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Paul Young

@profpaulyoung.bsky.social
275 followers 28 following 87 posts

Passionate about science communication and photography - viruses and how to control them. LCR (Late Career Researcher) 🇦🇺

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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
👇 Poem: For Sanity Press Pause www.indailyqld.com.au/inreview/boo...
indailyqld.com.au
Poem: For Sanity Press Pause - InReview | InDaily, Inside Queensland
This week’s Poet’s Corner contribution comes from Kathryn von Bergen.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Misleading and False Vaccine Claims - a simple and well compiled explainer. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
Misleading and False Vaccine Claims from the MAHA Report
Misleading and False Vaccine Claims from the MAHA Report “Since 1986 the average child, by one year of age, has gone from 3 injections to 29.” Overall, the vaccine schedule has expanded by 1-2 vaccin...
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Philipp Markolin @philippmarkolin.eurosky.social · 12/05/2025
What happened during the WHO mission in Wuhan? I talked to multiple WHO members being there to reconstruct what they had witnessed. Read this exclusive excerpt for free: www.protagonist-science.com/p/exclusive-...
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Stuart Neil @tetherin.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Comparative phylogeography and recombination patterns of SARS CoV-1 and SARS CoV-2 related viruses. Both are derived from recent recombinations in their host bats, and then emerged in human hundreds of miles from their wild reservoirs. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
cell.com
The recency and geographical origins of the bat viruses ancestral to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2
Recombination-aware evolutionary analyses of the entire genomes of SARS-CoV-1-like and SARS-CoV-2-like viruses indicate that SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 descend from bat coronaviruses that circulated as...
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Voting in our national election yesterday at a voting booth in Bondi, Sydney. Quintessential Oz! 👍🤣 And solid support for progressive politics with the Labour Party resoundingly returned to government. Notable was the respect shown by both major leaders in their speeches. Proud to be 🇦🇺
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Frightening and unconscionable in equal measure. Measured, evidence-based and empathy enveloped communication (not lecturing!) of the importance of childhood vaccination to the wider community is critical. #VaccinesWork #VaccinesSaveLives #ScienceCommunication www.indailyqld.com.au/news/in-dept...
indailyqld.com.au
Measles: we’re on the precipice of a disaster, experts say - News | InDaily, Inside Queensland
Measles may become endemic again within 20 years if vaccination rates don’t improve, according to new modelling.
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AlphaFold Unofficial @alphafold.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Wow, have you heard about this incredibly powerful innovation that can generate art, invent new languages, experience empathy, adapt instantly to environments, make ethical decisions, and even dream up ideas that have never existed before? It’s available today. No, it’s not AI, it’s the human brain.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
A must read for anyone who appreciates excellent absurdist humour, encapsulated so exquisitely in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
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CMTroy @cmtroy205.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
It's like all their other impeding efforts. You don't need to actually pass a law to make something illegal; you just need to make it very, very difficult to access, or create.
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Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
I made a timeline of all the actions in Trump's (almost) first 100 days that have upended science and health. It was staggering to me to see it all in one place, even though I reported on many on these events. www.statnews.com/2025/04/24/t...
statnews.com
Day by day, how Trump is roiling science and health
STAT is tracking, day by day, what's happened in the words of science and health during the first months of the Trump administration.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Excellent read/explainer on Australia’s energy needs now and into the future. Would be great if politics could stay out of the equation and we just do what’s logical. energyhttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-26/renewables-versus-nuclear-in-evolving-energy-grid/104800790?utm_source=abc_news_app
abc.net.au
What might our future power grid look like? This illustrated guide explains
Our energy system is evolving at breakneck speed. Here we look at how our power grid works, what more renewables mean for energy prices, how nuclear fits into the picture, and how we might build a gri...
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Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚🇳🇿 @notjustdna.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
💉 ICYMI - large study of COVID-19 vaccine safety hit by DOGE, #NZ researchers affected It’s the sort of checking those concerned about vaccines ask for, now stopped. 🧵⬇️
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
The golden pendas are out in their autumn bloom all over Brisbane. Particularly stunning outside our place! Leaving a carpet of yellow.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Had missed this in amongst all the craziness. For a movement that has had freedom of speech/opinion as one of their prime grievances, it is ironic that most of the pronouncements over the last few months have been about silencing science or opposing views. www.euronews.com/business/202...
euronews.com
US demands that EU companies comply with anti-diversity order
US president Donald Trump has repeatedly taken aim at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programmes in the US, especially in government offices, claiming that they were discriminatory.
