Apply to do a PhD with me, Laura Corbin, Gareth Hawkes and George Davey Smith ( @mendelrandom.bsky.social) in Bristol on identifying rare effects on health using new and innovative methods. Amazing team, great educational environment, lovely city. Forward to your undergrads wrapping up!

"Triangulation: moving from correlations to causation", Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine Distinguished Lecture 2025, Thursday, October 16th, 5pm, in person or online www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/school-of-...

Mendelian randomization (MR) was partly a response to the many epidemiological studies suggesting vitamins were protective against various diseases, only for randomised trials to be null. The story of how fallacious MR attempted to resurrect the spurious claims here academic.oup.com/ije/article/...

A brilliant 1984 chapter in the "Encyclopaedia of Medical Ignorance" by Richard Peto anticipated much of the advances in understanding of cancer since then, and is now accessible in @SpringerNature European Journal of Epidemiology. A personal on it/ cont link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Mendelian randomization (MR) was partly a response to the many epidemiological studies suggesting vitamins were protective against various diseases, only for randomised trials to be null. The story of how fallacious MR attempted to resurrect the spurious claims here academic.oup.com/ije/article/...

This will be a great lecture from a brilliant and impactful epidemiologist

Seems like a good idea to me!

Great to see a joint 2026 SSM/IEA meeting, marking the 70th anniversary of SSM and one of the potential 70th anniversary dates for the IEA (though in 1956 it was called the International Corresponding Club). My first SSM & IEA conferences occurred closer to the founding dates than to today

Oh shit Ozzy Osborne just 10 years older than me and he had a relatively healthy lifestyle 😞

Prescient words from the great Richard Levins in his 1996 Edinburgh Medal address “When science fails us”, a piece on why we need a dialectical epidemiology, ecology and agricultural science. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Prescient words from the great Richard Levins in his 1996 Edinburgh Medal address “When science fails us”, a piece on why we need a dialectical epidemiology, ecology and agricultural science. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

After the Act, showing at London’s Royal Court Theatre, tells the story of Section 28, and the teachers, pupils and activists who lived through it. Kelly Rogers spoke to writer and director Billy Barrett and writer and actor Ellice Stevens. www.workersliberty.org/story/2025-0...

I'd like to tell you a story about a scientist you may not have heard of, but who shaped a lot of modern health research... 🧵

Incisive talk @royalsociety.org by legendary South African HIV researcher Salim Karim on "Science under threat: the politics of institutionalised disinformation" pulls few punches on science in the age of Trump and Musk royalsociety.org/science-even...

We should introduce the term “real human researchers” (RHR) to go with other nonsense phrases like “real world evidence”

Finally, something AI can do just as well as real "researchers". www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Here practical considerations for examining and reducing biases in #MendelianRandomization analyses #Genetics @mendelrandom.bsky.social academic.oup.com/jcem/advance...

An oldster speaks of his younger hero youtube.com/watch?v=pvQF...

Also empirical estimates don't agree with the simulation.... pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24068246/

Commentary by @mendelrandom.bsky.social and me on paper suggesting highly prevalent East Asian #ALDH2 null variant may magnify adverse effects of maternal alcohol use during pregnancy on child development. ▶️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @uob-ieu.bsky.social @bristoluni.bsky.social

The empty Colston plinth in Bristol with the original and new labelling

Thanks to the Tulsa World for running my essay on the importance of federal data! #PublicHealth #Epidemiology #PRAMS #CDC #DataScience #ScienceHomecoming "We must rely on the kindness — and data — of strangers" tulsaworld.com/opinion/colu...

We have 2-3 group leader positions opening @fimm-uh.bsky.social !! We are looking for outstanding candidates in human genetics and precision medicine. This time we have a focus on population health data science. E.g. AI for EHR/health data        Generous starting package 💰 shorturl.at/FAk6n

I have an opportunity to hire a staff scientist for my lab. Looking for someone with outstanding skillset in ML/statistics, genomics applications; interest in mentoring, strong publication record, PD experience required. Email CV to me+cc my assistant (see 'contact' on my website). Ad to follow.

