Ed Hollox
@edhollox.bsky.social
Professor of Genetics at U of Leicester. Genome structural variation.
"Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done." Views my own.
"Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done." Views my own.
Pinned
Ed Hollox
@edhollox.bsky.social
· Sep 4
Human Evolutionary Genetics
Human Evolutionary Genetics reaches its third edition at a time when sequencing and analyzing whole genomes, modern and ancient, has become rapid, affordable, and routine. These advances have led to a...
www.routledge.com
Academics! Delighted to announce that the new 3rd edition of Human Evolutionary Genetics is now available to book inspection copies. Available to buy January 9th. 1/5
www.routledge.com/Human-Evolut...
www.routledge.com/Human-Evolut...
Reposted by Ed Hollox
Senior management at Lancaster University insist cuts of 1 in 4 jobs are “difficult but necessary”
This means “we messed up the finances & you’ll be paying for it”
www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/nationa...
This means “we messed up the finances & you’ll be paying for it”
www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/nationa...
Lancaster University industrial action begins Monday with 1 in 4 jobs set to be axed
Staff at Lancaster University will begin industrial action on Monday November 10 over management’s threat to axe one in four staff, the University and College Union (UCU) announced.
www.lancasterguardian.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Senior management at Lancaster University insist cuts of 1 in 4 jobs are “difficult but necessary”
This means “we messed up the finances & you’ll be paying for it”
www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/nationa...
This means “we messed up the finances & you’ll be paying for it”
www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/nationa...
It is a deep loss to the East Midlands that it will be impossible to take a degree in any Modern Language in the region's universities. Nottingham and Leicester closing thier ML degree programmes. No planning, entire regions will be without key degrees, all institutions chasing the same students.
Excellent article here. Our students are our greatest advocates. Counter proposals will be put forward, and we are supporting colleagues in Music, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies at Nottingham with their campaigns www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
University of Nottingham students fight 'insane' cull of courses
Traitors composer Sam Watts is among those against plans to cut University of Nottingham courses.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 11:04 AM
It is a deep loss to the East Midlands that it will be impossible to take a degree in any Modern Language in the region's universities. Nottingham and Leicester closing thier ML degree programmes. No planning, entire regions will be without key degrees, all institutions chasing the same students.
Reposted by Ed Hollox
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Excellent response here, particularly how the restrictive post 16 system effectively limits choices to humanities OR sciences. Future scientists need training in the humanities.
Professor Ulrike Tillmann, Chair of the Royal Society Education Committee, responds to the Curriculum and Assessment Review 2025: royalsociety.org/news/2025/11...
Royal Society response to Curriculum and Assessment Review 2025 | Royal Society
Professor Ulrike Tillmann, Chair of the Royal Society Education Committee responds.
royalsociety.org
November 6, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Excellent response here, particularly how the restrictive post 16 system effectively limits choices to humanities OR sciences. Future scientists need training in the humanities.
Reposted by Ed Hollox
We have a 4 year fully-funded PhD opportunity to join our group @earlhaminst.bsky.social on an Eng Bio project: Engineering stable synthetic chromosomes. Jointly with the BioFoundry and @cgrandel.bsky.social. Read more about the project shorturl.at/GZMbB and about our research shorturl.at/HR6p5
November 5, 2025 at 1:57 PM
We have a 4 year fully-funded PhD opportunity to join our group @earlhaminst.bsky.social on an Eng Bio project: Engineering stable synthetic chromosomes. Jointly with the BioFoundry and @cgrandel.bsky.social. Read more about the project shorturl.at/GZMbB and about our research shorturl.at/HR6p5
Morning noon and night, damn ilku-duty. I have no time to observe the sun and moon, nor teach my students the scribal craft!
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 4, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Morning noon and night, damn ilku-duty. I have no time to observe the sun and moon, nor teach my students the scribal craft!
Reposted by Ed Hollox
*macca voice*
Ozymandias
Legs over there but his body is here in the sand
Sneer of command.
Look at his works, kings.
Not much is left of his power and glorious reign.
Nothing remains
Ozymandias
Legs over there but his body is here in the sand
Sneer of command.
Look at his works, kings.
Not much is left of his power and glorious reign.
