Elia Kabanov
@kabanov.bsky.social
Science writer covering cities, nature and AI. Location: Deptford. 🔶
kabanov.org
kabanov.org
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...
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.
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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.
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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
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...
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/...
Ghost signs of Kent, Walmer edition.
October 29, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Ghost signs of Kent, Walmer edition.
I spent nearly four decades visiting 155 cities, towns, and villages across Russia. In Britain, it took just three years to outpace that: 156 and counting, with almost half reached in 2025 the old-fashioned way, walking from one place to another.
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October 21, 2025 at 1:56 PM
I spent nearly four decades visiting 155 cities, towns, and villages across Russia. In Britain, it took just three years to outpace that: 156 and counting, with almost half reached in 2025 the old-fashioned way, walking from one place to another.
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Neanderthals were morning people, and if you like waking up early, you might have them to thank. A study comparing modern human DNA with Neanderthal fossils found shared genetic variants linked to early rising.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/8-things-i...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/8-things-i...
October 20, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Neanderthals were morning people, and if you like waking up early, you might have them to thank. A study comparing modern human DNA with Neanderthal fossils found shared genetic variants linked to early rising.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/8-things-i...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/8-things-i...
NASA has confirmed 6,000 exoplanets, with over 8,000 more waiting for verification. Some orbit two suns, some none at all, and others circle dead stars. A few are covered in lava or have clouds made of gemstones.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/10-things-...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/10-things-...
October 15, 2025 at 11:30 AM
NASA has confirmed 6,000 exoplanets, with over 8,000 more waiting for verification. Some orbit two suns, some none at all, and others circle dead stars. A few are covered in lava or have clouds made of gemstones.
hypertextual.substack.com/p/10-things-...
hypertextual.substack.com/p/10-things-...
Signs of the Thames Path, dangerous bathing edition.
October 13, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Signs of the Thames Path, dangerous bathing edition.
Signs of the Thames Path, danger edition.
October 11, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Signs of the Thames Path, danger edition.
Not a real country.
October 9, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Not a real country.
It’s that time of year when science writers pretend to understand papers we’ve just googled.
The Nobel Prizes are the Oscars of science, only older and with far fewer women. Let’s talk about what’s broken and how to fix it: kabanov.org/nobel25
The Nobel Prizes are the Oscars of science, only older and with far fewer women. Let’s talk about what’s broken and how to fix it: kabanov.org/nobel25
October 8, 2025 at 10:24 AM
It’s that time of year when science writers pretend to understand papers we’ve just googled.
The Nobel Prizes are the Oscars of science, only older and with far fewer women. Let’s talk about what’s broken and how to fix it: kabanov.org/nobel25
The Nobel Prizes are the Oscars of science, only older and with far fewer women. Let’s talk about what’s broken and how to fix it: kabanov.org/nobel25