Reposted by Leighton Pritcharde.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 1hso restricting Ukraine's Starlink was Musk's idea, but after Moscow took advantage he became "alarmed about the possibility of adverse consumer reaction in Europe" to the "night of carnage" and denied responsibility I mean, it sounds like typical Elon 511455404
Reposted by Leighton PritchardAna Conesa @anaconesa.bsky.social · 16h🔹 TPM works for @pacbio.bsky.social (it compensates the loss of short molecules) but distorts Nanopore estimates. 🔹 For @nanoporetech.com , CQN and EDASeq correct length bias without over-correcting. 🔹 Median-ratio normalization adds noise when biological variability is low. 111
Reposted by Leighton PritchardAna Conesa @anaconesa.bsky.social · 16hNew preprint 📄 Should long-read RNA-seq counts be normalized? We benchmarked 5 normalization methods × 5 quantifiers on PacBio and ONT, using spike-ins and matched Illumina as ground truth 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.orgSystematic evaluation of transcript normalization methods and quantification pipelines across long-read sequencing platformsLong-read RNA sequencing (lrRNA-seq) has transformed transcriptomics by enabling full-length isoform resolution, yet transcript quantification remains confounded by platform-dependent length biases an... 11110
Reposted by Leighton PritchardCameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 15/10/2026Reframing marine host-microbe symbioses: from taxonomic inventories to functional convergence academic.oup.com/sumbio/advan... #jcampubsacademic.oup.comReframing marine host-microbe symbioses: from taxonomic inventories to functional convergenceAbstract. In October 2025, the Trends in Host-Microbe Symbioses Symposium at the University of Padova (Italy) brought together a global community of resear 021
Reposted by Leighton PritchardIoanna Chatzigiannidou @ioannachatzig.bsky.social · 13/10/2026That’s why I’m excited to share our latest work: a catalogue of >9k prokaryotic genomes reconstructed from ultra-deep sequencing of 455 samples collected across two 🇩🇰 Danish agricultural fields. doi.org/10.1093/ismeco/ycag268 @ismepublications.bsky.social @isme-microbes.bsky.social #MicroSkydoi.orgGenome-resolved metagenomics reveals rare taxa and functional traits in two contrasting agricultural fieldsAbstract. Agricultural soils harbor highly diverse and functionally rich microbial communities, yet much of their genomic potential remains unexplored. Her 165
Reposted by Leighton PritchardDerek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 15/10/2026Can the LLM-based AI agents that are supposed to be able to help with scientific research distinguish real work from pseudoscience, from fraud, or from long-discredited retracted starting papers? Take a guess.science.orgHow LLMs Deal With Fraudulent Papers 48540
Reposted by Leighton PritchardThiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 14/10/2026I second this appeal on Linkedin 2143
Reposted by Leighton PritchardKunzLab@LMU @kunzlab.bsky.social · 15/10/2026Professorship (W2) of Computational Plant Systematics (6 years/tenure track). New job offer in our biology department @lmu.de 👇. Please apply and help to spread the word. www.nature.com/naturecareer... #PlantSciJob #PlantSciencenature.comProfessorship (W2) of Computational Plant Systematics (6 years/tenure track) - Munich, Bavaria, Germany job with Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) | 12865714Professorship in computational plant systematics, focusing on plant evolution, adaptation to changing habitats, and taxonomy. 01440
Reposted by Leighton PritchardMatthew Buckley @physicsmatt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Turns out the only unit on campus that is making a profit is central administration. And you're not going to believe this, but that's the unit who gets to decide the formula for how profitability of an academic unit is calculated. 510228
Reposted by Leighton PritchardBy Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 15/10/2026No 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. 14979439
Leighton Pritchard @widdowquinn.bsky.social · 15/10/2026Just in case anyone else wants to turn off the intrusive AI "help" in Adobe Acrobat: community.adobe.com/questions-9/...community.adobe.comTurn off "View Summary" prompt | CommunityCan I turn off the "View Summary" prompt without turning off generative AI features in Acrobat? I would like to leave generative AI features on, but I don't need to be reminded every single time ... 100
Reposted by Leighton PritchardAnne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 15/10/2026If Putin stops fighting, the war ends. If Zelensky stops fighting then his country will be occupied, leaders murdered, language banned, businesses stolen, children kidnapped. That's what happens in Russian-occupied Ukraine. 11568062516
Reposted by Leighton PritchardJacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Aaron Swartz, coding prodigy and hacktivist who helped develop RSS and was a co-founder of Reddit, died by suicide after facing $1 million in fines and 35 years in prison for felony charges, just for downloading pdfs of research papers with the intention of making them accessible to the public. 75150085617
