Eugene Plavskin
@mossomest.bsky.social
evolutionary geneticist teaching biology at NYU. SciEd.
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
If there is big biotech announcement happening, #MolecularNodes is being used for it. I only had the realisation in the past day, but it's strange to have my software very quickly become the visual face for $100M announcements and massive scientific breakthroughs.
November 21, 2025 at 2:35 PM
If there is big biotech announcement happening, #MolecularNodes is being used for it. I only had the realisation in the past day, but it's strange to have my software very quickly become the visual face for $100M announcements and massive scientific breakthroughs.
LLMs added to the long list of entities vulnerable to "adversarial poetry"
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 3:50 AM
LLMs added to the long list of entities vulnerable to "adversarial poetry"
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Because international student enrollment is so often used as a cudgel in discussions about immigration, this is a good time to remind people that international students aren't taking up spaces for US students at state schools, they are paying full tuition that FUNDS SCHOLARSHIPS FOR US STUDENTS.
November 14, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Because international student enrollment is so often used as a cudgel in discussions about immigration, this is a good time to remind people that international students aren't taking up spaces for US students at state schools, they are paying full tuition that FUNDS SCHOLARSHIPS FOR US STUDENTS.
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
SAVE THE DATE: the yearly NY Population Genetics meeting will be back on March 9 2026, generously hosted by the
@simonsfoundation.org. Details to follow. Please RT.
@simonsfoundation.org. Details to follow. Please RT.
November 14, 2025 at 5:05 PM
SAVE THE DATE: the yearly NY Population Genetics meeting will be back on March 9 2026, generously hosted by the
@simonsfoundation.org. Details to follow. Please RT.
@simonsfoundation.org. Details to follow. Please RT.
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
If you have tenure at Texas A&M and aren't maliciously emailing the president a dozen times every day to ask if you can say this or you can say that, then what's the point in having tenure?
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:18 PM
If you have tenure at Texas A&M and aren't maliciously emailing the president a dozen times every day to ask if you can say this or you can say that, then what's the point in having tenure?
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
This is horrific. The use of genetics (polygenic risk scores) to associate this monster with any of his traits is *exactly* what they used to justify their eugenics program. Our fate is not in our genes. He was the combination of many things, not many mutations. I literally cannot, WTAF...
Right. Hitler's DNA. Brace yourselves for a deluge of misinformation and bad science.
I'm in Australia, so do get in touch if you want some expert debunking.
I'm in Australia, so do get in touch if you want some expert debunking.
November 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
This is horrific. The use of genetics (polygenic risk scores) to associate this monster with any of his traits is *exactly* what they used to justify their eugenics program. Our fate is not in our genes. He was the combination of many things, not many mutations. I literally cannot, WTAF...
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
We don't want people to think you can see evil in the genome, but we'll call our Channel 4 documentary "Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a dictator".
November 12, 2025 at 10:35 PM
We don't want people to think you can see evil in the genome, but we'll call our Channel 4 documentary "Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a dictator".
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Daily dose of micro-rose propaganda ✨
November 12, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Daily dose of micro-rose propaganda ✨
this is how my intro bio class ended up spending 25+ minutes on photosynthetic sea slugs.
I deleted my slide about superficial neuromasts from my Comparative Anatomy lecture that I am trying to trim down. Then I undeleted it, because there is literally no one stopping me from talking about superficial neuromasts.
October 29, 2025 at 12:08 AM
this is how my intro bio class ended up spending 25+ minutes on photosynthetic sea slugs.
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Programming skill is just a set of rules you've inferred via personal suffering
October 27, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Programming skill is just a set of rules you've inferred via personal suffering
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
ok THIS is what you do with tenure
October 24, 2025 at 11:46 PM
ok THIS is what you do with tenure
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not against AI, I dislike bullshit
October 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not against AI, I dislike bullshit
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Imperial Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea)
This is blue. I painted on hydrochloric acid to draw a smiley to showcase the color change due to acid directly on the petals.
This is blue. I painted on hydrochloric acid to draw a smiley to showcase the color change due to acid directly on the petals.
October 13, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Imperial Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea)
This is blue. I painted on hydrochloric acid to draw a smiley to showcase the color change due to acid directly on the petals.
This is blue. I painted on hydrochloric acid to draw a smiley to showcase the color change due to acid directly on the petals.
