Simone Cuff
@simonecuff.bsky.social
Lover of all things data, immunology and viruses. Also a bit of sci-art.
Reposted by Simone Cuff
Prof. Matthias Eberl @eberllab.bsky.social:
"A Microbial Horror Show — Devastating outbreaks of disease that shaped how we fight infections"
Public Lecture
Thursday 27th November, 7:00 pm UK time
@cumedicengage.bsky.social
👉🏼 tinyurl.com/microbial-ho...
🦠🧫🔬🤒🏥
"A Microbial Horror Show — Devastating outbreaks of disease that shaped how we fight infections"
Public Lecture
Thursday 27th November, 7:00 pm UK time
@cumedicengage.bsky.social
👉🏼 tinyurl.com/microbial-ho...
🦠🧫🔬🤒🏥
November 12, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Prof. Matthias Eberl @eberllab.bsky.social:
"A Microbial Horror Show — Devastating outbreaks of disease that shaped how we fight infections"
Public Lecture
Thursday 27th November, 7:00 pm UK time
@cumedicengage.bsky.social
👉🏼 tinyurl.com/microbial-ho...
🦠🧫🔬🤒🏥
"A Microbial Horror Show — Devastating outbreaks of disease that shaped how we fight infections"
Public Lecture
Thursday 27th November, 7:00 pm UK time
@cumedicengage.bsky.social
👉🏼 tinyurl.com/microbial-ho...
🦠🧫🔬🤒🏥
Just saw ChatGPT and its AI LLM ilk called stochastic parrots and it is just the most fabulously satisfying, accurate metaphor.
When you are being formal: LLM. When you are saying what you think: SP.
When you are being formal: LLM. When you are saying what you think: SP.
August 27, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Just saw ChatGPT and its AI LLM ilk called stochastic parrots and it is just the most fabulously satisfying, accurate metaphor.
When you are being formal: LLM. When you are saying what you think: SP.
When you are being formal: LLM. When you are saying what you think: SP.
Pleased to see this extending further across the publishing ecosystem.
#ResearchIntegrity
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#ResearchIntegrity
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Transparent peer review to be extended to all of Nature’s research papers
From today, all new submissions to Nature that are published will be accompanied by referees’ reports and author responses — to illuminate the process of producing rigorous science.
www.nature.com
June 17, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Pleased to see this extending further across the publishing ecosystem.
#ResearchIntegrity
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#ResearchIntegrity
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Simone Cuff
To celebrate this (urp 🤢) exciting new journal series, we made a mini game!
Can YOU guess which journals are Discover, MDPI, or both? No cheating! There's even the challenge mode "APC Ladder."
Share your high score with the hashtag #ResearchIntegrity
pagoba.shinyapps.io/publi_guess/
FUN!! 🤮 6/n
Can YOU guess which journals are Discover, MDPI, or both? No cheating! There's even the challenge mode "APC Ladder."
Share your high score with the hashtag #ResearchIntegrity
pagoba.shinyapps.io/publi_guess/
FUN!! 🤮 6/n
June 10, 2025 at 5:49 AM
To celebrate this (urp 🤢) exciting new journal series, we made a mini game!
Can YOU guess which journals are Discover, MDPI, or both? No cheating! There's even the challenge mode "APC Ladder."
Share your high score with the hashtag #ResearchIntegrity
pagoba.shinyapps.io/publi_guess/
FUN!! 🤮 6/n
Can YOU guess which journals are Discover, MDPI, or both? No cheating! There's even the challenge mode "APC Ladder."
Share your high score with the hashtag #ResearchIntegrity
pagoba.shinyapps.io/publi_guess/
FUN!! 🤮 6/n
Tech giant creates a green space only to be horrified that they are accidentally creating a valuable ecosystem rather than a token piece of bio-art.
Google battling ‘fox infestation’ on roof of £1bn London office.
The foxes "are now living on the top floor which is like a small park.”
The as-yet unopened ~1m sq ft King’s Cross building has been under construction since 2018.
