Nick Stroustrup
@nstroustrup.bsky.social
A British/American group leader at @crg.eu . We study the biology of aging using molecular genetics, engineering, systems biology, and probabilistic machine learning.
Lab page: http://lifespanmachine.crg.eu
Lab page: http://lifespanmachine.crg.eu
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
This was a lovely first read of 2026
January 1, 2026 at 8:55 AM
This was a lovely first read of 2026
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
"Results from experiments with N = 4 or less are shown to be highly misleading (...). For a cut-off of 2-fold expression differences, we find an N of 6-7 mice is required to consistently decrease the false positive rate to below 50%, and the detection sensitivity to above 50%"
Optimized murine sample sizes for RNA sequencing studies revealed from large scale comparative analysis - Nature Communications
Determining the appropriate sample size (N) for bulk RNA sequencing experiments is critical to ensure reliable results. Here the authors perform an unusually large N experiment (N = 30 per group), ana...
www.nature.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:51 PM
"Results from experiments with N = 4 or less are shown to be highly misleading (...). For a cut-off of 2-fold expression differences, we find an N of 6-7 mice is required to consistently decrease the false positive rate to below 50%, and the detection sensitivity to above 50%"
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
Yet one more reason we cannot allow LLMs to serve as epistemic grounding is that we cannot triangulate among them the way you can among reasonable independent sources. They bullshit in the same way and end up agreeing with one other about things that are completely false.
December 15, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Yet one more reason we cannot allow LLMs to serve as epistemic grounding is that we cannot triangulate among them the way you can among reasonable independent sources. They bullshit in the same way and end up agreeing with one other about things that are completely false.
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1
December 17, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
What tools do we need to start engineering #aging and #longevity ? A🧵about something we've been cooking up in lab with Jeremy Vicencio at the @crg.eu : technology that lets us reach inside living animals and precisely dial multiple proteins' levels up and down. 1/10
December 16, 2025 at 12:09 PM
What tools do we need to start engineering #aging and #longevity ? A🧵about something we've been cooking up in lab with Jeremy Vicencio at the @crg.eu : technology that lets us reach inside living animals and precisely dial multiple proteins' levels up and down. 1/10
Multi-lingual children can end up with very random gaps in their vocab. I've asked my 4 y/o daughter every day after school *for years* what she ate for lunch. She would never tell me and I always wondered why.
Today just before bedtime, we were talking and she asked me: baba, what is "lunch"?
Today just before bedtime, we were talking and she asked me: baba, what is "lunch"?
December 8, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Multi-lingual children can end up with very random gaps in their vocab. I've asked my 4 y/o daughter every day after school *for years* what she ate for lunch. She would never tell me and I always wondered why.
Today just before bedtime, we were talking and she asked me: baba, what is "lunch"?
Today just before bedtime, we were talking and she asked me: baba, what is "lunch"?
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 PM
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
Doing non-causal inference (and being explicit about it), yet using a causal word as second word in the title.
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
November 11, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Doing non-causal inference (and being explicit about it), yet using a causal word as second word in the title.
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
If you pay Nature € 10.690, they will publish this in Nature Ageing.
I can tell you what I think of that for free.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
Today we had a great EvoMG Seminar by Dario Valenzano @dvalenzano.bsky.social from FLI, who told us about some of their recent aging work using the fascinating short-lived killifish.
Hosted by @mirimiam.bsky.social
evomedgenomics.com/events/exter...
Hosted by @mirimiam.bsky.social
evomedgenomics.com/events/exter...
November 5, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Today we had a great EvoMG Seminar by Dario Valenzano @dvalenzano.bsky.social from FLI, who told us about some of their recent aging work using the fascinating short-lived killifish.
Hosted by @mirimiam.bsky.social
evomedgenomics.com/events/exter...
Hosted by @mirimiam.bsky.social
evomedgenomics.com/events/exter...
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
What is the origin of diversity in allometric laws scaling across species? Check our new paper led by Andrea Tabi where
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 9, 2025 at 2:39 AM
What is the origin of diversity in allometric laws scaling across species? Check our new paper led by Andrea Tabi where
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
we propose a new theory of metabolic scaling grounded in thermodynamics and stochastic fluctuations at the cellular level.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A detIled account of all the characters involved. 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 8, 2025 at 3:27 PM
A detIled account of all the characters involved. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Come hear us talk about causality in biology, next Monday and Tuesday!
🧬 1 month to go! Join us at the Collaboratorium Annual Symposium: Causality in Biology & AI. 12 speakers, big questions.
#CRG #EMBL #EMBLBarcelona #BCNCollaboratorium
#CRG #EMBL #EMBLBarcelona #BCNCollaboratorium
November 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Come hear us talk about causality in biology, next Monday and Tuesday!
