Flo Débarre
@flodebarre.bsky.social
Personal account
Evolutionary biologist, senior scientist at CNRS/Sorbonne Université
Interests: origins and control of infectious diseases and conspiracy theories; diversity in science; scientific publishing
https://www.normalesup.org/~fdebarre/
EN & FR
Evolutionary biologist, senior scientist at CNRS/Sorbonne Université
Interests: origins and control of infectious diseases and conspiracy theories; diversity in science; scientific publishing
https://www.normalesup.org/~fdebarre/
EN & FR
Pinned
Flo Débarre
@flodebarre.bsky.social
· Jan 3
Thread of threads:
A chronology of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic
(It is not exhaustive, but hopefully it is representative.)
🧵
A chronology of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic
(It is not exhaustive, but hopefully it is representative.)
🧵
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Congrats @jeffgroh.bsky.social et al. Some avocado trees open female-phase flowers in the morning & then male in afternoon. Others show complementary pattern (m->f), to synchronize pollination of two types. Jeff show this to be a >45Mya polymorphism at a transcription factor across 100s of species.
Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695989v1
December 25, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Congrats @jeffgroh.bsky.social et al. Some avocado trees open female-phase flowers in the morning & then male in afternoon. Others show complementary pattern (m->f), to synchronize pollination of two types. Jeff show this to be a >45Mya polymorphism at a transcription factor across 100s of species.
Some people fight against the ideas promoted by the Heritage Foundation and implemented by the Trump administration.
Some other people collaborate with the Heritage Foundation.
archive.is/2YsqA
Some other people collaborate with the Heritage Foundation.
archive.is/2YsqA
December 23, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Some people fight against the ideas promoted by the Heritage Foundation and implemented by the Trump administration.
Some other people collaborate with the Heritage Foundation.
archive.is/2YsqA
Some other people collaborate with the Heritage Foundation.
archive.is/2YsqA
#H5N1 : An infected herd was recently detected in Wisconsin, and genome sequencing indicates that this is yet another spillover event, making it the fourth detected one.
How do these spillovers happen and why are they restricted, so far, to the US?
www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...
How do these spillovers happen and why are they restricted, so far, to the US?
www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...
December 20, 2025 at 7:11 AM
#H5N1 : An infected herd was recently detected in Wisconsin, and genome sequencing indicates that this is yet another spillover event, making it the fourth detected one.
How do these spillovers happen and why are they restricted, so far, to the US?
www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...
How do these spillovers happen and why are they restricted, so far, to the US?
www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...
An example of AI hallucinations entering the scientific record, in some way -- and another reason not to let Google Scholar automatically update your profile; manually review its proposed changes instead...
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
December 19, 2025 at 6:38 PM
An example of AI hallucinations entering the scientific record, in some way -- and another reason not to let Google Scholar automatically update your profile; manually review its proposed changes instead...
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Here are the people and institutions that gave me hope in 2025. 1/ www.thenation.com/article/soci...
The Public Health Heroes of 2025
The Trump administration wants to destroy our health infrastructure. These warriors aren't letting that happen without a fight.
www.thenation.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Here are the people and institutions that gave me hope in 2025. 1/ www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Featuring @pleunipennings.bsky.social at @isemevol.bsky.social in Montpellier
Amid talk of a brain drain, some scientists leave U.S. behind www.statnews.com/2025/12/17/r...
Amid talk of a brain drain, some scientists leave U.S. behind
“A large part of what we loved about the United States is no longer there”: Amid talk of a brain drain, some scientists leave the U.S. behind.
www.statnews.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Featuring @pleunipennings.bsky.social at @isemevol.bsky.social in Montpellier
Reposted by Flo Débarre
I had the opportunity to ask NIH Dir. Jay Bhattacharya about his comments re: mRNA vaccines, that they had "failed to earn the public's trust" so the NIH should not invest. His answer demonstrates that science and pandemic preparedness are taking a backseat to ideology.
youtu.be/S0rsz3Ph7XE?...
youtu.be/S0rsz3Ph7XE?...
Cfr mtg NIH director
YouTube video by Gigi Gronvall
youtu.be
December 12, 2025 at 9:02 PM
I had the opportunity to ask NIH Dir. Jay Bhattacharya about his comments re: mRNA vaccines, that they had "failed to earn the public's trust" so the NIH should not invest. His answer demonstrates that science and pandemic preparedness are taking a backseat to ideology.
youtu.be/S0rsz3Ph7XE?...
youtu.be/S0rsz3Ph7XE?...
Are you familiar with the story of the Antarctica sequences?
If not, good for you: you didn't clutter your brain with yet another Covid-origin damp squib, where innocuous data were made to look suspicious by misrepresenting a date.
For the curious, here's the story. ▫️1/9 🧵 #CovidOrigin
If not, good for you: you didn't clutter your brain with yet another Covid-origin damp squib, where innocuous data were made to look suspicious by misrepresenting a date.
