Dear Nanopore folks, could you give an advice about an issue that my lab has with direct RNA sequencing on MinION. We're doing RNA004 sequencing of various samples and again and again, there's a staggering amount of reads with just repetitive AAG triplet. This happens for weird IVT RNA and […]

For people just catching up to the Amanda Ungaro / Paolo Zampolli story (she was an Epstein victim, then the mother of his child; he just had her deported by ICE), here's the bigger context: it was Zampolli who brought the Slovenian model Melania Knauss to the US and introduced her to Trump. 1/

Now, of course the models may be wrong about the intensity of the El Niño, but regardless it seems logical that we are looking at the record warmest year by a long shot in 2027, and even possibly by the end of this year… 5/

Basically we are going to get a short-lived taste of what +2°C above the 1850-1900 baseline does to our climate system by winter. A little science: strong El Nino’s add about ~.2°C to global temps and then after the El Niño temps drop back down some, but not all the way… 3/

Claude Code can control your browser. I asked it to test a form on localhost. It opened Chrome, typed in the fields, submitted bad data, and caught a validation error. All from my terminal. No Selenium. No Playwright.

We are recruiting postdocs to work on antimicrobial resistance and bacterial cell envelope biology. PLEASE SHARE.

Friday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 5th lowest on record (JAXA data)... • about 350,000 km² below the 2010s mean • about 720,000 km² below the 2000s mean • about 1,220,000 km² below the 1990s mean • about 1,740,000 km² below the 1980s mean More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

My protein biochemist husband hasn’t won a Nobel prize but he came to the U.S. from the Soviet Union for his postdoc for the same reason. Lysenko destroyed science decades before under Stalin and only the U.S. offered these scientific opportunities. No place currently offers these opportunities.

I feel this in the depths of my soul.

She was only “seeking arrangements” through Paolo Zampolli, who made arrangements through Jeffrey Epstein’s network. How dare you say she was “seeking arrangements” directly through Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell. A courtesan is a sex worker, just with more agency and a longer pay period.

I am so angry. Two Durham, NC kids - 11-year-old Genesis and 6-year-old Denis of Burton Elementary Magnet School - were taken by ICE at their regular asylum case appointment, and immediately deported without due process. Follow SiembraNC on IG or FB or @siembranc.bsky.social for next action steps.

The first lady made a rare public statement on Thursday saying she was not friends with the late sex offender. She also said Epstein did not introduce her to President Donald Trump. n.pr/4ea01Ov

Politics has unexpectedly hit a special interest of mine so here is a quick rundown on the Avignon Papacy.

Ten years ago today, in April 2016, the Boston Globe printed a satirical front page imagining a future Trump administration. The page was called "alarmist," "hyperbolic," "dystopian." But we’ve put up with so much since then it now looks like . . . a slow Thursday?

I would like to talk more about how ICE shot someone else yesterday and he is in critical condition! The coverage is really horrifying because DHS is giving a similar story to the one they gave about Renee Good and so much news coverage is just buying it. Please talk about Carlos Mendoza Hernandez.

Good lord.

Thousands of Mathematicians Protest International Conference in U.S. The U.S. is not safe for international mathematicians given the risk of detainment and harassment by ICE, they argue. https://bit.ly/4cewiRU #EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky

Eastern N. America folks, it's just about go time for the start of the ~3 week peak migration (unless you're on the Gulf Coast, in which case it is go time NOW). Expect waves of incredible birds for the next month and a half Turn those overnight lights off to protect them! [stolen from local news]

Democratic election gains keep rolling.

Why not let a perfectly functional device just keep functioning? 😠

A good discussion of teaching genetics in these replies.

Iran's 10 point plan seems to put them in a better position than they were in before the war www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Eyewitness video from the scene of today's ICE shooting in California appears to (you guessed it) contradict officials' claims that the man "weaponized" his vehicle. The car is reversing and the agents appear to be well clear of it.

apnews.com/live/iran-wa... Iran's explanation of its 10-point plan says Strait of Hormuz would be subject to 'regulated passage'

New paper from Greg Jedd's lab on chloroplast subcompartment in green alga Caulerpa lentillifera where bacterium-derived plastid DNA (ptDNA) is contained within a single cup-like starch granule www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... authors.elsevier.com/a/1mt4B3QW8S...

