"Russian flu," the pandemic that hit in 1977, bears an evolutionary signature of having emerged from a lab, perhaps as part of a failed vaccine effort. Covid, mpox, Ebola, and other influenza pandemics don't. Here's my story on a new way to trace the origins of pandemics. Gift link: nyti.ms/46N0W33
indeed, Bluesky's inherent overall hostility to AI means that the AI enthusiasts still willing to hang out here are usually far smarter and more thoughtful than the absolute dribbling freakshow AI cultists who dominate Twitter/X
Let me tell you something. Y’all are asking too many damn questions at every point of sale. I have to leave a comment, make a suggestion, donate to a charity, choose a method of payment three times and then multiple choice of ways to get a receipt.
Take the damn money and leave me alone.
I remain fascinated by people who are 100% all-in on using LLMs at their jobs (and telling everyone that they're doing it) and who appear to have never paused to consider "what value am I personally adding in here, at this point, and why do I think my employers won't eventually figure this out"
Today is the start of the 5th Analysing Microbial Genomic Data course at @unibirmingham.bsky.social #AMGDMar26 - in the last three years we’ve trained nearly 80 attendees from six countries and multiple UK universities
This is empirically backed btw, even just blocking internet on your phone improves mental health more than anti-depressants.
It’s fantastic!
Audiobook cover of "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" by Cory Doctorow
Just finished listening to the audiobook of @doctorow.pluralistic.net's "Enshittification", and *wow* what a book! It encapsulates so many things I've been feeling about the modern tech industry, but articulated so much better than I could. Highly recommend!!
New post, on whether I could get Claude Code to complete a data task that had taken me AGES a decade ago…
kucharski.substack.com/p/how-much-t...
Has been pretty vindicating that the people on Twitter we used to argue with about COVID actually got their chance to run things and they each turned out to be every bit the incompetent fuckwit that we knew they’d be
Excited to share this preprint that describes my latest work on using GPUs to accelerate processing of RNA-seq data.
The title says it all: "RNA-seq analysis in seconds using GPUs" now on biorxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... and github github.com/pachterlab/k...
Figure 1 shows they key result
"The most effective consumer boycotts in history share two qualities: they are narrow and they are easy," writes @rutgerbregman.com
Everyone is interested in data centers these days, so I recommend going back and listening to this long, in-depth podcast about the history of data centers. You will feel much more grounded and informed about current debates.
1908: the Lancet, one of the most respected scientific journals, calls for 18 age limit on reading in bed amidst a moral panic surrounding children becoming "addicted" to novels, which were "designed to keep kids hooked" and destroy their attention/mental health
3 Ways To Turn Overwhelm Into A Productivity Tool, By A Psychologist
New personal view article
The role of microbial genomics in delivering the UK’s national action plan for confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024–29
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
#IDSky #ClinMicro #AMR #OpenAccess #OA
Nature is healing!
With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268
Headshot of Jeff Cole
We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Professor Jeff Cole, a long-standing member who held many positions in the Society. Jeff was elected an Honorary Member in 2011. You can read his full obituary here: microb.io/46xYzkz
Deacon can now run in the browser using WebAssembly. Sequence data never leaves your machine. It currently supports FASTA/Q filtering using indexes up to 1GB in size.
Demo: bede.im/deacon
Step 1 is now available in MicroGPT Visualized
microgpt.jtauber.com
Can't wait to release a 10-year-old birthday version for SeqKit!
- 10 years
- 2 papers, 3500 citations
- 20 contributors
- 40 subcommands
- 880 commits
- 500 issues
- 685.5K Bioconda total downloads
Thank you all, dear contributors and users!
I'll keep maintaining it.
github.com/shenwei356/s...
Quite rare to see a chart that says quite so overtly that no one involved has the slightest clue what’s happening here
Oh, this Allister Heath Headline Generator is brilliant fun. Check out the results of my first test 👇👇👇 #UTISky
How the ‘confident authority’ of Google AI Overviews is putting public health at risk www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
I am deeply saddened by Jeff's passing. Jeff lived and breathed microbiology, and was still very much part of the microbiology community in @imibirmingham.bsky.social until a few weeks ago. He was supportive to students and staff and will be sorely missed by many, here in Birmingham and elsewhere
It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Professor Jeff Cole. An esteemed academic, Jeffs research on bacterial adaptation to oxygen and nitrosative stress made a lasting impact on the field. He mentored nearly 60 doctoral students, our thoughts are with his family, friends & colleagues
What’s holding back clinical use of phage therapy in the UK?
Our workshop last year brought together international experts, biotech and regulators to find out
Meeting Report out now in Nature Microbiology with our take on the challenges and opportunities facing the UK phage therapy sector
I was an Amstrad guy….
Can safely way this is the craziest and coolest study I have led. We chart the evolution of sheeppox virus, finding it in the Eurasian steppe ~3700 years ago, and also in a LOT of parchment from medieval Europe (made from a range of animals skins!) #aDNA
