Keith Alcorn
@keithalcorn.bsky.social
Historian of gardens, plant introductions and British botanical empire. "The Empire in the Garden: How Exotic Plants Came to Britain" forthcoming from Yale University Press.
The fourth week since 27 October in which the collections have been inaccessible.
We can confirm that all St Pancras Reading Rooms will be closed this week due to the current strike action. They will reopen on Saturday 13 December. We're very sorry for the disruption this may cause to your research. Find all service updates on our website. bit.ly/StrikeActionDec2025
December 9, 2025 at 9:14 AM
The fourth week since 27 October in which the collections have been inaccessible.
Do large language models have a legal duty to tell the truth? url: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...
Do large language models have a legal duty to tell the truth?
Abstract. Careless speech is a new type of harm created by large language models (LLM) that poses cumulative, long-term risks to science, education and sha
royalsocietypublishing.org
December 9, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Do large language models have a legal duty to tell the truth? url: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...
The hallucination problem reveals a lack of accountability for accuracy. The LLMs have no inbuilt shame about serving up junk answers and their developers are moving too fast to care.
My colleague points out here that possibly one in seven requests to our library now may be assisted by LLMs.
When those point to fictional documents, that's a huge staff time drain. There's often no quick way to check if an undigitized primary source doc exists beyond physically pulling some boxes.
When those point to fictional documents, that's a huge staff time drain. There's often no quick way to check if an undigitized primary source doc exists beyond physically pulling some boxes.
December 9, 2025 at 9:08 AM
The hallucination problem reveals a lack of accountability for accuracy. The LLMs have no inbuilt shame about serving up junk answers and their developers are moving too fast to care.
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
'Exhibition Extraordinary at the Horticultural Society of London' (later the RHS), George Cruikshank, 1826, City of London archives. Presiding over this mockery of the Society's pomposity sit the chairman, John Elliott, 1/2
November 25, 2025 at 8:45 AM
'Exhibition Extraordinary at the Horticultural Society of London' (later the RHS), George Cruikshank, 1826, City of London archives. Presiding over this mockery of the Society's pomposity sit the chairman, John Elliott, 1/2
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
Grimly fascinating to see how much devastation these motorways would have caused to places I know and love in London.
London's Ringways are a whole network of unbuilt urban motorways threaded through the capital. There's never been a complete map of them,not even one made by their designers, until now. Today we're publishing the Ringways Map from @roads.org.uk to let you see in the city that London nearly became.
November 4, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Grimly fascinating to see how much devastation these motorways would have caused to places I know and love in London.
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
'November' from Eliot Hodgkin's 'The Months', 1950. A brocade-coloured chrysanthemum, reddening geranium leaves, the first blanched chicory, arbutus unedo fruits, bulbs and seeds for autumn planting.
November 1, 2025 at 12:40 PM
'November' from Eliot Hodgkin's 'The Months', 1950. A brocade-coloured chrysanthemum, reddening geranium leaves, the first blanched chicory, arbutus unedo fruits, bulbs and seeds for autumn planting.
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
New town plans threaten Rousham’s iconic landscape ...read more on thedirt.news #Planning #Rousham #gardens #conservation #WilliamKent #Bridgeman #gardenvisiting #gardendesign #landscape
thedirt.news/new-town-pla...
thedirt.news/new-town-pla...
New Town Plans Threaten Rousham’s Iconic Landscape
Situated to the southwest of the site, the Grade I listed Rousham House & Gardens has expressed concerns regarding the potential development encroachment
thedirt.news
October 11, 2025 at 5:30 PM
New town plans threaten Rousham’s iconic landscape ...read more on thedirt.news #Planning #Rousham #gardens #conservation #WilliamKent #Bridgeman #gardenvisiting #gardendesign #landscape
thedirt.news/new-town-pla...
thedirt.news/new-town-pla...
