Fianna Fáil's candidate Jim Gavin has announced he is withdrawing from the Presidential Election "with immediate effect"

Even if it actually said "Teachta Dála" rather than just the two letters "T.D."! And "Former Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann" is right there.

Weak and disappointing. "Elon Musk’s contribution to the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally is an example of a growing tendency towards the use of the language of violence, and narratives of division and polarisation."

New HIV transmissions can be ended, but political will is needed, according to voluntary organisation HIV Ireland.

It doesn't matter if you're into food and restaurants, this is a must-read on the importance of fact-checking and subject-matter experts (and a mini exposé on how a particular food enterprise in Dublin is capitalising on its absence in Irish media). www.allthefood.ie/single-post/...

The lab github is here: github.com/mol-evol/ so you can get an idea of what we have been working on recently (several projects are private at the moment, so this will be bigger soon) and the job ad is here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOU184/p...

Blogged about how zstd --long fills the gap between fast and slow-but-high-ratio genome compression methods log.bede.im/2025/09/12/z...

Constraints on chromosome evolution revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas blue butterfly "...it has 227 pairs of autosomes and four sex chromosomes" 😮 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Andrew is definitely putting Paudie in a home after this #TraitorsIRL

Only 10 years ago there was an outpouring of grief for this little boy and refugees were seen, for a while, as human beings. Less than a decade to get to racist mobs try to burn down hotels and racist dog whistles routinely used by a so called Labour Prime Minister. Remember little Alan Kurdi 💔

Obsessed with Diane! #TraitorsIrl

British baby dies from whooping cough as vaccination rates fall

How can entry level workers get experience and move up the ladder when the bottom of the ladder is being cut off due to AI for the sake of cost-cutting? www.wired.com/story/stanfo...

🗓 Pathoplexus turns ONE! 🎂🎉 In the past year we’ve grown from 4 pathogens to a truly global, community-driven platform for transparent, equitable & impactful pathogen sequence sharing. 📰 Read the full update: pathoplexus.org/news/2025-08... 1/10

@alanrice.ie et al. compared variation in expression of dosage-sensitive and nondosage-sensitive genes to investigate whether dosage-sensitive genes evade expression constraints through tissue-specific regulatory variation. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf132 #genome #evolution #genexpression

So glad this work is published🥳 Highlight article written by @evopaa.bsky.social: Dosage-Sensitive Genes “Thread the Needle” of Selection doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... Evolution of Dosage-Sensitive Genes by Tissue-Restricted Expression Changes @genomebiolevol.bsky.social academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

Sex-reversal in birds (genetically male/female but appear female/male) is surprisingly common. Best detail: A genetically male bird called a laughing kookaburra had recently laid an egg. (1/2) By @phiejacobs.bsky.social on @science.org

🦠 New paper led by James Horton (feat. J Cherry & @gretelwaugh.bsky.social) reveals GnT DNA motif can boost T→A mutation rates up to 1000×, & how tweaking nearby bases can fine-tune its potency. General across bacteria + potential in synbio. 📄 academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-ar… 🔗 James’s thread ⬇️

2020-2024: Jay Bhattacharya says mRNA vaccines are inferior to “natural immunity,” encourages everyone to get Covid, and cashes in by implying vaccines are dangerous & don’t work 2025: Jay Bhattacharya says the public doesn’t trust mRNA vaccines because of all the lies he told them

"In the new ... internet, girls can’t learn about periods on Reddit and artists can’t sell smutty games on Itch.io, but a military contractor will make you nonconsensual deepfakes of Taylor Swift taking her top off for $30 a month." — @thedextriarchy.bsky.social www.theverge.com/internet-cen...

Oh so it does have phd level intelligence

I've complained about OpenAI model names to anyone that'll listen so I guess this is an improvement? 🤷‍♂️

The opposition to Metrolink from wealthy businessmen who do not live in North County Dublin is interesting. There are no such complaints from residents' committees or homeowners in Fingal.

*Me, if I were a journalist* “I see, and do you have any evidence to support that or any potential conflict of interest in offering your opinion?”

Over two decades 92 million deaths were prevented by USAID and over the next five years 14 million people are likely to die as result of the USAID cuts. Even if these Lancet estimates are a bit wrong, they give a sense of the magnitude on.ft.com/4ojiRFJ

Sunday Independent...

The Hubble space telescope can observe parts of space approximately 13.4 billion light-years away. This is still not far enough away for Bertie Ahern to fuck off forever.

BBC NEWS / AFP / BBC NEWS / REUTERS JOINT STATEMENT: “We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. "They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering. "

Today is the 10th anniversary of Ireland's gender recognition act. Ireland's gender recognition is through self-declaration without the need for permission from a doctor, panel or judge etc. In the past decade nothing bad happened. youtu.be/1f8OxezAqTk?...

WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for. Stop using WeTransfer.

It's International Non-Binary People's Day. Last year we caught up with member and PhD student, Rowan Casey, to find out some of the challenges trans and non-binary people experience when studying or working in science. Read the full blog: microb.io/45Kn8Lz

This is tragic - please please vaccinate your children against measles! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... here is Indie SAGE report on preventable childhood diseases - including measles! Screenshot from report below. please share! independentsage.org/wp-content/u... 1/2

"Independent TD Catherine Connolly will declare as a candidate [next week]. The Galway West TD has sufficient support to secure a nomination with the Social Democrats, PBP-Solidarity and several independent TDs and senators ready to give her their backing." www.rte.ie/news/2025/07...

Connacht Tribune reporting Catherine Connolly will formally launch her presidential bid next week. Says she has backing of Social Democrats and PBP (notes that Sinn Féin + Labour are still carrying out their own candidate selection processes) connachttribune.ie/galway-west-...

The Meselson and Stahl experiment demonstrated in 1958 that DNA replicated semi-conservatively. Meaning, each of the two strands of DNA serves as a template for a new copy to made of the complementary strand. Foundational finding, elegant experimental design.

Shrinkflation, now for your house.

Wait is there really just one woman in the lineup of 23 acts for Longitude?

They can prevent it they're just choosing not to because they don't like the solutions.

This government has just laid down and accepted increasing, record-breaking child homelessness like it's a force beyond their control.

Detection of clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 high pathogenicity avian influenza virus in a sheep in Great Britain, 2025 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.27.661969v1

Turns out the Big Beautiful Bill is an unprecedented transfer of wealth in American society (graphic via @nytimes.com)

Kennedy does the thing he said for years he wanted to www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

DOGE is now reviewing every NIH grant that goes out, I reported last week. That review is AI-driven and is screening for DEI, trans health, China, vaccine hesitancy, and the institutions to whom Trump has blocked funding, @hannahnatanson.bsky.social reports. Gift link: wapo.st/3HhnPSt

An AI company valued at $1.5 billion filed for bankruptcy after being exposed as 700 engineers in India. Under the rules of capitalism, this would mean those workers would be valued at $2.1 million each... except they're human, and capitalism doesn't value humans. www.dexerto.com/entertainmen...

Cut the power to the hospitals, I'm mid-convo with my AI girlfriend!