Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
@notjustdna.bsky.social
Scientist and science writer from New Zealand.
BioinfoTools on Twitter.
Traveller. Cycle touring.
More later - just setting this account up!
BioinfoTools on Twitter.
Traveller. Cycle touring.
More later - just setting this account up!
Pinned
Just a quick note to followers -
If you don’t want NZ politics, just mute the hashtag #NZpol
I try to tag political posts with this to help those who are more interested in science, science communication, etc.
Similarly, most posts meant for New Zealanders are tagged #NZ or #kikorangi
1/2
If you don’t want NZ politics, just mute the hashtag #NZpol
I try to tag political posts with this to help those who are more interested in science, science communication, etc.
Similarly, most posts meant for New Zealanders are tagged #NZ or #kikorangi
1/2
#NZpol There’s a "free speech" passage for universities in this changes to the Act,
“Requiring universities to develop a freedom of expression statement, maintain a complaints process, and report annually on academic freedom and free speech.”
www.beehive.govt.nz/release/ensu...
1/3
“Requiring universities to develop a freedom of expression statement, maintain a complaints process, and report annually on academic freedom and free speech.”
www.beehive.govt.nz/release/ensu...
1/3
www.beehive.govt.nz
November 11, 2025 at 8:10 AM
#NZpol There’s a "free speech" passage for universities in this changes to the Act,
“Requiring universities to develop a freedom of expression statement, maintain a complaints process, and report annually on academic freedom and free speech.”
www.beehive.govt.nz/release/ensu...
1/3
“Requiring universities to develop a freedom of expression statement, maintain a complaints process, and report annually on academic freedom and free speech.”
www.beehive.govt.nz/release/ensu...
1/3
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
Standard yogurt production from raw milk (which includes an initial heating step at 82°C for 30 min to denature milk proteins) inactivates AIV = no risk to humans.
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.fm...
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.fm...
November 11, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Standard yogurt production from raw milk (which includes an initial heating step at 82°C for 30 min to denature milk proteins) inactivates AIV = no risk to humans.
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.fm...
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.fm...
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
🌍Open call: Junior Group Leader positions!
Join a world-class biomedical research institute at the heart of the Vienna BioCenter, where curiosity drives discovery.
Lead your own lab, pursue bold ideas, and shape the future of science at the IMP: www.imp.ac.at/career/open-...
Join a world-class biomedical research institute at the heart of the Vienna BioCenter, where curiosity drives discovery.
Lead your own lab, pursue bold ideas, and shape the future of science at the IMP: www.imp.ac.at/career/open-...
November 10, 2025 at 1:26 PM
🌍Open call: Junior Group Leader positions!
Join a world-class biomedical research institute at the heart of the Vienna BioCenter, where curiosity drives discovery.
Lead your own lab, pursue bold ideas, and shape the future of science at the IMP: www.imp.ac.at/career/open-...
Join a world-class biomedical research institute at the heart of the Vienna BioCenter, where curiosity drives discovery.
Lead your own lab, pursue bold ideas, and shape the future of science at the IMP: www.imp.ac.at/career/open-...
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
NZ Cabinet has signed off on an overhaul of NZ's gun laws shifting responsibility of firearms regulator from Police Minister to Firearms Minister (and guns lobbyist) Nicole McKee. Te Tari Pūreke Firearms Safety Authority (FSA) CEO will report to Minister McKee.
#NZpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
#NZpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
Details of gun law reforms unveiled as Cabinet signs off
Cabinet has signed off on an overhaul of the country's gun laws, including a crackdown on gang members.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 11, 2025 at 3:11 AM
NZ Cabinet has signed off on an overhaul of NZ's gun laws shifting responsibility of firearms regulator from Police Minister to Firearms Minister (and guns lobbyist) Nicole McKee. Te Tari Pūreke Firearms Safety Authority (FSA) CEO will report to Minister McKee.
#NZpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
#NZpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
Announcing cryo-EM heterogeneity challenge #2, now dubbed the 2025 Community-Wide Assessment of Cryo-EM Heterogeneous Reconstruction Algorithms (CAHRA)! Join us for a webinar next Friday (Nov 14th) to learn more. Datasets already posted here: heterogeneity.notion.site/challenge #cryoem
CAHRA 2025: Community-Wide Assessment of Cryo-EM Heterogeneous Reconstruction Algorithms
A community-wide data processing challenge for cryo-electron microscopy.
heterogeneity.notion.site
November 7, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Announcing cryo-EM heterogeneity challenge #2, now dubbed the 2025 Community-Wide Assessment of Cryo-EM Heterogeneous Reconstruction Algorithms (CAHRA)! Join us for a webinar next Friday (Nov 14th) to learn more. Datasets already posted here: heterogeneity.notion.site/challenge #cryoem
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
expert reaction to mutations in Influenza A H3N2 flu virus
www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react...
www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react...
expert reaction to mutations in Influenza A H3N2 flu virus | Science Media Centre
Dr Antonia Ho, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Infectious Diseases, University of Glasgow, said: “Of the two seasonal influenza A viruses, the current dominant circulating virus (A/H3N2)…
www.sciencemediacentre.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
expert reaction to mutations in Influenza A H3N2 flu virus
www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react...
www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react...
Play the video to see the seismograph network pick up Japan’s recent M6+ earthquake. I’m not a geologist, but that looks an impressive network of seismographs!
The underwater seismometer network is so great, as evidenced from yesterday's EQ off-Tohoku.
Reposting unofficial visualization by x.com/kotoho76/sta...
Reposting unofficial visualization by x.com/kotoho76/sta...
November 10, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Play the video to see the seismograph network pick up Japan’s recent M6+ earthquake. I’m not a geologist, but that looks an impressive network of seismographs!
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
It's official: Canada has lost its measles elimination status because of an outbreak that has persisted for more than 12 months. Country can regain status only if on-going spread is of measles interrupted for more than a year. www.cbc.ca/news/health/... via @cbcnews.ca
November 10, 2025 at 3:06 PM
It's official: Canada has lost its measles elimination status because of an outbreak that has persisted for more than 12 months. Country can regain status only if on-going spread is of measles interrupted for more than a year. www.cbc.ca/news/health/... via @cbcnews.ca
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
It was lovely speaking to @harmitmalik.bsky.social for @dmmjournal.bsky.social Infectious Disease Special Issue. We chatted about his work on host-viral evolution, the importance of blue-skies research and his approach to creating a supportive lab environment
journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...
journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...
For our #InfectiousDisease Special Issue we interviewed the marvelous @harmitmalik.bsky.social ! We discussed the #viral arms race, how to support mentees and the beauty of basic science 🔬
journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...
journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...
The viral arms race: an interview with Harmit Malik
Harmit Malik. Photo credit: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.Harmit Malik is Professor and Associate Director of the Basic Sciences Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, WA,…
journals.biologists.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
It was lovely speaking to @harmitmalik.bsky.social for @dmmjournal.bsky.social Infectious Disease Special Issue. We chatted about his work on host-viral evolution, the importance of blue-skies research and his approach to creating a supportive lab environment
journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...
journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...
I often wonder how these topics or people are suggested to media, and to what extent editors/producers pay attention to that. You have to get your stories from somewhere, by a tip or offer, or whatnot, but there must – or should – be some sort of vetting of them.
Jack Tame interviewing a Turning point USA agent (Charlie Kirk’s friend & co worker) about how amazing AI is & how great far-right christo-fascism is for the future of the world, is a new low I was not expecting on my Sunday morning. 🤨🤦♀️ #nzpol
November 10, 2025 at 5:02 PM
I often wonder how these topics or people are suggested to media, and to what extent editors/producers pay attention to that. You have to get your stories from somewhere, by a tip or offer, or whatnot, but there must – or should – be some sort of vetting of them.
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
The 2025 Wiki Science Photography Competition is underway!