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
Good, balanced article on leucovorin & autism. Bottom line from Irva Hertz-Picciotto: While the research on folate is early and evolving, it’s not fringe science. It's generally quite safe, so worth testing more broadly. We can't just be contrarians.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
The drug Trump plans to promote for autism shows real (and fragile) hope
Leucovorin brings hope as the first potential autism treatment, but with RFK Jr. weighing whether to fast-track approval, scientists worry about trust.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 24, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Good, balanced article on leucovorin & autism. Bottom line from Irva Hertz-Picciotto: While the research on folate is early and evolving, it’s not fringe science. It's generally quite safe, so worth testing more broadly. We can't just be contrarians.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
I have zero regrets about making asparagus ice cream at the weekend. (Agnes Marshall, 1894, mainly tasted of cream and sherry).
May 7, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I have zero regrets about making asparagus ice cream at the weekend. (Agnes Marshall, 1894, mainly tasted of cream and sherry).
Really enjoying this fascinating series on reading and publishing during WW2.
Radio 3 next week: 9.45pm - books during WWII. Brief Encounter and Boots Lending Library, POWs requesting books from the Red Cross based in @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social, the first bonkbuster, and much more. Great fun to make
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Books for Brighter Blackouts, 06/05/2025
Emma Smith reveals five surprising stories about books and reading during World War Two.
www.bbc.co.uk
May 7, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Really enjoying this fascinating series on reading and publishing during WW2.
Check out today's posts of J.M.W Turner's works by @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social - every one a startling use of light and colour.
Keelmen heaving coals by full moonlight, painted in 1835 by J.M.W. Turner, whose birthday was today.
April 24, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Check out today's posts of J.M.W Turner's works by @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social - every one a startling use of light and colour.
It's the idea that York may have had an amphitheatre with lions I find most exciting - although archaeologists are still hunting for it.
Bites on gladiator bones first evidence of combat with lion
Experts say the discovery provides the first physical evidence of gladiatorial combat with animals.
www.bbc.co.uk
April 24, 2025 at 9:57 AM
It's the idea that York may have had an amphitheatre with lions I find most exciting - although archaeologists are still hunting for it.
As the global economy crashes and global alliances are torched, Bluesky has ramped up the cat content of my feed to 80%. Here are happier days.
April 8, 2025 at 9:25 PM
As the global economy crashes and global alliances are torched, Bluesky has ramped up the cat content of my feed to 80%. Here are happier days.
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
It is #TaxonomistAppreciationDay today! A big day for Carl Linnaeus, who we happen to care about (just a little.)
100 years before Darwin's evolutionary theory was published, Linnaeus was classifying animals based on shared traits. He created #SystemaNaturae in 1735, and we still use it to this day!
100 years before Darwin's evolutionary theory was published, Linnaeus was classifying animals based on shared traits. He created #SystemaNaturae in 1735, and we still use it to this day!
March 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
It is #TaxonomistAppreciationDay today! A big day for Carl Linnaeus, who we happen to care about (just a little.)
100 years before Darwin's evolutionary theory was published, Linnaeus was classifying animals based on shared traits. He created #SystemaNaturae in 1735, and we still use it to this day!
100 years before Darwin's evolutionary theory was published, Linnaeus was classifying animals based on shared traits. He created #SystemaNaturae in 1735, and we still use it to this day!
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
Calling something “military Keynesianism” suggests a deep misunderstanding of Keynes’ economic thinking in general and his views of financing the cost of the Second World War in particular Short 🧵 www.theguardian.com/business/202...
‘Military Keynesianism’? Reeves faces British defence dilemma after EU spending surge
Even Berlin and Brussels are bending fiscal rules in the face of Russia’s threat. Will the chancellor still stick to hers?
www.theguardian.com
March 9, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Calling something “military Keynesianism” suggests a deep misunderstanding of Keynes’ economic thinking in general and his views of financing the cost of the Second World War in particular Short 🧵 www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
“The real “threat from within” comes from those fake British patriots loudly cheering on attacks on our own country by a hostile foreign power”
@adambienkov.bsky.social 👏
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-collab...
