Claudia Kasper
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suspigt.bsky.social
Claudia Kasper
@suspigt.bsky.social
Geneticist, interested in nitrogen efficiency and welfare of farm animals, and phentoyping geek.
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Gave a talk on free will the other day and got what is an increasingly common question: isn't my mind really being controlled by my gut microbiome? 🤪
February 6, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Viele wissen, dass ich vor 2 Jahren mit der Skeptiker-Community gebrochen habe, als dort Leute begannen, "wissenschaftlich" zu erklären, warum Feminismus unnötig ist und man Minderheiten nicht schützen muss. Jetzt zeigen die Epstein-Files, wie übel die US-Skeptikerszene wirklich ist. Schmerzhaft.
Epstein Files Reveal How Pathetic Richard Dawkins & Other Men Are
YouTube video by Rebecca Watson (Skepchick)
www.youtube.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Sometimes if you cut it down correctly, you can still see the last meal a tree had in its stomach when it died
February 4, 2026 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
It's fascinating that medics are making the effort to switch to anaesthetics with less greenhouse effect while people are driving alone in SUVs
When you go in for a medical procedure, the gas putting you to sleep may also be warming the planet. That's prompting regulators and hospitals around the world to move to less-polluting alternatives.

Read more in @bloomberg.com:
Why Hospitals Are Phasing Out a Popular Operating Room Anesthetic
Desflurane, which has put patients to sleep for decades, has an outsized footprint, and health care providers are switching to less-polluting alternatives.
www.bloomberg.com
February 3, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
The idea that data should be in machine-readable form disproportionately benefits systematic data generators — stamp collectors, if we choose violence today — and disproportionately penalizes groups that use many different and often bespoke approaches to do hypothesis-based research. IMO.
February 3, 2026 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Thank you, Catherine O’Hara, for your vivaciously venerable vocabulary.
www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/wor...
16 Glee-ridden Words from Schitt's Creek
Don’t watch without reading this, you little frippets!
www.merriam-webster.com
February 2, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
#ProtistsOnSky
no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...
February 2, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
📣 registration for the rainbowR conference is now live 🎉

The conference is for anyone interested in R and/or analysing data to understand LGBTQ+ issues. The majority of speakers and workshop leaders are LGBTQ+, but you do not have to be LGBTQ+ to attend.

pretix.eu/rainbowr/con...

#RStats #LGBTQ
rainbowR Conference 2026
Feb. 25 – 26, 2026
pretix.eu
February 2, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Rereading these two papers:

Holes in the hologenome: why host-microbe symbioses are not holobionts.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The Hologenome Concept: Helpful or Hollow?
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

And I still find myself in general agreement with most of the points in them
Holes in the Hologenome: Why Host-Microbe Symbioses Are Not Holobionts | mBio
ABSTRACT The advent of relatively inexpensive tools for characterizing microbial communities has led to an explosion of research exploring the diversity, ecology, and evolution of microbe-host systems...
journals.asm.org
February 2, 2026 at 4:20 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
cool R trick for those unaware: the {labelled} package can be used to set variable labels which are automatically used by some other packages, including {ggplot2} and {gtsummary}
also:

library(labelled)
mtcars <- mtcars |> set_variable_labels(mpg = "Miles per gallon", wt = "Weight (1,000 lbs)")
ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt))
January 30, 2026 at 3:34 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
While it may explain some of the context, this framing also hides that women scientists didn't cozy up to epstein the way men did. They also need funding, no? This is also about being part of a powerful boys club where one can act in despicable ways with impunity. Misogyny is a huge driving factor.
February 1, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Pallas cat using its tail to keep its feet warm in snow 🥺🥺
November 30, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Ein unnormal großer Teil meiner mentalen Online-Gesundheit wird durch Videos und Bilder von Pallas Katzen erhalten.

