Kit Yates

amazon.co.ukYou Don't Know What You're Missing: The science of what’s lost, and how to find it : Yates, Kit: Amazon.co.uk: BooksYou Don't Know What You're Missing: The science of what’s lost, and how to find it : Yates, Kit: Amazon.co.uk: Books

22 June

You Don't Know What You're M ss ng is out. It's about how the information we use to understand the world contains gaps and how those gaps are important. If you've enjoyed reading my stuff on this site, do me a favour and get yourself a copy:

How did a puzzle about crossing seven bridges give birth to a whole new branch of mathematics? You can read about about Euler, the Bridges of Königsberg, the Bridges of Kaliningrad and the origins of graph theory in my latest Substack post: kityates.substack.co...

bbc.co.ukUnexpected Elements - Building bridges - BBC SoundsA new bridge between China and North Korea has us seeking science-based connections.

We also dug into the Bridges of Königsberg problem on yesterday's episode of the BBC World Service programme Unexpected Elements. You can listen here, with my contribution starting at 14:00:

🦠🌊 Passionate about maths, physics and biology? Apply for our PhD project exploring how flow shapes the coevolution of viruses and their hosts. Work across disciplines, develop cutting-edge models, and uncover the rules governing microbial life. 🚀 www.exeter.ac.uk/v8m...

theguardian.comHas the time come to stop changing the clocks? This is what the science tells us | Kit YatesThe EU voted to scrap mandatory daylight savings time but it seems unlikely Brexit Britain will do the same, says Kit Yates, director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at Bath University

Don't forget the clocks go back this weekend. But what are the pros and cons of daylight saving?

Kit Yates reposted

bbc.co.ukCovid inquiry rejects ministers' claims of 'protective ring' around care homes at start of pandemic - follow liveDelays in protecting people in care settings in the UK caused devastating consequences, the report into the sector says.

When Matt Hancock said that the government had put a “protective ring around care homes from the very start” we all knew it was not true. The Covid Inquiry has now backed this up criticising his claim as "unfounded".

Kit Yates reposted

The Covid Inquiry’s Module 6 report is devastating. Its central conclusion: adult social care was treated as “something of an afterthought”, while “protecting the NHS” sometimes came at the expense of people receiving and providing care. 1/10

bbc.co.ukCovid failings in care homes: What the inquiry saysFrom the shocking lack of PPE to restrictions on visitors - the key points from the sixth Covid inquiry report.

A lack of PPE meant staff had to resort to workarounds, including bin bags, festival waterproof ponchos and painters' overalls. The report is also critical of the way hospital COVID patients were moved to care homes to make space for others.

Routine inspections largely stopped, professional visits fell and families were excluded. That removed several layers of oversight simultaneously, increasing the risk that neglect, abuse, poor infection control and deteriorating health would go unnoticed.

The Inquiry’s overarching judgement is that fragmented responsibility, ignored warnings, poor data and inadequate planning created conditions in which Covid could spread “like wildfire”. Social care’s neglect was longstanding. During the pandemic, its consequences became catastrophic.

Care homes were urged to accept admissions to free up hospital beds. The Inquiry finds that official wording could create false reassurance that untested or asymptomatic Covid-positive residents could be accommodated safely. Some managers felt they could not refuse. 9/10

Care workers were given guidance that was detached from reality, including advice to remain two metres from people while providing intimate care. PPE shortages left some working with unsuitable equipment or none at all. The report calls this “wholly unacceptable”. 10/10

By mid-March 2020 there was enough evidence of possible asymptomatic transmission to justify a precautionary approach. The Inquiry says all hospital admissions to care homes should have been isolated. Scotland introduced this advice earlier. 7/10

Governments did not even know which care homes could isolate residents safely. Nor were alternative isolation facilities ready. Exercise Cygnus had identified the need for social-care capacity planning in 2016, but the work remained unfinished. 8/10

Around 25,000 people were discharged from English hospitals into care homes between 17 March and 15 April 2020. Many across the UK were discharged without tests because testing capacity was inadequate. 5/10

The Inquiry accepts that hospitals needed beds. The damning failure was that England, Wales and Northern Ireland initially failed to advise isolation of everyone discharged into care homes. It calls this a “significant omission”. 6/10

