This is Theresa Kachindamoto, a community and cultural leader in Malawi who used her local influence to cancel over 3,500 child marriages, sent girls back to school, and helped push the country to raise the legal marriage age to 18. Original post

Now THERE’S a visual concept that spans decades: comparing the mimivirus “stargate” portal defined by 3-D cryoelectron microscopy image reconstructions with SPECTRE’s spacecraft-eating machine from You Only Live Twice!

This sitting idly about on a large aeroplane with solicitous folk bring you good Shiraz could grow on me…

Luxury Four

ALT: Luxury Four

static.klipy.com

And fillet steak: it is not a forkin’ fillay! If you want to Frenchify it, spell it filet!!

I don’t know if it was fair to end my Lanzhou Museum show with this - but hey, I’ve got more people into virology by scaring them with Ebola viruses than with TMV, so….

I do like this pic: I made it from Russell’s gallery 10+ years ago when when I was working on “The Big Picture Book of Viruses” with him, which never eventuated. Maybe it still should?? I have worked on 8 of these, BTW.

The particle/organism duality that is viruses…! Thanks again, Russell

From my recent indoctrination session - sorry, I mean public lecture! - to Lanzhou schoolkids. Russell Kightley, you are prominently featured!

Recent years have been a revelation for me. Travelling to consult on my life’s work after I’ve retired; travelling often via the new navel of the world - the Persian Gulf - and being able to blute via Lone Skum’s satellites from an aircraft somewhere over Africa. Life is VERY interesting!

Just finished "Stone Mad (A Karen Memory Adventure)" by Elizabeth Bear. Good stuff!! Read it - you’ll like it!

The East is Red! Still. Daxing International, Beijing, around 00:30 this morning.

The polymerase milieu of human papillomavirus journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The polymerase milieu of human papillomavirus | Journal of Virology

Shope papillomavirus was first discovered in 1933 to cause benign, hyperproliferative lesions in cottontail rabbits that could be induced to undergo malignant conversion following treatment with genotoxic agents. This provided early and compelling evidence that viruses could contribute to carcinogenesis in concert. By the 1970s, epidemiological observations had established that cervical neoplasia behaved as a sexually transmitted disease. Herpes simplex virus type 2, cytomegalovirus, and papillomaviruses were each proposed as candidate etiological agents of cervical cancer (1). It was Harald zur Hausen who, beginning with the molecular cloning of HPV16 from cervical carcinoma biopsies, codified the central role of HPV in cervical carcinogenesis, work for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. We now know that high-risk HPV types account for approximately 5% of the global cancer burden, including virtually all cervical cancers, most oropharyngeal cancers, and significant proportions of anal, vulvar, vaginal, and penile cancers (2). Although most infections are cleared, persistent infection with high-risk types drives malignant progression.

journals.asm.org

I am sure you will agree that Ben Baldwin has given us another magnificent cover for Dan Mackmain’s latest adventure. Dan and Fin are off to Ireland – a trip I know many readers have been keen to see. The Green Man’s Debt will be published by Wizard’s Tower Press on 10th September 2026. #BookSky

Love the advertising in China - and all the helpful little sayings everywhere!

I also ended up at a museum in Lanzhou giving a special talk on “The Wonderful World of Viruses!” to a bunch of schoolkids - some of whom asked VERY intelligent questions. The organisers had a go at my portrait pic, however. I don’t think it looks like me…more like Mao!

What I did on my trip! Well, some of it, anway.

Don't be a Nigel 😎

Songs people: if you're feeling lonely and need to connect or beat the blues. What picks you up?? #ohbrookeohtaylorohbrooke 🌱 🍜 #BoldandBeautiful #Wquers #MusicSky #classicrock

"But the vast majority of land clearing in Queensland was linked with the beef industry. Seen this way, global commodity markets drive deforestation in Australia, one byproduct of which is the spillover of Hendra virus." www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

A mystery virus started killing horses. Then humans. Was this the moment our coronavirus era began?

In the 1990s, scientists in Australia began searching for the origins of a new disease showing up in places hundreds of kilometres apart. They discovered the origin: bats. And found a way to reduce th...

theguardian.com

I have seen the future: and we are not part of it. But we should probably join it, if we can...? 😳

Warm here, behind The Great Firewall of China! My Bluesky has suddenly reappeared after 3 days of silence!

Plant molecular farming for pharmaceuticals: the state of the art #ISPMF by @edrybicki.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Profits Soar As Taylor Farms Rebrands As Biological Weapons Manufacturer

www.amazon.co.uk/War-Bodies-a...

Had so much fun writing this commentary for #msphere! Grateful for the opportunity to write about work that’s shaped my perspective on innate immunity and RNA virus infection journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

mSphere of Influence: Damage in RNA virus infection—a feature or a bug? | mSphere

How does the body recognize viral infection? How do viruses engage the immune system during replication? These seemingly simple questions led me to study pattern recognition, a concept first proposed ...

journals.asm.org

Archaeal Diversity Sheds New Light on the Origin of the Eukaryotic Endomembrane System #microbiology #archaea #eukaryotes #evolution #MicroSky doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Archaeal Diversity Sheds New Light on the Origin of the Eukaryotic Endomembrane System

The emergence of the endomembrane system marks a pivotal milestone in eukaryogenesis, transforming a primitive prokaryotic cell into a highly intracellular, compartmentalized eukaryotic cell. The mole...

doi.org

Fucking murderers. Right up there with the IDF-SS.

Katelyn Burns@katelynburns.com · last wk.

yeah because they're just shooting fishermen.

A matched pair of Schnauzers: Ziggy and his little half-sister Mishka 😍

🧐”these spaces do much more than help cities cope with heat and flooding. They bring people together, strengthen community ties and provide places for support programmes that help vulnerable residents, like unhoused people…also helps build a stronger sense of belonging and shared responsibility.”

Dr Earhart Sampson PhD 🌎 🇨🇦 🇺🇲 🇲🇽 🇩🇰 🇺🇦@earhart.bsky.social · last wk.

Lessons from South Africa on how parks and community gardens can help cities adapt to climate change share.google/0N9DxdqB4Vyd...