Oliver T Lord
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olivertlord.bsky.social
Oliver T Lord
@olivertlord.bsky.social
Head of Petrology, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol. Royal Society University Research Fellow. Melts rocks with lasers for a living. Die hard England Cricket fan.

linktr.ee/olivertlord
An absolutely beautiful image of Saturn, with moons Dione and Enceladus along the rings, courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft and NASA's wonderful Astronomy Picture of the Day: @apod.shinyakato.dev
November 16, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Also, strong week for the Northern Hemisphere!

Well done to #Ireland. Clearly, #Australia are struggling, and just in time for the Ashes!
November 16, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Wait, what’s going on? #Italy beat #Australia?!

More here: www.autumn-internationals.co.uk/2025/
November 16, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Does anyone out there have any sense as to what degree #AI is playing into this increase in the unemployment rate in the #UK?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 12, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Happy #Halloween everyone!
October 31, 2025 at 10:34 AM
#England have been through to the semis for a while, but today’s loss against #Australia isn’t a huge surprise: Aus have the top run scorer (Healey) and top wicket taker (Sutherland) in the tournament. #CricketSky
October 23, 2025 at 6:39 AM
And that’s that: #Kinlochleven, #Scotland field trip day 5. Not only the last day of this trip, but the last time students from the School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol come to this beautiful place. Good luck to the students on their independent mapping projects starting tomorrow!
September 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
#Kinlochleven University of Bristol School of Earth Sciences geological mapping training fieldtrip Day 4: more sunshine, plus vegetarian Paella for 32!
September 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Conference Alert!

@minersoc.bsky.social at 150: Past Discoveries and Future Frontiers

➕ Mineral Physics Special Interest group session: "Evolving mineralogy of the Earth system: interactions within the crust, mantle and core"

🌐 @manchester.ac.uk

🗓️ 23rd-25th June 2026

🔗 minsoc-150.org
September 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Conference Alert!

@minersoc.bsky.social at 150: Past Discoveries and Future Frontiers

➕ Mineral Physics Special Interest group session: "Evolving mineralogy of the Earth system: interactions within the crust, mantle and core"

🌐 University of Manchester

🗓️ 23rd-25th June 2026

🔗 minsoc-150.org
September 24, 2025 at 8:57 AM
#Kinlochleven University of Bristol School of Earth Sciences geological mapping training fieldtrip Day 2: for three years in a row, awesome weather and awesome views. Plus *folded* cross-bedding!
September 23, 2025 at 3:41 PM
#Kinlochleven University of Bristol School of Earth Sciences geological mapping training fieldtrip Day 1: great views and Neoproterozoic cross-bedding! #geology
September 22, 2025 at 3:25 PM
#Kinlochleven University of Bristol School of Earth Sciences geological mapping training fieldtrip Day 0: what you can’t see is how incredibly fresh the air is!
September 22, 2025 at 6:46 AM
#Kinlochleven University of Bristol School of Earth Sciences geological mapping training fieldtrip Day 0: weather playing ball (so far).
September 21, 2025 at 9:25 PM
#solar and #wind electricity generation capacity have grown more rapidly than any other source in human history (though #nuclear is a close third).

Per @ember-energy.org Global Electricity Review 2025: ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
September 11, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Another astonishing image from #NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (@nasawebb.extwitter.link), this time of the butterfly nebula. The butterfly’s body is a disk of dust seen edge on, from which new planets will form.

Per @apod.shinyakato.dev
September 8, 2025 at 5:12 PM
#Germany's dependence on coal is weakening due to cheap renewables and gas, and the cost of carbon credits from the #EU emissions trading scheme. Gov is not closing #coal plants, economics are.

Per @bloomberglp.bsky.social: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
[image @cleanenergywire.bsky.social]
September 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Believe it or not, this is a battery, in #Finland. The insulated silo contains sand, heated to 600C using heat generated by renewable energy. It can store enough energy to heat the town it was built in for a week.

Per @newatlas.com.web.brid.gy: newatlas.com/energy/large...
August 29, 2025 at 11:23 AM
This is a truly astonishing image. The yellow spot is a planet (WISPIT-2b) orbiting a star (its light blocked by a coronagraph) carving out a 'lane' in the dusty ring-shaped planetary nebula from which it was born. A snapshot of our own solar system, as it probably looked 4.5 billion years ago.
August 28, 2025 at 5:45 PM
As heatwaves become more common in #Japan, rice yields are declining leading to smaller harvests even with an increasing planted area. Prices are rising as a result. Per @bloomberglp.bsky.social
August 26, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Another attempt to lighten the mood: The Perseid meteors, streaking across the Milky Way, with Durdle Door, #Dorset, #UK in the foreground.
August 20, 2025 at 6:13 PM
The Condor Galaxy (lower left) is a gravitationally distorted spiral galaxy, and the largest ever detected at 500,000 light years across (five times wider than our own Milky Way)

Per @apod.shinyakato.dev
August 20, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Zodiacal light, as seen from Mount Teide, the Canary Islands, #Spain in 2019. via @apod.shinyakato.dev
August 19, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The Great Globular Cluster in the constellation Hercules: the density of stars at the center is more than 100 times greater than in our home patch in the Orion arm of the Milky Way. Via NASA's #astronomy picture of the day @apod.shinyakato.dev
August 17, 2025 at 7:24 PM
RFA Mounts Bay and RFA Cardigan Bay awaiting refit in Falmouth harbour, with HMS Middleton alongside while survey ship HMS Scott sits in dry dock.
August 6, 2025 at 2:19 PM