Paul Francois
@pfrancois.bsky.social
Professor Université de Montréal, Physics of Living Systems, Machine Learning, etc…
https://www.francoisresearch.org/
https://www.francoisresearch.org/
Reposted by Paul Francois
Happy "Lights All Askew" Day to all who celebrate! (Headline in the New York Times from Nov. 10, 1919, brings Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity -- along with its alleged incomprehensibility -- to the public.) 🪐🔭🧠📰 #physics #science #histsci #lightsallaskew
November 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Happy "Lights All Askew" Day to all who celebrate! (Headline in the New York Times from Nov. 10, 1919, brings Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity -- along with its alleged incomprehensibility -- to the public.) 🪐🔭🧠📰 #physics #science #histsci #lightsallaskew
Superbe vue depuis le belvédère ce matin, j’adore cette lumière d’automne !
November 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Superbe vue depuis le belvédère ce matin, j’adore cette lumière d’automne !
Reposted by Paul Francois
Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...
November 7, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...
Reposted by Paul Francois
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 AM
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
When q.e.d was released I was a bit afraid it would be used for ‘peer’ review. That was only 3 weeks ago. Still not sure if q.e.d is a good or bad thing, but do we need to move so fast ?
For 3, the problem is that 'identifying gaps' is a very specific way to provide feedback to papers, that is not necessary what peer-review should be about (and in fact this is never what you are asked to do as reviewers).
November 7, 2025 at 12:06 PM
When q.e.d was released I was a bit afraid it would be used for ‘peer’ review. That was only 3 weeks ago. Still not sure if q.e.d is a good or bad thing, but do we need to move so fast ?
Félicitations à @fxpbourassa.bsky.social pour l'obtention du prix de thèse de la division 'biological Physics' de l'American Physical Society ! Le doublé après le prix similaire de @biophyscanada.bsky.social ! @mcgill.ca www.aps.org/funding-reco...
November 5, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Félicitations à @fxpbourassa.bsky.social pour l'obtention du prix de thèse de la division 'biological Physics' de l'American Physical Society ! Le doublé après le prix similaire de @biophyscanada.bsky.social ! @mcgill.ca www.aps.org/funding-reco...
Quite astounding that we are still pushing this kind of program, despite the Bouchard report and all the numerous stories of ‘stars’ coming from abroad who come to Canada, but keep their former lab, and then go back after 5 years because Canada is too cold or whatever.
“Budget 2025 proposes to provide $1 billion over 13 years, starting in 2025-26, to ….(Tricouncil)…to launch an accelerated research Chairs initiative to recruit exceptional international researchers to Canadian universities.” 🙄 1/
November 5, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Quite astounding that we are still pushing this kind of program, despite the Bouchard report and all the numerous stories of ‘stars’ coming from abroad who come to Canada, but keep their former lab, and then go back after 5 years because Canada is too cold or whatever.
What is even more disturbing : many ‘elite’ institutions are also failing to some extent (academia, law firms, etc…)
In a way, I find the authoritarian takeover of our media system even more disturbing than the authoritarian takeover of our political system.
Our political system has been failing basically my entire adult life. But, the media system provided accountability and sort of worked. Now it’s collapsing.
Our political system has been failing basically my entire adult life. But, the media system provided accountability and sort of worked. Now it’s collapsing.
November 4, 2025 at 5:30 PM
What is even more disturbing : many ‘elite’ institutions are also failing to some extent (academia, law firms, etc…)
Open Letter to Protect Tri-Concil EDI Data, shared by @biophyscanada.bsky.social . I cannot sign right now because the form seems to suffer a bit (I assume from multiple connections !) but will definitely sign later !
November 4, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Open Letter to Protect Tri-Concil EDI Data, shared by @biophyscanada.bsky.social . I cannot sign right now because the form seems to suffer a bit (I assume from multiple connections !) but will definitely sign later !
Reposted by Paul Francois
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
On another level, I think mainstream movies playing on conspiracy tropes like ‘Fly me to the moon’ are kind d of irresponsible
Again, when I worked at Popular Science one of the most popular stories was 10 ways you can tell for yourself the earth is round.
"go to TikTok. See for yourself."
October 31, 2025 at 12:38 PM
On another level, I think mainstream movies playing on conspiracy tropes like ‘Fly me to the moon’ are kind d of irresponsible
Reposted by Paul Francois
True at McGill and at my former uni, where it led to major reorg that increased centralization (and the number of high level administrators). It's a major reason why my faculty and others have unionized at McGill. Info about the uni's finances is difficult to impossible to access. Nous is involved.
