On Friday 31st October we are hosting a short online seminar as part of the AOP ICU Leaders Program. If you are a UK based healthcare professional interested in critical care sign up by emailing shahzeena.suleman@aop-health.com @RBHHEducation #icu #ecmo #MedTwitter #FOAMed

Polling shows the public value senior doctors working in the NHS, so why doesn’t the government? We’re campaigning for a reversal of real-terms pay cuts for consultants and SAS doctors, and improvements to their working lives. We want to keep senior doctors in the workforce and make sure patients get the best care possible. We are currently balloting consultants and SAS doctors in England for industrial action. Vote now and make your voice heard.

Ahead of today’s first World Cup game, Bosnian legend Edin Džeko writes a letter to the children of Bosnia, reflecting on what it meant to survive war as a child and on the horrors still unfolding in the world today: “In the end, we survived. Looking back, I’m amazed at how strong we were. We were just little kids. But there was no point to the war. All those innocent people killed, and for what? For money. Power. Ego.  For nothing.  When there is war on the news today, I feel sick. I don’t want to see it anywhere. For some reason, adults never learn.” theplayerstribune.com/edin-d…

The World Cup begins tomorrow, and many will watch the matches. Soccer reminds us of something we must not forget: life is not a race to show off on our own, but a path we learn to walk together. Anyone who does not know how to pass the ball, even if they have talent, has not yet understood the game. Anyone who does not know how to live with and for others has not yet understood life. #ApostolicJourney

Today we were out in Westminster and around London to remind Consultant and SAS doctors to vote YES and return their ballot before 29 June. After years of pay erosion, deteriorating conditions and a lack of recognition, it is time to demand better.

This past week, on a test bed in Britain, a Rolls-Royce jet engine ran at full take-off power on pure hydrogen, putting out water vapour instead of carbon. Nobody on Earth had managed it before. It is the sort of thing that ought to stop the country in its tracks, and it will be forgotten by the weekend. Leave aside the recent paroxysms of renewed net-zero insanity from Derelict Ed and the pervasive atmosphere of offended envy that greets much homegrown achievement nowadays in Britain. This engineering is a wonder, and it's British to the bone. We gave the world the jet engine in the first place - Frank Whittle, a Coventry man and an RAF officer, patented it in 1930 while the Air Ministry assured him it was a curiosity. Rolls-Royce is today one of perhaps three firms anywhere that can build a large aero engine at the outer edge of the possible, and it has just done what most of the industry swore was twenty years away. As usual, you marvel at how little the people who govern us had to do with it. The engineers in Derby are world-class; the stewardship above them is third-rate. They pulled off a global first while paying the most expensive industrial electricity in the developed world to keep the power on over the bench - a weight no German, American or Gulf rival has to carry. We produce frontier brilliance on the shop floor and fritter it away at the despatch box, and we have done for two generations. That is the maddening shape of modern Britain: brilliance from below, sub- (or, indeed, ultra-) mediocrity from above. The people here who actually make things are still among the best in the world; the state that is meant to back them treats a firm like Rolls-Royce as a photocall today and a takeover target tomorrow, and prices its energy as though it would prefer the next plant were built in Texas. Progress starts from the other end. Give these people what every rival government gives its champions and we beg ours to do without: the cheap, abundant power their competitors already enjoy, a supply chain built around them, and a state that guards a national asset rather than auctioning it. The hard part of a British revival - the talent, the nerve, the engineering - is already done, and was done again this week, by people who deserve a far better country than the one currently sitting above them. We just taught an engine to breathe fire and exhale water. The least we owe the men and women who managed it is a government and a state as brilliant as they are.

We've written to the Secretary of State and NHS England CEO calling for urgent action to address unsafe doctor substitution by employers. The letter comes in the wake of our survey report revealing doctors' serious concerns over patient safety. 🔗 cdn.intelligencebank.com/eu/…

If your finances are a barrier to taking part in the upcoming resident doctor strikes, then support is available. The BMA Strike Fund exists to help those who may otherwise struggle to strike, ensuring more of us can take part. If you know a colleague who might be in this situation, encourage them to apply here: bma.org.uk/our-campaigns/the…

Celebrities, rich people and ex-prime ministers should not make health policy. Prostate cancer screening is just not as simple as some are making out. There are real harms caused when people are treated unnecessarily.

Strikes announced. We had hoped a change of leadership at the Department of Health & Social Care would be a chance to reset talks. Instead, there’s been no new fair offer on pay and no concrete commitment on jobs. That’s why resident doctors are taking action. See you on the picket line.

Hey lazy people: the Vatican made infographics for you

If my boys grow up to be like Jo and Kush from Race Across the World we will have done something right. They’re a brilliant antidote to Tate-style toxic masculinity: bright, kind, compassionate, emotionally intelligent, grounded, and culturally aware. PROPER role models for boys.

Why do people use heparin or enoxaparin for acute AF? It drives me bananas. There’s zero data!