For the curious, here's the story. ▫️1/9 🧵 #CovidOrigin
December 3, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Are you familiar with the story of the Antarctica sequences?
If not, good for you: you didn't clutter your brain with yet another Covid-origin damp squib, where innocuous data were made to look suspicious by misrepresenting a date.
For the curious, here's the story. ▫️1/9 🧵 #CovidOrigin
If not, good for you: you didn't clutter your brain with yet another Covid-origin damp squib, where innocuous data were made to look suspicious by misrepresenting a date.
For the curious, here's the story. ▫️1/9 🧵 #CovidOrigin
Looks like it worked?
In this essay ⬇️, @naomioreskes.bsky.social called out issues with a 2000 paper on glyphosate.
There is now a retraction notice on the website
(but I cannot find the exact date though)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In this essay ⬇️, @naomioreskes.bsky.social called out issues with a 2000 paper on glyphosate.
There is now a retraction notice on the website
(but I cannot find the exact date though)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
December 2, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Looks like it worked?
In this essay ⬇️, @naomioreskes.bsky.social called out issues with a 2000 paper on glyphosate.
There is now a retraction notice on the website
(but I cannot find the exact date though)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In this essay ⬇️, @naomioreskes.bsky.social called out issues with a 2000 paper on glyphosate.
There is now a retraction notice on the website
(but I cannot find the exact date though)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Flo Débarre
To be clear, there’s a big difference between criticizing the anti-vaccine movement & discrediting their influencers/leaders vs shaming vax-hesitant or quietly vax-refusing parents. The latter backfires; the former is essential. But SciComm folks often conflate them. Cc @ryanmarino.bsky.social
December 1, 2025 at 11:11 PM
To be clear, there’s a big difference between criticizing the anti-vaccine movement & discrediting their influencers/leaders vs shaming vax-hesitant or quietly vax-refusing parents. The latter backfires; the former is essential. But SciComm folks often conflate them. Cc @ryanmarino.bsky.social
Reposted by Flo Débarre
From January 1st 2026, the CNRS will cut access to one of the largest commercial bibliometric databases, Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science, along with the Core Collection and Journal Citation Reports.
The CNRS is breaking free from the Web of Science
From January 1st 2026, the CNRS will cut access to one of the largest commercial bibliometric databases, Clarivate Analytics'
www.cnrs.fr
December 1, 2025 at 11:04 AM
From January 1st 2026, the CNRS will cut access to one of the largest commercial bibliometric databases, Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science, along with the Core Collection and Journal Citation Reports.
Your yearly reminder that this Dec 1st date for the beginning of the pandemic is not correct: the case's symptom onset date was later corrected.
The case is well known, and there's basically no debate about this, even with hard-core leakers who have studied the data.
🖼️: 2021 WHO report, page 47
The case is well known, and there's basically no debate about this, even with hard-core leakers who have studied the data.
🖼️: 2021 WHO report, page 47
December 1, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Your yearly reminder that this Dec 1st date for the beginning of the pandemic is not correct: the case's symptom onset date was later corrected.
The case is well known, and there's basically no debate about this, even with hard-core leakers who have studied the data.
🖼️: 2021 WHO report, page 47
The case is well known, and there's basically no debate about this, even with hard-core leakers who have studied the data.
🖼️: 2021 WHO report, page 47
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Sondage sur l’antisémitisme à l’université : un questionnaire mal conçu qui fragilise la cause
L’enquête d’opinion commandée par le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur mélange actes, croyances et positions politiques, en plus de véhiculer des clichés antisémites, relève le rabbin Emile Ackermann.
L’enquête d’opinion commandée par le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur mélange actes, croyances et positions politiques, en plus de véhiculer des clichés antisémites, relève le rabbin Emile Ackermann.
Sondage sur l’antisémitisme à l’université : un questionnaire mal conçu qui fragilise la cause
S’il est impératif de lutter contre l’antisémitisme, l’enquête d’opinion commandée par le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur mélange actes, croyances et positions politiques, en plus de véhiculer des clichés antisémites.
www.liberation.fr
November 29, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Sondage sur l’antisémitisme à l’université : un questionnaire mal conçu qui fragilise la cause
L’enquête d’opinion commandée par le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur mélange actes, croyances et positions politiques, en plus de véhiculer des clichés antisémites, relève le rabbin Emile Ackermann.
L’enquête d’opinion commandée par le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur mélange actes, croyances et positions politiques, en plus de véhiculer des clichés antisémites, relève le rabbin Emile Ackermann.
Reposted by Flo Débarre
A horrific example of so-called natural or alternative medical practices with tragic consequences. All these alternative practices are unregulated and can be very unsafe and make a fortune for those developing whatever ‘miracle cure/approach
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:33 AM
A horrific example of so-called natural or alternative medical practices with tragic consequences. All these alternative practices are unregulated and can be very unsafe and make a fortune for those developing whatever ‘miracle cure/approach
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Calling something "scientific orthodoxy" rather than "established fact" or even "scientific consensus" is so incredibly damaging.
