ribonucleicacids.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

My latest blog post.

submitted 1 hour ago • 0 comments

@mikeduncan.bsky.social - care to comment?

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

Our paper on the evolution of gene product diversity (the same gene expressing different RNA or protein isoforms) is just accepted at @molsystbiol.org‬!🥳 Final version coming out soon!

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

“No one has ever seen a [presidential] transition in which one of the most valuable parts of our government enterprise is being taken apart," says Harold Varmus, former NIH director. Our latest, from the @nature.com reporters covering Trump 2.0: www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

Cellular responses to RNA damage: Cell Such a great and timely review for a topic that remained under-explored for such a long time but has attracted a lot of attention in the last few years. The field is now moving in leaps and bounds. #RNAsky www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage.

submitted 3 days ago • 1921 comments

This is absolutely pathetic. Saying nothing was bad enough, but this?

submitted 3 days ago • 8 comments

I am not making this up: Republicans have introduced legislation… to increase your bank fees.

submitted 4 days ago • 1218 comments

🥳Just published @nature.com. Over 25 years after the discovery of SPO11 as the enzyme responsible for initiating meiotic recombination, we finally succeeded in reconstituting its DNA cleavage activity.🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

submitted 3 days ago • 7 comments

Firings happening right now at the NSF.

submitted 4 days ago • 45 comments

Even the most disturbing RFK Jr. headline always manages to have a detail inside creepier than you could have imagined. I’m sorry, did you just say Black kids should have a chance to get “re-parented”???? Gift link wapo.st/4hW2xGI

submitted 5 days ago • 819 comments

Just talked to a friend whose spouse is a contractor for the VA. They are worried about their job and their future. But what shocked me was that they had no clue what happened at NIH, USDA, CDC, NOAA. The word is simply not getting out. The average American just doesn't know.

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

My latest blog post on the current turmoil south of the border. alexander-palazzo.squarespace.com/biological-i...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Jeff Lee et al paper from my lab is out now www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... I am very grateful to Jeff, Nile's and Tamsin for all the hard work on this tour de force paper. Jeff deserves more credit than me for masterminding it and the outstanding data analysis: 2 RBPs over 3 developmental times.

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

1950s America: We're in a Cold War against the Commies: let's fund science! 2025 MAGA: We're in a Civilizational War against China: let's kill science!

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Biopharma companies and CEOs are keeping their heads down at their own peril. They should speak up about what’s happening to the NIH and other science agencies before it’s too late. Silence gives consent. And no one should consent to this.

submitted 10 days ago • 17 comments

The Idiot's Guide to Effective Population Size onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

View from Canada: the IDC rate for research intensive unis is about 20%, and it's killing us. International student fees subsidize research, our deferred maintenance burden is out of control and buildings are substandard (some are dangerous), support for common equipment / cores is pratically nil.

submitted 14 days ago • 6 comments

We do not currently have a sane government.

submitted 14 days ago • 3 comments

What's happening is precisely outlined in Project 2025. Read it to understand what's coming next. None of this is a surprise. Also, I know this is extremely unnerving if u weren't expecting this. But let's not panic. Let's organize & give this the best fking fight of our lives.

submitted 15 days ago • 9 comments

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

submitted 15 days ago • 271 comments

“I think it’s going to destroy research universities in the short term, and I don’t know after that.” Story by @by-cjewett.bsky.social on the new NIH policy that will shrivel support for research. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/u...

submitted 14 days ago • 7 comments

Donald Trump’s Canadian campaign team pictured in this undated photo.

submitted 18 days ago • 15 comments

The answer is always GC-content.

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Required reading for today:

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

“The distribution of highly deleterious variants across human ancestry groups”. Preprint with Anastasia Stolyarova and @gcbias.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

For the record:

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Toronto, a city where no one in the bureaucracy seems to have a clear idea what good urban design or good architecture means, has a new chief planner. Will Jason Thorne bring a new vision? by @alexbozikovic.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toron... via @theglobeandmail.com

submitted 18 days ago • 2 comments

I wrote about the biggest paradox of 21st century governance: that the democratization of information production is killing democracy. Trump’s America is the canary in the coal mine for how badly things can break when voters inhabit different realities from a steady diet of informational sludge.

submitted 24 days ago • 34 comments

I found this to be an elegant and clever use of available DNA methylation data to address evolutionary questions about genome regulation academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

There is nothing "conservative" or "right-wing" about Patel, Gabbard or RFK Jr. They rather represent a new form of obscurantist radicalism: anti-evidence, anti-science, and opposed to the rule of law www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

submitted 20 days ago • 66 comments

My latest blog post.

