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Maria Apostolopoulou

@mariamellon.bsky.social
118 followers 95 following 151 posts

Scientist Nerd No DMs please

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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 22h
Great whites vs orcas: 0-1 www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
bbc.co.uk
'What the hell did this?': The orca brothers preying on great white sharks
Great white sharks were first found dead – mutilated with their livers removed – off the coast of South Africa. Now, these tactics are seen around the world.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Poor penguins... www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Population declines and changes in community composition at the world’s largest penguin colony
Ratcliffe et al. use drone and satellite surveys to show that chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island have declined rapidly while macaroni penguins have increased. Zavodovski is no longer the largest ...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
It's nice to see past work published, even if the product didn't make the cut: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I just watched the Odyssey: - Is Agamemnon the Ancient Greek Darth Vader...?😅 - They chose the most non-Greek actors to portray everyone! What an outrage!😜
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
New monkey species! journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I finally watched the new Mandalorian movie. Two thoughts: 1) why were there 3 different kinds of special effects?! 2) I bet Pedro Pascal was in the set for the 1 min sequence where you actually see his face in the movie. Very disappointed in Disney and the genre...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
A modest start for the first AI-designed vaccine. www.journalofinfection.com/article/S016...
journalofinfection.com
A phase I, needle free, dose escalation clinical trial of pEVAC-PS, a candidate pan-Sarbecovirus Vaccine
Needle-free intradermal delivery of this novel computationally designed PanSarbeco vaccine was safe and well tolerated. Although immunogenicity was modest in the context of substantial pre-existing im...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
I guess it's true: younger people are diagnosed with cancer more often than they used to... bmjoncology.bmj.com/content/5/1/...
bmjoncology.bmj.com
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Dreaming of the future, when a genetic test could determine the best drug for you! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Genetic predictors of GLP1 receptor agonist weight loss and side effects - Nature
Identification of genetic variants associated with the efficacy and side effects of GLP1 medications could underpin development of precision medicine approaches in the treatment of obesity.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
She's so lucky she's cute...as she sleeps on our pillows...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
OnlyCats
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
They're alive! australian.museum/about/organi...
australian.museum
Marsupials found alive after 6,000 years of extinction
Australian Museum Scientists discover Lazarus taxa alive in Papuan Indonesia rainforests.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
The results are in! Collagen supplements might not make us look younger, but they at least help us age more gracefully! 😅 academic.oup.com/asjopenforum...
academic.oup.com
Collagen Supplementation for Skin and Musculoskeletal Health: An Umbrella Review of Meta-analyses on Elasticity, Hydration, and Structural Outcomes
AbstractBackground. Collagen is a protein with multiple roles within the human body such as supporting fibroblast formation in the dermis, replacing dead s
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Another victim of climate change...? www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Two adult Emperor Penguins with a juvenile on Snow Hill Island, Antarctica.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
So this group made zapped volunteers' brains to make them less selfish. Can we mass-produce such wearables and strap them on the 1%ers?😅 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
journals.plos.org
Augmentation of frontoparietal gamma-band phase coupling enhances human altruistic behavior
Prior work from this group showed that some types of altruistic choices were related to the coherence of gamma-band neural oscillations between frontal and parietal brain regions. This study in humans...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Myth busted! Statins don't cause most of the conditions initially attributed to them (including cognitive impairment, depression and peripheral neuropathy). Now let's see if I can get my loved one on them!😅 www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Assessment of adverse effects attributed to statin therapy in product labels: a meta-analysis of double-blind randomised controlled trials
Adverse event data from blinded randomised trials do not support causal relationships between statin therapy and most of the conditions (including cognitive impairment, depression, sleep disturbance, ...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Yoghurt fights depression! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35654766/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Clinical, gut microbial and neural effects of a probiotic add-on therapy in depressed patients: a randomized controlled trial - PubMed
A promising new treatment approach for major depressive disorder (MDD) targets the microbiota-gut-brain (MGB) axis, which is linked to physiological and behavioral functions affected in MDD. This is the first randomized controlled trial to determine whether short-term, high-dose probiotic supplement …
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Antarctica mapped from space! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... If you're wondering why this is important, we know more about some planets of our solar system than we do about Antarctica...
science.org
Complex mesoscale landscapes beneath Antarctica mapped from space
The landscape shrouded by the Antarctic Ice Sheet provides important insights into its history and influences the ice response to climate forcing. However, knowledge of this critical boundary has depe...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
There's a link between high gut microbiome diversity and age. Is this nature's way of telling us diversity is good for us...? :-P www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Client Challenge
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Withholding aid won't help with the need for providing aid in the first place. www.wfp.org/emergencies/...
wfp.org
Somalia | World Food Programme
Drought, floods, conflict, high food prices and dwindling harvests are pushing Somali families to the brink of hungerA total of 4.6 million people are facing Crisis levels of hunger, according to the ...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Another study on why we shouldn't get weight loss jabs to get into our swimsuits. These are for people with weight-related health risks or diabetes, and it's something they'll probably have to take for the rest of their lives, unless they make lifestyle changes as well. www.bmj.com/content/392/...
bmj.com
Weight regain after cessation of medication for weight management: systematic review and meta-analysis
Objectives To quantify and compare the rate of weight regain after cessation of weight management medications (WMMs) in adults with overweight or obesity. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. ...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Now we know that AI also mistakes Halloween decorations for decapitated bodies! 😅 www.bbc.com/news/videos/...
bbc.com
AI app causes distress across US with false crime alerts
An AI-powered app called CrimeRadar has apologised for the distress caused by false crime alerts issued to local US communities after a BBC Verify investigation.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Ghost jobs are a thing apparently. 7 million job openings but only 5 million hires. How are governments supposed to make policies if their data is wrong? www.bls.gov/opub/ted/202... www.greenhouse.com/uk/blog/gree... Makes me feel better about broadcast-spawning my CV when I'm looking...😅
bls.gov
7.2 million job openings in August 2025
The number of total nonfarm job openings was unchanged at 7.2 million in August 2025. Over the month, nonfarm hires and separations were little changed at 5.1 million each. Within separations, both qu...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
This reminds me of when I first started dating my husband. Years later, he admitted he thought I didn't like him cause I didn't use exclamation marks in my texts.😂 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Nice to meet you.(!) Gendered norms in punctuation usage
People face a myriad of daily decisions about how to communicate, especially in today's digital world. We consider the decision to use exclamation poi…
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
What do you do when you find your name, photo, and partial bio on a company's team page that you've never heard of before...?
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
We all want a pretty face, but for those who can afford cosmetic surgery, be aware of the risks (such as necrosis, blindness, or stroke) and go to a medical professional. cattendee.abstractsonline.com/meeting/2123...
cattendee.abstractsonline.com
cAttendee
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
How can someone crack down successfully on drug trafficking, when the little fish are literally blown out of the water, but the big fish are pardoned...?
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
So apparently Haiti is safe enough for immigrants to return to, but not safe enough for American tourists...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Apparently adolescent brains last until about age 32...I can totally blame all my bad decisions from my 20s to adolescence! 😅 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Topological turning points across the human lifespan - Nature Communications
Researchers discovered five phases of brain rewiring across the lifespan. The eras of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, early aging, and late aging each have characteristic rewiring of structural con...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
I learned a new word today: phubbing: the practice of ignoring one's companion or companions in order to pay attention to one's phone or other mobile device.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
How do you use AI, fellow Blueskies? In science at least, it looks like a bubble; if I ask it a question, it will give me an answer and references, but the references rarely actually mention what the answer claims...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Large crowds protesting outside the UN climate talks, for the first time since 2021. Because the last three such UN meetings occurred in countries that ban public protests. Why are we still holding UN meetings in such countries...? Is it to assure politicians no-one cares about the climate...?
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I don't care about coffee, but if we lose chocolate (=cocoa) because of this whole climate/trade mess, I'm taking to the streets!😅
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Why is a condition that affects 20% of mothers still underdiagnosed and undertreated...? www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
I could hardly walk - the issue that affects 1 in 5 mums
Two mothers who experienced pelvic girdle pain say being aware of the risk will help people seek treatment.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I guess we can't fully blame the Victorians anymore for turning wolves into chihuahuas... www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The emergence and diversification of dog morphology
Dogs exhibit an exceptional range of morphological diversity as a result of their long-term association with humans. Attempts to identify when dog morphological variation began to expand have been con...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
It makes sense, since something that's worth .01$ costs .04$ to make, but businesses will round up prices, costing consumers an estimated 6m$ annually...is there no other way...? www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
US ends penny-making run after more than 230 years
Pennies today cost nearly four cents each to make - more than twice the cost of a decade ago.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Glacier retreats more than double previous records, and all that water will add to the sea level rise... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Record grounded glacier retreat caused by an ice plain calving process - Nature Geoscience
An Antarctic glacier retreated after the loss of landfast ice at a peak rate almost an order of magnitude faster than previously recorded because of buoyancy-driven ice calving, according to an analys...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
I'd go to church for a bat party! batsinchurches.org.uk
batsinchurches.org.uk
Home - Bats In Churches
The Bats in Churches project empowers church communities to live alongside their bats by helping to alleviate some of the pressures that they can cause.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Not all antidepressants are equal, and what side effects are minor for one patient, are major for others. The 2nd link is an online tool to help choose! www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... www.psymatik.com
thelancet.com
The effects of antidepressants on cardiometabolic and other physiological parameters: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
We found strong evidence that antidepressants differ markedly in their physiological effects, particularly for cardiometabolic parameters. Treatment guidelines should be updated to reflect differences...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
I did not know this was a thing... www.bbc.com/news/videos/...
bbc.com
Woman plays clarinet during four-hour brain surgery
Denise Bacon, 65, underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS) as Parkinson's Disease has affected her ability to walk, swim, dance and play her instrument.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
😅 www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1...
giantitp.com
1334 Like Clockwork - Giant in the Playground Games
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
New dinosaur! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A new long and narrow‐snouted ichthyosaur illuminates a complex faunal turnover during an undersampled Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) interval
Ichthyosaurian faunas before and after the Pliensbachian stage of the Early Jurassic are known from numerous, often complete fossils. The two faunas are very different taxonomically, with only one of...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Hopeful news for green turtles, bad news for seals... iucn.org/resources/co...
iucn.org
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species. Open to all, it is used by gover...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Scorch the earth and then bury oneself in the sand...😅 www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Tech billionaires seem to be doom prepping. Should we be worried?
The debate is ramping up about what happens if - or when - computer intelligence overtakes humans
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
She didn't have an undergraduate degree, but she was still awarded a PhD for her revolutionary work with primates (criticized at the time by her mostly male colleagues). RIP Dr Goodall, you have left a beautiful mark on this planet! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Go...
en.wikipedia.org
Jane Goodall - Wikipedia
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Skin cells were successfully turned into oocytes (though with chromosomal errors), which were then fertilized and underwent early embryo development! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Induction of experimental cell division to generate cells with reduced chromosome ploidy - Nature Communications
Researchers induced ploidy reduction in human oocytes generated by somatic cell nuclear transfer, enabling fertilization and embryo development with integrated somatic and sperm chromosomes, highlighting a proof-of-concept for in vitro gametogenesis.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
And finally, let's not experiment on children with single M or M or R vaccines, which NO country or medical association recommends.. www.gov.uk/government/p... (3/3)
gov.uk
Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR): use of combined vaccine instead of single vaccines
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
California has a higher autism prevalence rate, which could be explained by local initiatives to identify it: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes... (2/3)
cdc.gov
Prevalence and Early Identification of Autism Spectrum ...
This report describes autism spectrum disorder prevalence and early identifications patterns among children aged 4 and 8 years old.
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
A few facts about autism prevalence throughout the years: www.cdc.gov/autism/data-...
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Maria Apostolopoulou @mariamellon.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
"It is clear to us that the assessed approaches are not feasible, and that further research into these techniques would not be an effective use of limited time and resources." www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Safeguarding the polar regions from dangerous geoengineering: a critical assessment of proposed concepts and future prospects
Fossil-fuel burning is heating the planet with catastrophic consequences for its habitability and for the natural world on which our existence depends. Halti...
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