Kevin Mitchell
@wiringthebrain.bsky.social
Neurogeneticist interested in the relations between genes, brains, and minds. Author of INNATE (2018) and FREE AGENTS (2023)
Ukraine is helping defend Europe as much as Europe is helping defend Ukraine.
Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · 11h agoUkraine blows up Russian data centres and immediately and mysteriously online talk about Germany’s Far Right AfD virtually disappears. Stop Putin you stop the Far Right.
New work to share! Pangenome studies treat gene presence/absence independently, but genes work together in pathways. By focusing on the covariance of gene loss, we show the Arabidopsis dispensable genome has modular co-evolutionary structure reflecting the biological organization of the plant 1/
Gene functional-state covariance reveals modular structure in the Arabidopsis thaliana dispensable genome
Classical multilocus theory predicts that selection acting on combinations of loci can maintain non-random associations among allelic states, causing selection to act on multilocus genotypes rather than individual alleles. Across eukaryotic species, pangenome studies have documented thousands of genes that vary in functional status between individuals, yet this variation is analyzed as if each gene evolves independently. Here we test for non-random association within the dispensable pangenome across 1,012 natural genotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana to better understand the structure and evolution of eukaryotic pangenomes. Genome-wide pairwise association testing of loss-of-function alleles across genotypes identified 150,033 significantly covarying gene pairs among 5,679 unique genes after controlling for kinship and population structure. Most associations were between genes on different chromosomes, and covarying gene pairs showed greater co-expression and functional similarity than expected by chance. Network analysis revealed a non-random higher-order architecture comprising stable functional communities with distinct biological functions and structured connectivity among communities. The enriched functions and connectivity of communities revealed a tight coupling of modules involving plant immunity, environmental response, and specialized metabolism, highlighting how these systems integrate and evolve in response to dynamic ecological pressures. Taken together, these results show that the dispensable genome has a complex higher-order structure driven by functionally interacting genes, and that variation in gene content provides a population-scale resource for investigating the organization and evolution of biological systems. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Division of Integrative Organismal Systems, 2208944
biorxiv.org
“They invoked academic freedom and then began erasing fields of study they found politically inconvenient. They railed against ‘indoctrination,’ and then argued that the state is entitled to control everything said in the classroom.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...
All The Things You’re Not Allowed To Say In Texas
The state now controls what professors can teach.
theatlantic.com
Ruin a book by adding a word: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Thatcher
🏳️⚧️ Alexandra Merideth Erin [she/her]@alexandraerin.com · yesterdayRuin a book by adding a word: Finnegan's Wake Board
Here's another excellent story about David Sinclair as a snake-oil salesman www.nmn.com/news/disgrac...
Dr. David Sinclair Steps Down from Prominent Aging Research Position Amidst Backlash Surrounding ‘Reverse Aging’ Claim
Harvard’s Dr. David Sinclair has claimed achievement of “age reversal” in animal models, prompting a whirlwind of criticism from fellow scientists and his resignation as president of the Academy for H...
nmn.com
Mark Peifer (He, him)@peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 14h agoDr. Sinclair has been peddling his anti-aging “secrets” as science since the 1990s, beginning with Resveratrol and now apparently involving re-programming with Yamanaka factors. 3/n www.statnews.com/2024/03/05/d...
The UK higher education sector delivers world leading education & research delivering real impact. Until UK governments fund it properly & end reliance on international student fees, Universities will keep having to make these kinds of devastating decisions in order to stay afloat.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 18h ago'Under the changes, the baseline allocation of university-funded research time is being reduced from 600 hours per academic each year to 315. This changes the traditional division of working time: 40% research, 40% teaching and 20% administration.'
Panicked headlines about a “fertility crisis” are not being driven by experts who understand fertility trends 👇 Next time you see such a headline, worth thinking about whose interests “demographic collapse” narratives serve
Philip N Cohen@philipncohen.com · 3d agoIs America in a demographic crisis? Demographers don’t think so. I conducted a survey of U.S. demographers, and this is what I found: 3%: “The low birth rate is a demographic crisis” 25%: "serious concern” 53%: "should be monitored, but no intervention necessary” 20% :“not a problem at all.”
It feels like a very dangerous time in America right now. Like the fascism and corruption and cruelty and treason and stupidity and intimidation and gaslighting are all being turned up to eleven in recent weeks...
One of my favorite papers from our lab. Not only does it show heterogeneity is important in development, but it also points to division of labor: clones divvy up tasks in the organism based on their relative ability to perform well at a given fate! I like to think of it as "embryo economics".
Alfonso Martinez Arias@amartinezarias.bsky.social · 2d ago..and have a look at the highly related paper from @arjunraj.bsky.social biorxiv.org/content/10.1... with complementary experiments that reinforce the point and reveal multicellular #memory@arjunraj.bsky.social
Remember this the next time you read another idiotic piece asking "wHy dO pRoFesSorS aLL vOtE foR DeMoCraTs?" It's a real mystery why more faculty don't back the party that's actively working to destroy them and their work.
Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · 16h agoAfter years of championing "free speech," Texas lawmakers have enabled a dramatic rise of censorship in Texas universities, banning concepts, canceling courses and closing departments seen as "woke," and even using AI bots as censors. All in the name of freedom. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...
