Siegfried Hekimi
@siegfriedhekimi.bsky.social
Biologist seeking to formulate and test new conjectures about aging.
McGill U.
Worms, yeast, mice, patient cells.
Aging, mitochondria, CoQ.
Former professional cyclist.
hekimilab.mcgill.ca
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=2WIdFlcAAAAJ
McGill U.
Worms, yeast, mice, patient cells.
Aging, mitochondria, CoQ.
Former professional cyclist.
hekimilab.mcgill.ca
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=2WIdFlcAAAAJ
I climbed that mountain and I met that elephant. No kidding! (Old guy on the left)
Ok, maybe it was the elephant’s cousin.
Ok, maybe it was the elephant’s cousin.
January 3, 2026 at 10:32 PM
I climbed that mountain and I met that elephant. No kidding! (Old guy on the left)
Ok, maybe it was the elephant’s cousin.
Ok, maybe it was the elephant’s cousin.
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Apparently, leadership consists in justifying one’s existence and salary by inventing new ways to make other people lose their time by jumping through useless hurdles. (and I don’t mean the athletes) Go Femke!
January 2, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Apparently, leadership consists in justifying one’s existence and salary by inventing new ways to make other people lose their time by jumping through useless hurdles. (and I don’t mean the athletes) Go Femke!
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Show a great TikTok where it was demonstrated that if datacenters should be prohibited from using water, then, even more so, should golf course watering in deserts (among other similar waste).
January 2, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Show a great TikTok where it was demonstrated that if datacenters should be prohibited from using water, then, even more so, should golf course watering in deserts (among other similar waste).
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Skating on the water I swam in, very few weeks ago (or so it seems).
January 2, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Skating on the water I swam in, very few weeks ago (or so it seems).
Skating on the water I swam in, very few weeks ago (or so it seems).
January 2, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Skating on the water I swam in, very few weeks ago (or so it seems).
Show a great TikTok where it was demonstrated that if datacenters should be prohibited from using water, then, even more so, should golf course watering in deserts (among other similar waste).
January 2, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Show a great TikTok where it was demonstrated that if datacenters should be prohibited from using water, then, even more so, should golf course watering in deserts (among other similar waste).
Apparently, leadership consists in justifying one’s existence and salary by inventing new ways to make other people lose their time by jumping through useless hurdles. (and I don’t mean the athletes) Go Femke!
January 2, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Apparently, leadership consists in justifying one’s existence and salary by inventing new ways to make other people lose their time by jumping through useless hurdles. (and I don’t mean the athletes) Go Femke!
I have a zoom meeting today at 3pm. And I won’t be 3 min late.
December 29, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I have a zoom meeting today at 3pm. And I won’t be 3 min late.
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
youtube.com/shorts/iAw7N...
I agree that there is no bottom in physics. But there is a bottom in biology and the proof is the existence and function of DNA. So, at least living things have “reality”.
I agree that there is no bottom in physics. But there is a bottom in biology and the proof is the existence and function of DNA. So, at least living things have “reality”.
There are no fundamental particles | Hilary Lawson, Robert Lawrence Kuhn
YouTube video by The Institute of Art and Ideas
youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:48 PM
youtube.com/shorts/iAw7N...
I agree that there is no bottom in physics. But there is a bottom in biology and the proof is the existence and function of DNA. So, at least living things have “reality”.
I agree that there is no bottom in physics. But there is a bottom in biology and the proof is the existence and function of DNA. So, at least living things have “reality”.
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Back to good old “hold my beer”!
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Back to good old “hold my beer”!
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
In 2025, we reviewed a new lab record number of 117 manuscripts.
If I was to charge 250 EUR per hour and would invest 2 h of work for every review this would make 58500 EUR @springernature.com @elsevierconnect.bsky.social @embopress.org & Co. owe me and my junior co-reviewers...
Happy Sunday!
If I was to charge 250 EUR per hour and would invest 2 h of work for every review this would make 58500 EUR @springernature.com @elsevierconnect.bsky.social @embopress.org & Co. owe me and my junior co-reviewers...
Happy Sunday!
December 28, 2025 at 8:22 PM
In 2025, we reviewed a new lab record number of 117 manuscripts.
If I was to charge 250 EUR per hour and would invest 2 h of work for every review this would make 58500 EUR @springernature.com @elsevierconnect.bsky.social @embopress.org & Co. owe me and my junior co-reviewers...
Happy Sunday!
If I was to charge 250 EUR per hour and would invest 2 h of work for every review this would make 58500 EUR @springernature.com @elsevierconnect.bsky.social @embopress.org & Co. owe me and my junior co-reviewers...
Happy Sunday!
Back to good old “hold my beer”!
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Back to good old “hold my beer”!
Not according to my CV.
December 27, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Not according to my CV.
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
youtube.com/shorts/iAw7N...