Join us for this informative FAQ session where you will:
🦠 Learn how to enter the competition
🧬 Receive valuable tips and tricks from Wikimedia Commons experts
🔭 Discover how to best openly license your work
Thursday 13 November, 2pm 👇
Join us for this informative FAQ session where you will:
🦠 Learn how to enter the competition
🧬 Receive valuable tips and tricks from Wikimedia Commons experts
🔭 Discover how to best openly license your work
Thursday 13 November, 2pm 👇
Focus on Science: Your Guide to the Wiki Science Photography Competition
Want to participate in the 2025 Wiki Science Photography competition but don't know how? Need some help with Wikimedia Commons? FAQ with our experts!
events.humanitix.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:43 PM
The 2025 Wiki Science Photography Competition is underway!
Join us for this informative FAQ session where you will:
🦠 Learn how to enter the competition
🧬 Receive valuable tips and tricks from Wikimedia Commons experts
🔭 Discover how to best openly license your work
Thursday 13 November, 2pm 👇
Join us for this informative FAQ session where you will:
🦠 Learn how to enter the competition
🧬 Receive valuable tips and tricks from Wikimedia Commons experts
🔭 Discover how to best openly license your work
Thursday 13 November, 2pm 👇
Brings back memories of swimming in bioluminescence in a few places. One place: midnight swims in Kerala, the start of a long trip after my PhD. I crashed at this beach place for weeks. Everything went on a tab until the end of the week. I had to escape in the end as you’d just rot there.
The bioluminescence on Palm Beach Waiheke Island has been insane the last two nights. Amazing atmosphere with many people swimming and splashing in the surf. Magical night. Never seen a traffic jam like it though on our sleepy little beach! Pics by Indy Bombuwala.
November 10, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Brings back memories of swimming in bioluminescence in a few places. One place: midnight swims in Kerala, the start of a long trip after my PhD. I crashed at this beach place for weeks. Everything went on a tab until the end of the week. I had to escape in the end as you’d just rot there.
#NZpol Now open to read, or at least I can! -
Kia Ora Earthlings!
This is an important article about a PHD student puling back the curtains on Aotearoa's #economy & weather or not "NZ can't afford it" is true or not.
Alas It is behind a paywall. #nzpol #debt #deficit #education
www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...
This is an important article about a PHD student puling back the curtains on Aotearoa's #economy & weather or not "NZ can't afford it" is true or not.
Alas It is behind a paywall. #nzpol #debt #deficit #education
www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...
PhD student looks at the lie behind the political line: ‘NZ can’t afford it’
University of Otago student Morgan Edwards believes Kiwis need to understand more about our monetary system and push back harder against public service cuts and other government spending decisions.
www.thepost.co.nz
November 10, 2025 at 9:19 AM
#NZpol Now open to read, or at least I can! -
I can remember cycling in Europe, following a canal bank, when the canal turned into a bridge going over a river.
It was the weirdest thing, one waterway crossing over another. A big (coal?) barge crossed the river as I was up there.
It was the weirdest thing, one waterway crossing over another. A big (coal?) barge crossed the river as I was up there.
I love it when the canal goes OVER a road.
The motorists probably have no idea that they’re driving under a canal.
The motorists probably have no idea that they’re driving under a canal.
November 10, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I can remember cycling in Europe, following a canal bank, when the canal turned into a bridge going over a river.
It was the weirdest thing, one waterway crossing over another. A big (coal?) barge crossed the river as I was up there.
It was the weirdest thing, one waterway crossing over another. A big (coal?) barge crossed the river as I was up there.
Compared to wood prices in the UK, I imagine, but the drop in prices should be felt in NZ too – ?
Solar’s price drop is astonishing: panels are now 98% cheaper than when I first analyzed them in 2004.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
November 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Compared to wood prices in the UK, I imagine, but the drop in prices should be felt in NZ too – ?
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
🧬 If you’re interested in how the structure of DNA was "discovered", try this article written in 2023. The first author has just published a book on Crick; the second has a book coming out on Watson.
