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Cahir O'Kane

@cahirokane.bsky.social
1.9K followers 622 following 3.2K posts

Genetics professor: axon ER & degeneration in Drosophila, spastic paraplegia. Rejoin EU. Not the GAA commentator. Speak only for myself. Gaeilge, Deutsch. Maghera (Co Derry), Cambridge (UK). www.gen.cam.ac.uk/research-groups/r…

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Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
Fossillocator @fossillocator.bsky.social · 17h
Be careful out there
Check your Halloween candy carefully. Someone tried to hide the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary layer in mine. Snickers image with the KPg boundary
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 43m
Good. Could have been even longer - hate speech kills.
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Andrea Devon @andreadevon.sheshed.rocks · 4h
Lise Meitner was the 2nd woman to earn a physics PhD at the Univ of Vienna and Germany’s first female physics professor. She fled Nazi Germany, helped explain nuclear fission, and has an element named for her. 49 Nobel nominations, she never won. Her male colleague did. #SheShed #VivaHerAlliance
Black-and-white historical photograph of physicist Lise Meitner standing in a laboratory wearing a white coat, surrounded by glass bottles and scientific equipment.
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 59m
So fifteen years isn't quite what it seems.
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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 11h
The question is not "why has Donald betrayed Ukraine?" The question is "how big a cut of unfrozen Russian assets will Donald get for betraying Ukraine?"
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 7h
NEW Sally Rooney and Faber are not overreacting in withdrawing books from the UK market Their interpretation of Section 15 of the Terrorism Act is not fanciful By me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
prospectmagazine.co.uk
Faber withdrawing Sally Rooney's books from the UK is no overreaction
Their interpretation of Section 15 of the Terrorism Act is not fanciful
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 7h
You can see Putin's lips moving
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preLights @prelights.bsky.social · 7h
Intrinsic3D, a new imaging approach that allows researchers to image entire cells + tissues in 3D at single-molecule resolution, making large-volume super-resolution imaging faster & easier. @kanishka03.bsky.social covers work #StJohnstonLab - #preLight ⬇️ prelights.biologists.com/highlights/f...
prelights.biologists.com
Fast single molecule localization microscopy in 3D - preLights
Intrinsic3D, a new imaging approach that allows researchers to image entire cells and tissues in 3D at single-molecule resolution, making large-volume super-resolution imaging faster and easier.
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Maureen Barr @barrlab.bsky.social · 7h
Language matters. Authors, editors, and reviewers endorsed these metaphors for aging in women. We experience this daily in the workplace. We are exhausted not because of our ovaries but because of ageism and misogyny
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 7h
This goes a long way to explaining why US hotel rates rose *58%* from a 2020 average of $103/night to a 2025 average of $162/night. It explains why hotel prices rose by 5% *last year*, which is *double* the rate of inflation.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 7h
Expedia's position, in other words, is basically Amazon's position, so Expedia is doing exactly what Amazon is doing: they charge huge fees to hotels, and then force the hotels to raise their prices everywhere through a "most favored nation" deal: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 7h
Practically speaking, that means that when you raise your price on Amazon, you *must* raise your prices *everywhere* by the same amount, which means that no matter where you shop (Target, Walmart, the corner store or direct from the factory), you pay the Amazon Tax.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 7h
Merchants don't have 51-60% margins they can afford to turn over to Amazon. To remain viable while selling on Amazon, they have to raise prices.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 7h
No matter where you shop, you're getting screwed by Amazon. Amazon has found a way to make everything you buy - at Target, at a mom-and-pop shop, even direct from the manufacturer - more expensive. And they're not the only one: Expedia's done the same thing, but for hotel rooms.
A faded, scratched postcard advertising the 'Edge of Town Motel.' Next to the motel sign is a vast pink piggybank, out of whose slot rises a motel key on a diamond keychain, emblazoned with a metallic dollar-sign.
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 1h
Interesting report on the barriers to cross-border working in Ireland, despite a common travel area.
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Christopher Steele @christophersteele.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Regarding Ukraine, Trump and his associates are now showing their true colours. Their inclination is to ally with a murderous Russian regime for politically expedient and dubious business reasons rather than an heroic emerging democracy, Ukraine, fighting for its existence. Europe needs to step up.
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Peter Kenny @pwk2024.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Guardian obituary for biochemist and crystallographer Ada Yonath, née Lifshitz (1939-2026) who won a Nobel Prize for mapping the ribosome #chemsky 🧪 www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
Ada Yonath obituary
Nobel prizewinning biochemist who succeeded against the odds in mapping the ribosome
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 13/10/2026
From Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the 2024 Oscar-winning directors of No Other Land, comes NAZA, a film examining the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. UK premiere on 15 October. In UK cinemas from 16 October. Visit www.naza.film
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Cathy Abbott @cathyabbott.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Musk, FRS....
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Oliver Bullough @oliverbullough.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Today's lesson for Europe: if your national security relies on US oligarchs' tech, they'll cut you off when you most need it.
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
you can see Putin's lips moving
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Martin Steinegger 🇺🇦 @martinsteinegger.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
LoL-align is out in @natmethods.nature.com! It aligns protein structures without superposition. More sensitive than TM-align and DALI, producing better alignments 5–20× faster. Now available in Foldseek! 📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 💾 github.com/steineggerlab/foldseek 🌐 search.foldseek.com
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Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
A dream conference!! I love the city of Cambridge, so going there to discuss Bacterial immunity is really going to be a incredible experience.
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21 Group @21group.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
The ‘Duty of Candour’ Bill must cover universities Internal reviews, grievances, inquests and external investigations are all undermined by a lack of candour A university Vice-Chancellor was recently found to have lied at an Employment Tribunal ! www.thelearnnetwork.org.uk/post/hillsbo...
thelearnnetwork.org.uk
Hillsborough Law Must Not Stop at the University Gates
The LEARN Network fully supports our colleagues at ForThe100 in their campaign to amend the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, known as the Hillsborough Law, so that universities are clearly include...
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Berta Verd @bertaverd.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I absolutely adore sending our papers to @reviewcommons.org!
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Naw, she wasn't. Her mistake was to take her own cut.
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Clinical Neurosciences, Cambridge @cneurodept.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
#Parkinson's Join us for our Parkinson's Symposium! It's on Tuesday 01 December 2026. Book now to hear the latest research from Cambridge teams >> www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cambridge-...
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The Journal @thejournal.ie · 13/10/2026
The Journal’s Eimer McAuley travelled to the occupied West Bank to hear from Palestinians living with settlement expansion, land loss, violence and displacement. Check back at 9pm each evening for the full story.
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Bylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 13/10/2026
The treatment of Jason Arday horrified many people. Where does legitimate journalistic scrutiny end and a media pile-on begin? Next Wednesday, we're bringing together journalists, academics and regulators to ask what responsible media should look like. 🎟️ bit.ly/bettermedia
Meme advertising Bylines Network event, "Making Sense of Our Times, Towards a Better Media.