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
Are you looking for a PhD? Join us in Barcelona! You'll dive into a community of >100 PhD students from 30 countries exploring the frontiers of biology. You can also join an online workshop on 6 November (15:00 CET) to learn how to find the right lab for you.
More info: www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
More info: www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
October 23, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Are you looking for a PhD? Join us in Barcelona! You'll dive into a community of >100 PhD students from 30 countries exploring the frontiers of biology. You can also join an online workshop on 6 November (15:00 CET) to learn how to find the right lab for you.
More info: www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
More info: www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
www.theatlantic.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
moonbow last night over our neighborhood
October 5, 2025 at 8:00 AM
moonbow last night over our neighborhood
Thrilled to hear that our BBVA fundamentos grant was funded. Thanks to @bbvaenespana.bsky.social for their support of new causal methods in aging. With only 4 of these awarded each year in the life sciences, a special congrats to our post-doc Jeremy Vicencio for teaming up to make it happen!
Congrats to @nstroustrup.bsky.social and Jeremy Vicencio for a new grant from Fundación BBVA's Fundamentos programme to support a pioneering project on the biology of ageing. The proposal seeks to build better biomarkers of ageing.
www.crg.eu/en/news/bbva...
www.crg.eu/en/news/bbva...
October 2, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Thrilled to hear that our BBVA fundamentos grant was funded. Thanks to @bbvaenespana.bsky.social for their support of new causal methods in aging. With only 4 of these awarded each year in the life sciences, a special congrats to our post-doc Jeremy Vicencio for teaming up to make it happen!
There's some super interesting nemography going on these days!
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 25, 2025 at 11:35 AM
There's some super interesting nemography going on these days!
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
September 22, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
OH NO!
"The White House issued a proclamation today, Sept. 19, 2025, around 4:36 PM PDT imposing a $100,000 fee for each H-1B visa holder who enters the U.S. after Sept. 21, 2025, 12:01 AM EDT. In CA, this will take effect tomorrow, Sept. 20, 2025, at 9:01 PM PDT." Emergency notice at Stanford.
"The White House issued a proclamation today, Sept. 19, 2025, around 4:36 PM PDT imposing a $100,000 fee for each H-1B visa holder who enters the U.S. after Sept. 21, 2025, 12:01 AM EDT. In CA, this will take effect tomorrow, Sept. 20, 2025, at 9:01 PM PDT." Emergency notice at Stanford.
September 20, 2025 at 3:49 AM
OH NO!
"The White House issued a proclamation today, Sept. 19, 2025, around 4:36 PM PDT imposing a $100,000 fee for each H-1B visa holder who enters the U.S. after Sept. 21, 2025, 12:01 AM EDT. In CA, this will take effect tomorrow, Sept. 20, 2025, at 9:01 PM PDT." Emergency notice at Stanford.
"The White House issued a proclamation today, Sept. 19, 2025, around 4:36 PM PDT imposing a $100,000 fee for each H-1B visa holder who enters the U.S. after Sept. 21, 2025, 12:01 AM EDT. In CA, this will take effect tomorrow, Sept. 20, 2025, at 9:01 PM PDT." Emergency notice at Stanford.
Ups!
A U.S. study found eating under 8 hrs/day was linked to **91% higher cardiovascular death risk** vs. 12–16 hrs/day. 👉Read:
newsroom.heart.org/news/8-hour-...
#AgingResearch #LongevityScience #HeartHealth
newsroom.heart.org/news/8-hour-...
#AgingResearch #LongevityScience #HeartHealth
8-hour time-restricted eating linked to a 91% higher risk of cardiovascular death
03/19/24 Editor’s note: The research authors have shared their full poster presentation for updated details about their research abstract. Please see the digital file attached, in the right hand colum...
newsroom.heart.org
September 9, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Ups!
Reposted by Nick Stroustrup
Extraordinary paper. I LOVE this sentence:
“This translates to a net lateral gene transfer rate of ~250 genes L−1 seawater day−1 and involves both “flexible” and “core” genes. “
Must read in detail, but these numbers are amazing. academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
“This translates to a net lateral gene transfer rate of ~250 genes L−1 seawater day−1 and involves both “flexible” and “core” genes. “
Must read in detail, but these numbers are amazing. academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Net rate of lateral gene transfer in marine prokaryoplankton
Abstract. Lateral gene transfer is a major evolutionary process in Bacteria and Archaea. Despite its importance, lateral gene transfer quantification in na
academic.oup.com
September 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Extraordinary paper. I LOVE this sentence:
“This translates to a net lateral gene transfer rate of ~250 genes L−1 seawater day−1 and involves both “flexible” and “core” genes. “
Must read in detail, but these numbers are amazing. academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
“This translates to a net lateral gene transfer rate of ~250 genes L−1 seawater day−1 and involves both “flexible” and “core” genes. “
Must read in detail, but these numbers are amazing. academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