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
October 8, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
C. elegans is a real animal and we set out to understand how it comes to have its distinctive biogeography. Its ancestral center of diversity is in the higher elevation forests of Hawaii. Its closest relatives are spread across east Asia. Did they travel from Asia? [Preprint 🧵]
September 24, 2025 at 8:33 PM
C. elegans is a real animal and we set out to understand how it comes to have its distinctive biogeography. Its ancestral center of diversity is in the higher elevation forests of Hawaii. Its closest relatives are spread across east Asia. Did they travel from Asia? [Preprint 🧵]
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Every basic scientist & PhD program director should be watching how cell culture and rodent models of Tylenol exposure are being used by motivated parties (e.g. it depletes your glutathione! Science proves it PMID...) to sell a narrative and sow confusion right now.
September 26, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Every basic scientist & PhD program director should be watching how cell culture and rodent models of Tylenol exposure are being used by motivated parties (e.g. it depletes your glutathione! Science proves it PMID...) to sell a narrative and sow confusion right now.
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Another year using @kitchensjn.bsky.social + @gcbias.bsky.social's intuitive circle plots to discuss human genetic variation in my undergrad genetics class james-kitchens.com/blog/visuali...
Visualizing Human Genetic Diversity
A key insight from human genetics is that, as a species, we are all very genetically similar to one another and share much of our genetic variation. Our genome can be depicted as a string of letters (...
james-kitchens.com
September 27, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Another year using @kitchensjn.bsky.social + @gcbias.bsky.social's intuitive circle plots to discuss human genetic variation in my undergrad genetics class james-kitchens.com/blog/visuali...
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Feels like a great opportunity to have students read scientific papers about the complicated genetics underlying sex and gender in humans, and to have them write about how such things legally exist in nature
Texas full-on fascist anti-science bc reality and facts are the enemy of fascism. New communication at Texas Tech (and likely other publics). Instructors being forced to teach literally incorrect information under threat from the state
September 26, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Feels like a great opportunity to have students read scientific papers about the complicated genetics underlying sex and gender in humans, and to have them write about how such things legally exist in nature
One of the absolute coolest things about teaching bio now is showing students a list of the diseases I learned about when I first took genetics, and starting to check off ones that have become either very treatable or cured in just the last handful of years: SMA, Sickle Cell, CF, and now this...
Wonderful news. A salutary reminder of the absolute benefits of scientific progress, and the absolute evil of conspiracist bollocks.
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time www.bbc.com/news/article...
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time www.bbc.com/news/article...
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time
One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that could transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC
www.bbc.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:28 PM
One of the absolute coolest things about teaching bio now is showing students a list of the diseases I learned about when I first took genetics, and starting to check off ones that have become either very treatable or cured in just the last handful of years: SMA, Sickle Cell, CF, and now this...
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
ughhhhhhhh dear students, you and ChatGPT have distinctive writing styles and we can really tell the difference, i promise!
September 25, 2025 at 5:14 PM
ughhhhhhhh dear students, you and ChatGPT have distinctive writing styles and we can really tell the difference, i promise!
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
Holy shit, this is a huge deal
Wonderful news. A salutary reminder of the absolute benefits of scientific progress, and the absolute evil of conspiracist bollocks.
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time www.bbc.com/news/article...
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time www.bbc.com/news/article...
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time
One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that could transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC
www.bbc.com
September 24, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Holy shit, this is a huge deal
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
So cool they discovered the cause of autism on basically day they guessed they would. I’m also glad they are withholding this information for a few days to prep for a WrestleMania-style announcement. This is how science works.
September 22, 2025 at 6:46 PM
So cool they discovered the cause of autism on basically day they guessed they would. I’m also glad they are withholding this information for a few days to prep for a WrestleMania-style announcement. This is how science works.
Reposted by Eugene Plavskin
“Nothing changed. These weren’t bad people. That’s the hardest part. They were playing by the rules of a system that rewards extractive collaboration — especially when it’s wrapped in the language of equity.”
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Equity in science is a beautiful lie — and I’m done pretending
Science isn’t really moving towards equity; institutions are just perfecting the appearance of equity. We need to build an alternative system.
www.nature.com
September 19, 2025 at 2:14 PM
“Nothing changed. These weren’t bad people. That’s the hardest part. They were playing by the rules of a system that rewards extractive collaboration — especially when it’s wrapped in the language of equity.”
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What a perfect date for my cells and microscopy day In intro bio!
342 years ago, on the 17th of September 1683, Dutch scientist Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek wrote about his observation of microbes to the Royal Society, which is the first known observation of bacteria in history. Van Leeuwenhoek referred to them as 'diertjes' (Dutch for 'small animals'). #otd #history 🗃️
September 17, 2025 at 12:03 PM
What a perfect date for my cells and microscopy day In intro bio!