Ich bin sehr kurz davor den nächsten Sommerurlaub im Himalaya zu buchen , dort kann ich bestimmt auch Schneeleoparden kuscheln.
Pallas cat using its tail to keep its feet warm in snow 🥺🥺
January 29, 2026 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
It‘s so fluffy
January 29, 2026 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
You must be seriously unlucky to create a globe JUST before the Americas were discovered by the Europeans. Well, Martin Behaim's "Erdapfel" from 1492 is the first and last globe that doesn't feature the Americas. Source: buff.ly/2C0HNRO buff.ly/2C0HNRO
January 29, 2026 at 5:45 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
with alt-text:
January 28, 2026 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
This fungus infects plants, hijacks them, and makes its own fake flowers where the real ones should be www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...
This Flower Is Really a Fungus in Disguise
In Guyanese savannas, a fungus infects grasslike plants, sterilizes them and produces bizarre all-fungal “flower” doppelgängers
www.scientificamerican.com
January 28, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Today @nature.com, it's #AlphaGenome, to decipher and determine functionality of the regulatory (very challenging) variants in our genome.
Another big step of AI for advancing life science
nature.com/articles/s41...
January 28, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
A new permanent position is opened in our group at the Animal Genetics Division of @inrae-france.bsky.social to work on the development of new prediction models for genomic selection in livestock.

Job description is here : urls.fr/FZNWJQ

Don't hesitate to contact me for more information !
Junior research scientist in modelling for genomic prediction using complex data
CR26-GA-1 - You will join the Genetics, Physiology and Livestock Systems (GenPhyse, about 150 permanent staff) joint research unit, where researchers aim to contribute to the agroecological transition of livestock systems through better understanding of livestock biology, genetic bases of traits, and selection schemes to achieve resilient populations. The unit brings together skills in biology, physiology, genomics, genetics, statistics, and bioinformatics. Within the unit, you will join the Chamade team (Characterization and management of genetic diversity) of the Diversity and Selection group comprising methodologists in quantitative genetics (genomic prediction, selection and evolution) and population genomics, as well as statisticians. Within your research team, you will be in charge of developing a new research programme in applied statistics to integrate high-throughput, heterogenous, and multiscale data into genetic and genomic evaluation methods. You will conduct your research to improve genomic prediction models by integrating new information relative to genome function (e.g. functional annotation), molecular phenotypes (e.g. transcriptomics, methylation), and high-throughput or intermediate phenotypes (e.g. longitudinal data, high throughput sensors).To integrate different types of data into current genomic prediction models, you will draw on a variety of statistical modelling, for example modelling SNP effects according to their functional annotation category, or including random effects capturing the inter-individual covariance for intermediate phenotypes. The modelling could draw, for example, on hierarchical models, meta-analysis methods, mediation analysis or machine learning, possibly simulation-based. In addition, as new high-throughput data may not necessarily be available on the same individuals as traditional data, their integration will require the implementation of suitable statistical techniques. The predictive performance of the developed models will be evaluated using numerical simulations, for instance based on real breeding programmes. The models will also be tested on real data from experimental and commercial programmes of livestock species. These data will be available through existing projects and partnerships within the unit and the division to initiate your research project. Computational efficiency must be taken into consideration in your developments to ultimately ensure their practical use in genetic and genomic evaluation. To develop your research, you will benefit from the proximity of experts in statistics, computer science, quantitative, molecular and population genetics within GenPhySE. In accordance with INRAE's policy for open science, in addition to scientific publications, you will promote your work by distributing free software implementing the new methods developed to ensure their wide dissemination to the international community.
jobs.inrae.fr
January 28, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
Issue 30 of RDM Weekly is out! 📬

➡️Mapping Public OA K-12 State Education Data @alexjbowers.bsky.social
➡️ A New Tool for Measuring Metadata Completeness
➡️ Ten Simple Rules on How to Write a Standard Operating Procedure
➡️ Please Switch to Python
and more!

rdmweekly.substack.com/p/rdm-weekly...
RDM Weekly - Issue 030
A weekly roundup of Research Data Management resources.
rdmweekly.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
In my ongoing attempts to give you a break from *gestures widely* THE HORRORS:

Let's talk about the utterly bizarre science of cats' purring.

Here's a weird starting point:
There are NO cats (Felidae) that can BOTH roar AND purr.

Cats that roar = genus Panthera
Cats that purr = genus Felis
January 24, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Claudia Kasper
#JungeForschung

Eine #Pilzschicht ersetzt Plastik in der #Elektronik.

Der Physiker David Preninger züchtet Pilze im Labor der #JKU Linz. Diese modernen Baustoffe sind Basis für weiche #Leiterplatten, die vollständig biologisch #abbaubar sind.

www.diepresse.com/20509112/ein...
January 25, 2026 at 10:24 PM