1,000 armed mercenaries are being deployed by the fascist government to “secure” the election. I have a lot of despair about the future of democracy in the US, less because it’ll be explicitly overthrown and more because we need de-Nazification-esque effort newrepublic.com/post/216331/...
USPS Hires Security Service With History of Human Rights Abuse
Almost 1,000 armed security officers have been sent to at least 55 post office facilities.
newrepublic.com
Hey, I’m just asking questions. Ignorant questions, bigoted questions, questions that have been repeatedly answered for many years. Sorry, but I’m not listening to answers right now; I’m far too busy asking questions. It’s called being intellectually curious.
Waddington joined Center for Theoretical Biology at Buffalo in 1970. Although Dad had left UB by then he went to his lecture & spoke highly of him, & followed his publications. I reread both books in late 1980's's with a better understanding & credit them w/ a life-long interest is complex systems.
Me, too. As a 10 yo (early 1960's) I asked my father (biochemist) why we don't have gills like fish do. W/o a word he pushed Waddington's book into my hands, saying when I was done with that he'll give me Waddington's next book, "New patterns in genetics and development".
It is a bad day to be running a Republican political campaign: Ukraine's drone strikes on Russian data centers are sending millions of suspected Russian social media bot accounts offline. #democracy #elections #RussianBotFarms #Ukraine #SlavaUkraini #NAFO #Fellas #Blues
Ukraine Reportedly Hits Russian Data Centers, Causing Internet Outages
Ukraine struck Yandex data centers in Sasovo, Ryazan region, and the Kaluga region.
pcmag.com
"Whatever we call it, Bashford says, the eugenicists of a century ago “would undoubtedly be delighted at contemporary possibilities for reproductive selections.”" Good to see @danfalk.bsky.social digging into the ugly return of eugenic thinking. nautil.us/the-return-o...
The Return of a Discredited Pseudoscience
The Return of a Discredited Pseudoscience: Eugenics is rearing its ugly head again in today’s crucible of politics and culture
nautil.us
Oups and I had forgotten this about epigenetic landscapes themselves from the perspective of art, language and science makingsciencepublic.com/2019/03/01/f...
From epigenetic landscapes to epigenetic pancakes
As somebody interested in metaphor, art and science, I was just starting to read Susan Merrill Squier’s book Epigenetic Landscapes: Drawings as metaphor (2017) (I am grateful to Cath Ennis for send…
makingsciencepublic.com
For some reason that made me all nostalgic and I re-read a post I wrote about Waddington (a really good guy!) which was sparked off by one of your tweets years ago - 2019! makingsciencepublic.com/2019/01/26/p...
Public Understanding of Science – the 1960s
At the end of last year I wrote a blog post about a book in which Sheila Jasanoff asks ‘Can science makes sense of life’. She answers this question in a rather bleak and negative way. H…
makingsciencepublic.com
"In a word, it can be said here what National Socialism means intellectually: the replacement of the educated by the type of soldier." Alfred Baeumler, Nazi Philosopher, in his 1933 inaugural lecture in Berlin.
Australopithecus 3 million years ago:
josh (oldfriend99)@oldfriend99.bsky.social · yesterdayYou guys should check out Tool
So, finally, a PM who admits there **was** Russian interference in the Brexit Referendum — after all the evidence amassed by myself @carolecadwalla.bsky.social @lukeharding1968.bsky.social Sergei Cristo, J Patrick et al — dismissed as conspiracy for ten long years Truth is the daughter of Time
"Seamus O'Reilly" 🇺🇦🇬🇧🇮🇪🇦🇺🇬🇱@jimbobuk.bsky.social · 22h agoIn the observer; Andy Burnham has said "UK authorities are “clear” that there was Russian interference in the Brexit vote: this is the first time a prime minister has confirmed Kremlin involvement in the 2016 referendum." Finally.... What we all knew...
i’m so glad that @philipcball.bsky.social wrote about Conrad Waddington. Like Lamarck, he has been accused of believing evolution is purposive. Lately, ppl are finding that there can be direction in evolution w/o anything supernatural about it. Good to see Wad getting better press
Philip Ball@philipcball.bsky.social · 2d agoA weekend read for folks who want to get away from AI, Russian diesel, execution porn, and all that, and just read about some science. www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-lif...
«Social media changed the attention economy. Our attention spans diminished. We gave up our attention. We gave up our intimacy. Now what’s being hacked is agency itself. You literally give these agents permission to act for you.»
Big Tech Is Destroying Democracy. Here’s How to Fight Back. A conversation with Nobel laureate Maria Ressa foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/25/m...
Big Tech Is Destroying Democracy. Here’s How to Fight Back.
A conversation with Nobel laureate Maria Ressa.
foreignpolicy.com
Meanwhile in the UK. Was. "Let's make our universities financially dependent on overseas students." Then. "Let's make overseas students feel increasingly unwelcome." Now. "Screw that, let's just withdraw our offers so they don't come in the first place." Next. "Who needs universities anyway?"
UK universities withdraw offers from international students to avoid blanket ban
Pullback comes in response to doubling in number of study visas being refused by the Home Office in the first six months of 2026
ft.com
Can we override our programming? www.wiringthebrain.com/2026/10/can-... New blogpost (after a long hiatus!) - inspired by #Lanterns and #EastofEden
A dog positions itself next to a street musician and accompanies him by howling to the rhythm of his trumpet. Original post