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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
Predatory journals even worse since "Get Me Off Your F*ck*ng Mailing List" was accepted for publication boingboing.net/2025/04/12/p...
boingboing.net
Predatory journals even worse since “Get Me Off Your F*ck*ng Mailing List” was accepted for publication
The 2005 paper repeats the phrase “Get me off your fucking mailing list” for ten pages. The authors are still on the mailing list.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
And now for something completely different. We were exceptionally fortunate to be in Sintra, Portugal today and trekked up to the Pena Palace. Stunningly beautiful - but the irony is not lost on me that over the centuries this was the home of a series of nobles, looking down on their peasants.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious……nah, it’s actually very funny…and tragic….and bonkers! 🤣
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
A wonderful piece of writing. Worth devoting a few minutes. Frighteningly real and accurate I’m afraid….and darkly humorous. But in the end, just another piece that will miss its mark as it will pass majestically over those who it describes. www.forkingpaths.co/p/on-power-a...
forkingpaths.co
On Power and Stupidity
Why do so many fools end up in positions of authority?
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
NIH and CDC cut grants related to COVID and other agents of pandemic potential. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt... 1/n
nbcnews.com
CDC is pulling back $11B in Covid funding sent to health departments across the U.S.
“Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary," federal health authorities wrote to funding recipients this week.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Like watching a motorway pile-up in slow motion. So many aspects of US life being impacted - with repercussions across the world. The only hope with this particular study is that instead of shouting from the darkness the skeptics might, now with resources, see the light! I know, unlikely ☹️
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Well this certsinly caught my eye! 🤣🤣😱 “Rowing would be held in Rockhampton, on the Fitzroy River which is known to have crocodile sightings” www.thenewdaily.com.au/sport/olympi...
thenewdaily.com.au
Brisbane Olympics 2032 venue plan finally unveiled
A new stadium will be built in Brisbane as the centrepiece of the 2032 Olympic Games, Premier David Crisafulli has revealed.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
UQ Lakes circa 1976. Poor quality B&W I took on my new Olympus OM1…was still learning(that’s my excuse anyway). But our UQ Lakes island used to be an amazing nesting and roosting site…..until it got bull-dozed away ☹️
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 19/03/2025
1. For the past thirty years I've had the best job in the world. 
I've had the opportunity to follow my curiosity; explore the workings of nature and society; mentor students and junior colleagues in the same process; and teach generations of students about it all.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Seriously. The US is broken. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped
I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Extraordinary. The national health equivalent of shooting oneself in the foot. And it won’t “simply” be a matter of removing “mRNA” from grants as many of the transformative (oops I used a trans word 😱) approaches being explored can only work via mRNA. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
kffhealthnews.org
Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants - KFF Health News
Two senior scientists say National Institutes of Health officials advised them to remove references to mRNA vaccines in grant applications, and they fear the Trump administration will abandon a promis...
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
The details in the letters grantees are receiving are genuinely Orwellian…the Ministry of Truth strikes for real. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
NIH to ax grants on vaccine hesitancy, mRNA vaccines
Move reflects vaccine skepticism of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Definitely saw a mountain of disrespect today, but it wasn’t in the direction being reported. Are countries so scared of what the US might do that they aren’t calling out this appalling behavior. Some collective global spine needed. Diplomacy and global order is not about extracting the best deal.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Long-awaited proposals to reshape the ARC funding landscape by STA that are worth getting behind - “new, simpler streams, stronger and deeper support for early and mid-career researchers, and putting a greater emphasis on backing higher risk research that has the potential to create higher returns”.
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Ryan @geekryan.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Scientists have created an actual treatment for prions, the cause of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans, chronic wasting disease in deer, & mad cow disease. "Brainwide silencing of prion protein by AAV-mediated delivery of an engineered compact epigenetic editor". #ShareGoodNewsToo
science.org
Brainwide silencing of prion protein by AAV-mediated delivery of an engineered compact epigenetic editor
Prion disease is caused by misfolding of the prion protein (PrP) into pathogenic self-propagating conformations, leading to rapid-onset dementia and death. However, elimination of endogenous PrP halts...