🧪🦊🦊
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
The foxes "are now living on the top floor which is like a small park.”
The as-yet unopened ~1m sq ft King’s Cross building has been under construction since 2018.
🧪🦊🦊
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Google battling ‘fox infestation’ on roof of £1bn London office
Foxes have ‘begun to dig burrows’ in soil of rooftop garden at the as yet unopened King’s Cross headquarters
www.theguardian.com
June 10, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Tech giant creates a green space only to be horrified that they are accidentally creating a valuable ecosystem rather than a token piece of bio-art.
Reposted by Simone Cuff
A female Western Gull was recorded riding 150km in a garbage truck from San Francisco to a compost facility in Central CA, probably to forage. TWICE. An innovator, an icon, a genius.
This is one of my favorite @waterbirdsociety.bsky.social papers I've ever handled as managing editor #ornithology
This is one of my favorite @waterbirdsociety.bsky.social papers I've ever handled as managing editor #ornithology
June 3, 2025 at 8:24 AM
A female Western Gull was recorded riding 150km in a garbage truck from San Francisco to a compost facility in Central CA, probably to forage. TWICE. An innovator, an icon, a genius.
This is one of my favorite @waterbirdsociety.bsky.social papers I've ever handled as managing editor #ornithology
This is one of my favorite @waterbirdsociety.bsky.social papers I've ever handled as managing editor #ornithology
Reposted by Simone Cuff
Here's our piece on the £86bn R&D budget
The govt calls it a “bumper funding package” worth more than £22.5bn a year by 2029–30
In reality it's a real-terms freeze, accounting for inflation, using OBR forecasts
But probably as good as the research sector could hope for
The govt calls it a “bumper funding package” worth more than £22.5bn a year by 2029–30
In reality it's a real-terms freeze, accounting for inflation, using OBR forecasts
But probably as good as the research sector could hope for
June 8, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Here's our piece on the £86bn R&D budget
The govt calls it a “bumper funding package” worth more than £22.5bn a year by 2029–30
In reality it's a real-terms freeze, accounting for inflation, using OBR forecasts
But probably as good as the research sector could hope for
The govt calls it a “bumper funding package” worth more than £22.5bn a year by 2029–30
In reality it's a real-terms freeze, accounting for inflation, using OBR forecasts
But probably as good as the research sector could hope for
Reposted by Simone Cuff
Our latest research shows spot-on flea treatments on dogs are released into water when dogs swim even 28 days after treatment - in contrast to the label which suggests dogs can safely swim 48 h after treatment.
www.newscientist.com/article/2482...
www.newscientist.com/article/2482...
Dogs pollute water with pesticides even weeks after flea treatment
When dogs given spot treatments for fleas go swimming, they release levels of pesticides dangerous to aquatic life for at least a month after the treatment
www.newscientist.com
June 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Our latest research shows spot-on flea treatments on dogs are released into water when dogs swim even 28 days after treatment - in contrast to the label which suggests dogs can safely swim 48 h after treatment.
www.newscientist.com/article/2482...
www.newscientist.com/article/2482...
See also statistics and critical thinking.
But mainly because this not only has an excellent point, but because it is a damn good read.
But mainly because this not only has an excellent point, but because it is a damn good read.
The Copilot Delusion
buff.ly/99QsTEM
<- the story is that one thing LLMs are good at is helping programmers. An experienced programmer carefully explains, in detail, why this is not true.
buff.ly/99QsTEM
<- the story is that one thing LLMs are good at is helping programmers. An experienced programmer carefully explains, in detail, why this is not true.
The Copilot Delusion
Disclaimer: This post was written May 2025, and the arguments apply to AI code capabilities at this time. The arguments around lack of competence are certainly likely to become less prevalent-while the...
buff.ly
June 3, 2025 at 8:46 AM
See also statistics and critical thinking.
But mainly because this not only has an excellent point, but because it is a damn good read.
But mainly because this not only has an excellent point, but because it is a damn good read.
