George Preston
@georgepreston.bsky.social
Analytical biochemist w/ public health focus; headless bassist
Also very cool! I always thought there was just one betaine, but am now discovering there's a whole family.
October 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Also very cool! I always thought there was just one betaine, but am now discovering there's a whole family.
Interesting, though, that "[w]ithin the ICTV [= intl taxonomy committee], the current majority view is that taxa [incl. species!] are man-made categories or “concepts of the mind”, i.e., they are not physical entities."
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Virus Taxonomy
Virus taxonomy is the classification of viruses into categories called taxa and the development and implementation of a standardized nomenclature for taxa. Whereas virus taxonomy has been a niche subs...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
July 21, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Interesting, though, that "[w]ithin the ICTV [= intl taxonomy committee], the current majority view is that taxa [incl. species!] are man-made categories or “concepts of the mind”, i.e., they are not physical entities."
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
This comment made me think of the search for a causative agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and the concensus around prions that emerged (there may still be doubters). I suppose the difference is that for COVID-19 origins the evidence base is finite.
June 29, 2025 at 8:28 AM
This comment made me think of the search for a causative agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and the concensus around prions that emerged (there may still be doubters). I suppose the difference is that for COVID-19 origins the evidence base is finite.