Wednesday 21st October 7pm till 8.15pm
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European Movement UK @europeanmovement.co.uk · 13/10/2026
Labour MP Daniel Zeichner on the EU wanting the UK back.
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Norm Eisen @normeisen.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
BREAKING: @democracydefendersfund.org & partners just sued ICE over a nasty catch-22 ICE detains people, takes their IDs & work papers, releases them, keeps the papers. Now they can't work & risk getting picked up again for having no ID We're going to court to get it ALL back -TN
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Y’all, I hate to rain on the dead bot parade, but the Yandex data center destruction doesn’t seem to have significantly impacted social media bots. I made temporal graphs of X posts about AfD around the time of the attack and there’s no sign of a sudden dip or residual impact on that conversation.
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Sandy Martin @sandyofipswich.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Mo Farah; Sigmund Freud; Freddie Mercury; Michael Marks (co/founder of Marks & Spencer) - I could go on, but the point is that every part of English history and culture has been enhanced by the work of refugees
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Sandy Martin @sandyofipswich.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Yes but what do we mean by white? A proportion of “English” people have genes inherited from black African soldiers stationed on Hadrian’s Wall. I guess most have Jewish, Irish, Caribbean or Chinese genes inherited from a great great great grandparent. The whole idea of “ethnic purity” is garbage.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The Times, once again, calling for mass deportations of care workers and other legal migrant workers.
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Coward
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
No early warning of ballistic missile strike on civilian residential building. Be afraid, Europe, if we can't see these things coming - be very afraid.
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
How these lipid pipelines deliver lipid to both sides of their target membrane - using a scramblase to supply and grow both sheets of the lipid bilayer
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
A pint of Rejoin - Cambridge, Mon 26th October, 6:30pm
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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
This year I learned about a city of up to 20,000 people that existed c. 1050 – c. 1350 AD near present day St. Louis. Happy Indigenous People’s Day. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia
en.wikipedia.org
Cahokia - Wikipedia
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Yanlan Mao @yanlanmao.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Latest paper from our lab is now out in @embojournal.org! If you want to know how 3D cell shape changes promote #woundhealing, and see a 3D vertex model that allows #scutoids to form, read this article: link.springer.com/article/10.1... Many thanks and congrats to all co-authors!
link.springer.com
Three-dimensional mechanical cooperativity optimises epithelial wound healing - The EMBO Journal
Epithelial tissues serve as critical physical barriers that protect organs, making their efficient repair essential upon damage. To achieve this, tissues must quickly react, forcing cells to rearrange...
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Hard agree. Medical advances depend on medical research. Not every medical researcher has to be a physician, but we can’t do the best medical research without them. Otherwise advances stop.
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Genetics Society UK @gensocuk.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Know a BSc, MSc or PhD student of any UK University or Research Institution who has shown outstanding performance in the area of quantitative or population genetics? Celebrate them by nominating them to our Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize! Deadline 9th Nov. genetics.org.uk/medals-and-p...
genetics.org.uk
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Genetics Society UK @gensocuk.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Do you know someone who has completed an outstanding PhD thesis involving the use of non-human in vivo animal models? The Bruce Cattanach Prize is awarded annually to recognise excellence in PhD research in this field. Nominate a student by 9 Nov. genetics.org.uk/medals-and-p...
genetics.org.uk
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Confirmation that a Reform UK government would mean Ice-style mass roundups and deportations. In fact, in one way the Reform plan would go further than Trump, in retrospectively stripping rights from people granted asylum as long as five years ago and tracking them down for removal.
 Farage pledges to shut down asylum system

