Michael Pollard
@kmichaelpollard.bsky.social
Assoc. Prof Scripps Research working on how non-biological exposures lead to autoimmunity.
I simply have no argument against this. 🇮🇪
November 11, 2025 at 7:16 AM
I simply have no argument against this. 🇮🇪
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Born 9 Nov 1934, cosmologist Carl Sagan. He co-wrote the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The most widely watched series in the history of American public television, Cosmos has been seen by at least 500 million people in 60 countries. #CarlSagan
November 9, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Born 9 Nov 1934, cosmologist Carl Sagan. He co-wrote the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The most widely watched series in the history of American public television, Cosmos has been seen by at least 500 million people in 60 countries. #CarlSagan
Reposted by Michael Pollard
In an interview with ScienceInsider, science historian Nathaniel Comfort reflects on James Watson’s legacy. https://scim.ag/47ykE3q
James Watson: Titan of science with tragic flaws
Science historian Nathaniel Comfort reflects on the “most famous scientist of the 20th century, and the most infamous of the 21st”
www.science.org
November 10, 2025 at 12:07 AM
In an interview with ScienceInsider, science historian Nathaniel Comfort reflects on James Watson’s legacy. https://scim.ag/47ykE3q
I've often wondered why Brenda Maddox included this picture of "Rosalind-wearing glasses" in The Dark Lady of DNA. Was it to highlight one of the silliest controversies surrounding Rosalind Franklin?
November 9, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I've often wondered why Brenda Maddox included this picture of "Rosalind-wearing glasses" in The Dark Lady of DNA. Was it to highlight one of the silliest controversies surrounding Rosalind Franklin?
As this article shows, the path to the double helix was much more complex than many think and the details are still being uncovered.
To mark the death of James Watson, please read this 2023 piece about Rosalind Franklin's role in the discovery of the double helix
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:15 AM
As this article shows, the path to the double helix was much more complex than many think and the details are still being uncovered.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
“It suited the feminism of the 1960s & 1970s to portray her as a victim of male dominance, but she would have thought of herself simply as a scientist whose achievements should have been judged on their own terms, not as a ‘woman scientist’ striking a blow for the rights of women.”🧪
November 8, 2025 at 12:46 AM
“It suited the feminism of the 1960s & 1970s to portray her as a victim of male dominance, but she would have thought of herself simply as a scientist whose achievements should have been judged on their own terms, not as a ‘woman scientist’ striking a blow for the rights of women.”🧪
"His decoding the blueprint for life with Francis H.C. Crick made him one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. He wrote a celebrated memoir and later ignited an uproar with racist views."
🧪
🧪
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:54 PM
"His decoding the blueprint for life with Francis H.C. Crick made him one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. He wrote a celebrated memoir and later ignited an uproar with racist views."
🧪
🧪
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Happy 158th Birthday, Marie Skłodowska Curie! She was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the first person to receive the honor twice.
In 2017, #ScienceBooks toured the dynamics that established her as "the most iconic of all female scientists." https://scim.ag/47tkKYA
In 2017, #ScienceBooks toured the dynamics that established her as "the most iconic of all female scientists." https://scim.ag/47tkKYA
The making and remaking of Marie Curie
The famous physicist's legacy looms large 150 years after her birth
www.science.org
November 7, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Happy 158th Birthday, Marie Skłodowska Curie! She was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the first person to receive the honor twice.
In 2017, #ScienceBooks toured the dynamics that established her as "the most iconic of all female scientists." https://scim.ag/47tkKYA
In 2017, #ScienceBooks toured the dynamics that established her as "the most iconic of all female scientists." https://scim.ag/47tkKYA
Reposted by Michael Pollard
UK publication day for this wrist-spraining beauty! Appropriately, I’m travelling to Cambridge, where I’m doing a book launch talk at the LMB tomorrow afternoon.
November 6, 2025 at 6:26 AM
UK publication day for this wrist-spraining beauty! Appropriately, I’m travelling to Cambridge, where I’m doing a book launch talk at the LMB tomorrow afternoon.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
We know President Trump is no friend of science or of providing health care to those who need it. The data and evidence show: acceptance and appropriate healthcare save kids’ lives. Get the facts: act.ucsusa.org/4qFhdQ1
President Trump Is Using Lies to Attack Trans Kids and Endanger Their Health: Here Are the Facts
Pretending kids don't know who they are isn't protecting them. Acknowledging and accepting kids as they are saves lives.
act.ucsusa.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:34 PM
We know President Trump is no friend of science or of providing health care to those who need it. The data and evidence show: acceptance and appropriate healthcare save kids’ lives. Get the facts: act.ucsusa.org/4qFhdQ1
Reposted by Michael Pollard
I added a short section to this preprint describing another simple and inexplicable error that Bruttel et al. have repeated for years.