October 30, 2025 at 10:29 AM
True at McGill and at my former uni, where it led to major reorg that increased centralization (and the number of high level administrators). It's a major reason why my faculty and others have unionized at McGill. Info about the uni's finances is difficult to impossible to access. Nous is involved.
Reposted by Paul Francois
We are thrilled to announce the inaugural Metabolism in Development & Physiology virtual seminar, a new series connecting researchers across all stages & disciplines in metabolism!
🗓 13 Nov 2025, 16:00 CET
🎙 Alexander Aulehla (EMBL Heidelberg), &
🎙 Christopher Bell (Uni of Oxford)
See you there!
🗓 13 Nov 2025, 16:00 CET
🎙 Alexander Aulehla (EMBL Heidelberg), &
🎙 Christopher Bell (Uni of Oxford)
See you there!
October 28, 2025 at 4:13 PM
We are thrilled to announce the inaugural Metabolism in Development & Physiology virtual seminar, a new series connecting researchers across all stages & disciplines in metabolism!
🗓 13 Nov 2025, 16:00 CET
🎙 Alexander Aulehla (EMBL Heidelberg), &
🎙 Christopher Bell (Uni of Oxford)
See you there!
🗓 13 Nov 2025, 16:00 CET
🎙 Alexander Aulehla (EMBL Heidelberg), &
🎙 Christopher Bell (Uni of Oxford)
See you there!
Halloween Science movie.
Talk about an in-flight meal.
For the first time, researchers have captured rats hunting bats by grabbing them from the sky. Learn more: https://scim.ag/3Jqldmn
For the first time, researchers have captured rats hunting bats by grabbing them from the sky. Learn more: https://scim.ag/3Jqldmn
October 28, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Halloween Science movie.
Reposted by Paul Francois
If the NIH and HHS were under any other prior President (Dem or GOP), we’d see a rapid shift of funding to leverage this. But the politicization (and gutting) of these agencies means it won’t happen—and so many people will die unnecessarily as a result.
Finally read the paper and it's worth the buzz.
mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint blockade - Nature
mRNA vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 also sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
www.nature.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM
If the NIH and HHS were under any other prior President (Dem or GOP), we’d see a rapid shift of funding to leverage this. But the politicization (and gutting) of these agencies means it won’t happen—and so many people will die unnecessarily as a result.
Reposted by Paul Francois
"Ensemble Montréal originally proposed deregulating Airbnb — despite the fact that short-term rentals are a leading cause of the housing affordability crisis. It's all more evidence that the people who often have the best chance to lead Montreal seem to have no idea what the city's problems are.”
Who to vote for in the Montreal municipal election on Nov. 2?
The Montreal municipal election is coming up on November 2, pitting the incumbent party Projet Montréal against Ensemble and Transition.
cultmtl.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:55 PM
"Ensemble Montréal originally proposed deregulating Airbnb — despite the fact that short-term rentals are a leading cause of the housing affordability crisis. It's all more evidence that the people who often have the best chance to lead Montreal seem to have no idea what the city's problems are.”
Reposted by Paul Francois
mRNA vaccines seem to work synergistically w/ cancer immunotherapy.
In patients, the vaccine acts like a siren that triggers the release of immune signaling proteins, instructing the immune system to attack tumors.
We need to funding for mRNA based therapeutics.
🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
In patients, the vaccine acts like a siren that triggers the release of immune signaling proteins, instructing the immune system to attack tumors.
We need to funding for mRNA based therapeutics.
🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
A surprise bonus from COVID-19 vaccines: bolstering cancer treatment
Patients who got shots of mRNA before starting a type of cancer immunotherapy lived much longer
www.science.org
October 22, 2025 at 3:14 PM
mRNA vaccines seem to work synergistically w/ cancer immunotherapy.
In patients, the vaccine acts like a siren that triggers the release of immune signaling proteins, instructing the immune system to attack tumors.
We need to funding for mRNA based therapeutics.
🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
In patients, the vaccine acts like a siren that triggers the release of immune signaling proteins, instructing the immune system to attack tumors.
We need to funding for mRNA based therapeutics.
🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Paul Francois
Just posting because everyone needs to see a walking moai. 😝
📰 Experimental archaeology confirms the theory that Rapa Nui (Easter Island)'s moai could have been 'walked' using ropes and as few as 15 people!