The Inquiry explicitly rejects the claim that a “protective ring” was thrown around care homes “right from the start”. It says that claim did not accurately reflect the lack of action in March and the first half of April 2020. 3/10

Governments already knew care-home residents were exceptionally vulnerable to respiratory viruses. Yet protective measures were introduced long after Covid had taken hold. The Inquiry’s verdict is blunt: action came too late. 4/10

More than 43,000 deaths involving Covid were recorded in UK care homes between March 2020 and July 2022. 2/10

Last night Justin Seven-seven scored in the 77th minute for West Brom against Sutton United. Lucky numbers right? But this isn't even the first time that sort of thing has happened... 1/4

And in October 2010 Armande Oné scored the winning goal in the first sixty seconds of a Scottish League Two match for Stranraer against East Stirlingshire. Armande One - East Stirlingshire Nil 3/4

So there you go, coincidences are more likely than you might think - (or maybe the football Gods just choose to smile on us sometimes). You can read more about seemingly surprising coincidences in my book - How to Expect the Unexpected. www.amazon.co.uk/How... 4/4

amazon.co.ukAmazonAmazon

Last night Justin Seven-seven scored in the 77th minute for West Brom against Sutton United. Lucky numbers right? But this isn't even the first time that sort of thing has happened... 1/4

In May 1976, Didier Six scored in the sixth minute in a 2-1 win for Valenciennes against Nancy in the French cup quarter final (he also scored their other goal). 2/4

rasmussenretorts.substack.comThe Plague That Never Wasn’tIs it a lab leak? Is it a bioweapon? Is it even plague? Who knows! But if it was a lab leak, Darya Shipilova didn’t know about it.

“in other words, we still have no idea what is going on”

kityates.substack.comDon’t Look Back in AngerWhy this Man City fan won’t get too upset about those guilty charges

Lots of people have been asking my opinion, as a fan, on the Man City Guilty verdicts. So I wrote this to explain what I feel about it and why I won't be getting myself too upset.

theguardian.comTories overstate net zero cost by nearly £500bn in apparent spreadsheet errorExclusive: Badenoch’s flagship conference policy document cites £957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers’ data

Who doesn't love a good spreadsheet error. Especially when it informs policy. Wonderful.

"In England, all key indicators increased this week indicating a low but increasing risk of Covid. Test positivity rates are continue to remain highest in London, the West Mids, and Yorkshire & Humberside. Whilst Flu activity is low it is rising earlier than previous years." 1/2

bhawkins3.substack.com[COPY] Covid Situation Report: Oct 1, 2026Report providing the latest information on Covid activity in the UK and other countries. This post is best viewed using the browser or Substack app.

The latest update from Bob Hawkin's substack. bhawkins3.substack.c... 2/2

bbc.co.ukUS 'watching closely' after plague researcher dies in RussiaDonald Trump says the US was looking "very strongly" at the case of a lab technician who died at a research centre in Siberia.

“Unconfirmed reports suggested the woman fell ill either after breaking a test tube containing the pathogen or following a field trip to a region where plague occurs naturally among wild rodents.”

abcnews.comState Department monitoring reported fatal case of pneumonic plague in RussiaHealth authorities in Russia’s Irkutsk region launched anti-epidemic measures after an employee of a plague institute died.

"The U.S. State Department is monitoring a reportedly fatal case of "pneumonia of an unknown etiology" linked to a plague research laboratory in Russia."

Kit Yates reposted

Tim Harford

@timharford.ft.com

20 Aug

My mother died 30 years ago after a long and difficult illness. I'm running the Oxford Half this October in her memory and to raise money for Occtopus, the Oxford Colon Cancer Trust. They do good work, and any donations would be gratefully received. www.justgiving.com/page/tim-har...

justgiving.comRaising money for colon cancer research in memory of Deb HarfordHelp Tim Harford raise money to support Occtopus Oxford Colon Cancer Trust

cnbc.comRussia hospitalizes almost 200 people after researcher's death from plague: Reports Nearly 200 people are under medical observation in Russia’s Irkutsk region over suspected exposure to plague, according to local media reports.

