Domingos Henrique
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Domingos Henrique
@domhenri.bsky.social
210 followers 700 following 410 posts
Curious about anything that a human brain produces.
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Reposted by Domingos Henrique
kakape.bsky.social
I’ve been in Toronto at the #astmh meeting these past few days and last night some very good news was presented here: A new malaria drug has proven efficacious in a large trial and could soon be approved.🧪
My story in @science.org (and 🧵on why it's important to come):
www.science.org/content/arti...
‘A sigh of relief’: New malaria drug succeeds in large clinical trial
As existing drugs falter because of resistance, the world gets a backup—but hard choices loom on how to use it
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:27 PM
My preferred word in research: ARTIFACTS.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 13, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
igorulitsky.bsky.social
A preprint‼️that's bound to ruffle some 🪶 "Widespread DNA off-targeting confounds studies of RNA chromatin occupancy" led by our Micah Goldrich and Louis Delhaye from
Pieter Mestdagh in Ghent. TL;DR we show that many of lncRNA chromatin occupancy obtained are flawed www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 13, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
gongcastro.bsky.social
A 30-40% profit margin for a company that mostly relies on unpaid labour from their own "clients" to barely do their job making science (which they did not produce) available is a good case for abolishing the whole industry.
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 3d
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 13, 2025 at 8:49 AM
WOW, exciting new findings from the Notch field:

...Notch molecules without the NRR, but with a 12 amino acid sequence present in the extracellular juxta-transmembrane domain (eJTMD) are also cleaved and activated upon interaction with their ligands...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
SHORT DISORDERED PEPTIDES ARE SUFFICIENT TO CONVERT PROTEINS INTO MECHANOSENSORS THAT RESPOND TO PHYSIOLOGICAL CELLULAR FORCES
Mechanical forces regulate many biological processes and a handful of mechanosensor domains have been identified in proteins that respond to cellular forces. The Notch signaling pathway, a key regulat...
www.biorxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
pedromartinezserra.bsky.social
Yesterday, we lost a giant of twentieth century genetics, Antonio Garcia Bellido. His legacy will remain deeply rooted in the history of biology. Rest in peace.
November 11, 2025 at 9:47 AM
It's cheaper to end the climate problem than to wage war

Lula da Silva at COP30

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOTk...
‘É muito mais barato acabar com problema climático do que fazer guerra’, diz Lula
YouTube video by Terra Brasil
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
jeffreymphd.bsky.social
Her sister wrote my favorite essay about her. She points out that RF would have been famous even if she'd never looked at DNA

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Remembering my sister Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958 aged 37 years. Sympathy and feminism have combined to give us her familiar image as a downtrodden woman scientist, brilliant but neglected, a heroine t...
www.thelancet.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
buzzbaum.bsky.social
Just read this great quote from one of my scientific heroes: Franklin Harold: ‘The way of science is for the best of our achievements to endure in substance but lose their individuality, like raindrops falling into a pond.’
November 7, 2025 at 10:38 AM
"Europe risks ‘health sovereignty’ by underpaying for drugs, says AstraZeneca"

UNDERPAYING ??

AstraZeneca Profit Before Tax in 2024 was $8.691 billion, up 38% from the previous year.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b_b...
A FISH CALLED WANDA (1988) | Don't Call Me Stupid | MGM
YouTube video by Amazon MGM Studios
www.youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:07 PM
DCA strikes again!

(DiChloroAcetate)
edinuni-irr.bsky.social Institute for Regeneration and Repair @edinuni-irr.bsky.social · 8d
Potential non-hormonal treatment shows early promise for endometriosis 🩸

Researchers at the Centre for Reproductive Health have carried out a clinical trial to test dichloroacetate as a potential non-hormonal treatment for endometriosis.

