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Vladimir Reinharz

@vreinharz.bsky.social
138 followers 245 following 1 posts

Prof, RNA, Algorithms, Evolution

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Vladimir Reinharz
Chantzy @chantzy.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The CDC just posted this today. Do you see anything missing? Washing our hands will not meaningfully protect us from airborne viruses like Covid. We need respirator MASKS for that!
CDC graphic posted on Instagram with caption "Actions you can take to protect yourself and others from respiratory illnesses 

-washing your hands frequently 
-cover coughs and sneezes
-avoid touching your face
-regularly disinfect surfaces
-stay up to date with vaccines
-open windows or use air filters
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Reposted by Vladimir Reinharz
Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Most animal species pack sperm DNA with protamines instead of histones. Protamines are essential for male fertility. They are among the fastest-evolving genes in animals. That makes little sense. We think we know why, in a new paper led by @ching-hochang.bsky.social. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Rapid protamine evolution suppresses meiotic drive in Drosophila
Many animal species replace histones with protamines during spermatogenesis. Although essential for sperm function, protamines evolve rapidly for reasons that remain unknown. Using in vivo gene replac...
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Avi Lewis @avilewis.ca · 08/10/2026
Les libéraux et les conservateurs viennent de voter ensemble pour s’attaquer aux droits des travailleurs, à la protection de l’environnement et aux droits des peuples autochtones afin d’accélérer la réalisation de mégaprojets privés. lactualite.com/actualites/a...
lactualite.com
Le projet de loi C-39 franchit une première étape à la Chambre des communes
OTTAWA — Un projet de loi économique majeur, le C-39, a franchi une première étape à la Chambre des communes jeudi. Le texte de 243 pages va désormais être examiné par une commission spéciale. Le proj...
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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Octopus Mosaic in Pompeii, Italy
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Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
FWIW, Austria's military got rid of MS Office over the course of about three years; 5 years from risk identification to full transition. They ID-ed MS as a security risk in 2020, began a volunteer pilot project in 2022, finished the transition in September 2025.
zdnet.com
This European military just ditched Microsoft for open-source LibreOffice - here's why - ZDNET
It's not about the cost savings, either. Many government organizations are replacing Microsoft software for a more important reason.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 03/10/2026
The next five graphs are even less convincing, and the argumentation becomes even weaker. It was almost impossible for me to imagine how a seemingly intelligent person could have written it—but I found a secret clue buried in the text itself.

A.I. has the potential to enhance the way we live in the same way. It saved me and my colleague, Will McGrew, many hours of prowling the internet to research this essay. That left us with time to do other tasks.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 01/10/2026
I went to Geneva a few weeks ago and spoke on a panel about the nature of time for a Geneva Watch Days event. While I was there, on a lark, I entered a competition to most precisely calibrate a Swiss watch. And today I found out that I won! 😃 www.instagram.com/reel/Dd6hUTB...
Me peering through a little magnifier at a tiny watch mechanism connected to some monitoring equipment, while making adjustments with a small screwdriver
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Told ya. The warning signs were obvious from the beginning.
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Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The techbro bait-and-switch: “Many health-care professionals and medical technology experts say the chatbot fills the need for more reliable, Canada-specific health information than people get from using a general AI chatbot…” “Steinberg said the chatbot is not meant to replace health professionals”
thestar.com
Loblaw’s PC Health launches chatbot as more people turn to AI for health info. Here’s what to know
Users who get prescriptions at Shoppers Drug Mart, which is owned by Loblaw, can opt to link their pharmacy records to PC Chat to receive more tailored responses, the company
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 29/09/2026
"I believe that science derives its authority from something more than mastering the pipeline from data generation to publication. Rather, it comes from interactions within a community of people trained to interrogate evidence and answer for the conclusions they draw from it."
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 27/09/2026
Ignore for a moment the question about whether Anthropic trains on user sessions. I am I right in reading this as saying that Anthropic's "never-before-discovered" reverse transcriptase was *patented* three years ago?
