Will Shoemaker
@shoestrapped.bsky.social
Biologist applying principles from physics at ICTP in Trieste, Italy 🇮🇹 Postdoc researching microbial ecology and evolution in Jacopo Grilli’s research group. PhD w/ @jaytlennon.bsky.social.
https://wrshoemaker.github.io
https://wrshoemaker.github.io
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
they shouldnt have bailed out silicon valley bank, that was a fuckup
“It’s not that I’m for austerity, it’s just that I’m against bailing out AI, crypto, private assets/university endowments, and I’m fine with canceled Thanksgiving flights and missed paychecks as long as Republicans take the blame for it.”
November 8, 2025 at 12:24 AM
they shouldnt have bailed out silicon valley bank, that was a fuckup
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
In case anyone is wondering if Watson was really THAT bad, @lpachter.bsky.social compiled a list of quotes that are absolutely not for the faint of heart.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
November 7, 2025 at 10:18 PM
In case anyone is wondering if Watson was really THAT bad, @lpachter.bsky.social compiled a list of quotes that are absolutely not for the faint of heart.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
“When the axe came into the woods, the trees said, ‘Do not worry, the handle is one of us.’”
- Turkish proverb
- Turkish proverb
IT'S HAPPENING! 💥 I'm psyched to launch the collaboration between @qedscience.bsky.social & @openrxiv.bsky.social @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social! Preprint + q.e.d = your science is out there, and anyone can appreciate it. Let's care about making discoveries, and not on “getting published” (1/3) 👇
November 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
“When the axe came into the woods, the trees said, ‘Do not worry, the handle is one of us.’”
- Turkish proverb
- Turkish proverb
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
disappointed that @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social is implicitly endorsing the use of LLMs to replace scientific thought
@richardsever.bsky.social this is a short-sighted move and a net negative for science
@richardsever.bsky.social this is a short-sighted move and a net negative for science
IT'S HAPPENING! 💥 I'm psyched to launch the collaboration between @qedscience.bsky.social & @openrxiv.bsky.social @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social! Preprint + q.e.d = your science is out there, and anyone can appreciate it. Let's care about making discoveries, and not on “getting published” (1/3) 👇
November 7, 2025 at 9:06 AM
disappointed that @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social is implicitly endorsing the use of LLMs to replace scientific thought
@richardsever.bsky.social this is a short-sighted move and a net negative for science
@richardsever.bsky.social this is a short-sighted move and a net negative for science
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
Perhaps we are at the point where universities should be making themselves much less dependent on microsoft.
November 6, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Perhaps we are at the point where universities should be making themselves much less dependent on microsoft.
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...
To Finish the Pandemic Agreement, WHO Needs a Trustworthy Viral Database | Think Global Health
Online platforms for sharing virus sequences are in disarray. The World Health Organization has a chance to build something new
www.thinkglobalhealth.org
November 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM
🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
Oh look English teachers have their lesson plan for the day on how word choice exposes POV.
anointed not elected: reveals contempt with a whiff of religiosity
strode not walked: implies arrogance
cavernous not packed: evokes emptiness, darkness
It’s you, NYT. You are talking about yourself
anointed not elected: reveals contempt with a whiff of religiosity
strode not walked: implies arrogance
cavernous not packed: evokes emptiness, darkness
It’s you, NYT. You are talking about yourself
Shortly after Zohran Mamdani was anointed the mayor-elect of New York City on Tuesday, he strode onto the stage of a cavernous theater in Brooklyn and delivered a victory speech that celebrated New York’s immigrants, working class and young people. Follow live: nyti.ms/3X9h35I
November 5, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Oh look English teachers have their lesson plan for the day on how word choice exposes POV.
anointed not elected: reveals contempt with a whiff of religiosity
strode not walked: implies arrogance
cavernous not packed: evokes emptiness, darkness
It’s you, NYT. You are talking about yourself
anointed not elected: reveals contempt with a whiff of religiosity
strode not walked: implies arrogance
cavernous not packed: evokes emptiness, darkness
It’s you, NYT. You are talking about yourself
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
Here's another bit of conventional wisdom Zohran completely blew away: His speech was at well above a 10th-grade level. It was complex, erudite, punctuated by deep and fluent references. You don't have to condescend to voters with baby talk! Part of re-establishing norms is speaking like an adult.
November 5, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Here's another bit of conventional wisdom Zohran completely blew away: His speech was at well above a 10th-grade level. It was complex, erudite, punctuated by deep and fluent references. You don't have to condescend to voters with baby talk! Part of re-establishing norms is speaking like an adult.
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
All day, many of you have been asking for a Cheney obituary from me. Get ready:
His Works Completed, Dick Cheney, Mass Murderer of Iraqis and American Democracy, Dies
As much as the Trumpists claim to disavow the War on Terror, they walk a path paved by the most powerful vice president in U.S. history.
www.thenation.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
All day, many of you have been asking for a Cheney obituary from me. Get ready:
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
Vital piece on the impacts of intentional attacks that harm US science and research capacity throughout federal agencies, including quotes from current & former staff and a few willing to speak on the record. To all: thank you for your work, service, and continued courage.
👇
👇
"Science is being destroyed across many agencies" say federal researchers.
For my latest @nature.com piece, I spoke to 19 different scientists across EPA, NOAA, NIH, NASA, and USGS to document how science is being dismantled across US federal agencies.
For my latest @nature.com piece, I spoke to 19 different scientists across EPA, NOAA, NIH, NASA, and USGS to document how science is being dismantled across US federal agencies.