"Nearly 200 people have been placed under medical observation in Russia’s Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia over suspected exposure to plague, according to local media reports."

theguardian.comLab worker ‘possibly’ dies of plague in Siberia, prompting quarantine measuresPrecautions in place in several hospitals in eastern Russia amid uncertainty over death of Darya Shipilova

"Several hospitals in Siberia have been placed under quarantine after the death of a woman who worked at an anti-plague institute." "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Monday that several hospitals in Irkutsk had been placed under quarantine."

@trumpactiontracker.bsky.social

Delighted to see Hannah Fry's debut on Celebrity Traitors last night. Doing it for all the mathematicians and self-confessed nerds out there. She's one of our own.

Kit Yates reposted

Trump Action Tracker

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. told a MAHA summit that AI could provide a medical “second opinion” better informed than any doctor and could “free us from medical tyranny.” He encouraged Americans to use AI to challenge public-heal... TAT: [Attacking science | Controlling information]

futurism.comRFK Jr Announcing That AI Is Now Better Than Human Doctors Shows That He Is a Buffoon Who Is Ruining Trust in American Health InstitutionsRFK Jr. said that AI models are now better informed than any doctor, proclaiming the tech will "free us from medical tyranny."

Kit Yates reposted

Adam Bienkov

@adambienkov.bsky.social

Kemi Badenoch condemned Reform's ban on critical journalists covering their conference as "authoritarian", saying her own party would never do the same as "we believe in free speech. We believe in a free press." Now the Conservatives have banned Byline Times from their conference

bylinetimes.comKemi Badenoch's Conservatives Ban Byline Times From Conference After Condemning Reform for Journalist BanThe ban comes just weeks after the Conservative leader called Reform's barring of critical journalists from their conference an "authoritarian" attack on the free press

Kit Yates reposted

Jacob Aron

@jjaron.bsky.social

My latest maths column asks if mathematicians will be able to completely avoid AI, given that once an AI model is used to prove a theorem, it stays proved forever www.newscientist.com/article/2591...

newscientist.comCan mathematicians still refuse to use AI at this point? | New ScientistThere’s no question AI has transformed the field of mathematics in the past few months. Columnist Jacob Aron wonders if it will soon be impossible to be an AI refusenik and continue working in the fie...

bbc.co.ukSouth West Water fined almost £8m for sewage spillsSouth West Water previously entered guilty pleas to pollution offences spanning six years.

The water company said in a statement after sentencing: "We apologise for what happened in the past." Presumably that's only because they can't yet apologise for the sewage spills in the future?

I’m trying to buy Oasis tickets and my Man City look like they’re getting relegated. Feels like I’m 14 years old again.

I was on BBC Inside Science on Thursday as Presenter's Friend. We talked about Leap seconds being on borrowed time, a ‘fire-loving’ amoeba and taking the temperature of T. rex. You can read all about it on my substack here: kityates.substack.co... 1/2

bbc.co.ukBBC Inside Science - Do you have the correct time? - BBC SoundsHow do we measure time accurately and why is the rotation of the Earth causing problems?

Or you can catch up with the whole episode here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds... 2/2

Kit Yates reposted

Dr. Courtney Gibbons (she/her/xlookup)

@courtneygibbons.phd

22 Sept

Two people died. "Experts stress the meningitis vaccine currently being offered to more than a million young people starting university protects against it.' Vaccines save lives.

Kit Yates@kityates.bsky.social

”Experts say it picked up some genetic material from other bugs found naturally in the throats of some people. This exchange created a new strain or variant that then spread between clubbers and caused severe illness.“

bbc.co.ukScientists discover why Kent meningitis outbreak was so severeThe bacteria responsible picked up some new genetic material, say experts.

Interesting ratios.

bbc.co.ukBBC Inside Science - Do you have the correct time? - BBC SoundsHow do we measure time accurately and why is the rotation of the Earth causing problems?

I was on BBC Inside Science yesterday as presenter's friend. We talked about leap seconds being on borrowed time, a ‘fire-loving’ amoeba and taking the temperature of T. rex. You can catch up with it here:

bbc.co.ukBBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, 24/09/2026A weekly programme looking at the science that's changing our world.

I'm on @BBCRadio4's Inside Science again this afternoon at 16:30. This week I’m going to be finding out exactly how much of a hot-blooded predator T-rex really was and detailing a new record temperature for the survival of "complex life". Check it out: