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Miles Babbage

@milesbabbage.bsky.social
212 followers 171 following 179 posts

Neurobiology, genetics, molecular biology, biophysics, general mad science, and a reasonable amount of terror.

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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Bora Zivkovic @boraz.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...
nobelprize.org
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 was awarded jointly to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.”
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Excellent advice from a most excellent person. What a legacy she left!
"Find out who you are and do it on purpose." - Dolly Parton
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Go read the thread below this post. It includes the term "Internet Kessler Syndrome," which, holy shit, is the best descriptor I've seen for what is happening to our communications and epistemology.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
ActBlue is absolutely convinced that my phone number belongs to an elderly woman from AZ named Cathy. Every election year I receive HUNDREDS of fundraising texts from dozens of shady PACs, most carefully worded to confuse and frighten the elderly. It really should be prosecuted as elder abuse.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
"Sin is when you treat people as things."
pluralistic.net
Pluralistic: Eternal Sloptember (06 Aug 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Share with female friends in red states.
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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Scientific research in the United States might not collapse with a bang, or with a whimper, but with a rule change. And it's not just Science. This rule change hits DOE, DOT, VA, HUD. ALL federal grants are at risk. www.theverge.com/science/9576...
theverge.com
The war against ‘woke’ could end US science as we know it
‘Everyone will be affected, not just scientists. Every community in the country.’
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
In 1970s, a group of politicians (led by Sen William Proxmire) ridiculed scientists working on various issues they deemed a waste of taxpayer money. Among big targets were the studies of "sex life of worms" - studies that led to eradication of screwworm in the US.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Well, most of us knew that the SpaceX IPO is nonsense. But the numbers (from SpaceXs own filings) are... psychotic, in the exact meaning of that word.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
The new America is all about defending the beaches of Normandy. You know, against those evil foreigners from across the sea who are storming them.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
If you think that Bill Pulte (our acting Director of National Intelligence) is just a feckless nepo baby - you know only a small part of the total incompetence and utter cringeworthiness he embodies.
thebulwark.com
Bill Pulte Was a “Degenerate” Buffoon. Now He’s Head of U.S. Intelligence.
Bulletproof vests, helicopters, and, yes, dildos.
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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Ol' Chef Dan @olchefdan.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Honestly, one of the funniest tweets I've ever seen.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
One of the seemingly smaller moves in the continued erosion or the last century's progress - but a foundational one.
thehill.com
Banks aren’t equipped to interpret women’s biographies
Marriage, divorce and name changes after divorce are common life events for millions of women and will trigger documentation requirements that most men will not face.
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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Ken Tremendous @kentremendous.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Joe: I am a 73 year-old retired mechanic in Forsberg, Nebraska. My 3 biggest problems are Iran's uranium enrichment capability, the casting of Helen in Christopher Nolan's "Odyssey," and the ability of Tennesseeans to check out "Roots" from a library 1000 media outlets: can we please talk at length
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
And here we are.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
I just saw an AI video featuring Robin Williams, and I think we need to have a talk about necromancy. You know, the part of magic that deals with creation of the undead and such. 🧵
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
If you need any more proof that vaccines work: health insurance companies, with their long history of putting profit ahead of any moral qualms (or basic decency) are still going to pay for vaccinations, despite RFK giving them an easy out. Vaccines prevent costly hospitalizations.
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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Update: Civil War cancelled due to shooter being demographically uncooperative
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
The only appropriate response today is to appreciate Kirk's commitment to the gun rights of the sniper who shot him.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
This is a reminder that apps like Zelle and Venmo exist so that banks can avoid regulations and consumer protections. If anyone gets into your app and takes your money, you have pretty much no recourse.
reuters.com
New York sues Zelle, says security lapses led to $1 billion consumer fraud losses
Zelle was sued on Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said the electronic payment platform's refusal to adopt critical safety features enabled fraudsters to steal more than $1 billion from consumers.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
A thing to note: "the manosphere" is a scam that is run by "influencers" who profit from keeping their customers (single men) lonely, angry, and engaged with their "content."
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Credit: TikTok user Andr3w.
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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
As some Democrats spent the week trying to destroy Mamdani, Republicans are uniting to pass the big beautiful billionaire bill and destroy our Medicaid and add $4.5 trillion in debt to give billionaires the biggest wealth transfer in US history. Priorities.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
I know everyone is looking at Iran right now, but... Firing generals and other military staff, and then putting ultra-rich corporate executives in charge? From Meta and Palantir? Call me alarmist, but it seems like something we should be concerned about...
thegrayzone.com
US Army appoints Palantir, Meta, OpenAI execs as Lt. Colonels - The Grayzone
Four senior executives at Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI have been formally appointed lieutenant colonels in the US Army following the creation of a “special” unit created for rich Big Tech mavens seeking...
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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
A major danger of LLMs is that humans are SO predisposed to attribute knowledge to any entity that uses natural language fluently. We cannot imagine that a machine that outputs natural-seeming speech/text doesn't have cognition. Brilliantly articulated by @emilymbender.bsky.social et al. (2021).
Text generated by an LM is not grounded in communicative intent, any model of the world, or any model of the reader’s state of mind. It can’t have been, because the training data never included sharing thoughts with a listener, nor does the machine have the ability to do that. This can seem counter-intuitive given the increasingly fluent qualities of automatically generated text, but we have to account for the fact that our perception of natural language text, regardless of how it was generated, is mediated by our own linguistic competence and our predisposition to interpret communicative acts as conveying coherent meaning and intent, whether or not they do [89, 140].”
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Phthalates are chemicals that are widely used in a bunch of products (soaps, detergents, vinyl flooring). A new study in Nature confirms previous results, showing that phthalate exposure in newborns and infants disrupts critical parts of brain metabolism. (Thread, 1/6)
nature.com
Impact of prenatal phthalate exposure on newborn metabolome and infant neurodevelopment - Nature Communications
Prenatal exposure to phthalates has been linked to metabolic and neurodevelopmental disruptions but the mechanisms remain unclear. Here, the authors show that prenatal phthalate exposure alters newbor...
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Blatant, shameless market manipulation.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Sorry to rain on the parade, but direwolves have NOT been resurrected. There are approx. 12 million base pairs different between gray wolf and direwolf genomes. Colossal Biosciences edited about 20 genes total. 1/3
newscientist.com
No, the dire wolf has not been brought back from extinction
Colossal Biosciences claims three pups born recently are dire wolves, but they are actually grey wolves with genetic edits intended to make them resemble the lost species
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
"It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies." Dr. Peter Marks, while being ousted by RFK - ex-heroin addict and brain worm carrier with zero knowledge of science or medicine. Wild.
cbsnews.com
FDA's top vaccine official forced out, decries RFK Jr.'s "misinformation and lies"
A Department of Health and Human Services official delivered an ultimatum to Dr. Peter Marks: either resign or be fired.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Non-AI summary of today's most important news: "The hapless family of hamsters that runs the Democratic Party celebrates Chuck Shumer's ability to walk without a spine."
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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Nicole Tersigni @nicsigni.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
😄🤣🤣😄😅😐😑 At this point, the only reasonable explanation is that the leadership of the Democratic party has a humiliation fetish.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
🤦‍♂️
bloomberg.com
Musk’s DOGE Teen Was Fired By Cybersecurity Firm for Leaking Company Secrets
Edward Coristine posted online that he had retained access to the firm’s servers. Now he has access to sensitive government information.
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Reposted by Miles Babbage
Gallifreyan Jedi @jediofgallifrey.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
democrats are once again bringing a hand job to a gun fight
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Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 04/02/2025
In 2016 the NYT ran multiple front page stories page about the grave national security risk of Hillary Clinton's server. Today's front page, and nary a mention of the successful "plutocratic coup" (said by a sitting House member) or "constitutional crisis (said by a sitting Senator) unfolding
Front page of the nyt
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
After previously pausing all NIH and NSF communications (and thus grant reviews), the White House has now paused federal grant disbursements. This is to make sure that already approved grants align with the priorities of the administration. Farewell, independent science in the US.
thehill.com
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
You should read this essay about how Sam Harris's friendship with Elon Musk imploded. Not for its intended point - that part is only mildly interesting, and utterly unsurprising to anyone who's been paying attention. Instead, consider Harris's surprise at Musk's behavior. 1/3
samharris.substack.com
The Trouble with Elon
I didn’t set out to become an enemy of the world’s richest man, but I seem to have managed it all the same.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
One has to admire the balanced mixture of propaganda and ass-kissing in TikTok's closing message. Well honed, mask off, harbinger of how everyone expects things to work from this point on. You want something from daddy? Bend the knee and praise the great leader.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
A few months ago, LA reduced their firefighting budget in order to give more money to the LAPD. So, if we can somehow make the fires darker, perhaps we can get the police to go out and beat them?
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Provided with no comment.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Now that Meta has done away with fact checking (which was a joke anyway), we can freely share the news that Mark Zuckerberg molests capybaras in his free time.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Read the below thread and article for an interesting look into the US conservative militia movement. Deeply disturbing and simultaneously quite ridiculous.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
Top: extradition of a guy who killed a CEO. Bottom: extradition of a guy who killed four students.
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
It sounds like a joke, doesn't it? 🤦‍♂️
wcbm.com
‘Missing’ GOP Congresswoman Not Seen For Six Months Finally Found Living at Dementia Care Home
In a startling revelation, Rep. Kay Granger, missing for six months, has been found living in a dementia care home. Discover the details behind her sudden disappearance and the implications for her po...
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Finally, we may get to the bottom of some very important questions!
youtu.be
Cunk on Life – Trailer - BBC
YouTube video by BBC
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
"Now to read articles about non-me categories doing things wrong!"
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Miles Babbage @milesbabbage.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
CURSES!
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