Pulmonary embolism management just changed dramatically. The new 2026 AHA/ACC Multisociety PE Guideline introduces: • A completely new PE classification system • Stronger role for PERT teams • More clarity on thrombectomy/thrombolysis • Early discharge for selected patients • Long term follow up recommendations This is probably the biggest PE guideline shift in years.

1/14 Why can't you use direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in patients with mechanical valves (MVs)? DOACs have been one of the most important advances in my career. And yet, the presence of a MV is one of the few contraindications. The reason highlights the unique nature of thrombus formation in those with a MV and provides insights into the evolution of human hemostasis.

A 17-year-old in Iowa boiled beets in her chemistry class and turned them into stitches that change color when your wound gets infected. Her name is Dasia Taylor. It started as a science fair project. She wanted a low-tech version of the "smart stitches" Tufts researchers built in 2016. Those used thread wired up with sensors and a tiny chip that pinged your phone if something went wrong. Cool, but useless without a phone or a hospital that can afford it. Her version doesn't need any of that. Healthy skin is slightly acidic, like lemon juice but much milder. When bacteria grow in a wound, the chemistry flips and turns more like soap or baking soda. Beet juice has a quirk. The same red pigment that stains your fingers when you cook it shifts color based on what it touches. Bright red on healthy skin. Dark purple on infected skin. The switch lines up with infection almost exactly. She tested ten threads before finding a cotton-polyester blend that soaked up the dye and changed color within five minutes. That was the prototype. Around 1 in 40 American surgeries end in an infection at the cut, costing hospitals more than $3 billion a year. In poorer countries the rate is closer to 1 in 9. In parts of Africa it's 1 in 6. In some Ethiopian hospitals, up to a quarter of surgery patients leave with an infection. The whole game is catching it early. Spot it in time and antibiotics handle it. Miss the window and the patient is back on the operating table. Dasia filed a patent in 2021 and started a medical device company called VariegateHealth in 2022. The stitches haven't been tested on real patients yet. New medical device patents can take a decade. She's also looking into a side benefit: the beet pigment kills bugs like E. coli and Klebsiella in lab tests. Smart stitches need a phone to read them. Hers just need eyes.

Breaking News: The FDA has blocked publication of research that found widely used Covid-19 and shingles vaccines were safe. nyti.ms/49dtF24

ce que je trouve dommage c'est que tout le monde veut faire de l'IA en ce moment, hier c'était la crypto, demain ce sera le quantique avec les mêmes pitchs recopiés sur les mêmes slides dans les mêmes accélérateurs, c'est toujours la même vague qui passe d'une mode à l'autre en croyant chaque fois qu'elle invente quelque chose alors qu'elle ne fait que suivre je me rappelle que René Girard avait déjà tout dit il y a 60 ans, le désir humain est rarement autonome il est presque toujours mimétique, vous désirez ce que les autres désirent parce qu'ils le désirent et quand ce mécanisme s'industrialise dans la tech ça donne 10000 startups qui font exactement la même chose pendant que les vrais champs de bataille restent déserts des promotions entières d'ingés qui se pressent vers les mêmes labos d'IA en rêvant d'un poste chez OpenAI ou Mistral pendant que des continents entiers de problèmes physiques attendent qu'on s'y attaque et le tragique c'est que personne ne se rend compte que la raréfaction de la valeur est toujours du côté opposé à la foule ce n’est que mon avis mais je suis persuadé ceux qui construisent des choses qui compteront réellement dans 50 ans travaillent en ce moment dans le silence loin des feeds et des keynotes ils fabriquent par ex des fibres optiques ZBLAN dans des modules en orbite basse où la microgravité supprime les défauts de cristallisation et permet d'atteindre des pertes optiques 10 fois inférieures à la silice classique ce qui va redéfinir l'épine dorsale d’Internet (sujet dont j’ai déjà parlé ici) ils éditent peut être l'ADN humain avec CRISPR-Cas9 et casgevy guérit aujourd'hui définitivement la drépanocytose pour 16000 patients quand cette maladie tuait encore des millions d'enfants africains il y a une génération ils développent des batteries solid-state à 375 Wh/kg qui chargent de 15 à 90% en 18 minutes et qui vont reconfigurer toute l'économie de la mobilité électrique de la planete ils mettent au point des nanorobots qui délivrent des chimiothérapies ciblées directement dans les cellules cancéreuses sans toucher aux tissus sains il construisent des réacteurs à fusion compacts comme mn qui visent l'électricité sans carbone et quasi gratuite… bref ce sont des sujets dont j’ai déjà parlé ici de nombreuses fois et qui vous montrent le champ des opportunités est ÉNORME pendant qu'une foule entiere se bat pour un poste dans une boîte d’IA qui aura sûrement disparu dans 5 ans, des humains anonymes sont en train d'éliminer des maladies génétiques qui ont fait souffrir l'humanité depuis sa naissance, de fabriquer de la matiere dans l'espace, de domestiquer le même processus physique qui fait briller le soleil, ces gens ne tweetent pas leurs progrès mais vous en entendez pas forcément parler car tous ces gens ne font pas de keynote, ne sont pas très presents sur les réseaux non plus & ne courent pas après les levees de fonds spectaculaires le vrai conseil que je peux donner à celui ou celle qui veut construire quelque chose qui compte vraiment est le suivant: cultivez votre curiosité innée contre vents et marées comme un feu sacré que le monde essaiera constamment d'éteindre, refusez le mimétisme algorithmique des feeds qui vous poussent à désirer ce que désirent 10 millions d'autres personnes au même moment, naviguez entre les disciplines parce que les véritables ruptures naissent toujours aux interstices entre la biologie et l'électronique entre la chimie et l'ia, entre la physique des plasmas et le machine learning, développez une vision holistique qui vous permet de voir le système complet là où les autres voient des silos isolés, lisez de la philosophie le matin et de la thérmodynamique le soir, parlez aux biologistes aux physiciens aux artisans, aux paysans,aux artistes parce que chacun détient un fragment de la réalité que les autres ignorent et SURTOUT acceptez que les vraies opportunités de notre époque se trouvent toujours là où le bruit s'arrête