November 21, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Calling something "scientific orthodoxy" rather than "established fact" or even "scientific consensus" is so incredibly damaging.
Reposted by Flo Débarre
And yes, the swag bags. Attendees received MAHA-branded tote bags with:
- Packets of creatine
- Beef tallow potato chips ($79 for a 6-pack!!)
- Mouth tape
- RFK Jr's biography
- Beef protein bars
- Packets of creatine
- Beef tallow potato chips ($79 for a 6-pack!!)
- Mouth tape
- RFK Jr's biography
- Beef protein bars
November 21, 2025 at 5:01 PM
And yes, the swag bags. Attendees received MAHA-branded tote bags with:
- Packets of creatine
- Beef tallow potato chips ($79 for a 6-pack!!)
- Mouth tape
- RFK Jr's biography
- Beef protein bars
- Packets of creatine
- Beef tallow potato chips ($79 for a 6-pack!!)
- Mouth tape
- RFK Jr's biography
- Beef protein bars
Reposted by Flo Débarre
www.lemonde.fr/sciences-au-...
La "décroiscience" - mais la décroissance de quelles sciences ? - doit-elle faire partie de l'arsenal mobilisé pour faire reculer la menace climatique ? Un débat sérieux s'impose.
La "décroiscience" - mais la décroissance de quelles sciences ? - doit-elle faire partie de l'arsenal mobilisé pour faire reculer la menace climatique ? Un débat sérieux s'impose.
Quelles sciences pour le climat ?
Un mathématicien propose de renoncer à la recherche en physique de l’infiniment petit pour consacrer plus d’efforts à celle consacrée aux solutions du problème climatique. Des scientifiques se demande...
www.lemonde.fr
November 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
www.lemonde.fr/sciences-au-...
La "décroiscience" - mais la décroissance de quelles sciences ? - doit-elle faire partie de l'arsenal mobilisé pour faire reculer la menace climatique ? Un débat sérieux s'impose.
La "décroiscience" - mais la décroissance de quelles sciences ? - doit-elle faire partie de l'arsenal mobilisé pour faire reculer la menace climatique ? Un débat sérieux s'impose.
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Apparently RFK Jr. promised Senator Bill Cassidy that he wouldn’t remove the statement
“Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
So what RFK Jr. did instead is spit in his face by leaving the statement there and adding this:
“Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
So what RFK Jr. did instead is spit in his face by leaving the statement there and adding this:
November 20, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Apparently RFK Jr. promised Senator Bill Cassidy that he wouldn’t remove the statement
“Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
So what RFK Jr. did instead is spit in his face by leaving the statement there and adding this:
“Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
So what RFK Jr. did instead is spit in his face by leaving the statement there and adding this:
Reposted by Flo Débarre
A paper critiquing post-publication peer review has numerous made-up references, including a @nature.com article falsely attributed to our Ivan Oransky.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
PubPeer - An expert criticism on post-publication peer review platform...
There are comments on PubPeer for publication: An expert criticism on post-publication peer review platforms: the case of pubpeer (2025)
pubpeer.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:11 AM
A paper critiquing post-publication peer review has numerous made-up references, including a @nature.com article falsely attributed to our Ivan Oransky.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
But Sweden! Say NIH director J Bhattacharya and his deputy director MJ Memoli in City Journal.
Really? Checking their source, you see that it only holds if you extend the comparison to irrelevant years -- no lockdowns in 2024!
oped: archive.ph/HKcS0
graph: www.mortality.watch/explorer/?c=...
Really? Checking their source, you see that it only holds if you extend the comparison to irrelevant years -- no lockdowns in 2024!
oped: archive.ph/HKcS0
graph: www.mortality.watch/explorer/?c=...
November 14, 2025 at 3:34 PM
But Sweden! Say NIH director J Bhattacharya and his deputy director MJ Memoli in City Journal.
Really? Checking their source, you see that it only holds if you extend the comparison to irrelevant years -- no lockdowns in 2024!
oped: archive.ph/HKcS0
graph: www.mortality.watch/explorer/?c=...
Really? Checking their source, you see that it only holds if you extend the comparison to irrelevant years -- no lockdowns in 2024!
oped: archive.ph/HKcS0
graph: www.mortality.watch/explorer/?c=...
November 9, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Yes, there is in fact a moral line. Racism and attacks on democracy aren’t just “different views.” They undermine the very principles science depends on: truth, evidence, human dignity.
November 8, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Yes, there is in fact a moral line. Racism and attacks on democracy aren’t just “different views.” They undermine the very principles science depends on: truth, evidence, human dignity.
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Watson’s death is a fantastic reminder that you can be intelligent without being a good person.
The obituary of someone who gained widespread fame through remarkable achievements at a young age and then expected to be taken seriously for anything he said thereafter.
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Watson’s death is a fantastic reminder that you can be intelligent without being a good person.