsky.social
Science writer covering cities, nature and AI. Location: Deptford. 🔶
kabanov.org
kabanov.org
Pinned
Another river clean-up with Friends of Brookmill Park and @lawrencebc.bsky.social.
Ghost signs of Sheffield.
November 27, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Ghost signs of Sheffield.
Waiting for End at the National Theatre.
November 25, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Waiting for End at the National Theatre.
Love this 1987 poster for the Deptford High Street party by Gill Day.
collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127593...
collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127593...
November 25, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Love this 1987 poster for the Deptford High Street party by Gill Day.
collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127593...
collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127593...
Good news for future astronauts: researchers in Kent have shown that tea can grow in lunar soil. Mars is still a lost cause — plants in simulated Martian soil didn’t sprout at all.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/7-things-i...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/7-things-i...
🌱 7 things I learned last week
This time, I’ve got Yorkshire wine, lunar tea, bamboo plastic, lucid dream chats, and a few shifts in what people read.
hypertextual.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Good news for future astronauts: researchers in Kent have shown that tea can grow in lunar soil. Mars is still a lost cause — plants in simulated Martian soil didn’t sprout at all.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/7-things-i...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/7-things-i...
Cherwell rubbish dump has made it to the front page of The New York Times.
November 21, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Cherwell rubbish dump has made it to the front page of The New York Times.
Yesterday, I found myself listening to John Major talk at the LSE. The former prime minister is now at the venerable-elder stage of his career, but he looks sharp, speaks clearly and still lands jokes.
1/2
1/2
November 19, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Yesterday, I found myself listening to John Major talk at the LSE. The former prime minister is now at the venerable-elder stage of his career, but he looks sharp, speaks clearly and still lands jokes.
1/2
1/2
Ghost cars of Brockley.
November 19, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Ghost cars of Brockley.
How did the Egyptians move an 83-tonne statue?
Workers once hauled Ramesses II’s 11-metre colossus 800 km down the Nile using sledges, wet sand, and sheer willpower. Three millennia later, archaeologists found it lying face down in the desert: mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
Workers once hauled Ramesses II’s 11-metre colossus 800 km down the Nile using sledges, wet sand, and sheer willpower. Three millennia later, archaeologists found it lying face down in the desert: mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
November 18, 2025 at 3:53 PM
How did the Egyptians move an 83-tonne statue?
Workers once hauled Ramesses II’s 11-metre colossus 800 km down the Nile using sledges, wet sand, and sheer willpower. Three millennia later, archaeologists found it lying face down in the desert: mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
Workers once hauled Ramesses II’s 11-metre colossus 800 km down the Nile using sledges, wet sand, and sheer willpower. Three millennia later, archaeologists found it lying face down in the desert: mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
My granddad would’ve turned 90 today. I still wonder what he’d be doing now if he hadn’t died in 2006. He’d definitely be shouting at whoever runs the country — that was his speciality. I seem to have inherited that, though I wish I’d got his talent for fixing anything.
November 17, 2025 at 1:01 PM
My granddad would’ve turned 90 today. I still wonder what he’d be doing now if he hadn’t died in 2006. He’d definitely be shouting at whoever runs the country — that was his speciality. I seem to have inherited that, though I wish I’d got his talent for fixing anything.
November 15, 2025 at 11:32 PM
I’ve always wanted to sneak an advice column into my newsletter, and a question from my friend Julia finally gave me the chance. She asked what cleaning products really do to the environment. The science is far more dramatic than the labels suggest!
hypertextual.substack.com/p/want-a-cle...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/want-a-cle...
🧽 Want a cleaner home? Start with fewer cleaning products
I’ve always wanted to sneak an advice column into this newsletter, and a question from my friend Julia finally gave me the chance. She asked what cleaning products really do to the environment. Turns ...
hypertextual.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I’ve always wanted to sneak an advice column into my newsletter, and a question from my friend Julia finally gave me the chance. She asked what cleaning products really do to the environment. The science is far more dramatic than the labels suggest!
hypertextual.substack.com/p/want-a-cle...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/want-a-cle...
English swimming spots are in murky waters. In 2024, only 64% were rated excellent, well below the EU’s 85%. And with 8.4% classed as poor, England now leads Europe in the number of polluted bathing sites.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/9-facts-ab...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/9-facts-ab...
November 14, 2025 at 7:26 PM
English swimming spots are in murky waters. In 2024, only 64% were rated excellent, well below the EU’s 85%. And with 8.4% classed as poor, England now leads Europe in the number of polluted bathing sites.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/9-facts-ab...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/9-facts-ab...
Net-zero measures could prevent 207,000 premature deaths and save $2.2 trillion in air-pollution costs by 2030, according to new modelling.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 13, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Net-zero measures could prevent 207,000 premature deaths and save $2.2 trillion in air-pollution costs by 2030, according to new modelling.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Pharaohs were the original micromanagers.