Dismantling of US federal agencies will ‘destroy science’
From NASA to the National Institutes of Health, federal agencies conduct research that universities cannot. Agency scientists speak out about the irreplaceable facilities, institutional knowledge and ...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Vital piece on the impacts of intentional attacks that harm US science and research capacity throughout federal agencies, including quotes from current & former staff and a few willing to speak on the record. To all: thank you for your work, service, and continued courage.
👇
👇
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
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
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
Tomorrow. D.C. The National Mall. Sunup to sundown.
October 26, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Tomorrow. D.C. The National Mall. Sunup to sundown.
Heading back to Trieste after a fine week at the University of Maribor visiting the lab of Dr. Maja Rupnik, expertly organized by PhD candidate Urša Miklavčič. Plenty of microbial macroecology, sporulation, and žlikrofi 🇸🇮
October 24, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Heading back to Trieste after a fine week at the University of Maribor visiting the lab of Dr. Maja Rupnik, expertly organized by PhD candidate Urša Miklavčič. Plenty of microbial macroecology, sporulation, and žlikrofi 🇸🇮
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
there is an æsthetics in all things
October 22, 2025 at 8:47 AM
there is an æsthetics in all things
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
If you normally have an incoming class of 15 students (like in my PhD program), what's the point of admitting just one or two students? How are you going to teach classes or have any sense of camaraderie?
US PhD admissions shrink as fears over Trump’s cuts take hold
Some doctoral programmes are admitting no students at all amid uncertainty about federal science funding.
go.nature.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:04 AM
If you normally have an incoming class of 15 students (like in my PhD program), what's the point of admitting just one or two students? How are you going to teach classes or have any sense of camaraderie?
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
I still contend that >90% of the benefit of writing a review isn't the audience. It's for the author going through the literature, finding gaps in knowledge, learning how experiments are done, etc. It really isn't about writing a review. It's about doing the review yourself. AI can't do that for you
October 21, 2025 at 5:28 PM
I still contend that >90% of the benefit of writing a review isn't the audience. It's for the author going through the literature, finding gaps in knowledge, learning how experiments are done, etc. It really isn't about writing a review. It's about doing the review yourself. AI can't do that for you
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
For anyone who has not read Stigler's wonderful paper on the Epic Story of Maximum Likelihood, I cannot recommend it enough. You will laugh, you might cry, and you will certainly walk away learning something new. #statssky #statistics www.mit.edu/~18.655/pape...
October 17, 2025 at 1:56 AM
For anyone who has not read Stigler's wonderful paper on the Epic Story of Maximum Likelihood, I cannot recommend it enough. You will laugh, you might cry, and you will certainly walk away learning something new. #statssky #statistics www.mit.edu/~18.655/pape...
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
Lab’s 1st preprint!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
I’m thrilled to share my postdoc work and the first paper from the McKinley Lab! 🎉
@karalmckinley.bsky.social
We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice.
We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵
@karalmckinley.bsky.social
We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice.
We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵
Induction of menstruation in mice reveals the regulation of menstrual shedding
During menstruation, an inner layer of the endometrium is selectively shed, while an outer, progenitor-containing layer is preserved to support repeated regeneration. Progress in understanding this co...
www.biorxiv.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Lab’s 1st preprint!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.
sites.stat.columbia.edu
October 4, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause
October 3, 2025 at 2:47 PM
There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
“It’s another reason to love RSS: seems like the tech lords hate it.” Why you should let RSS feeds back into your (digital) life.
Why you should get (back) into RSS curation.
Right after college, I moved to San Francisco, a city where I knew one person. I had a lonely time at first, and in particular I struggled to stay connected to the friends I no longer shared a camp…
buff.ly
September 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM
“It’s another reason to love RSS: seems like the tech lords hate it.” Why you should let RSS feeds back into your (digital) life.
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
The landscape of microbial associations in human cancer www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
TLDR -- most cancers do not have microbiomes...but a few do have consistent microbe associations (i.e., colorectal and oral cancers). Make sense!
TLDR -- most cancers do not have microbiomes...but a few do have consistent microbe associations (i.e., colorectal and oral cancers). Make sense!
The landscape of microbial associations in human cancer
Differences between cancer types, infectious disease, and potential prognostic markers are uncovered by studying microbes within cancer DNA.
www.science.org
September 12, 2025 at 7:40 PM
The landscape of microbial associations in human cancer www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
TLDR -- most cancers do not have microbiomes...but a few do have consistent microbe associations (i.e., colorectal and oral cancers). Make sense!
TLDR -- most cancers do not have microbiomes...but a few do have consistent microbe associations (i.e., colorectal and oral cancers). Make sense!
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
@science.org ⤵️challenges prevailing notion—repressor and activator act by distinct mechanisms: repressors block via steric hindrance/activators enable Pol II binding to promoter🧬
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
September 12, 2025 at 4:55 PM
@science.org ⤵️challenges prevailing notion—repressor and activator act by distinct mechanisms: repressors block via steric hindrance/activators enable Pol II binding to promoter🧬
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
Reposted by Will Shoemaker
the amount of Chinese investment in green tech around the developing world is simply mind boggling www.netzeropolicylab.com/china-green-...
China Green Leap Outward — Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab
A new China Low Carbon Technology FDI Database
www.netzeropolicylab.com
September 12, 2025 at 1:35 PM
the amount of Chinese investment in green tech around the developing world is simply mind boggling www.netzeropolicylab.com/china-green-...