Reposted by Leighton PritchardSandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Are you looking for a PhD in the area of plant evolution? If so do apply to join the lab for this competitively funded @gpsep.bsky.social PhD project to study the evolution of branching architecture by combing data from fossils, ferns and genes. www.findaphd.com/phds/project... 06064
Reposted by Leighton PritchardMartin Steinegger 🇺🇦 @martinsteinegger.bsky.social · 14/10/2026LoL-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 320682
Reposted by Leighton PritchardCameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Bacteria synthesize a bacteriocin within the cell membrane journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... #jcampubs 093
Reposted by Leighton PritchardTimothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 14/10/2026It does seem like Putin is rushing fo get the most possible out of his client Trump before the electoral bloodbath of 3 November. 511411483
Reposted by Leighton PritchardJonathan Parra @jonathanparra.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Genus-wide comparative genomics reveals extensive unexplored biosynthetic diversity in Pseudonocardia. Sci Rep (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s415...doi.orgGenus-wide comparative genomics reveals extensive unexplored biosynthetic diversity in Pseudonocardia - Scientific ReportsScientific Reports - Genus-wide comparative genomics reveals extensive unexplored biosynthetic diversity in Pseudonocardia 011
Leighton Pritchard @widdowquinn.bsky.social · 14/10/2026It feels like prosecuting the company is the appropriate response… www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...washingtonpost.comAI system submits false homicide tip to Philadelphia policeAnthropic’s AI agent used an online tip line to suggest it had information about an unsolved murder. 000
Leighton Pritchard @widdowquinn.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Academics everywhere now contriving to injure themselves so they get some time to do productive things like this…static.klipy.comCute Penguin Slides and Falls in the SnowALT: Cute Penguin Slides and Falls in the Snow 030
Reposted by Leighton PritchardAdam Phillippy @aphillippy.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Must-see new tool from me and Alex! I hurt my back a few weeks ago and was confined to the couch. I used my "break" to play around with webassembly and ended up vibe-coding an AMAZING interactive dotplotter. Passed my prototype to Alex to clean up and extend. Check out his release thread! 22310
Reposted by Leighton PritchardCL Hellisen @clhellisen.com · 14/10/2026This is incredible. And not in a good way at all www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...irishtimes.comSally Rooney’s books will no longer be published in UK over her support for Palestine ActionFaber blames UK antiterrorism legislation for decision to stop distributing bestselling author’s works 101091453
Reposted by Leighton PritchardAudrey Farnsworth @audipenny.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Not trying to be dramatic but I think there might be something wrong with everything 28511
Reposted by Leighton PritchardDan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 14/10/2026No. Nationalise it. Don’t abolish it 1214620
Reposted by Leighton PritchardAsh-Lee Woodard Henderson @ashdashlee.bsky.social · 12/10/2026We've gotta learn to believe these authoritarians are who they say they are the first time they tell us. Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's home this morning. Her office says, "The Congresswoman has done nothing wrong." Here are some things I'm not seeing enough of in our online chatter. 🧵 4397137
Reposted by Leighton PritchardIan Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Feel a lot of pride about the way Britain has responded to Trump's attacks on Ukraine, repeatedly launching big symbolic demonstrations of solidarity when things are at their most tenuous. 221214180
Leighton Pritchard @widdowquinn.bsky.social · 14/10/2026It's difficult not to see this as a joint attack by Russia, Trump/Hegseth, and Musk. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...theguardian.comUkrainian military’s access to Starlink satellite internet suddenly restrictedLaunch of Russian ballistic missiles on Ukraine, with no US warning, coincides with outage of Starlink managed by Musk’s SpaceX 011
Reposted by Leighton PritchardKate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Just so you understand the scale of betrayal: first, our "partners" didn't warn Ukraine about the incoming ballistic missiles, so the air raid alert wasn't activated before impact, robbing people of their chance to survive. Then, Starlink was restricted to stop working at speeds above 100 mph. 9131651298
Reposted by Leighton PritchardCarl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Four days after Musk wrote, “Zelensky has gone too far.” @financialtimes.com #ukraine www.ft.com/content/3708... 32742311913
Reposted by Leighton PritchardJoseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 14/10/2026My heart breaks for mathematicians whose lives and careers are being destroyed by AI — and especially this PhD student, who doesn’t even know he is a poet 8174111499
Reposted by Leighton PritchardVegard Eldholm @vehuardo.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Trump and Elon are putting their full weight behind Putin and his attempted genocide. It will get uglier for Ukraine, more kids and families will be killed, but this won’t be enough to force a Ruzzian victory. Europe, now is the time to max out our support for 🇺🇦 across the board. 111