Read our article: edin.ac/4nJgL0l
Potential non-hormonal treatment shows early promise for endometriosis | Institute for Regeneration and Repair
Researchers at the Centre for Reproductive Health have carried out a clinical trial to test dichloroacetate as a potential non-hormonal treatment for endometriosis.
edin.ac
November 6, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Title should be:

"Humans show chimpanzee-like cognitive decline with age"
November 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
a function for DNA methylation (finally?)
ostermanilya.bsky.social Osterman Ilya @ostermanilya.bsky.social · 9d
Bacteria can sense when a virus starts shredding their genome — by detecting methylated mononucleotides.
Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 6, 2025 at 10:21 AM
"To make the sizes and shapes of various biomolecules concrete, let’s imagine that each water molecule within a cell has been blown up to the size of a grain of sand.2 If this were the case, then …"

www.asimov.press/p/metaphors-...
Metaphors for Biology: Sizes
A series of quantitative metaphors on the sizes and shapes of biomolecules and organisms.
www.asimov.press
November 3, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
amartinezarias.bsky.social
Looking forward to discussing why “genetics is not that simple” tomorrow in Lisboa. Thank you Fundacao Francisco Manues do Santos and GIMM for the opportunity
ffms.pt/en/agenda/al...
#NotInTheGenes #CellsRUs #Gastrulation
November 3, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
Is a gastruloid a mammal?
October 29, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Very interesting.

"...clinical trial success rate (ClinSR) for repurposed drugs is unexpectedly lower than that for all drugs in recent years;

Surprised??

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Dynamic clinical trial success rates for drugs in the 21st century - Nature Communications
Tracking the success rate of clinical drug development is key for pharmaceutical and economic decision making. Here, the authors establish a strategy enabling dynamic measurement of the success rate u...
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:25 PM
If you like "Kind of Blue", you're going to enjoy "Blue Maqams", from Anouar Barhem.

anouarbrahem.com/en/discograp...
Blue Maqams
Recorded in New York’s Avatar Studios in May 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher, Blue Maqams brings Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem together with three brilliant improvisers. For Anouar Brahem and ...
anouarbrahem.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Basil, where are you, dear?

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Fawlty Towers actor Prunella Scales dies aged 93
Actor portrayed Sybil Fawlty and later charmed viewers with her canal boat journeys alongside husband Timothy West
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:11 PM
3 of the main news today:
- ‘Change course now’: humanity has missed 1.5C climate target, says UN head
- storm set to make landfall in next few hours as Jamaica braces for ‘storm of the century’
- New car sales in Europe rose 10.7% in September
October 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
" academia was a respite from the cruelty and greed masquerading as toughness and leadership. But as academia has become increasingly permeated by a business mentality it has fallen victim to the same cruelty and authoritarian trappings as the outside world."

profkap.substack.com/p/have-you-n...
Have you no decency?
It's time to start asking questions
profkap.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Long live the Pink Panther

"The robbery at the Louvre Museum has reconciled me with the human race: no artificial intelligence would ever have come up with something like that."

elpais.com/ideas/2025-1...
Viva la Pantera Rosa
El robo del museo del Louvre me ha reconciliado con la especie humana: algo así no se le habría ocurrido a ninguna inteligencia artificial
elpais.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:29 AM
" academia was a respite from the cruelty and greed masquerading as toughness and leadership. But as academia has become increasingly permeated by a business mentality it has fallen victim to the same cruelty and authoritarian trappings as the outside world."

profkap.substack.com/p/have-you-n...
Have you no decency?
It's time to start asking questions
profkap.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Arrepiante pensar que isto também nos pode acontecer no futuro... e não é preciso muito caos.

www.publico.pt/2025/10/26/f...
Os idosos reformados argentinos queriam descansar, mas estão a protestar
Sistema de pensões argentino está a chegar a um ponto de ruptura. Dar explicações aos 72 anos para ganhar dinheiro extra ou organizar a sopa dos pobres aos 89: "N&atil...
www.publico.pt
October 26, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Domingos Henrique
How a brain is born
Naissance du cerveau

The best animation movie I know describing the development of the human brain.
It's in french. Génial!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1zP...
Naissance du cerveau
YouTube video by Le Blob
www.youtube.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:19 PM