‘What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure’ ⬇️
‘What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure’ ⬇️
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 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
🧬 If you’re interested in how the structure of DNA was "discovered", try this article written in 2023. The first author has just published a book on Crick; the second has a book coming out on Watson.
‘What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure’ ⬇️
‘What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure’ ⬇️
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
2-factor authentication required ⬇️ 😊
Two rainforest butterflies have evolved to look more alike, likely to confuse shared predators. But why don’t they get confused themselves?
To avoid mating with the wrong species, they’ve cleverly evolved distinct scents.
buff.ly/fxVrlCI
To avoid mating with the wrong species, they’ve cleverly evolved distinct scents.
buff.ly/fxVrlCI
November 9, 2025 at 12:05 AM
2-factor authentication required ⬇️ 😊
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
Long read from Joel MacManus visiting Vancouver,
Inside the Canadian apartments redefining indigenous housing
- 6,000 apartment complex built on First Nations land, without needing city council permission
- Further in the article, Joel writes of the parallel in #NZ
Inside the Canadian apartments redefining indigenous housing
- 6,000 apartment complex built on First Nations land, without needing city council permission
- Further in the article, Joel writes of the parallel in #NZ
November 9, 2025 at 4:28 AM
Long read from Joel MacManus visiting Vancouver,
Inside the Canadian apartments redefining indigenous housing
- 6,000 apartment complex built on First Nations land, without needing city council permission
- Further in the article, Joel writes of the parallel in #NZ
Inside the Canadian apartments redefining indigenous housing
- 6,000 apartment complex built on First Nations land, without needing city council permission
- Further in the article, Joel writes of the parallel in #NZ
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
#Christchurch #NZ 🐕
A new bylaw updates where you can take your dog. It aims to balance wildlife protection and recreation use, e.g. dogs are banned from the estuary, parts of Styx Conservation Reserve.
You can read the rules and advice here ⬇️
A new bylaw updates where you can take your dog. It aims to balance wildlife protection and recreation use, e.g. dogs are banned from the estuary, parts of Styx Conservation Reserve.
You can read the rules and advice here ⬇️
Where you can take your dog
Areas where you can take your dog, where it needs to be leashed and where no dogs are allowed.
ccc.govt.nz
November 9, 2025 at 6:42 AM
#Christchurch #NZ 🐕
A new bylaw updates where you can take your dog. It aims to balance wildlife protection and recreation use, e.g. dogs are banned from the estuary, parts of Styx Conservation Reserve.
You can read the rules and advice here ⬇️
A new bylaw updates where you can take your dog. It aims to balance wildlife protection and recreation use, e.g. dogs are banned from the estuary, parts of Styx Conservation Reserve.
You can read the rules and advice here ⬇️
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
What a saga this story has been, a perfect storm of madness that roils on, one thing piling atop another.
It feels like it’d be a great, mad movie in the style of Contagion or Don’t Look Up. A well-written longer read.
It feels like it’d be a great, mad movie in the style of Contagion or Don’t Look Up. A well-written longer read.
The ostriches have been culled and that particular H5N1 outbreak has finally been contained.
Here is @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social's reliably excellent account of the entire ordeal.
www.msnbc.com/news/news-an...
Here is @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social's reliably excellent account of the entire ordeal.
www.msnbc.com/news/news-an...
Why the conspiratorial right rallied around a flock of ostriches
The anti-vaccine, anti-government crusade to save "the miracle cure birds" is over — and the fringe activists lost.
www.msnbc.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:56 PM
What a saga this story has been, a perfect storm of madness that roils on, one thing piling atop another.
It feels like it’d be a great, mad movie in the style of Contagion or Don’t Look Up. A well-written longer read.
It feels like it’d be a great, mad movie in the style of Contagion or Don’t Look Up. A well-written longer read.
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
I saw these birds while living in Malaysia, not "in the wild", but in a city park. Great to finally see them.
I was mostly based in Sarawak, but best saw them in Taiping in the north west of peninsula Malaysia.
I was mostly based in Sarawak, but best saw them in Taiping in the north west of peninsula Malaysia.
