Most nematodes don't have piRNAs?!!

This is really interesting. Tony Blair condemned Saddam Hussein's execution publicly. Was this genuine or was he perhaps happy with it behind the scenes? If he was genuinely opposed, what would he have preferred? UN trial might not have gone the way he would have wanted.

the current Greenland thing shows that fawning to Trump like Starmer has been doing is totally pointless as well as degrading.

Check out our latest study on the PfRIPR protein, essential for the malaria parasite to get inside our blood cells. We show how antibodies block the function of PfRIPR by preventing its flexible hinges from bending, or by stopping it from compacting as part of its mechanism.

Epimutations: raw material for evolution? Nabeel Ganem & @psarkies.bsky.social explore how epimutations mediating transgenerational epigenetic inheritance compare to DNA sequence mutations w.r.t. influence on drift and natural selection link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Incredibly cool- a must read!

don't miss this! will be very interesting

Need a bit of escapism? Not exactly Lord of the Rings, but in similar vein: doi.org/10.1038/s443...

Worth a read. In my opinion possibly the only thing worse than humans recklessly driving a species to extinction is for us to attempt to bring it back- likely to be a vanity project with huge potential for cruelty and harm. www.cell.com/trends/genet...

On BBC News today: striking that it’s the two old establishment parties - Labour and the Conservatives - refusing to condemn the US breaking international law and doing what it wants. Feels like politics stuck in the past, while the public has clearly moved on.

Starmer and Farage both drape themselves in flags but once again it's really clear where their loyalty really is. It's Trump first. They will always be on the side of the super rich and powerful - no matter how heinous the crime. This is not patriotism. It's subservience.

Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.

Great to contribute in a small way to this study on the evolution of piRNA biogenesis in nematodes from @reneketting.bsky.social lab. GTSF-1 is preserved in many nematodes despite absence of piRNAs- it has evolved an alternative function in RNAi through RdRP interaction.

RIP international law.

Nibbler or Trimmer? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Very exciting to see this published- opens lots of real interesting possibilities about how memory works!

Truly a great meeting with so many highlights- thanks to @embo.org and all organisers for inspiring science program!

Excited to share our work into ubiquitin E1-E2 specificity mechanisms. CryoEM visualising #ubiquitin transfer,biochemistry,evolution @labhofmann.bsky.social & tissue expression analyses @psarkies.bsky.social Big thanks to the team,reviewers & handling editor @dimitristypas.bsky.social rdcu.be/eTRdR

I had heard of the trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover but had no idea of the details. The whole case is so strange it's amazing it took place during my parents' lifetime- today DH Lawrence would not be considered even edgy let alone obscene. Fascinating episode.

RIP Tom Stoppard. Forever with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern now.

Great seminar in @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social today from Laura Landweber on the awesome world of ciliate DNA elimination- so many different gene regulation/repair pathways come together to achieve this remarkable feat

baffled that Black Friday deals seem to have spread to companies selling PCR reagents.

I’m fairly sure we don’t have to go back to Farage’s schooldays to find evidence of racism.

Climate change affects EVERYTHING. It’s mad that the issue has become left-coded when it should be just reality-coded

All you other swim shadies are just imitating www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Greens don’t believe providing safe refuge for endangered asylum seekers is an “out-of-control” policy. Nor do we believe making life more difficult for those in need is the way to unify British society. Refugees are welcome.

Today we have our fantastic Autumn Meeting on Ancient Genomes @royalsociety.org !

Reading this super biography of Crick right now. It's almost as fun to read as Crick's life seems to have been! @matthewcobb.bsky.social highlights and explains all the good, bad, and eccentric characteristics of Crick. So many contributions at the dawn of molecular biology.

students, take note please. Your teachers also know how to use chatgpt even if we think TikTok is some kind of antelope.

This is a great tool for evaluating papers using AI, developed by Oded Rechavi- I've used the demo version and it has been really useful, spot on with its comments. Highly recommended!

A super opportunity!

Bringing back an extinct hominid is a horrific suggestion; I would go further than this article and suggest that it is banned outright. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Rest in peace Jane Goodall, a true giant among scientists. Your breakthroughs into the secret lives of chimpanzees viewed through an anthropomorphic lens – without yet knowing that science had forbidden it – changed science forever, and with it how we see ourselves.

Just listened to George Church on The Life Scientific. very brilliant guy but the idea that Mammothising elephants is going to save the environment is total fiction. It’s a cruel vanity project with no conceivable justification.

oh the joy of the hassle that accompanies trying to submit an article. Password forgotten, orcid linked to a different account, metadata collection, all for it to be most likely rejected editorially. Everything takes an age on a clunky system designed in the 2000s. Basically 'Der Process.'

Talk about stating the bleeding obvious www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I was only very dimly aware of this event before and was surprised there could be a whole podcast about it... but turns out it's really interesting! especially striking to hear some clips from the speech; Labour could really do with an orator of Kinnock's calibre right now

While the other senior figures in labour hide behind the fantasy of the 'special relationship' Sadiq gets it right. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Phenomenal. In my 10 year update of A Brief History, I make the point that in the first edition, not one disease had been successfully treated using gene therapy. Today that number is at least 7.

Trump is basically Fred Durst in a suit.

If you haven’t watched the Thursday Murder Club film… don’t. Utter drivel. And wtf is Pierce Brosnan’s accent?

That time of year again: where the f are my gloves?

We have an exciting, fully funded PhD studentship (UK and ROI) to investigate mechanisms of epigenetic regulation in drug resistant B-cell lymphoma. We are looking for a highly motivated, driven candidate to join our team. eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Thank god he didn’t become chancellor of Oxford

Daily Mail, the Daily Express, the Sun...every day they work to make cruelty popular, to destroy attempts to tackle climate change, to harm our society. Put them in the bin!

@leaypi.bsky.social is an incredibly clear thinker and this discussion, particularly of Kant and Nietzsche, made some tricky ideas understandable to me for the first time. highly recommended

@cecerelab.bsky.social lab is doing outstanding work on C elegans sRNAs: a great opportunity for a PhD with them

This is an amazing opportunity to join the plant sciences faculty in the Oxford Department of Biology! I am so impressed with the quality and collegiality of these colleagues. I’m not on the committee, but I’m happy to answer questions as I can.

New Deftones album is very good. Some big riffs and lighter moments. Missing Sergio's inventive basslines though.