How do you track thousands of cells in complex systems, in 3D & over time? We are launching a Kaggle challenge to push the frontier of AI-powered cell tracking, building on advances like Ultrack & the DaXi lightsheet microscope from the @loicaroyer.bsky.social lab. bit.ly/4bfdzWE

This, emphatically, shouldn't have been done, and shouldn't be used. You'd think we'd have learned that someone else's contextless algorithmic division of science outputs into "the best" and "not the best" is a disaster. Doesn't matter whether AI or Elsevier does it. the-one-percent.qedscience.com

My nine year old asked for a Rosetta Stone cake for his birthday

It appears my countrymen have arrived in the Americas and culturally appropriated a statue of George Washington.

As usual, Current Biology is by some way the most interesting table of contents to read among general biology journals. Chapeau.

!!!

Hey look: A job! @echinerd.bsky.social and I are looking for a research technician to work on sea urchin development. If you are good at segmenting CT scans and want a chance to work on some super cool organisms, this job here at UCL is for you! apply now: bit.ly/4o2qccY

Didn't you listen to the man? He told you! "adjustment to clarify for presentation purposes"...

Reluctant to post too much about this but I did want to share my favourite finding from the dozens of manipulated or duplicated ThermoFisher verification blots. This one has a giant square. Enjoy!

The last thing you see before opening ChatGPT

PhD opportunity at UCL! Computational modelling of tumours, in medical physics. www.ucl.ac.uk/engineering/...

"Please provide a justification for the foreign collaboration." Science.

Reptiles with longer Wikipedia pages tend to be bigger. The relationship is a power law with exponent = 0.85. I guess humans really like writing about big lizards? The longest article is the Komodo Dragon.

Slightly unfortunate dedication in this book (at first glance) 😬

The @anthropic opus science skills in Claude are rendered, basically, completely useless by the overzealous guardrails. For a system that wants to persuade people it's smart, it's staggeringly dumb.

I would be proud...

this is what some of you look like in short sleeve button-up shirts

And article of great insight, using data remarkably well. Why are we not having babies? www.ft.com/content/fba3...

What happens when you put a snake in shag carpeting with some little soft, bendable posts in the way (and also it can't see the posts). If you answered: "It behaves like a light particle moving through a diffraction grating" then congratulations! You win! Let's talk about SNAKE DIFFRACTION.

Our postdoc ad is live! 🔥 We're seeking a researcher to lead computational work on mitochondrial heteroplasmy in bees. You'll analyse single-cell datasets exploring heterplasmy dynamics. PhD + NGS/bioinformatics expertise required. 🔥 www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Wish you could best those multi-coloured Pac Man ghosts in the flesh? Now you can. A life-sized Pac Man arena in Singapore is turning a classic arcade game into a real world experience. 👻👻👻 Run! #games #arcade #pacman

This mesmerizing timelapse captures the nonstop motion inside an animal cell. Red/orange streaks are the growing ends of microtubules, tiny “highways” that can rapidly assemble and disassemble to move proteins & other molecules within the cell. 📸: Andy Moore, HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus

I hope this doesn't cause people to question the provenance of the Nobble Prize I was deservedly awarded last year... www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

If this is true (I doubt, but possible) it is a catastrophe for science funding process. Last nail in the coffin level. Why? Because funding will remain at 10%. Nobody's going to pull a load of new cash out of the hat. So. At first - grants that use an online tool will have an advantage over ../

Tring to work out how Arp2/3 complex fits together with monther and daughter actin filaments, with Laura Machesky and her 3D printer

Good article, but describes only a fraction of the harm caused by an exceptionally ill-considered decision. Finding reviewers and panellists is a problem. How does alienating half the European science community, by locking them out of all participation, help? www.science.org/content/arti...

Very nice cover picture for the next GRC in #CellMigration, chaired by @robinsall.bsky.social #AnaMariaLennon & @djcohen.bsky.social www.grc.org/directed-cel...

Dad Joke of the Day: To kill a French vampire, you have to shove a baguette through its heart. It sounds easy, but it's pain staking.

Excited for #DynamicCellVI @bscb-official.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social

ERC changes hurting a lot of good scientists. Wonder what they expected...

I don’t know if you saw the MASSIVE news announced by @erc.europa.eu today: from now on, if you get a B at step 1 you are eligible to apply at N+3(!!!) years. Say you got a B in STG2026 step 1, you thought you could apply in STG2028, but no: only in STG2029! erc.europa.eu/news-events/...

A leader in the cell biology of signalling, the 2027 Centenary Award is presented to Matthew Freeman in recognition of his pioneering discoveries into the biological significance and mechanisms of rhomboid intramembrane proteases and pseudoprotease and unwavering commitment to mentorship!

Science is good. We should fund it.

#Macrophages don't simply follow cues to locate sites of infection. @robinsall.bsky.social &co show that they extract directional information from their environment from a constant concentration of C5a #chemoattractant, self-generate a gradient & enhance guidance @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4txkZez

New paper! Self-generated gradients in macrophage chemotaxis. Just published, by the esteemed Abhi Kiran and many collaborators. A short skytorial follows. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

The CiM-IMPRS PhD program in #Münster is offering 16 #PhD positions in Life and Natural Sciences! Perform cutting-edge resesearch in a vibrant international setting and lively city! Apply by May 1st, 2026 - see www.uni-muenster.de/CiM-IMPRS/ap... @uni-muenster.de @mpi-muenster.bsky.social

I'm hoping, for the sake of full irony, that it's a vegan sausage roll...

Using an LLM to do your thinking is like using a forklift to do your deadlifts.

My iphone doesn't know what a 'Poo Bah' is (I mean, relatively few teenagers do, so it's not interested) and changed it to 'poo bag'. Surprising the level of nuance in that subtle autocorrection. Note to self - be careful when sending emails to senior bosses that they are Poo Bahs...

Looking to apply for a UKRI, CRUK, Wellcome fellowship? UCL's LMCB would be a fine place...

Extremely interesting. Hopeful. Very plausible mechanism, too. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

No nurses, despite an ageing population with increasing needs in an age where healthcare is becming more demanding. No scientists, even though world leaders are looking for looking for new homes for tomorrow's discoveries Thank goodness for the clampdown! www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

old man done good

Apple will try and persuade you to update Keynote. Don't! The new one is foul, the equivalent of a budget airline, advertising everywhere and nudges to try and extract more of your cash and embed their AI. I'll give htem a month then find a new program.

The "Friends Don't Let Friends Make Bad Graphs" list is great... BUT I STRONGLY disagree with the suggestion to use log scaled axis on barplots. (the absolute worse being "stacked barplots on logscale") Just don't use barplots if the values are on different orders of magnitude. Who's with me?

I think Ian Chapman's focus throughout this process has been excessively PI-centred and ignores early career researchers and training. A big funding pause doesn't cause them to worry about their jobs. It causes them to lose their jobs. And to be unable to get new ones. Their careers will be ended.

Today, we're sharing an open letter from our Chief Executive, Professor Sir Ian Chapman, outlining changes to UKRI investment approach, and addressing concerns about research funding and the financial position of STFC. Read his letter here: www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

Wiley: "We’re supporting responsible research assessment practices" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1520... Also Wiley: "Prove that your article is a good fit for this journal 😉😉😉😉😉 by citing at least two of our articles in your manuscript before we will even consider reviewing it" 🤡

At least the physicists are standing up for themselves. Still waiting for the senior leaders of biological sciences to say anything at all about MRC/BBSRC actions.