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
And now for something completely different. Seen on our coffee walk this morning. Beautiful apple blossom tree flowers and some playful Ozzy back garden kitsch 🥰 Peace and love everyone….sorry, I know that’s such a woke thing to say, but hey, embracing it. 👍
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
There is a very clear pattern emerging…..Greenland, Canada, Gaza. I wonder who’s next? #LooksOverShoulder www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/m...
thenewdaily.com.au
US will take over Gaza Strip, Trump says
Donald Trump says he wants the US to take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
This is all going in a very troubling direction. I try not to engage in these stories online but it’s becoming head-shakingly riveting. 🤷‍♂️🤯 www.indailyqld.com.au/news/just-in...
indailyqld.com.au
FBI staff told to reveal roles in January 6 probes - News | InDaily, Inside Queensland
FBI staff have been told to answer questions about their work on criminal cases related to the attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Excellent expose of RFKJr’s antivax views and those of his supporters. Includes a “greatest hits” compilation to place it all in perspective. sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-willful-...
sciencebasedmedicine.org
The willful blindness of RFK Jr’s supporters | Science-Based Medicine
Shrug, move on and never admit you were wrong
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Learning the language of life with AI. Excellent summary by @erictopol.bsky.social of the explosion in AI tools for predicting and exploring biomolecular interactions. It’s 🤯 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Learning the language of life with AI
In 2021, a year before ChatGPT took the world by storm amid the excitement about generative artificial intelligence (AI), AlphaFold 2 cracked the 50-year-old protein-folding problem, predicting three-...
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Went for a wander through the backstreets of West End. We were stunned by this dahlia display! 🤯👏 Want to ask the question….how??
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
An all time classic. Hot desking simply explained. Office architects/planners keep pushing us in this direction despite all the evidence that it’s a seriously bad idea. youtube.com/watch?v=iwZk...
youtube.com
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Will be fascinating (and frightening in equal measure) to see how this plays out www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01...
abc.net.au
Trump's powerful new allies don't much like Australia
While all the focus during US President Donald Trump's inauguration was on tariffs, the sight of four tech titans at the ceremony should have put another economic policy on the radar: Tax.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
I assume another article from @thelancet.bsky.social will be coming soon? #dejavu www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
US withdrawal from WHO is unlawful and threatens global and US health and security
On May 29, 2020, President Donald Trump announced the USA would sever its relationship with WHO and redirect funds to US global health priorities.1 On July 6, 2020, the US administration officially no...
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Lots of visitors to our flowering trees lately. This rainbow lorikeet on our leopard tree being one.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
The political influence of a powerful global oligarchy is now becoming increasingly visible. Our path towards this state has been a long one (e.g., Murdoch anyone?), it’s just becoming more blatant…..and for some strange reason many are voting for it 🤷‍♂️ www.thenewdaily.com.au/preview?p=18...
thenewdaily.com.au
Are US and Australia poised to become an oligarchy?
Joe Biden warned of the threat of modern day oligarchs and their influence in the United States, but what about Australia?.
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Jon Piccini @jonpiccini.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
"Academics are always responding to a new pressure from management that distracts – and often undermines – the experience of students, what academics are trying to discover, and what they are endeavouring to write.” - the indefatigable @hannahforsyth.bsky.social www.afr.com/policy/healt...
afr.com
Is a university degree still worth it?
The pay premium for graduates is on the decline, while the sector is a mess and academics are asking whether we have reached “peak university”.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
I ran @USAID health programs for the last 3 years. Trump’s 90 day Stop Work Order on foreign assistance does serious damage to the world and the US. Examples:🧵
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Paul Nuki @paulnuki.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Jab could give lifelong protection against virus that inspired ‘Contagion’ film, scientists say www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...
telegraph.co.uk
Jab could give lifelong protection against virus that inspired ‘Contagion’ film, scientists say
A new study of Nipah virus survivors has raised hopes that a measles-style vaccine is within reach
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Spent the day with friends on their forested property in Currumbin Valley. Amazing to have your own walking tracks…albeit rough in parts!
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Brisbane city in the distance. The neighborhood is so green after all the rain.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
A lone lorikeet feeding on our flowering gum this afternoon. What a treat watching from our deck.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Microneedles/Patch technology is the next stage in vaccine/therapeutics delivery. The days of the needle and syringe are numbered. This is the way all vaccines will be delivered in the future. Vaccinologists, immunologists, infectious disease specialists, you should add this meeting to your calendar
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
#COVID vaccine may speed relief from #Long-COVID symptoms. www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/cov...
cidrap.umn.edu
COVID vaccine may speed relief of some persistent symptoms
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Went for a short trek in Maiala NP yesterday - only 40mins from home. Deep into the walk, just stopped for awhile - listening, observing, immersing. So peaceful.
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Paul Young @profpaulyoung.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Wine, cheese, panettone, dates, cherries….and feathery guests this afternoon as we chill on our back deck.
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