Dr. Mestre first encountered the enzymes in jumbo phages in 2022 while searching for new reverse transcriptases. He worked briefly as a consultant for ReNegade Therapeutics, which filed a patent in 2023 on a number of reverse transcriptases, including the ones Dr. Mestre found. He is listed as a co-inventor on the patent filing.
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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Call me old fashioned, but I think sitting legislators shouldn't use the chatbots that are built on theft and environmental destruction, are controlled by American tech bros who are all firmly wedged up Trump's ass, and that cause psychosis.
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Maya Voichek @mayavoichek.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Super excited to share my postdoctoral work at @imbavienna.bsky.social @viennabiocenter.bsky.social - We discovered that some retrotransposons, or "jumping genes" 🧬, are able to spread from cell to cell via a new viral infectivity route. A short thread: 🧵👇 (1/7)
AI-generated illustration of the soma-to-germline transmission of retrotransposons described in our work
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Hagen Blix @hagenblix.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
At this rate it's pretty clear that crime is simply priced into business
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Paul Gardner @ppgardne.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is well worth a read by anyone thinking about the impacts of AI on education IMHO: aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/
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CUPE SCFP @cupescfp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Si le projet de loi C-39 est adopté, le SCFP s’opposera aux restrictions inconstitutionnelles au droit de grève scfp.ca/nouvelles/si...
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CUPE SCFP @cupescfp.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
CUPE will defy Bill C-39’s unconstitutional limits on the right to strike if passed cupe.ca/news/cupe-wi...
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Haus of Decline @hausofdecline.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Carney is truly the Reagan of Canada. A calming, paternalistic figure in a period of apocalyptic uncertainty who galvanizes the economy with short-sighted right wing fiscal policies. And like Reagan, every disaster that Canada encounters in the future will be traceable to his administration.
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Michael Nabert @sustainablesong.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Privatizing public services is always a great deal for private capital and always a terrible deal for the public. shrlnk.ca/s/ZzISzdWM
shrlnk.ca
Seven reasons why privatization of public services is the wrong answer | CCPA
Is the public really getting more bang for its buck?
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
i hate it @wileyonlinelibrary.bsky.social, please kill this
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NDP @ndp.ca · 19/09/2026
A strike is by definition a labour disruption. Liberals are going after the right to strike.
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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
How about every time the government has to order workers back to work for the sake of the "national public interest," the CEOs of the companies they work for have to go to jail for a year, as punishment for being so bad at their jobs that they created strike conditions at such a crucial industry.
financialpost.com
Canadian employers urge Carney to stop some strikes before they begin
Employers are urging Mark Carney’s government to allow the labour minister to preemptively limit strike action in some sectors. Read here
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 19/09/2026
When we talk about the costs that LLMs impose on society we should not forget the fact that nothing works anymore because everyone is so scared of getting their shit scraped. I can't even use google scholar from my university or starlink because they send too much traffic.
Google	
Sorry...
We're sorry...

... but your computer or network may be sending automated queries. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.
See Google Help for more information.
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Carney is anti-labour and that was obvious from the start.
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EmmaaAAHH! 👻 ArkHell 💀 @emmaarkell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This "significant labour legislation" could very likely end the right to strike for thousands of workers through expanding whose work is "essential," lengthening bargaining timelines or introducing US style laws. pressprogress.ca/mark-carneys...
pressprogress.ca
Mark Carney’s Government is Rushing Through Major Changes to Canada’s Labour Laws. Unions Say Workers Should Be Alarmed.
Unions are warning Carney is planning to place limits on the right to strike and deliver other items on 'Corporate Canada's wish list'
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Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The very first line is a lie, and we all know it. *None* of this was ever designed to help us, which is why it hurts us and we hate it. It really is that simple, but the media simply cannot bring themselves to say it.
cnn.com
The humans are rejecting the machines that were supposed to help them | CNN Business
Touchscreens and self-checkout machines were designed to help customers. But restaurants and retailers are ditching them to humanize stores and attract workers.