#ArchaeologyNews via @livescience.com
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
#ArchaeologyNews via @livescience.com
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
October 21, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Just posting because everyone needs to see a walking moai. 😝
Reposted by Paul Francois
brb, calling Regent's Park to let them know that Roddy Ho's vehicle has been located
October 20, 2025 at 12:29 AM
brb, calling Regent's Park to let them know that Roddy Ho's vehicle has been located
C’est pire que de la timidité : mise en avant des ´penseurs’ d’extrême droite, publication de ‘fuites’ venant clairement du camp Trump (par ex sur Harvard)… ça s’est dégradé 2-3 mois avant l’élection. Je me suis désabonné après la colonne de Douthat disant que le Canada devait devenir le 51e état.
Ma foi dans le journalisme est heurtée de plein fouet par le manque de réaction de la plupart des grands titres américains devant ce qui se produit chez eux.
Beaucoup de médias français mettent le New York Times sur un piédestal. Et pourtant, celui-ci est d’une timidité terrible face à Trump.
Beaucoup de médias français mettent le New York Times sur un piédestal. Et pourtant, celui-ci est d’une timidité terrible face à Trump.
October 18, 2025 at 12:23 PM
C’est pire que de la timidité : mise en avant des ´penseurs’ d’extrême droite, publication de ‘fuites’ venant clairement du camp Trump (par ex sur Harvard)… ça s’est dégradé 2-3 mois avant l’élection. Je me suis désabonné après la colonne de Douthat disant que le Canada devait devenir le 51e état.
Reposted by Paul Francois
Compared to other publishers, The Company of Biologists is small fry with fewer than 70 staff supporting 5 journals from a single office. But, for over 100 years now, it’s punched above its weight in innovation, prestige and community support.
This week has been special for us, marking 100 years of supporting biologists and inspiring biology. We celebrated our achievements at @zoologymuseum.bsky.social last night. We want to thank all our staff, whose continual inspiration and daily support for one another make our work possible.
October 17, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Compared to other publishers, The Company of Biologists is small fry with fewer than 70 staff supporting 5 journals from a single office. But, for over 100 years now, it’s punched above its weight in innovation, prestige and community support.
Reposted by Paul Francois
Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
Revised evolutionary relationships within Brachycera and the early origin of bicoid in flies
Mulhair et al. uncover a functional bicoid in non-cyclorrhaphan flies, pushing the
gene's origin back by ∼20 million years. Reassessing the Diptera phylogeny using the
largest dataset to date permits ...
www.cell.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
This is mindblowing on so many levels.... Statues to honour 'the West' ? We are truly reliving some parody version of the 1930s. All the big fascist buildings built at that time are horrible and look so fake www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
America’s Tech Right Is Obsessed With Building Giant Statues
With proposals for a 450-foot statue of Prometheus on Alcatraz and a 650-foot George Washington, MAGA adherents are racing to build America’s largest statue.
www.bloomberg.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This is mindblowing on so many levels.... Statues to honour 'the West' ? We are truly reliving some parody version of the 1930s. All the big fascist buildings built at that time are horrible and look so fake www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Reposted by Paul Francois
While Silicon Valley is investing tens of billions of dollars chasing the artificial general intelligence dream, academic computing research in the U.S. is facing a severe drought. . cacm.acm.org/opinion/comp...
Computing Is Indeed a Discipline in Crisis – Communications of the ACM
cacm.acm.org
October 17, 2025 at 12:48 PM
While Silicon Valley is investing tens of billions of dollars chasing the artificial general intelligence dream, academic computing research in the U.S. is facing a severe drought. . cacm.acm.org/opinion/comp...
Reposted by Paul Francois
Please allow me to introduce... our new preprint 🎉 Together with Michael Zhao, Anna Erzberger and Alexander Aulehla, we investigate pattern formation due to aggregation in confined systems.
You can find it at arxiv.org/abs/2509.08533
@michaelzhao.bsky.social @erzbergerlab.bsky.social
You can find it at arxiv.org/abs/2509.08533
@michaelzhao.bsky.social @erzbergerlab.bsky.social
September 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Please allow me to introduce... our new preprint 🎉 Together with Michael Zhao, Anna Erzberger and Alexander Aulehla, we investigate pattern formation due to aggregation in confined systems.
You can find it at arxiv.org/abs/2509.08533
@michaelzhao.bsky.social @erzbergerlab.bsky.social
You can find it at arxiv.org/abs/2509.08533
@michaelzhao.bsky.social @erzbergerlab.bsky.social