Reposted by Simone Cuff
🚨 We're recruiting! The Journal of Medical Microbiology is seeking two Editors for our Molecular and Microbial Epidemiology section. Help shape the future of microbiology research.
📅 Apply by 20 June 2025
🔗 microb.io/News
📅 Apply by 20 June 2025
🔗 microb.io/News
June 3, 2025 at 8:03 AM
🚨 We're recruiting! The Journal of Medical Microbiology is seeking two Editors for our Molecular and Microbial Epidemiology section. Help shape the future of microbiology research.
📅 Apply by 20 June 2025
🔗 microb.io/News
📅 Apply by 20 June 2025
🔗 microb.io/News
Reposted by Simone Cuff
We have officially moved in.
Our Pop-Up Science Shop will be open to the public from 7th July until 3rd August 3025.
Find us in the St David's shopping centre in Cardiff near John Lewis, Zara and Apple.
Learn about the microbial world in, on and around us.
Including the black death.
Our Pop-Up Science Shop will be open to the public from 7th July until 3rd August 3025.
Find us in the St David's shopping centre in Cardiff near John Lewis, Zara and Apple.
Learn about the microbial world in, on and around us.
Including the black death.
June 2, 2025 at 5:07 PM
We have officially moved in.
Our Pop-Up Science Shop will be open to the public from 7th July until 3rd August 3025.
Find us in the St David's shopping centre in Cardiff near John Lewis, Zara and Apple.
Learn about the microbial world in, on and around us.
Including the black death.
Our Pop-Up Science Shop will be open to the public from 7th July until 3rd August 3025.
Find us in the St David's shopping centre in Cardiff near John Lewis, Zara and Apple.
Learn about the microbial world in, on and around us.
Including the black death.
The nature of status-seeking in society (and by some elements in science especially) normally makes me despair. LLMs enabling that without effort even more so. This blog post suggests a refreshingly subversive take on both.
This week's blog post is here, and it's about LLMs as a cultural phenomenon:
Keeping up appearances | deadSimpleTech
The only reason that LLMs took root in the first place was because our societies in the anglosphere have already developed cultures solely devoted to gaining status and keeping up the appearance of do...
deadsimpletech.com
May 27, 2025 at 7:33 AM
The nature of status-seeking in society (and by some elements in science especially) normally makes me despair. LLMs enabling that without effort even more so. This blog post suggests a refreshingly subversive take on both.
Reposted by Simone Cuff
Mass mortality of Black-legged Kittiwakes, Norway, 2023: more than 15,000 birds dead, population reduction of 50%. genotype EA-2022-BB
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
May 27, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Mass mortality of Black-legged Kittiwakes, Norway, 2023: more than 15,000 birds dead, population reduction of 50%. genotype EA-2022-BB
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Simone Cuff
Are you based in the U.S. 🇺🇸 or Canada 🇨🇦 and thinking of doing research in Europe?
ERC grants offer up to €4.5 million to support groundbreaking, investigator-driven frontier research in all fields.
Watch the dedicated info session for researchers in your region👉 youtu.be/92QYink1Lik
#ChooseEurope
ERC grants offer up to €4.5 million to support groundbreaking, investigator-driven frontier research in all fields.
Watch the dedicated info session for researchers in your region👉 youtu.be/92QYink1Lik
#ChooseEurope
May 19, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Are you based in the U.S. 🇺🇸 or Canada 🇨🇦 and thinking of doing research in Europe?
ERC grants offer up to €4.5 million to support groundbreaking, investigator-driven frontier research in all fields.
Watch the dedicated info session for researchers in your region👉 youtu.be/92QYink1Lik
#ChooseEurope
ERC grants offer up to €4.5 million to support groundbreaking, investigator-driven frontier research in all fields.
Watch the dedicated info session for researchers in your region👉 youtu.be/92QYink1Lik
#ChooseEurope
Reposted by Simone Cuff
Exciting job opportunities!
Two postdoc positions are available in the Fodor Lab at
@dunnschool.bsky.social to study influenza virus transcription, genome replication, nuclear export and assembly.