Reform to declare a ‘national security emergency’ and deport 90,000 migrants immediately Nigel Farage has pledged to impose a five-year ban on migrants being granted asylum and to deport 90,000 applicants immediately.

In his most stringent border policy to date, the Reform UK leader will declare a “national security emergency” and announce a suspension of all asylum tribunals, legal refugee routes and resettlement schemes.

The policy, which Mr Farage will announce on Monday, would mean tens of thousands of applicants would be immediately deported and any refugees granted asylum in the last five years would have their cases reviewed by the Home Office.
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Imagine how much coverage this would get if Gove were Green - or if she were Black
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Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Hate speech costs lives
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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
No longer even bothering to disguise what he’s proposing. Who decides which migrants are a “drain on our society, our economy and our people”?
Rupert Lowe 
The main immigration crisis lands in our country not at Dover, but at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted. A Restore Britain Government will remove millions of migrants who arrived legally, but are a drain on our society, our economy and our people.
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British Society for Cell Biology @bscb-official.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Do you know an outstanding cell biologist? Nominations are OPEN for our 2027 medals: 🔬Hooke Medal for outstanding contribution in cell biology 👩‍🔬Women in Cell Biology medal 🧫 Postdoctoral Researcher medal 🔬Raff PhD medal award Deadline 1st November 2026 For more details: bscb.org/competitions...
bscb.org
Competitions and Awards - BSCB
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Monty Dodge @montyofdodgington.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
@badassmutha.bsky.social @donmcgowan.bsky.social Russian interference update. Farage called Burnham a liar! Will someone please ram this down his throat? ⬇️
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