I agree that there is no bottom in physics. But there is a bottom in biology and the proof is the existence and function of DNA. So, at least living things have “reality”.
I agree that there is no bottom in physics. But there is a bottom in biology and the proof is the existence and function of DNA. So, at least living things have “reality”.
There are no fundamental particles | Hilary Lawson, Robert Lawrence Kuhn
YouTube video by The Institute of Art and Ideas
youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:48 PM
youtube.com/shorts/iAw7N...
I agree that there is no bottom in physics. But there is a bottom in biology and the proof is the existence and function of DNA. So, at least living things have “reality”.
I agree that there is no bottom in physics. But there is a bottom in biology and the proof is the existence and function of DNA. So, at least living things have “reality”.
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Getting a new battery for my diving computer. Hoping to not get Covid like last time 🙄. Yes, I know, my life is a dream in any case.
December 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Getting a new battery for my diving computer. Hoping to not get Covid like last time 🙄. Yes, I know, my life is a dream in any case.
Getting a new battery for my diving computer. Hoping to not get Covid like last time 🙄. Yes, I know, my life is a dream in any case.
December 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Getting a new battery for my diving computer. Hoping to not get Covid like last time 🙄. Yes, I know, my life is a dream in any case.
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
This sounds like reduction to the lowest common denominator. The only way to fix peer review is to fix publishing. Such as boycott journals that do desk rejection for anything else than lack of soundness. If this were so I and many other would be less reluctant to spend time reviewing.
Artificial intelligence promises rapid and polite feedback on papers — but we must first review the reviewer. This stand first says it all…
A timely World View Colin in our pages by Giorgio Gilestro
🧪 #academicSky
@nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
A timely World View Colin in our pages by Giorgio Gilestro
🧪 #academicSky
@nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
AI reviewers are here — we are not ready
Artificial intelligence promises rapid and polite feedback on papers — but we must first review the reviewer.
www.nature.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
This sounds like reduction to the lowest common denominator. The only way to fix peer review is to fix publishing. Such as boycott journals that do desk rejection for anything else than lack of soundness. If this were so I and many other would be less reluctant to spend time reviewing.
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Fritz Wunderlich was a great tenor I really liked as a teenager and still do. If was really a fun surprise when as an elite cyclist I won a stage in the Tour of Rhineland-Palatinate in the city of Kusel, his proud birthplace, and they gave me the Fritz Wunderlich medal (worlds colliding).
December 3, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Fritz Wunderlich was a great tenor I really liked as a teenager and still do. If was really a fun surprise when as an elite cyclist I won a stage in the Tour of Rhineland-Palatinate in the city of Kusel, his proud birthplace, and they gave me the Fritz Wunderlich medal (worlds colliding).
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
I found “papers” that were AI rewording almost sentence by sentence of papers I published 15 years ago. There is something wrong with me but I just thought it hilarious (despite the fact that it is terrible).
Great thread on the Ponzi scheme that is academic publishing. Public funds funnelled into obscene private profits using free labour of (publicly funded) Academics. AI slop contaminating the literature.
Since AI slop is again all over Scientific Reports, a thread on the economics of grey-zone publishing.
Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this?
Background readings:
Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy
Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this?
Background readings:
Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy
December 2, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I found “papers” that were AI rewording almost sentence by sentence of papers I published 15 years ago. There is something wrong with me but I just thought it hilarious (despite the fact that it is terrible).
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Bill Gates underestimates the perils of the climate crisis, but I agree with him: we shouldn’t sacrifice those alive now for future people who might never exist.
It’s like buying a lifetime supply of petri dishes at a discount and then switch to a field that doesn’t need any.
It’s like buying a lifetime supply of petri dishes at a discount and then switch to a field that doesn’t need any.
October 29, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Bill Gates underestimates the perils of the climate crisis, but I agree with him: we shouldn’t sacrifice those alive now for future people who might never exist.
It’s like buying a lifetime supply of petri dishes at a discount and then switch to a field that doesn’t need any.
It’s like buying a lifetime supply of petri dishes at a discount and then switch to a field that doesn’t need any.
Reposted by Siegfried Hekimi
Maybe enhanced DNA repair can only be beneficial for them because they are otherwise protected from the environment thanks to size (whales) and stable habitat (mole rats).
What do the naked mole rat and bowhead whale (lives to ~200 years) have in common to explain their remarkable longevity?
Enhanced DNA repair
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
erictopol.substack.com/p/a-long-awa...
Enhanced DNA repair
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
erictopol.substack.com/p/a-long-awa...
Evidence for improved DNA repair in long-lived bowhead whale - Nature
Analysis of the longest-lived mammal, the bowhead whale, reveals an improved ability to repair DNA breaks, mediated by high levels of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein. &nbs...
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Maybe enhanced DNA repair can only be beneficial for them because they are otherwise protected from the environment thanks to size (whales) and stable habitat (mole rats).