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Michael Hendricks 🇨🇦 @michaelhendricks.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Why is this the only lever they ever pull? Given existing incentives, how does making r&d investments even cheaper induce a private sector that sees no reason to invest in r&d suddenly change? Like why not make Innovative Solutions Canada 10x bigger? www.cbc.ca/news/busines...
cbc.ca
Canadian government introduces mega-deduction tax measure to spur more investment | CBC News
The productivity mega-deduction will allow companies to expense the total cost of new investments across a number of sectors, including machinery, equipment, clean energy, zero-emission vehicles and m...
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Alex Cosh @alex.readthemaple.com · 15/09/2026
NEW: Stephen Harper Says He Wishes He Came Up With Carney’s CEO Summit “It is such a great innovation that I wish I had thought of it.” www.readthemaple.com/stephen-harp...
readthemaple.com
Stephen Harper Says He Wishes He Came Up With Carney’s CEO Summit
“It is such a great innovation that I wish I had thought of it.”
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Brad and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary today, September 14, 2026, in New York City. Brad and I were married on Sept 14, 2008, at the Democracy Forum of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
“Copenhagen reported that 62% of its residents are now commuting to work or school by bike — an increase from 52% in 2015 & 36% in 2012, when the City Council launched a 14-year-plan to improve the quality, safety & comfort of cycling.” #Copenhagen chose. They keep choosing even better every year.
latimes.com
Copenhagen has taken bicycle commuting to a whole new level
Cycling has been a part of that good life in Copenhagen for decades. In recent years, it has enjoyed yet another unfathomable surge in popularity — taken to the next level thanks to constantly improvi...
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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"In sum, Carney seems to be planning to sell off public infrastructure we need to help fund private infrastructure we don’t—with our money covering the risk, while investors make off with the profits."
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
MAHA has been in power for two years. They have decimated basic science, gutted food safety surveillance and kicked millions of people off food stamps. *That* is their ideology, not their polite platitudes about corporate control of the food supply.
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Yann Ponty @yannponty.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Yep, 100% this ⬇️ (and my lab is eligible for such positions 😜)
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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Part of research is wandering in the literature and making unexpected connections, finding the questions you didn’t know to ask. I don’t see a good way to do that while relying mainly on LLMs to do literature searches.
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Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
"The goal of academic training is not to solve problems as efficiently and quickly as possible, but to develop skills for identifying and dealing with novel problems, which have never been solved before." openletter.earth/open-letter-... @olivia.science
openletter.earth
Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 23/08/2026
As Maya Angelou said, when people show you who they are, believe them. I'd rather have a klan member clearly articulating his views of how I should be eliminated than these garbage people dressing up their racism in intellectualism. You can fuck all the way off.
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Chance the Lawyer @chancethelawyer.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
say what you will about the myriad valid concerns with current LLMs but I personally will never get over the fact that Aaron Swartz was prosecuted to his literal death for downloading JSTOR and then a decade later, they downloaded & ingested the entire world and our IP laws just went ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Sarah Gelbard @gelbard.ca · 17/08/2026
The discrepancy between how cities treat transit fare evasion vs parking infractions...
Fines for fare evasion far exceed parking
penalties. Transit fines range from $100 
Winnipeg to a maximum of $500 in Montreal,
or roughly 120 times a missed $3.75 fare. On
average, the fine for fare evasion is 58 tim
the missed payment, compared to 14 times the
missed payment for parking
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 31/07/2026
Nature did a short piece on our preprint about how LLMs will affect the practice of science; my more detailed thread is below.
nature.com
Scientists using LLMs will ‘do more, less well’, modelling study predicts
Research suggests that the combination of incentives to publish and the use of large language models will lead to more papers, but they will be less refined.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 21/07/2026
1. We—@eduede.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, Kevin Gross, and I—have a new preprint on the arXiv today, based on ideas that emerged during an @sfiscience.bsky.social workshop in November 2024: The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science.
arxiv.org
The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science
As a labor-augmenting technology, large language models (LLMs) have the potential to accelerate scientific activity across the research pipeline. But even if LLMs perform on par with human experts at ...