@adambienkov.bsky.social 👏
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-collab...
The Collaborators
The real “threat from within” comes from those fake British patriots loudly cheering on attacks on our own country by a hostile foreign power
www.adambienkov.co.uk
February 15, 2025 at 12:12 PM
“The real “threat from within” comes from those fake British patriots loudly cheering on attacks on our own country by a hostile foreign power”
@adambienkov.bsky.social 👏
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-collab...
@adambienkov.bsky.social 👏
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-collab...
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
"Appeasement at Munich: World Wars, Past and Possible"
The symmetry between Germany-Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Russia-Ukraine in 2022 is uncanny, and pausing for a moment on the resemblances might help us to take a broader view of today.
snyder.substack.com/p/appeasemen...
The symmetry between Germany-Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Russia-Ukraine in 2022 is uncanny, and pausing for a moment on the resemblances might help us to take a broader view of today.
snyder.substack.com/p/appeasemen...
Appeasement at Munich
World Wars, Past and Possible
snyder.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 4:14 PM
"Appeasement at Munich: World Wars, Past and Possible"
The symmetry between Germany-Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Russia-Ukraine in 2022 is uncanny, and pausing for a moment on the resemblances might help us to take a broader view of today.
snyder.substack.com/p/appeasemen...
The symmetry between Germany-Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Russia-Ukraine in 2022 is uncanny, and pausing for a moment on the resemblances might help us to take a broader view of today.
snyder.substack.com/p/appeasemen...
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
Ethiopian wolves surprise scientists by sipping flower nectar! These endangered predators may double as pollinators in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains, revealing unexpected connections in highland ecosystems.
https://wp.me/pdRZhH-lGR
#Botany #PlantScience 🧪
https://wp.me/pdRZhH-lGR
#Botany #PlantScience 🧪
February 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Ethiopian wolves surprise scientists by sipping flower nectar! These endangered predators may double as pollinators in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains, revealing unexpected connections in highland ecosystems.
https://wp.me/pdRZhH-lGR
#Botany #PlantScience 🧪
https://wp.me/pdRZhH-lGR
#Botany #PlantScience 🧪
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
“We've betrayed the trust of ministries of health and the regulatory agencies in the countries where we were working and of the women who agreed to be in our studies...I’ve never seen anything like it in my 40 years of doing international research. It’s unethical, it’s dangerous and it’s reckless.”
Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order
The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2025 at 9:55 PM
“We've betrayed the trust of ministries of health and the regulatory agencies in the countries where we were working and of the women who agreed to be in our studies...I’ve never seen anything like it in my 40 years of doing international research. It’s unethical, it’s dangerous and it’s reckless.”
Many studies asking critical questions for global health are on hold - this is devastating.
“USAID-backed studies have been shuttered, data streams have dried up, researchers and technical staff have been fired or put on leave, a system to predict food crises has been muzzled, and a USAID-supported global health journal has stopped reviewing manuscripts.”
From our @science.org news team 🧪
From our @science.org news team 🧪
'It’s tectonic:’ U.S. foreign aid freeze deals a blow to research around the globe
Dismantling of USAID could disrupt many clinical trials and wipe away U.S. “soft power” in developing countries, scientists warn
www.science.org
February 6, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Many studies asking critical questions for global health are on hold - this is devastating.
Reposted by Keith Alcorn
If you’ve been wondering what Elon Musk and his lackeys are up to since taking control of the US government, look no further. Our latest story names six 19- to 24-year-olds working with his DOGE organization, which now has access to sensitive federal systems. wrd.cm/4jzpiSN
The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
wrd.cm
February 2, 2025 at 10:43 PM
If you’ve been wondering what Elon Musk and his lackeys are up to since taking control of the US government, look no further. Our latest story names six 19- to 24-year-olds working with his DOGE organization, which now has access to sensitive federal systems. wrd.cm/4jzpiSN