Nothing remains
October 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM
*macca voice*
Ozymandias
Legs over there but his body is here in the sand
Sneer of command.
Look at his works, kings.
Not much is left of his power and glorious reign.
Nothing remains
Ozymandias
Legs over there but his body is here in the sand
Sneer of command.
Look at his works, kings.
Not much is left of his power and glorious reign.
Nothing remains
Reposted by Ed Hollox
Yet another example of the importance of natural history collections. Here, helping to address two questions:
• Responses to climate change (here, temperature and precipitation mattered in different ways)
• What sets range limits
🧪
• Responses to climate change (here, temperature and precipitation mattered in different ways)
• What sets range limits
🧪
Herbarium specimens reveal shifts in species' elevational ranges
Zu et al.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/VB8MUG...
Zu et al.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/VB8MUG...
October 30, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Yet another example of the importance of natural history collections. Here, helping to address two questions:
• Responses to climate change (here, temperature and precipitation mattered in different ways)
• What sets range limits
🧪
• Responses to climate change (here, temperature and precipitation mattered in different ways)
• What sets range limits
🧪
Reposted by Ed Hollox
I’m old enough to remember when everybody agreed that higher education was a “market” and offering “choice” was how the universities were meant to grow
on.ft.com/3WTwBue
on.ft.com/3WTwBue
October 27, 2025 at 7:32 AM
I’m old enough to remember when everybody agreed that higher education was a “market” and offering “choice” was how the universities were meant to grow
on.ft.com/3WTwBue
on.ft.com/3WTwBue
Reposted by Ed Hollox
A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments.
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
October 24, 2025 at 10:58 PM
A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments.
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
#medievalsky
www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
Reposted by Ed Hollox
I am genuinely impressed by large language models - they can absorb disparate components of text into some consolidated view, they can produce extremely good language and - with the right model - translate pretty well between languages and they are an excellent text based UI for humans to use. But..
October 26, 2025 at 7:48 AM
I am genuinely impressed by large language models - they can absorb disparate components of text into some consolidated view, they can produce extremely good language and - with the right model - translate pretty well between languages and they are an excellent text based UI for humans to use. But..
So for the first time in my career, I have completed the move into newly refurbished office and lab space. Thanks to my PhD students and trojan dept technician for helping me wheel and carry everything, including the cupboards! A space with clean draught-free windows and effective heating! Luxury!!
October 25, 2025 at 6:02 PM
So for the first time in my career, I have completed the move into newly refurbished office and lab space. Thanks to my PhD students and trojan dept technician for helping me wheel and carry everything, including the cupboards! A space with clean draught-free windows and effective heating! Luxury!!
Reposted by Ed Hollox
Monty Python understood p-hacking
October 23, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Monty Python understood p-hacking
Reposted by Ed Hollox
The biologist's view of how flight works. Courtesy of Rory Maizels. #GenerativeBiology
October 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
The biologist's view of how flight works. Courtesy of Rory Maizels. #GenerativeBiology
Reposted by Ed Hollox
New blogpost on my concerns about Wellcome LEAP new $50m program on autism/microbiome links. deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-le...
#autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic
#autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic
A LEAP into the future, or off a cliff: Wellcome LEAP's new $50M program
A few days ago, I saw this post on LinkedIn: How does the gut microbiome shape early brain development? That’s what FORM, a new $50 million...
deevybee.blogspot.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:53 PM
New blogpost on my concerns about Wellcome LEAP new $50m program on autism/microbiome links. deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-le...
#autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic
#autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic
I bet they proudly show thier Athena Swan badges though...
A UK university -- where a senior professor faces allegations of sexually harassment -- has been granted complete anonymity at Employment Tribunal
Truly shocking
No university should be granted anonymity
Public trust depends on transparency & accountability
www.personneltoday.com/hr/universit...
Truly shocking
No university should be granted anonymity
Public trust depends on transparency & accountability
www.personneltoday.com/hr/universit...
University granted anonymity in sexual harassment tribunal case
The case, reported by The Times, has seen media campaigners warn of a trend towards secret justice. Lawyers for claimant are appealing.
www.personneltoday.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:18 PM
I bet they proudly show thier Athena Swan badges though...
