iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Andy Walsh

Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

1/ There are a ton of cool papers coming out on evolutionary transitions in individuality right now! Here are five recent ones I've really enjoyed, spanning Snowball Earth, volvocine algae, plasmids that fuse into a new individual, the relatives of animals, and... water kefir

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

OK, but what about the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs?

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 11/10/2026

As best as I can tell, RFK Jr.'s latest antivax stunt runs counter to the WMA Declaration of Helsinki. Withholding HepB vaccination clearly does not meet any definition of clinical equipoise. Doing it anyway, overseas, is straight up colonialist medicine.

Use of Placebo

The benefits, risks, burdens, and effectiveness of a new intervention must be tested against those of the best proven intervention(s), except in the following circumstances:

If no proven intervention exists, the use of placebo, or no intervention, is acceptable; or
If for compelling and scientifically sound methodological reasons the use of any intervention other than the best proven one(s), the use of placebo, or no intervention is necessary to determine the efficacy or safety of an intervention; and the participants who receive any intervention other than the best proven one(s), placebo, or no intervention will not be subject to additional risks of serious or irreversible harm as a result of not receiving the best proven intervention.

Extreme care must be taken to avoid abuse of this option.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Gosh, I sure hope this doesn't give @ryannorth.ca and @jasonloo.bsky.social a taste for working together on MM books, or the next thing you know they'll be bring us a Multiple Man comic. 🤞 #briarpatch #reversepsychology #thisbooklooksgoodtoo

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

James @nonzerosum.games · 10/10/2026

LAUNCH DAY! It's finally here, after over a decade of (admittedly on and off) development... NEUTROPIA is ready to launch. Play at: nonzerosum.games/neu... #GameDev #ScreenShotSaturday #LaunchDay #Devs #GameTheory #EducationalGames #GamesForChange #NonZero #NonZeroSumGames

nonzerosum.games

NEUTROPIA

An interactive non-zero-sum game exploring positive and negative balance through chain reactions.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

A cousin of the Western PA n'at ?

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Out today in @nature.com: our review on how single cells evolve into multicellular organisms. With Ozan Bozdag, @kaitong25.bsky.social, Peter Yunker, and @matthewherron.bsky.social. rdcu.be/9ZuiKow9twKa For an overview, check out the video below.

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

Pavel Payne @pavelpayne.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Finally, my paper is out! It shows how bacteria can utilize their CRISPR immunity against transducing phages to turn them into "pollinators". This way bacteria can speed up their own adaptation through recombination by two orders of magnitude compared to mutations, and they do so when starving!

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Kieron Gillen cast as the Batman of the DCU confirmed?!?!

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

That may well be. Relatedly, I think we were meant to feel that John's choices at the end were liberating, if not triumphant. Yet because they chose to use Green Lanterns to tell this not-very-Green-Lantern story, I couldn't shake the suspicion that he was swearing an oath to Parallax.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

He then spent 10 years building his own business, which empowered him to create a parallel alternative to that former dream job, but on his own terms. That said, I think the time jumps don't help us really experience that shift. It seems like he puts down the ring, then turns around and puts it on.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I think we are meant to understand that his initial rejection of the ring is an indictment of all that. In that moment, it ceased to be his dream job; the abusive preparation poisoned it for him.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Not to mention there was a ticking clock built into the original premise counting down to what would at the very least require some kind of resolution/reset of ongoing stories.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A highly informative thread on just how much as been taken away. For some further details on the consequences of these laws: blog.emergingscholars.org/2022/03/scie... blog.emergingscholars.org/2024/11/scie...

blog.emergingscholars.org

Science Corner: When Normal Isn't Normative - Emerging Scholars Blog

What does recent research tell us about the efficacy of gender-affirming care?

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

The Onion @theonion.com · 18/09/2026

Trans Teen Hatches Nefarious Plot To Undergo Years Of Medical Treatments And Counseling To Win At Swimming theonion.com/trans-teen-hatches-nef…

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Infectious Transgenesis in Arthropods will no longer be opening for Ed Sheeran. (Also this is cool science.)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

X-Men makes moves controlled by a "gene". Those genes can evolve until the team can defeat the Sentinels without getting hit. The research paper looks at what happens as teams add players. You can try for yourself here: faithacrossthemultiverse.com/DangerRoomCS... (cc @n8fromphilly.bsky.social)

faithacrossthemultiverse.com

Danger Room

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Become the world's preeminent epobiologist by making (a simulation of) the X-Men a serious subject of scientific inquiry. arxiv.org/abs/2604.18361

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Become the world's preeminent epobiologist by making (a simulation of) the X-Men a serious subject of scientific inquiry. arxiv.org/abs/2604.18361

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

For me it was mischief night. But that's because they didn't ask about goobalinis.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Steven Price's score for "Coyote vs Acme" features the best comedic use of choir since Tyler Bates' work on "Deadpool 2".