RT @JeromeAdamsMD: Ultimate irony?: The parents now skipping vaccines for their kids are almost all fully vaccinated themselves. They’re t…

New angioedema guidance @RCEMevents 2026 conference: TXA recommended as primary treatment for isolated angioedema. Immediate escalation to ENT & anaesthetics if any swelling behind the teeth.

The ongoing US-Iran war has forcefully opened the world’s eyes to a startling reality about the Islamic Republic of Iran. Their highest-ranking military generals and nuclear scientists are deeply grounded in the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The biting irony here is that this was precisely the intellectual state of the entire Western world and America itself, before the Manhattan Project detonated the first atomic bomb. Reading and debating Kant was not just a hobby; it was an expected, mandatory rite of passage for essentially all European theoretical physicists. Before the Manhattan Project, it was almost impossible to find a single European scientist of merit who had not intensely studied Kant. Albert Einstein was already devouring the "Critique of Pure Reason" by the time he was thirteen years old. Niels Bohr, Robert Oppenheimer, and their contemporaries were not only mere human calculators, they were titans steeped in Kantian philosophy. Kant’s rigorous compartmentalization of empirical science and his categorical theories of morality served as a vital compass. It tethered scientific inquiry to the human conscience, demanding that men of science answer to a higher moral law. Understand that the atomic bomb built during the Manhattan Project was only brought to fruition because the US military terrorized its scientists with the existential propaganda threats that Hitler was on the precipice of building a nuclear weapon to destroy the world. Even under that global panic, the military establishment knew exactly who they could not trust. Top minds like Einstein were deliberately denied security clearances and locked out of the project’s details. The reason was because the State recognized that a staunch philosopher and unyielding pacifist could never be weaponized. Even after the bomb was manufactured, the conscience of the scientific community revolted. 70 scientists at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago drafted a desperate petition begging President Truman not to unleash atomic hell on Japanese civilians. They pleaded for a demonstration of the bomb on a barren island to force a surrender. But the military machine did what it does best: it intercepted the petition, ensuring it never reached Truman in time. Once the radioactive ashes settled over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the resulting horror triggered an immense philosophical awakening. The guilt was suffocating, and the opposition within the scientific ranks skyrocketed from a handful of dissenters to thousands. The "father of the bomb" himself, J. Robert Oppenheimer, stood before Truman and famously confessed, "I feel I have blood on my hands." He then spent his remaining political capital fiercely opposing the development of the vastly more apocalyptic Hydrogen bomb. By 1955, Einstein and philosopher Bertrand Russell published the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, birthing the Pugwash Conferences and uniting the globe’s foremost scientific minds in a crusade for nuclear disarmament. But the US government learned a chilling lesson from the Manhattan Project and the ensuing moral rebellion. It became clear to them that scientists with a conscience are dangerous. The military-political establishment realized that physicists who think like philosophers and who dare to ask why a weapon is being built and what the moral implications are poses an existential threat to national security and unchecked State power in the Cold War. The retaliation was swift and structural. After WWII, the State flooded the scientific community with billions of dollars through the Department of Defense, but the money came with a leash: it was strictly for "applied sciences". The government needed to train tens of thousands of obedient physicists at breakneck speed to churn out radar, missiles, and reactors. University curricula were ruthlessly overhauled. Philosophy and history were purged from physics textbooks, replaced entirely by cold pragmatism and soulless equations. Look at the consequences today. This deliberate lobotomy is exactly why almost every major scientific innovation today is practically geared toward engineering sick, insane weapons aimed at the mass destruction of human life. This is why the entire scientific apparatus in the West, and its allied academic institutions, can comfortably turn a blind eye while their drones and munitions are deployed to commit unspeakable, mechanized atrocities across the Global South. This is why I have ruthlessly maintained that science and philosophy can never be divorced. Severing the two does not create objective science; it creates subservient technicians. It inevitably reduces the brightest minds of our generation to mere tools in the bloodstained hands of billionaires and warmongers, a separation that may very well spell the violent end of human civilization.