Multi-analyst approaches discussed @dingdingpeng.the100.ci More work required in the epidemiological space is one conclusion

Additionally, "if a study offers nothing more than the mechanical application of a statistical package to publicly available summary data, then it may not warrant the use of editorial and reviewer time, and journal space". @mendelrandom.bsky.social tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/33/5...

I was sceptical of AI generated podcasts, especially if covering ideas rather than empirical data. This generated from academic.oup.com/ije/article/... & academic.oup.com/ije/article/... & link.springer.com/article/10.1... was better than I imagined possible notebooklm.google.com/notebook/d53...

This is simultaneously a noodle, a no nulls and a numbskulls, congrats to all concerned youtu.be/N1vklBXG2do?...

RIP David Thomas, of Pere Ubu, a simply extraordinary artist and curmudgeon, for whom I had the terror of organising a gig for some decades ago youtu.be/z6IJRxonxi0 Give their wonderful back catalogue a listen ...

A simple but vital point, still too often ignored: You can only adjust for what you can measure. If your measurements are imprecise, then your adjustment must obviously suffer. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... (from @mendelrandom.bsky.social)

Dance with Death, by Hieronymus Hess, 1841, 📸 via Vatican Media Pool

Why do Labour supporters tolerate this?

I have consistent Tory déjà vu ... only it's Labour. Every day I think: 'they cannot possibly get worse'. And then, every day, they manage to do just that. From the failure to finally provide safe routes to this now - it's wrong, inhumane, and pure Reform cosplay. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

My favourite visual representation of Mendelism is below, but as always the story is more complex than it seems ieureka.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2022/07/15/t...

Triangulation of evidence in medical research explained, in work led by Sirena Gutierrez and @mariaglymour.bsky.social Will do a thread when I get a moment link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Recommended listening to accompany the editorial on nonsense numbskulls Mendelian randomization apparently resurrecting vitamin D youtu.be/GGeOo2IxrKE

My favourite visual representation of Mendelism is below, but as always the story is more complex than it seems ieureka.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2022/07/15/t...

Stimulating the development of Mendelian randomization were the myriad cases of observational studies suggesting vitamins would prevent many diseases, with RCTs quashing these hopes. Sadly fallible MR methods simply recapitulate the spurious epidemiological findings academic.oup.com/ije/article/...

And chaser now. I think calling @royalsociety.org morally limp was overly generous. A clear demo that legacy doesn't matter. You need to be judged on your actions here and now, and RS is asking to be judged. And judge we will #AcademicSky www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Royal Society decides not to take disciplinary action against Elon Musk Fellows argue Musk has violated code of conduct but council believes investigation ‘could do more harm than good’ www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Nothing says New Labour like cutting disability benefits while spending billions more on weapons.. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Hot off the press: my review of Csaba Szabo's book Unreliable; deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/03/book...

Thanks for the talk. Too bad that @mendelrandom.bsky.social gave up on de-mendelization too soon. :) PSA work by @lindakachuri.bsky.social is very neat!

Here’s my homage to the groundbreaking and brilliant “uses of epidemiology” academic.oup.com/ije/article/... and why it is still worth reading in the age of Modern Epidemiology academic.oup.com/aje/article/...

An excellent visit from @mendelrandom.bsky.social in Montreal this week. He wants to change Mendelian randomization to "meiotic randomization"—likely a much better name. But what would we call @mendelrandom.bsky.social ?

Combining Darwinian evolution with the mendelian laws based on meiosis 👍

Is there a future for Mendelian randomization? 10th March 11.00 Canadian time, online and in person @mcgilluniversity.bsky.social, I'll discuss this and why - if I had been better read - I would have used the term "meiotic randomization" rather than "Mendelian randomization" in the initial papers

A reminder of the launch of the 3rd edition of “A lifecourse approach to chronic disease epidemiology” on Wed 12th March, online and in person 15.30 UK time, registration required (link in original msg) and correct link to the foreword here www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...

And part 2 of coherent summary of my ramblings on MR

A thread on a talk on MR that is more coherent than my talk was I’m sure ✔️