More info: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Two postdoc positions are available in the Fodor Lab at
@dunnschool.bsky.social to study influenza virus transcription, genome replication, nuclear export and assembly.
More info: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
May 7, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Exciting job opportunities!
Two postdoc positions are available in the Fodor Lab at
@dunnschool.bsky.social to study influenza virus transcription, genome replication, nuclear export and assembly.
More info: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Two postdoc positions are available in the Fodor Lab at
@dunnschool.bsky.social to study influenza virus transcription, genome replication, nuclear export and assembly.
More info: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Reposted by Simone Cuff
Close reading is for everyone: defector.com/close-readin...
May 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Close reading is for everyone: defector.com/close-readin...
Reposted by Simone Cuff
"According to his research, worldwide AI energy demand is now set to surpass demand from bitcoin mining by the end of this year"
New paper from Alex DeVries on what proportion of total data centre demand is for machine learning applications
New paper from Alex DeVries on what proportion of total data centre demand is for machine learning applications
AI Is Eating Data Center Power Demand—and It’s Only Getting Worse
A new analysis of AI hardware being produced and how it is being used attempts to estimate the vast amount of electricity being consumed by AI.
www.wired.com
May 22, 2025 at 6:15 PM
"According to his research, worldwide AI energy demand is now set to surpass demand from bitcoin mining by the end of this year"
New paper from Alex DeVries on what proportion of total data centre demand is for machine learning applications
New paper from Alex DeVries on what proportion of total data centre demand is for machine learning applications
I've just learned that adding "-ai" to your Google search will get rid of those annoying, often inaccurate AI summaries which otherwise appear at the top.
The info was gifted to me and now I gift it to you. 😊.
Now, if only I could get rid of SEO...
The info was gifted to me and now I gift it to you. 😊.
Now, if only I could get rid of SEO...
May 16, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I've just learned that adding "-ai" to your Google search will get rid of those annoying, often inaccurate AI summaries which otherwise appear at the top.
The info was gifted to me and now I gift it to you. 😊.
Now, if only I could get rid of SEO...
The info was gifted to me and now I gift it to you. 😊.
Now, if only I could get rid of SEO...
Reposted by Simone Cuff
"This consultation seeks views on the approaches government should consider around reform of the #health and #disability benefits system and employment support." Respond by 30th June - online form here forms.office.com/pages/respon....
www.gov.uk/government/c...
#Disability #DisabilitySky #NEISVoid
www.gov.uk/government/c...
#Disability #DisabilitySky #NEISVoid
Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper
This consultation seeks views on the approaches government should consider around reform of the health and disability benefits system and employment support.
www.gov.uk
April 26, 2025 at 3:36 PM
"This consultation seeks views on the approaches government should consider around reform of the #health and #disability benefits system and employment support." Respond by 30th June - online form here forms.office.com/pages/respon....
www.gov.uk/government/c...
#Disability #DisabilitySky #NEISVoid
www.gov.uk/government/c...
#Disability #DisabilitySky #NEISVoid
Reposted by Simone Cuff
The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.
April 9, 2025 at 7:15 PM
The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.
Reposted by Simone Cuff
This paper👇 is now retracted (with the authors' agreement): thanks again to the authors for putting this on the table, and hoping the "reviewer" feels ashamed... #researchintegrity
doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...
doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...
April 10, 2025 at 4:35 AM
This paper👇 is now retracted (with the authors' agreement): thanks again to the authors for putting this on the table, and hoping the "reviewer" feels ashamed... #researchintegrity
doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...
doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...
Really enjoying meeting like minds at #FAIRS (Fostering Accountability for the Integrity of Science). #ResearchIntegrity
April 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Really enjoying meeting like minds at #FAIRS (Fostering Accountability for the Integrity of Science). #ResearchIntegrity
Reposted by Simone Cuff
Turns out Le Pen is not mightier than the fraud.
March 31, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Turns out Le Pen is not mightier than the fraud.