Courtney Farrell

Science fiction/fantasy author. I love dogs, horses, and reading.

[Interesting things @awkwardgoogle]

Whenever you're sad, remember there are tiny kinesin proteins trying their best for your happiness

[Courtney Farrell @CAFarrell]

@amazing_physics Took me a minute to see that they added an extra moon to that image. It’s still beautiful. I’d buy a copy and frame it.

[Blue Ocean @BlueOcean3276]

Spectular footage 🦈

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Scientists made 50-year-old skin cells behave like they’re 20 again.

Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge have developed a groundbreaking method to reverse the biological aging of human skin cells by approximately 30 years, all while keeping them as fully functional adult skin cells.

The team used a carefully controlled, short-term version of the Nobel Prize-winning Yamanaka reprogramming technique. By exposing adult skin fibroblasts to a specific set of reprogramming factors (the Yamanaka factors) for just 13 days—and then stopping the process early—they successfully “reset” many molecular markers of aging without pushing the cells all the way back to a stem cell state.

After this brief treatment, the rejuvenated cells displayed a dramatically younger profile: their epigenetic clock (a measure of chemical tags on DNA that tracks biological age) and their gene expression patterns (the transcriptome) closely resembled those of cells from much younger individuals.

Even more impressively, the cells behaved younger too. The treated fibroblasts produced significantly higher levels of collagen—the protein essential for skin firmness, elasticity, and wound healing—and they migrated faster to close an artificial “wound” in laboratory dishes compared to untreated older cells.

The researchers also observed reversal of age-related changes in genes associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cataracts, suggesting the technique could have broader therapeutic implications.

While this work is still in its early stages and the precise mechanisms remain under investigation, the findings open exciting possibilities: one day, scientists may be able to selectively rejuvenate aging cells in the body to enhance tissue repair, improve healing, and potentially slow or mitigate some effects of age-related diseases—without the risks associated with fully reprogramming cells into stem cells.

[Gill, D., Parry, A., Santos, F., Okkenhaug, H., Seale, M., Dobbs, L. J., Reik, W., & Ocampo, A. (2022). Multi-omic rejuvenation of human cells by maturation phase transient reprogramming. eLife, 11, e71624. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.71624]

[FactPost @factpostnews]

The Trump administration has approved the use of cancer-linked pesticides diflufenican and epyrifenacil, both PFAS forever chemicals.

Neither pesticide has ever been used in the United States before.

[Courtney Farrell @CAFarrell]

@factpostnews Despicable.

[FactPost @factpostnews]

The Trump administration has removed federal protections for the habitat of the endangered whooping crane.

Only 500 whooping cranes remain.

[The Best @TheBestqueenx]

A man photographed the Sun every day for three years from the same spot and at the same time.
He then combined all the images to reveal the Sun’s movement across the sky throughout the year.

[Antidepressant Content @depressionlesss]

The best memory of 2020 was how animals returned to the streets while humans were in quarantine

[Tansu Yegen @TansuYegen]

A drone filmed a volcano erupting from above and it makes ground footage look useless 🌋

[Tangwa Abilu.🌿🌏🌾🍀🍃.SDG's. @AbiluTangwa]

"The Congo Basin is the world's largest net carbon sink among tropical forests — absorbing up to 6x more CO₂ annually than the Amazon in some estimates. Yet it receives a fraction of the attention and funding. Africa’s green lung needs the world’s support NOW." #CongoBasin

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

Baby chimpanzee and baby gorilla form an unlikely friendship after being orphaned in the wild

In 2007, photographer Michael Poliza captured photos of the two young primates bonding at a sanctuary after they were rescued separately, despite belonging to different species.

[Amazing Physics @amazing_physics]

Last night, the sky recreated something ancient humans may have stood frozen watching thousands of years ago. 🌙✨
A razor-thin crescent Moon appeared between brilliant Venus and giant Jupiter directly above Stonehenge — one of Earth’s oldest mysteries.
Just ancient stones beneath a perfectly timed celestial alignment.
For a few moments after sunset, the same sky once watched by forgotten civilizations returned above England.
And somehow…
we’re alive to witness it too. 🌌
[United States]

[Tangwa Abilu.🌿🌏🌾🍀🍃.SDG's. @AbiluTangwa]

Amazon + Congo = 2/3 of Earth’s tropical rainforest.
Together they:
✅ Store 250B tons of carbon
✅ Drive rainfall for 4 continents
✅ House 20% of all species
We’re logging both for short-term cash.
What’s the long-term price? 👇

[Courtney Farrell @CAFarrell]

Urgent action needed! Contact your legislators TODAY to tell them to vote NO on the current Farm Bill! https://t.co/qyrcgU7voL

[Anonymous @YourAnonNews]

David Attenborough spent over 70 years teaching humanity about earth; he just turned 100.
Thank you David, you're a light amongst the darkness.

[Curiosity @MAstronomers]

There's a planet out there with no land. None.

Just water — deeper than anything on Earth — wrapping the entire world from pole to pole.

It's bigger than ours. It's real.

And it has a name: TOI-1452 b.

[Amazing Nature @AmazingNature00]

The Greater Kudu, one of the most beautiful animals in the world, found only in Africa.

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

The spiral staircase in Lednice Castle's library made in 1851.

Carved from a single oak tree without nails

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

The haunting sound that Roman soldiers would have heard from their Celtic enemies before battle came from the Carnyx, an ancient wind instrument used between 200 BC and 200 AD.