Matthias Nachtschatt
Matthias Nachtschatt
@mnachtschatt.bsky.social
Biotech origins, developing DAC
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
Iceland has designated the potential collapse of a major Atlantic Ocean current system a national security concern and an existential threat, enabling its government to strategize for worst-case scenarios, the country’s climate minister told Reuters.
Iceland sees security risk, existential threat in Atlantic Ocean current's possible collapse - ArcticToday
Iceland has designated the potential collapse of a major Atlantic Ocean current system a national security concern and an existential threat, enabling its government to strategize for worst-case scena...
www.arctictoday.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
Incidentally, all three cities are beautiful, located in the very south of Germany.

If you’re thinking of relocating at all, consider coming to Germany for your postdoc
Three German universities offering post-docs for researchers "who cannot conduct or continue their work in the USA appropriately because of actual political pressure. "
www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...
Early Career Rescue Fellowship
www.uni-konstanz.de
November 11, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
My mom called me last night about the Kimmel firing, saying "This is how Hitler got started!" I quickly responded, "By firing the late night tv hosts?"

Turns out, mom was right.
September 18, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
Please share! I'm looking for a postdoc. The position is to lead one of the following projects: 1) regulation of plant specialized metabolism by cell fate, or 2) foliar embryogenesis in the succulent plant Kalanchoe.

Learn more abt projects: cxli233.github.io/cxLi_lab/res...
Plant cells are totipotent, meaning individual cells have the potential to develop into a full organism, a property unique to the zygote for animals. However, in most species for most cells, plant cells are not spontaneously totipotent, since they must be treated with specific hormone combinations to unlock their totipotency. Species within the Kalanchoe genus is unique as they spontaneously develop foliar embryos that are fully realized plantlets with shoot and root from notches along the edges of leaves. We speculate that the progenitor cells that give rise to these foliar embryos are totipotent, and we are using single cell techniques to identify & characterize them. In addition to being a fundamental process for plant biology, we foresee unlocking totipotency has many biotechnological applications, such as faciliating genetic transformation and the development of synthetic organs of biomanufacturing.
cxli233.github.io
September 4, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
This interview, which is also available to listen to as a podcast, provides a useful overview of some of the dangerous trends we’ve been seeing in recent months regarding federalization and militarization of state and local police functions.
Opinion | Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force
www.nytimes.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
Wollen Sie mit einer komplizierten Infektion von Infektionsspezialisten behandelt werden oder soll das einfach irgendwer nebenbei "mitmachen"? Die Politik meint: Letzteres muss reichen in Deutschland. Anders ist die Abschaffung der LG Infektiologie nicht zu verstehen. #KHAG @spdfraktion.de #CDUCSU
Der aktuelle Entwurf der Bundesregierung zum Krankenhausanpassungsgesetz (KHAG) enthält gravierende Rückschritte, allen voran die Streichung der Leistungsgruppe Infektiologie. Mit dieser Fehlentscheidung schwächt das BMG die Effizienz + Qualität der Versorgung & konterkariert die Ziele der Reform. 🧵
August 7, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
This evaluation of DNA design methods is very well written. If you're interested in the field, you should def take a look. Also, glad to see Ledidi performing so well!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
NucleoBench: A Large-Scale Benchmark of Neural Nucleic Acid Design Algorithms
One outstanding open problem with high therapeutic value is how to design nucleic acid sequences with specific properties. Even just the 5’ UTR sequence admits 2 × 10120 possibilities, making exhausti...
www.biorxiv.org
June 27, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
News orgs tend to fixate on giant peaceful protests, which generate iconic A1 photos, and ignore smaller ones (unless they are at all violent, in which case, "MASS RIOTING").

So, US media has been blind to the fact that there have been *more than ten thousand* protest events in the US this year.
My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman@bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵
June 13, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
Here’s the warming stripes for Zürich, Switzerland, representing temperature increase over time in the region. I was shocked to met a few Earth Scientists this week who had never seen nor heard of the stripes. Anyone else?

showyourstripes.info
December 6, 2024 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
I am ***absurdly*** excited to announce the launch of a new funding opportunity through Experiment dot com!!! You have one month to pitch something wonderful in the realm of plant biology/biotech research and education. $10,000 max grant. PLEASE RE-POST + SHARE!!! 1/3

experiment.com/programs/pla...
Plant Biology Exploratory Research Microgrant | Experiment
For Science!
experiment.com
November 18, 2024 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
My personal block list now has grown to well over 2,000 argumentative Trump-lovin' trolls. If you use lists, feel free to subscribe and block/mute all of them at once. Just a look through the names on it will tell you that you never want to see them again.
bsky.app/profile/dere...
December 3, 2024 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
I don't think people realize how serious China is about climate change. It is not just solar, wind, batteries, and EVs. They are also an emerging world leader in electrolyzers, and new policies for sustainable aviation fuels and shipping with associated technological investments are now kicking off.
China's New Policy on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): A Step Towards Greener Future
As the world grapples with the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, the aviation industry has come under increasing scrutiny
moderndiplomacy.eu
November 9, 2024 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
Remember how US politicians were warned about COVID-19 and instead of preparing us they bought stocks in companies that would benefit and made a shit ton of money? Do you think they’re doing the same with the climate crisis?
November 10, 2024 at 7:36 AM
Reposted by Matthias Nachtschatt
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

CO2 removal
The Ozempic of climate mitigation??

Helpful numbers about scale
At full pelt US Direct Air Capture will remove 1m tonnes CO2 a year.
We emit 40.5 billion tonnes CO2 a year

Decarbonising is the only viable answer
Carbon dioxide removal is not a current climate solution — we need to change the narrative
Drastically reduce emissions first, or carbon dioxide removal will be next to useless.
www.nature.com
October 29, 2024 at 6:20 PM