Reposted by Ed Hollox
If you're having a rough day, remember that in 1991 Tim Berners-Lee's paper for the World Wide Web was rejected and he was relegated to the poster session.
September 17, 2024 at 1:33 PM
If you're having a rough day, remember that in 1991 Tim Berners-Lee's paper for the World Wide Web was rejected and he was relegated to the poster session.
Reposted by Ed Hollox
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out these previous papers related to this session published in @ajhgnews.bsky.social:
📄 bit.ly/3IPKHt4
📄 bit.ly/48bStYG
#ASHG
📄 bit.ly/3IPKHt4
📄 bit.ly/48bStYG
#ASHG
Multiple origins and phenotypic implications of an extended human pseudoautosomal region shown by analysis of the UK Biobank
The 2.7-Mb pseudoautosomal region (PAR1) is vital for meiotic sex chromosome segregation.
However, some Y chromosomes carry an ∼115-kb extension (ePAR) via X-Y non-allelic
homologous recombination. We...
bit.ly
October 15, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out these previous papers related to this session published in @ajhgnews.bsky.social:
📄 bit.ly/3IPKHt4
📄 bit.ly/48bStYG
#ASHG
📄 bit.ly/3IPKHt4
📄 bit.ly/48bStYG
#ASHG
Reposted by Ed Hollox
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
October 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
We're excited to be recruiting an NIH funded postdoc to work in the Coop lab at UC Davis. We're specifically interested in candidates who are want to work at the intersection of human genetics, GWAS, and population genetics modeling. Please RT
This an interesting example of the evolution of complexity, where there is an ever increasing cycle of byzantine requirements addressed by acessing a byzantine LLM based on all previous knowledge.
Notably this problem is also solved 100% without any AI and instead, at zero cost, by journals adopting format-agnostic initial submissions (as many journals have already done)
Finally, someone has solved a real problem with AI! No more having to take a paper in the format for a journal that rejected you, and reformat it for a new journal. Well done!! formatmypaper.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:28 AM
This an interesting example of the evolution of complexity, where there is an ever increasing cycle of byzantine requirements addressed by acessing a byzantine LLM based on all previous knowledge.
Ridiculous that Geography Geology and Environment at Leicester is under threat. @leicesterucu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk . In the shadow of where David Attenborough grew up (house at the back), we are on strike to protest against this threat. #climatechange #attenborough
October 14, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Ridiculous that Geography Geology and Environment at Leicester is under threat. @leicesterucu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk . In the shadow of where David Attenborough grew up (house at the back), we are on strike to protest against this threat. #climatechange #attenborough
And this of course is the problem with nationalism whether from the right or supposed "progressive nationalists".
Could everyone please stop telling me what I should identify as?
October 13, 2025 at 10:02 AM
And this of course is the problem with nationalism whether from the right or supposed "progressive nationalists".
Reposted by Ed Hollox
Lagman, Bergqvist & Kuraku analysed opsin gene evolution in jawless vertebrates, confirming tandem duplications of visual opsins before the vertebrate radiation.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf231
#evobio #molbio #opsins
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf231
#evobio #molbio #opsins
Tandem Gene Clusters as Phylogenetic Anchors Reveal the Hidden History of Vertebrate Visual Opsins
Abstract. The expansion of the visual opsin gene family was a crucial event in the diversification of vertebrate vision in evolution. Additional expansions
doi.org
October 13, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Lagman, Bergqvist & Kuraku analysed opsin gene evolution in jawless vertebrates, confirming tandem duplications of visual opsins before the vertebrate radiation.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf231
#evobio #molbio #opsins
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf231
#evobio #molbio #opsins
Reposted by Ed Hollox
Cambridge University launches project to rescue data trapped on old floppy disks | Tom's Hardware share.google/fN8pdBbPhQOB...
Cambridge University launches project to rescue data trapped on old floppy disks
Cambridge’s 'Future Nostalgia' project is racing to save decades of digital history from vanishing floppy disks.
share.google
October 12, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Cambridge University launches project to rescue data trapped on old floppy disks | Tom's Hardware share.google/fN8pdBbPhQOB...
Reposted by Ed Hollox
My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.
This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.
This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.
October 11, 2025 at 1:01 AM
My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.
This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.
This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.