Happy to share the latest from the lab, led by Daniel Alvarez, in collaboration with @lizconibear.bsky.social‬. In this AA-MD tour-de-force, we delve deep into the mechanism and energetics of lipid uptake by bridge-like lipid transfer proteins, and we learn a few interesting things along the way...

I just thought everyone should see this

I started reading up on the whole "loneliness pandemic" narrative because this seems like a literature where the age-period-cohort problem may be relevant (or maybe it isn't?). Here's data from Australia (HILDA), average agreement with the statement "I often feel very lonely" (SD of ca. 1.8).>

hey European hivemind, I need some help...PhD students here, especially foreign ones, are feeling a lot of concern related to evolving immigration restrictions here. Those students are increasingly looking to postdocs in EU. To help advise them better, what are expectations for postdocs? 1/2

Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.

The world is on fire, but at least I made something yummy for dinner: beef borguignon pot pie

My TL has been unremittingly dark, lately. Guessing I'm not alone. Got to visit Lisbon's zoo, yesterday. An exemplar of good animal stewardship (lots of enrichment props/activities in large spaces for the animals) while allowing awesome viewing. So, a TL cleanse of animal pics follows, if you need.

Letter of resignation from @jennifer-troyer.bsky.social former Dir of Extramural Ops at NHGRI "The NIH is not only no longer the organization that I love but is now an organization that I can no longer be a part of and retain my integrity and self-respect." www.linkedin.com/posts/jennif... 1/6

anyway, relatedly, tonsky.me/blog/tahoe-icons/

Source: www.science.org/content/blog...

I don't think you non-science people realize what it takes to get a grant funded by NIH. Started experiments in Sept 2021 to generate 3 new mouse mutants to model human disease. Prelim dara shows they have relevant disease phenotypes worthy of study. Need a small grant first to characterize /1

Strange takes on Mayor Zamdani swearing his oath on the Qu’ran. It has nothing to do with church & state. The point of the oath is for the person swearing in to do so upon some text that is sacred TO THEM. Some Presidents swore in w/o any book. John Quincy Adams was sworn on a law book. His choice.

As it happens, I have experience with high-level government demands to stop an explosive, accurate story from running, and I also have experience with 60 Minutes spiking a story I was involved in, so I have thoughts about the travesty at CBS. If you want some journalism anecdotes, here are a lot:

ALMOST EVERYTHING about penguins is cute. There is *one exception*: they are champion poop producers. Specifically, they would win the long-distance contest. Humboldt penguins can propel poop well over twice their own height (picture is unrelated). Warning: thread contains penguin defecation.

It’s a small thing, but it makes me so happy when I see something done really well, even when it’s something that’s usually considered a throw-away task like writing the decision letter for a paper submitted to a journal.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy

Katya and I have been playing fetch for maybe 10 minutes.

The clam chowder I made for dinner is currently cooling on my deck. I don’t know why this trick makes me so happy, but it does, every time I use it.

Okay, so at the request of the lovely @trance.bsky.social , I'm going to tell a story about what happens when a shitty person is "just joking", and then discovers there are consequences. AKA That Time Kat Started An Antifascist Hallway Riot In The Third Grade. Grab your beverage of choice.

In the New and Notable "Precision under pressure: The dawn of membrane tension clamping," Karan H. Muchhala and Arthur Beyder highlight the paper "A closed-loop system for millisecond readout and control of membrane tension."

Soufcaniot!

Ever wondered how many bins to choose when making a histogram of data? The answer is that you shouldn't choose a number of bins yourself! ☄️ #astrocode Here's a little notebook explaining how to make less biased histograms:

I am getting to the end of my grading and desperately need a break. Which means it's that time again...time for EXTRA CREDIT MEMES

There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom

The department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Rochester just ran our annual to a drive to support the Galliano Children’s Hospital Child Life program.