Ramesses II personally picked the quarry for his 83-tonne statue. Imagine being the sculptor when your boss is a god. The whole saga — including 3,000 years of travel, collapse, and rediscovery — is wild: mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
Ramesses II personally picked the quarry for his 83-tonne statue. Imagine being the sculptor when your boss is a god. The whole saga — including 3,000 years of travel, collapse, and rediscovery — is wild: mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
Ramesses the Great at the Grand Egyptian Museum — Meridian
In 2025, the Grand Egyptian Museum opened its doors. At its heart stands Ramesses the Great’s colossal statue. Here’s the epic backstory.
mrdn.world
November 11, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Pharaohs were the original micromanagers.
Ramesses II personally picked the quarry for his 83-tonne statue. Imagine being the sculptor when your boss is a god. The whole saga — including 3,000 years of travel, collapse, and rediscovery — is wild: mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
Ramesses II personally picked the quarry for his 83-tonne statue. Imagine being the sculptor when your boss is a god. The whole saga — including 3,000 years of travel, collapse, and rediscovery — is wild: mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
Billionaires and multimillionaires — the wealthiest 0.1% of the US population — burn carbon like there’s no tomorrow: 4,000 times more than the world’s poorest. Each releases 2.2 tonnes of CO₂ a day, about the weight of a rhinoceros.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/9-facts-ab...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/9-facts-ab...
November 11, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Billionaires and multimillionaires — the wealthiest 0.1% of the US population — burn carbon like there’s no tomorrow: 4,000 times more than the world’s poorest. Each releases 2.2 tonnes of CO₂ a day, about the weight of a rhinoceros.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/9-facts-ab...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/9-facts-ab...
Another river clean-up with Friends of Brookmill Park and @lawrencebc.bsky.social.
November 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Another river clean-up with Friends of Brookmill Park and @lawrencebc.bsky.social.
I love how Michael McFaul once overheard a bit of Russian in Barcelona and has spent the last three years treating it as a universal law of geopolitics.
November 7, 2025 at 11:03 AM
I love how Michael McFaul once overheard a bit of Russian in Barcelona and has spent the last three years treating it as a universal law of geopolitics.
Waiting for Hamlet at the National Theatre.
November 6, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Waiting for Hamlet at the National Theatre.
November 6, 2025 at 9:31 AM
If you live in a major city, chances are your local museum holds one of the artefacts, “borrowed” from Egypt. There are about 2 million Egyptian objects in public collections worldwide. We’ve mapped 50 museums that hold the largest number of artefacts: mrdn.world/artefacts-map/
November 5, 2025 at 4:44 PM
If you live in a major city, chances are your local museum holds one of the artefacts, “borrowed” from Egypt. There are about 2 million Egyptian objects in public collections worldwide. We’ve mapped 50 museums that hold the largest number of artefacts: mrdn.world/artefacts-map/
After months of work, here’s our inaugural feature on Ramesses II. Explore our maps, 3D models, and data visualisations to see how one pharaoh became Egypt’s timeless icon.
mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
November 4, 2025 at 12:20 PM
After months of work, here’s our inaugural feature on Ramesses II. Explore our maps, 3D models, and data visualisations to see how one pharaoh became Egypt’s timeless icon.
mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
mrdn.world/ramesses-the...
“After the Berlin Wall fell, they found 35 microphones hidden in the walls of our flat and office.”
hypertextual.substack.com/p/inside-the...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/inside-the...
Inside the Cold War newsroom: My interview with Marcus Ferrar
Over the past few years, I’ve had many long conversations with Marcus Ferrar about what’s happening in the world, and I’ve always come away inspired by his perspective.
hypertextual.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:39 PM
“After the Berlin Wall fell, they found 35 microphones hidden in the walls of our flat and office.”
hypertextual.substack.com/p/inside-the...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/inside-the...
Russian “Ministry of Justice” just labelled the International Center for Journalists as an “undesirable organisation.” Undesirable? Look in the mirror, you clowns.
My fellowship at ICFJ in 2019 was one of the milestones of my career. I wish every journalist had a chance like that.
My fellowship at ICFJ in 2019 was one of the milestones of my career. I wish every journalist had a chance like that.
October 31, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Russian “Ministry of Justice” just labelled the International Center for Journalists as an “undesirable organisation.” Undesirable? Look in the mirror, you clowns.
My fellowship at ICFJ in 2019 was one of the milestones of my career. I wish every journalist had a chance like that.
My fellowship at ICFJ in 2019 was one of the milestones of my career. I wish every journalist had a chance like that.
The world’s largest capitals now face 25% more extremely hot days than in the 1990s. In Rome and Beijing, the number of days with temperatures above 35°C has doubled; in Manila, it has tripled. Even in cooler cities like London, days above 30°C have doubled.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
October 31, 2025 at 7:23 AM
The world’s largest capitals now face 25% more extremely hot days than in the 1990s. In Rome and Beijing, the number of days with temperatures above 35°C has doubled; in Manila, it has tripled. Even in cooler cities like London, days above 30°C have doubled.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
At this rate, by the next UK general election, there won’t be a single cabinet member left untainted by a property scandal.
October 30, 2025 at 9:42 AM
At this rate, by the next UK general election, there won’t be a single cabinet member left untainted by a property scandal.