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Ján Bíňovský @jbinovsky.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
🔥My first (co)first-author paper is out🔥 The surfaces of Gram+ and Gram- bacteria are markedly different from each other. How are phages equipped to breach the Gram+ envelope❓ 💡We report a baseplate structure uniquely adapted to infect Gram+ S. aureus. A 🧵⬇️ 1/8 #phagesky #cryoEM 🧪
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Emily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
This. This is the correct, science-backed, responsible framing. Wish more news outlets did it like the CBC.
cbc.ca
'Just stop burning fossil fuels.' Scientists stress that our smoky skies only have one true fix | CBC News
Smoky skies in Toronto have led to new scrutiny of government efforts to fight fires and manage forests. But scientists say the realistic way to tackle the smoke is fighting climate change itself.
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 08/07/2026
Right. Okay. This requires some backstory. In 1984, a small, low budget film studio in North Carolina produced a parody of Star Wars, called Hyperspace. It was released in the U.K. as ‘Gremloids’. The main character, shown here, was Lord Buckethead.
A somewhat grainy, sorry, theatrical release poster.
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Amanda Follett Hosgood @amandafollett.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
"The realization is yet to set in with the public that 90 per cent of the cost of this multibillion-dollar project — we don’t know how many multiples of billions yet — is going to be paid by Alberta and Canadian taxpayers, just as we were promised would never happen." thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026...
thetyee.ca
Inside Carney’s Pipeline Deal with Alberta and BC | The Tyee
Taxpayers will be on the hook for billions to bring oil through BC’s Lower Mainland.
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Nikolai Slavov @slavov-n.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Since the 1960s, the genetic code has been used to predict protein sequences from DNA and mRNA sequences. Our @nature.com article demonstrates that these predictions miss thousands of protein sequences present in human tissues. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
No one could have foreseen this. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good
Reliance on artificial-intelligence tools degrades the abilities of physicians and software engineers, studies show.
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OpenMedia @openmedia.org · 16/06/2026
BREAKING: 🇨🇦 decides there will be NO debate of amendments to #BillC22's controversial part 2 - the part that lets gov install surveillance devices in any digital tech in Canada. Gov amendments will pass without reading; House vote will happen this week. #cdnpoli www.ourcommons.ca/documentview...
ourcommons.ca
Order Paper and Notice Paper No. 137 - June 16, 2026 (45-1) - House of Commons of Canada
Order Paper and Notice Paper No. 137 - June 16, 2026 (45-1) - House of Commons of Canada
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Denis REALE 🇨🇦 @denisreale.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Grande inquiétude parmi les scientifiques experts en biodiversité et en environnement, sur les conséquences désastreuses des grands projets du gouvernement Carney. Les canadiens doivent le savoir! www.lapresse.ca/dialogue/opi...
lapresse.ca
Grands projets économiques | Le pari risqué du recul des garde-fous environnementaux
Le Canada souhaite accélérer la réalisation de grands projets économiques au nom de la souveraineté énergétique et commerciale. Dans le contexte géopolitique actuel, cet objectif peut paraître raisonn...
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Outstanding opportunity for @avilewis.ca to push for a better system of science funding in Canada that would massively increase productivity. Give every qualified researcher a baseline operating grant. More as reward for productivity or through competition. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Cost of the NSERC Science Grant Peer Review System Exceeds the Cost of Giving Every Qualified Researcher a Baseline Grant
Using Natural Science and Engineering Research Council Canada (NSERC) statistics, we show that the $40,000 (Canadian) cost of preparation for a grant application and rejection by peer review in 200...
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Selene FeRNAndez @selfdz.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
#RNA26
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