Emily gave a great thesis defense talk. She’s currently looking for a postdoc position — if anyone has an opening, please contact her!

Interesting that “have a useful idea” is nowhere to be found.

Since I study changes in achievement in population studies, I’ve been looking at this data for a long time and the story has been the same-women get higher grades and the differences in standardized scores are negligible. This is what you see in these graphs as well.

I am often asked: What is the best telescope to buy for someone just getting into astronomy? 🪐🔭👀 As a theorist, I am absolutely useless and can tell you nothing. HOWEVER, my friend the wonderful @philplait.bsky.social is NOT useless and has great advice & relevant links here! ⤵️

Our paper on polymyxin interacting with the E. coli outer membrane is out! Simulations by the very talented @dheerajprakaash.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42... To scale outer membrane protein island simulated at coarse-grained resolution with portions refined at all atom resolution.

LONG RAMBLING EMOTIONAL THREAD: It's World AIDS Day. Since the Administration has decided to keep it quiet, I'd like to share my introduction to AIDS. I grew up in Seattle. My mom remarried a man who had a brother who was a King County Sheriff's Deputy. His name was Terry and he was gay. 1/x

Of course my smoke detector waited until 1 am to start complaining it needed a new battery.

#OTD in 1967, Jocelyn Bell discovered pulsars & changed our view of the universe. 𝘉𝘶𝘵... The #Nobel Prize in #Physics for their discovery went to to her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish & to astronomer Martin Ryle. theconversation.com/fifty-years-...#OTD#Nobel#Physics#WomenInSTEM #astrophysics #MatildaEffect

Just a friendly reminder as we go into the holidays: Folks don't have to explain to you why they don't drink. If you offer them a drink and they decline, don't ask them why. It's not your business. Just offer them something without alcohol to drink instead. And move on.

Sometimes I think it’s going to be the librarians who will save us all.

NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen. Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.

Repost this everywhere you’re active on social media. Send to your friends and family who aren’t.

Jamelle was cooking. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...

This week is “First Generation Week”. My mother went up to the fifth grade, and a father barely finished high school. I am the first in my extended family to go to college. It was only possible because of the free public education in Argentina. Education opens doors and minds, it matters.

I LEARNED THE ANSWER TO THIS Chris's Steakhouse was a New Orleans landmark Chris Matulich periodically got bored, sold it, waited for the new owner to fail, and bought it back cheap The sale conditions: Can't move it, can't change the name He did this six times Then he sold it to Ruth Fertel

Multi-Year funding analysis, a 🧵 I have been trying to find a robust way of quantifying and understanding multi-year (forward funding). First, some background: Most NIH grants are for multiple years (2 to 5, typically). However, the are usually funded on an annual basis. 1/18

This is an excellent description of good and bad practices in presenting data.

Fresh-baked chocolate babka

Boy, North Carolina Republicans sure don't want the attached story to circulate. I sure hope that this stupid threat from their spokesperson doesn't boomerang on them and have a lot more people read and share the story, which once again, is conveniently attached below. That would be a shame.

Food bank director: “for every meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine. There’s no way we can meet that gap.”

🎓 Thinking about graduate study? Don't miss our next virtual information session! 📅Thurs, Nov 13 📍Zoom 🔗Event Page: events.rochester.edu/event/bme-gr... #URochester #URochesterBME #GradSchool #medtech #PhD #MS #CMTI #BME #biomedicalengineering @urengineering.bsky.social @urochester.bsky.social

Startlingly good effects of LNP-mRNA vaccines when given to cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint therapy. More vaccine research please. More mRNA!

BREAKING: Letitia James has announced a Government portal for Videos and images of ICE Agents who may have committed crimes. Please Use it and SHARE! ag.ny.gov/federal-acti...

Imagine a browser where you type in “Taylor Swift” and it doesn’t even admit that her website exists. I write about Atlas, ChatGPT’s new anti-web browser that should come with a warning label. www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/a...