Reposted by Leighton PritchardPrivate Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Eco chamber: Visions of the future From the latest Private Eye, out now. 532983
Reposted by Leighton PritchardStar Trek Minus Context @nocontexttrek1.bsky.social · 08/01/2026 3459071927
Reposted by Leighton PritchardEliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 14/10/2026It always feels like there's this dream of returning to the 20th century information environment where institutions gatekeep information rather than adapting to the reality of the situation we find ourselves in. 816635
Reposted by Leighton PritchardThiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 13/10/2026BS engine gives high score for BS content on CVs: "The agent was impressed by glossy applications from candidates who claimed to have achieved exceptional IT feats in record time at a previous employer (....) they were too good to be true — and smacked of having been written with the help of AI."ft.comWhat if AI prefers CVs written by AI?The signs are that it does and one law firm’s experience is revealing 033
Reposted by Leighton PritchardDavid Díez del Molino 🇪🇸🇸🇪🏳️🌈 @indianadiez.bsky.social · 14/10/2026🚨 #postdoc alert ❤️🔥 I'm looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join my group at @cpgsthlm.bsky.social and @stockholm-uni.bsky.social working on #woollymammoth genomics 🦣🦴🧬✨ Deadline: 30th Nov. +Info about the position 👉 www.su.se/english/divi... +info about CPG 👉 palaeogenetics.com RT pls 02133
Leighton Pritchard @widdowquinn.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Err… Yeah… I have a 3bn parameter model running on my laptop and it is certainly not running on a "smart home device." Bro need more VC much? 000
Reposted by Leighton PritchardSpiritu the Mysterious @spiritu.bsky.social · 13/10/2026We live in a police state. Not an exaggeration. This is what they’re like. 04118
Reposted by Leighton PritchardThe Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 13/10/2026The best explanation for Trump’s affection for Russia is likely the simplest one, @jonathanbchait.bsky.social argues:bit.lyTrump’s Affection for Russia Is No MysteryThe best explanation is the least complicated one. 94717
Reposted by Leighton PritchardArthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 13/10/2026www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/w...nytimes.comTrump Hands Victories to Putin, Who Offers More War in Return (Gift Article)Russia has reaped a diesel deal and an increase in U.S. pressure on Ukraine as President Trump’s political needs align with his longstanding inclinations toward Russia. 03210
Reposted by Leighton PritchardAndrew Rambaut (🐏🎀) @arambaut.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Following up from my thread about a new version of my phylogenetic tree viewer, PearTree, that was developed using extensive use of LLMs... bsky.app/profile/aram... 184
Reposted by Leighton PritchardAndrew Rambaut (🐏🎀) @arambaut.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Version 1.3.2 of PearTree released: github.com/artic-networ... Fixes many of the remaining niggling bugs. WebApp updated at peartree.live 46847
Reposted by Leighton PritchardBladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Every Right Wing Goverment ever. 5615161
Reposted by Leighton PritchardJames Felton @jimmfelton.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Man in a gilet stood on platform 12 gives up on reading the display and asks ChatGPT out loud if he is on the right platform for his train. I don’t want to be dramatic about it but Eratosthenes figured out the circumference of the Earth using a stick and knowledge of a distant well. 391568368
Reposted by Leighton PritchardArthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Yeah Bob, maybe. But the war crimes trials would last rather longer, than that. 520744
Reposted by Leighton PritchardMatt Hutchings @matthutchings.bsky.social · 12/10/2026Fully funded PhD with me and @barriewilks.bsky.social - starting Oct 27. We identified a Streptomyces spore phase regulator, when we over express this it activates loads of silent antibiotic biosynthesis pathways. Come help us understand how! biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/ant...biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.ukAntibiotic discovery in Streptomyces bacteria (HUTCHINGS_J27DTP) | Doctoral Training PartnershipAntimicrobial resistance in disease-causing bacteria represents a significant threat to global health. To address this, we urgently need to replenish the antibiotic discovery pipeline with new… 01621
Reposted by Leighton PritchardGeorge Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 12/10/2026To those who say "heat pumps are for the middle classes": the whole damn point of subsidising them and rolling out the technology is to ensure that heat pumps are for everyone, reducing our bills, reducing indoor and outdoor pollution, reducing our emissions, while making our homes more habitable. 2152682
Reposted by Leighton PritchardThe Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 12/10/2026Alas, adopting yet another constitutional code will not solve the problem of those with power acting unconstitutionally. You can keep adopting new written constitutions, but things will not change until and unless there are changes in political culture. 916939