![Misinterpretation of previous work
One criteria of the
“IVGA fingerprint” described by Bruttel et al. is
“Two unique recognition sites may flank regions
meant to be further manipulated.
” I did not consider this in the analysis above, because its inclusion in the
“fingerprint”
arises from misinterpretation of work described in a previous paper. Bruttel et al. write that this work
“
used two distinct endonucleases for genome assembly, with two sites of one enzyme [BsaI] flanking a region of
interest, enabling efficient manipulations of the flanking region without having to reassemble the entire viral
backbone for each variant.
” In fact, BsaI sites used for this assembly were not retained in the final construct (Hu et al.,
2017). Furthermore, infectious clones produced in that work did have BsaI sites in the backbone and in other
fragments that would make this procedure impossible without additional mutagenesis. In general, I could not find any
precedent in the literature on similar reverse genetics constructs for introducing type IIS restriction sites. Bruttel et al.
exclusively list examples of introducing BglI sites (not type IIS). There are some examples of removing sites to enable
one-pot assembly, but the fact that RecCA shares the SARS-CoV-2 BsaI/BsmBI restriction map strongly suggests that
there is no history of this for SARS-CoV-2 (Pekar et al., 2025).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:x43yqs76dtuxqf7yzkqrlz4v/bafkreifstpgyyowj4m745ddrx5pbraua7j6aexqhoy4y4y5u7fgbr7hmpi@jpeg)
November 5, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I added a short section to this preprint describing another simple and inexplicable error that Bruttel et al. have repeated for years.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Yesterday, the Academy welcomed the recipients of the 2025 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science to the Shine Dome for the traditional celebration breakfast. 📸 Recipients of Prime Minister’s Prizes with Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC at the Shine Dome in Canberra.
November 5, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Yesterday, the Academy welcomed the recipients of the 2025 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science to the Shine Dome for the traditional celebration breakfast. 📸 Recipients of Prime Minister’s Prizes with Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC at the Shine Dome in Canberra.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Huge win for humpbacks!
Dozens of humpbacks are entangled in fishing gear off the Pacific Coast every year, but it was just announced that a federal task force will be formed to curb these entanglements.
This announcement stems from our 2023 legal victory.
Read on ➡️ bit.ly/47C4sNj
Dozens of humpbacks are entangled in fishing gear off the Pacific Coast every year, but it was just announced that a federal task force will be formed to curb these entanglements.
This announcement stems from our 2023 legal victory.
Read on ➡️ bit.ly/47C4sNj
November 3, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Huge win for humpbacks!
Dozens of humpbacks are entangled in fishing gear off the Pacific Coast every year, but it was just announced that a federal task force will be formed to curb these entanglements.
This announcement stems from our 2023 legal victory.
Read on ➡️ bit.ly/47C4sNj
Dozens of humpbacks are entangled in fishing gear off the Pacific Coast every year, but it was just announced that a federal task force will be formed to curb these entanglements.
This announcement stems from our 2023 legal victory.
Read on ➡️ bit.ly/47C4sNj
So much science and personality in 2 paragraphs. Made my day. 🧪
The things you find in your photo roll #2. For some reason, in August 2013 I took a picture of this charming letter from Max Perutz to Jim Watson, written shortly before Max died.
November 4, 2025 at 3:54 PM
So much science and personality in 2 paragraphs. Made my day. 🧪
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Absolutely amazing: they've got so much solar in Australia that they need more people to use more of it, so the gov't has instructed energy retailers to offer *at least three hours of free power* during the middle of the day.
Meanwhile fossil-addled US struggles with an energy-price crisis ...
Meanwhile fossil-addled US struggles with an energy-price crisis ...
Energy retailers to be directed to offer free power three hours a day
Saying there is enough solar power for everyone in the daytime, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will direct retailers to provide three hours of free power every day to consumers.
www.abc.net.au
November 3, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Absolutely amazing: they've got so much solar in Australia that they need more people to use more of it, so the gov't has instructed energy retailers to offer *at least three hours of free power* during the middle of the day.
Meanwhile fossil-addled US struggles with an energy-price crisis ...
Meanwhile fossil-addled US struggles with an energy-price crisis ...
Reposted by Michael Pollard
You might have seen (since she gets so much undeserved attention) Kim Kardashian's new BS about the moon landings being faked?
Here is Phil Plait's takedown of what he calls "a huge flaming load of ulcerous garbage." Thank you, Phil. @philplait.bsky.social
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/kim-kardas...
Here is Phil Plait's takedown of what he calls "a huge flaming load of ulcerous garbage." Thank you, Phil. @philplait.bsky.social
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/kim-kardas...
Kim Kardashian and the Apollo Moon Hoax
Oh god, THIS again?!
badastronomy.beehiiv.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:23 PM
You might have seen (since she gets so much undeserved attention) Kim Kardashian's new BS about the moon landings being faked?
Here is Phil Plait's takedown of what he calls "a huge flaming load of ulcerous garbage." Thank you, Phil. @philplait.bsky.social
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/kim-kardas...