@mikeduncan.bsky.social - care to comment?

Our paper on the evolution of gene product diversity (the same gene expressing different RNA or protein isoforms) is just accepted at @molsystbiol.org‬!🥳 Final version coming out soon!

“No one has ever seen a [presidential] transition in which one of the most valuable parts of our government enterprise is being taken apart," says Harold Varmus, former NIH director. Our latest, from the @nature.com reporters covering Trump 2.0: www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

Cellular responses to RNA damage: Cell Such a great and timely review for a topic that remained under-explored for such a long time but has attracted a lot of attention in the last few years. The field is now moving in leaps and bounds. #RNAsky www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage.

This is absolutely pathetic. Saying nothing was bad enough, but this?

I am not making this up: Republicans have introduced legislation… to increase your bank fees.

🥳Just published @nature.com. Over 25 years after the discovery of SPO11 as the enzyme responsible for initiating meiotic recombination, we finally succeeded in reconstituting its DNA cleavage activity.🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Firings happening right now at the NSF.

Even the most disturbing RFK Jr. headline always manages to have a detail inside creepier than you could have imagined. I’m sorry, did you just say Black kids should have a chance to get “re-parented”???? Gift link wapo.st/4hW2xGI

Just talked to a friend whose spouse is a contractor for the VA. They are worried about their job and their future. But what shocked me was that they had no clue what happened at NIH, USDA, CDC, NOAA. The word is simply not getting out. The average American just doesn't know.

My latest blog post on the current turmoil south of the border. alexander-palazzo.squarespace.com/biological-i...

Jeff Lee et al paper from my lab is out now www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... I am very grateful to Jeff, Nile's and Tamsin for all the hard work on this tour de force paper. Jeff deserves more credit than me for masterminding it and the outstanding data analysis: 2 RBPs over 3 developmental times.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1950s America: We're in a Cold War against the Commies: let's fund science! 2025 MAGA: We're in a Civilizational War against China: let's kill science!

Biopharma companies and CEOs are keeping their heads down at their own peril. They should speak up about what’s happening to the NIH and other science agencies before it’s too late. Silence gives consent. And no one should consent to this.

The Idiot's Guide to Effective Population Size onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

View from Canada: the IDC rate for research intensive unis is about 20%, and it's killing us. International student fees subsidize research, our deferred maintenance burden is out of control and buildings are substandard (some are dangerous), support for common equipment / cores is pratically nil.

We do not currently have a sane government.

What's happening is precisely outlined in Project 2025. Read it to understand what's coming next. None of this is a surprise. Also, I know this is extremely unnerving if u weren't expecting this. But let's not panic. Let's organize & give this the best fking fight of our lives.

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

“I think it’s going to destroy research universities in the short term, and I don’t know after that.” Story by @by-cjewett.bsky.social on the new NIH policy that will shrivel support for research. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/u...

Donald Trump’s Canadian campaign team pictured in this undated photo.

The answer is always GC-content.

Required reading for today:

“The distribution of highly deleterious variants across human ancestry groups”. Preprint with Anastasia Stolyarova and @gcbias.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

For the record:

Toronto, a city where no one in the bureaucracy seems to have a clear idea what good urban design or good architecture means, has a new chief planner. Will Jason Thorne bring a new vision? by @alexbozikovic.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toron... via @theglobeandmail.com

I wrote about the biggest paradox of 21st century governance: that the democratization of information production is killing democracy. Trump’s America is the canary in the coal mine for how badly things can break when voters inhabit different realities from a steady diet of informational sludge.

I found this to be an elegant and clever use of available DNA methylation data to address evolutionary questions about genome regulation academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

There is nothing "conservative" or "right-wing" about Patel, Gabbard or RFK Jr. They rather represent a new form of obscurantist radicalism: anti-evidence, anti-science, and opposed to the rule of law www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

This is a bit crazy. Why would the ASM take down articles on women scientists? Dear ASM, have some backbone!

Perfectly captured.

www.youtube.com/live/PnvyrKv...