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

Iliya Zhechev @ilzhechev.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

🦠 What happens when you reinterpret the interaction rules of Particle Life on a grid? Introducing Field Life - a new type of cellular automaton where gliders emerge from a grid of interacting concentrations. Check out the live version: www.izhv.eu/field-life/

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A car service entrepreneur takes on a side project to fight encroaching emptiness. A diner orders off the menu and is forced out. Lord, help the mister who comes between me and my sister. (10/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Topology discussions are disrupted by the grandiose ambitions of small men. The plot goes nowhere. Reimagining "Trading Places" should give one pause. Two guys vs a girl in a pizza-less place. A buried lede may keep a new career from taking off. (9/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Hargen hatches an egg. The only thing worse than everyone knowing who you are is no one knowing. A physician helps a mother cope with what might have been. When all you had was a hammer, everything looks like a fail. Truly, the king is no more. (8/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Clips are lifted from prior films and shown out of chronological order. Dark glasses aren't enough to keep a teenager from feeling like he's living in a fish bowl. The lofty career targets of 90s kids come crashing down. An estranged father & son have different approaches to accessorizing. (7/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Agricultural and mining resources cannot stop trust in the royal family from being shaken. The work of Reverend Thomas Malthus should not be extrapolated without limit. A young woman postures; everyone sees through her. A commando veers closer and closer to the truth of her past. (6/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A surgeon goes through major life changes, only for everything to roll back in the end. A cis-hetero white man thinks everyone should do things his way. A man has a complicated relationship with his daughter's boyfriend. The end of the world is not low key, as some expected. (5/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A series of literal pratfalls and space jams. Freelancers debug an artificial intelligence program. An electrical engineer finds employment in the growing field of miniaturization. International treaty negotiations come up barren. (4/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A trip to Europe turns into more than a gap year. There is a confrontation in Manhattan over blocking the box. Thermodynamically unstable regeneration linked to toast. The plot has a lot of holes. A cleaner is repeatedly interrupted during her attempts to find a date for her coworker. (3/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Corporate officers disagree about future markets for bespoke suits. A man has a complicated relationship with his daughter's boyfriend. An aspiring Formula One driver has to overcome whiplash. An astrophysicist pursues interdisciplinary research involving nonconsanguineous siblings. (2/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Ooo, we're doing the making-a-movie-boring thing. Seems like a good excuse to port this thread over from the other place and update it. (1/10)

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I mean, Harrison Ford *is* famously grumpy and disinterested in what humans think of him...

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Virologist/molecular biologist Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal altered the trajectory of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. First to clone HIV-1 & complete its genetic mapping, directly leading to life-saving antiviral drug cocktails. Most-cited female scientist of the 1980s. Born #OTD in 1946. #WomenInSTEM

A black-and-white portrait of Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal (1946–2020), the pioneering Chinese-American virologist who first cloned HIV-1 and mapped its genome. Sitting in her research laboratory, she faces forward with a composed, direct, and confident expression. Her dark hair is styled in a short, neat bob, and she wears long, slender dangling earrings. Over a dark, patterned blouse, she wears a crisp white laboratory coat. She rests her left forearm on a lab counter beside her, while her right hand holds a dark binder resting on her lap. The background shows a busy lab setting filled with shelves of scientific glassware, chemical bottles, and equipment, all slightly out of focus to draw attention to her. The composition places her slightly off-center, capturing an professional and scholarly mood that underscores her historical significance as a leading figure in molecular biology during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis.

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

pippin77.bsky.social @pippin77.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I was really happy to get this shot.

Hummingbird sitting on purple salvia plant

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Check out the thread & the paper

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Carcinisation strikes again! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcini...

en.wikipedia.org

Carcinisation - Wikipedia

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Would you describe this as an emergent property of our voting system, or simply a consequence of it (perhaps an obvious one, perhaps not)? Or do you consider the relationship to voting schemes a more complicated one?

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Reposted by Andy Walsh

Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Interested in a whole book exploring the role of metaphors in our scientific and theological thinking, with help from Squirrel Girl and Ms Marvel and Multiple Man? Have I got great news for you! www.hendricksonpublishers.com/p/faith-acro...

hendricksonpublishers.com

Faith across the Multiverse

Science is often presented as a set of propositions to affirm. On those terms, the existence of God becomes yet another such proposition, and all science can offer is a yes or a no.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

hendricksonpublishers.com

Faith across the Multiverse

Science is often presented as a set of propositions to affirm. On those terms, the existence of God becomes yet another such proposition, and all science can offer is a yes or a no.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

That's me. I'm not even affiliated with a research institution; just a biology PhD trying to make a scientific contribution while working at a software company. Even with LLMs, I can't compete at speed or scale, so might as well try to add something distinctive.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Indeed. I just need one positive voice on an episode. And Joe isn't a hater just for the sake of it, so I imagine there will be good discussion.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Nice! Now I can look forward to the film AND the podcast episode.

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Andy Walsh @andyswalsh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Nothing was ever said directly, but I like to think my microtargeted wit marked me out as a 7B5 man. I became a regular patron, and was soon invited to fill the vacant third slot the following year, my 2nd. Once in, I was able to stay through graduation. I like to revisit this memory periodically.

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