Here is Phil Plait's takedown of what he calls "a huge flaming load of ulcerous garbage." Thank you, Phil. @philplait.bsky.social
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/kim-kardas...
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Book review 📚 Sex, drugs and the conscious brain: Francis Crick beyond the double helix
go.nature.com/4oJQAra
go.nature.com/4oJQAra
Sex, drugs and the conscious brain: Francis Crick beyond the double helix
A thoroughly researched account of the history and relationships that shaped the scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA.
go.nature.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Book review 📚 Sex, drugs and the conscious brain: Francis Crick beyond the double helix
go.nature.com/4oJQAra
go.nature.com/4oJQAra
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Congratulations to Distinguished Prof Lidia Morawska FAA FTSE (QUT) for being awarded the prestigious Prime Minister's Prize for Science 2025! 🎉
Prof Morawska was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2020 and in 2023 received the Academy’s Mathew Flinders Medal.
Prof Morawska was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2020 and in 2023 received the Academy’s Mathew Flinders Medal.
November 3, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Congratulations to Distinguished Prof Lidia Morawska FAA FTSE (QUT) for being awarded the prestigious Prime Minister's Prize for Science 2025! 🎉
Prof Morawska was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2020 and in 2023 received the Academy’s Mathew Flinders Medal.
Prof Morawska was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2020 and in 2023 received the Academy’s Mathew Flinders Medal.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23833
@zachhensel.bsky.social has revisited Bruttel et al’s preprint and shows why the analysis of RE sites in SARS2 was deeply flawed. Spoiler: the sites are natural, the pattern explicable by recombination & the authors stacked the deck omitting some seqs and duplicating others.
@zachhensel.bsky.social has revisited Bruttel et al’s preprint and shows why the analysis of RE sites in SARS2 was deeply flawed. Spoiler: the sites are natural, the pattern explicable by recombination & the authors stacked the deck omitting some seqs and duplicating others.
On the distributions of restriction sites in human and pangolin sarbecoviruses
Since early 2020, several theories have suggested that a distribution of restriction endonuclease recognition sites in the SARS-CoV-2 genome indicates a synthetic origin. The most influential of these...
arxiv.org
November 3, 2025 at 2:47 PM
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23833
@zachhensel.bsky.social has revisited Bruttel et al’s preprint and shows why the analysis of RE sites in SARS2 was deeply flawed. Spoiler: the sites are natural, the pattern explicable by recombination & the authors stacked the deck omitting some seqs and duplicating others.
@zachhensel.bsky.social has revisited Bruttel et al’s preprint and shows why the analysis of RE sites in SARS2 was deeply flawed. Spoiler: the sites are natural, the pattern explicable by recombination & the authors stacked the deck omitting some seqs and duplicating others.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
My article in tomorrow's @theobserveruk.bsky.social now online. But go and buy a copy!
Francis Crick: The science genius with poetry in his DNA
He is celebrated for co‑discovering the double helix, but it was Crick’s poetic appreciation of the world that was key to how his mind worked
observer.co.uk
November 1, 2025 at 11:37 AM
My article in tomorrow's @theobserveruk.bsky.social now online. But go and buy a copy!
I wonder if anyone is dressed as a Bionic Frog tonight?
November 1, 2025 at 1:16 AM
I wonder if anyone is dressed as a Bionic Frog tonight?
Reposted by Michael Pollard
A new bat coronavirus discovered in Brazil confirms what we already knew: nature handles furin cleavage sites just fine.
Lab leakers, don’t worry, you've got the track record to pivot seamlessly to a career in creative fiction writing.
Quick update on the news:
open.substack.com/pub/protagon...
Lab leakers, don’t worry, you've got the track record to pivot seamlessly to a career in creative fiction writing.
Quick update on the news:
open.substack.com/pub/protagon...
The Brazilian clue
Or: another L for lab leak believers
open.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:40 PM
A new bat coronavirus discovered in Brazil confirms what we already knew: nature handles furin cleavage sites just fine.
Lab leakers, don’t worry, you've got the track record to pivot seamlessly to a career in creative fiction writing.
Quick update on the news:
open.substack.com/pub/protagon...
Lab leakers, don’t worry, you've got the track record to pivot seamlessly to a career in creative fiction writing.
Quick update on the news:
open.substack.com/pub/protagon...
Reposted by Michael Pollard
I don’t read substack articles, even from people I like, I know I’m probably missing out , but would rather read a book instead. But I’ll post this one to promote it, because @philippmarkolin.bsky.social did the world a great service with his book, and making it accessible for everyone.
October 31, 2025 at 9:36 PM
I don’t read substack articles, even from people I like, I know I’m probably missing out , but would rather read a book instead. But I’ll post this one to promote it, because @philippmarkolin.bsky.social did the world a great service with his book, and making it accessible for everyone.