Last night, I watched one of the best nature videos I have ever seen, from Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I have been in love with hornbills since I lived in Indonesia and Malaysia and saw them every time I went out in the jungle.
You really owe it to yourself to watch this.
You really owe it to yourself to watch this.
Islands of the Hornbills
YouTube video by Cornell Lab of Ornithology
www.youtube.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I saw these birds while living in Malaysia, not "in the wild", but in a city park. Great to finally see them.
I was mostly based in Sarawak, but best saw them in Taiping in the north west of peninsula Malaysia.
I was mostly based in Sarawak, but best saw them in Taiping in the north west of peninsula Malaysia.
#Christchurch #NZ
“The decision, announced by RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop on Monday, means intensification will be limited to areas surrounding suburban commercial centres, like Riccarton, Eastgate, Papanui and Hornby.”
1/2
“The decision, announced by RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop on Monday, means intensification will be limited to areas surrounding suburban commercial centres, like Riccarton, Eastgate, Papanui and Hornby.”
1/2
City-wide housing intensification will no longer happen after “booming” Christchurch was granted an exemption by RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop.
Government spares Christchurch from city-wide housing intensification
City-wide housing intensification will no longer happen after “booming” Christchurch was granted an exemption by RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop.
dlvr.it
November 10, 2025 at 4:51 AM
#Christchurch #NZ
“The decision, announced by RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop on Monday, means intensification will be limited to areas surrounding suburban commercial centres, like Riccarton, Eastgate, Papanui and Hornby.”
1/2
“The decision, announced by RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop on Monday, means intensification will be limited to areas surrounding suburban commercial centres, like Riccarton, Eastgate, Papanui and Hornby.”
1/2
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
#Christchurch #NZ New flood level map
- worth checking if you’re looking to buy a house
- Christchurch *was* built on a swamp, and it shows… ⬇️ All that blue!
ccc.govt.nz/services/wat...
- worth checking if you’re looking to buy a house
- Christchurch *was* built on a swamp, and it shows… ⬇️ All that blue!
ccc.govt.nz/services/wat...
November 9, 2025 at 6:54 AM
#Christchurch #NZ New flood level map
- worth checking if you’re looking to buy a house
- Christchurch *was* built on a swamp, and it shows… ⬇️ All that blue!
ccc.govt.nz/services/wat...
- worth checking if you’re looking to buy a house
- Christchurch *was* built on a swamp, and it shows… ⬇️ All that blue!
ccc.govt.nz/services/wat...
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
🎵🎶 It's the most wonderful time of the year...... Secret Santa NZ! 🎶🎵
I've just signed up. Have you? (Only open to people in Aotearoa New Zealand) #secretsantaaonz
I've just signed up. Have you? (Only open to people in Aotearoa New Zealand) #secretsantaaonz
It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas,
With sign up going live!🎶🎵
So here's the Bluesky Secret Santa AoNZ, with some friends from Mastodon along for the ride. We hope you are looking forward to some fun, and that we can bring it to you 🎄
Official hashtag: #SecretSantaAoNZ
App: secretsanta.nz
With sign up going live!🎶🎵
So here's the Bluesky Secret Santa AoNZ, with some friends from Mastodon along for the ride. We hope you are looking forward to some fun, and that we can bring it to you 🎄
Official hashtag: #SecretSantaAoNZ
App: secretsanta.nz
November 9, 2025 at 10:34 PM
🎵🎶 It's the most wonderful time of the year...... Secret Santa NZ! 🎶🎵
I've just signed up. Have you? (Only open to people in Aotearoa New Zealand) #secretsantaaonz
I've just signed up. Have you? (Only open to people in Aotearoa New Zealand) #secretsantaaonz
Reposted by Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
Actually, since many of the ones I know are at #SciWri25 -- anyone got suggestions here? Good ones for podcast recording especially welcome
Journalists, what are the best recording/transcription tools/apps you're using?
November 9, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Actually, since many of the ones I know are at #SciWri25 -- anyone got suggestions here? Good ones for podcast recording especially welcome