I appreciate the inclusion of "piracy" here

Thankful to Brian and his team for doing this important work, then giving clear and actionable advice: www.cell.com/hgg-advances... link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I feel sick to my stomach waiting around to see what atrocity Trump has in mind for the people of Iran this evening. It's hard to fathom our other elected leaders aren't able to check him in any meaningful way. It's an indictment not just of voters but of our whole system. We're ruled by a mad king.

on top of all the national stuff going on I've been doing some work in high-poverty local schools and you just come home and want to cry. these children, they need so much more than we've been able to give them. the ICE surge crushed our schools and it's going to ruin so many kids' chances

These strikes would be war crimes on a massive scale and any military personnel who carried them out would be subjecting themselves to possible prosecution. Of course Trump is approximately as concerned about those military personnel as he is about Iranian civilians. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/u...

❌ NOTICE Federal US website newly deleted. https://civilrightsusa.gov Action taken by the nan (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights) at or around 2026-04-07 06:42:11.

Tomorrow’s court race is about whether the next patient can still get care in Wisconsin. Tom Tiffany endorsed the candidate who called Dobbs “a good move forward.” As a nurse, I know what that costs. I’ll fight for your right to make your own healthcare decisions. pbswisconsin.org/news-item/wi...

It’s probably nothing. 🤡 @dkthomp.bsky.social

"To have your child abused while in the government's care, to not understand what has happened or how to protect them, to not even be told about the abuse, it is unimaginable," said an attorney representing the girl. https://to.pbs.org/3PV4hr9

If you know a graduating undergraduate looking for the chance to spend 1-2 years in a lab before graduate school, we're hiring! Our lab explores morphogenesis, defining how the cell adhesion & cytoskeletal machinery work together to allow cells to change shape & move tarheels.live/peiferlab/ 1/n RT

I've just been asked to share this petition to UCSF, which asks them not to put Vinay Prasad back in his old position, now that HHS has given him the boot. It seems a good ask, so here you go (the guy is awful): form.jotform.com/260836126659...

Rosa María Carranza has worked and paid taxes for more than two decades, but a provision in the GOP's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will make her and an estimated 100,000 other lawfully present immigrant seniors ineligible for Medicare. Now Carranza's once secure retirement is in question. n.pr/3QmhQjr

The climate scenario RCP 8.5 is unfairly understood as "misleading," "controversial," or deceptive. This is unfortunate, write @madisoncondon.bsky.social and @vsrikrish.bsky.social — even if its predicted emissions are unlikely, it's incredibly useful for all kinds of climate modeling

Thermo Fisher is hiring for 6 new positions! Individual job details below!👇 #ScienceJobs

“We propose to settle all the difficulty of the Dred Scott Decision by putting it into the Constitution. If a man is not a citizen of the country in which he is born, in God’s name of what country is he a citizen? If he may not live there, where has he a right to live?“

The DOJ quietly closed 23,000+ criminal cases in the first six months of Trump’s second administration, abandoning hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs and other offenses as it shifted resources to pursue immigration cases. 🔗 Full story: https://propub.li/4e5vZLL

Such claims have been investigated and found not to hold. Safety of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Batches: A Nationwide Cohort Study onlinelibrary.wiley.... 2/2

One educator testified that mass deportation has been having profound psychological effects on children in our communities, with parents telling her that their children have been experiencing trouble sleeping, nightmares, crying fits, and panic attacks: americasvoicecnn.substack.com/p/american-k...

UCLA secured the first NCAA women's basketball national championship in school history — a goal that was set after losing in the first Final Four last season. n.pr/41gahgK

So there are some pretty massive elections on Tuesday. If you’re in Wisconsin comment if you have voted already, and if you haven’t what you’re voting plan is.

Buying direct from authors -or small presses- is a great way to support us. But there isn't a store with everyone's direct links on it so... Direct Sales Thread! Indie Authors, Describe your books, drop a graphic & a link to your direct store/ small press! (eg. Payhip/ Kofi/ Itchio etc) 🌈📚🪐💙🏳️‍⚧️🧠

If anyone's looking for ebooks to buy direct from authors and publishers, I've put together a list over the last 10+ years. Currently includes over 500 shops. 💜

Unbelievable. ICE detains spouse of servicemember who’s about to deploy when they show up at base so he can start basic training. @nytimes.com reporting at the link in first comment.

There was once an enslaved man who stole a Confederate ship and sailed his a bunch of families to Union controlled waters & got everyone free. Then he fought as a soldier in the Union Army. Then he was elected to US House of Representatives. Robert Smalls was born 187 years ago today