Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 1d

What is better? A $300 long-read 20X genome? Or a $345 long-read 30X genome?

Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 1d

#ASHG25

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 2d

Elon Musk is doing Enron the right way.

by Ezra Klein

electrek.co/2025/10/13/e...

Elon Musk's SpaceX and xAI are buying Tesla's unsold Cybertrucks

Hundreds of Tesla Cybertrucks have been spotted being delivered Elon Musk’s private companies, SpaceX and xAI, as Tesla is having...

electrek.co

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Stephen Burgess @stevesphd.bsky.social · 9d

New pre-print: "PCSK9 and breast cancer survival: a Mendelian Randomization study" www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... led by Janne Pott. Brief thread:

PCSK9 and breast cancer survival: a Mendelian Randomization study

Background: Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is well known for its causal effects on the lipid metabolism. A recent study identified an association between rs562556 within PCSK9 a...

www.medrxiv.org

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Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 8d

Ugh!

Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 13d

Henry’s thesis is on: “Developing a Naturalistic Metaphysics for Biological Agency”. His goal (our goal in working together) was to show that there’s nothing unscientific or supernatural about ideas of agency, mental causation, and free will. ⬇️ (1/n)

Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 13d

Huge congratulations to Dr. Henry Potter!!! 😊👏🎉🍾

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Scott McGrath @smcgrath.phd · 13d

🧪 The U.S. FDA's recent statement on acetaminophen and autism risk in pregnancy misrepresents the scientific consensus. Global health organizations affirm no conclusive link exists, underscoring the public health danger of selectively presenting data.

Weaponizing uncertainty in science and in public health puts people in harm’s way

Those who cite scientific studies to support policies should take care to tell the whole story, especially when it’s complex.

www.nature.com

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Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 17d

To be clear, there's overwhelming evidence that autism is primarily a genetic condition, and NO evidence for any of the bullshit this fool is spouting...

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Lucia Peixoto @sciencenlucia.bsky.social · 22d

Autism Scientists Strongly Oppose HHS Report Suggesting Links Between Tylenol and Autism. www.coalitionofautismscientists.org

Coalition of Autism Scientists | "autism scientists"

The Coalition of Autism Scientists formed in 2025 and is comprised of the leading autism researchers across the United States. The website includes statements made by researchers and science-based edu...

www.coalitionofautismscientists.org

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 22d

“Because of its safety profile & absence of teratogenic effects, acetaminophen is considered the medication of choice for fever & pain relief during pregnancy…we cannot ascribe any causal relationship between acetaminophen & autism, which remains the preferred drug for fever and pain in pregnancy.”

American College of Medical Toxicology @acmtmedtox.bsky.social · 22d

Position Statement: ACMT Supports the Safe Use of #Acetaminophen in Pregnancy.

Read our full statement here➡️ bit.ly/3VxbKw8

ACMT Position Statement: ACMT affirms the safety of acetaminophen in pregnancy and calls for an evidence-based approach to the search for causes and treatment of autism.

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Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 24d

H1-B’s?

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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 25d

Exclusive: Publisher investigating DNA contamination paper that authors say CDC vaccine committee will consider retractionwatch.com/2025/09/18/c... via @retractionwatch.com

Exclusive: Publisher investigating DNA contamination paper that authors say CDC vaccine committee will consider

The publisher Taylor & Francis is investigating concerns raised on PubPeer about a paper claiming to find DNA contamination in COVID-19 vaccines beyond regulators’ recommended amounts. Th…

retractionwatch.com

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 25d

When a manuscript has serious concerns raised about its scientific validity and integrity, it should be carefully examined, particularly when it’s being used to justify anti-vax quackery.

Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 25d

Exclusive: Publisher investigating DNA contamination paper that authors say CDC vaccine committee will consider retractionwatch.com/2025/09/18/c... via @retractionwatch.com

Exclusive: Publisher investigating DNA contamination paper that authors say CDC vaccine committee will consider

The publisher Taylor & Francis is investigating concerns raised on PubPeer about a paper claiming to find DNA contamination in COVID-19 vaccines beyond regulators’ recommended amounts. Th…

retractionwatch.com

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Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 25d

www.linkedin.com/feed/news/no...

No new fee for existing H-1B visas | LinkedIn

A new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas that takes effect Sunday will not apply to existing holders of valid visas who are re-entering the U.S., Axios reports, citing an unnamed White House official.

www.linkedin.com

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Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 25d

www.linkedin.com/feed/news/no...

No new fee for existing H-1B visas | LinkedIn

A new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas that takes effect Sunday will not apply to existing holders of valid visas who are re-entering the U.S., Axios reports, citing an unnamed White House official.

www.linkedin.com

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Robert Califf @robcaliff.bsky.social · 26d

I hope this is widely read. It reflects the extraordinary diligence of CDC during the extreme stress of the pandemic. None of this information is secret--it was discussed and presented publicly.
www.statnews.com/2025/09/19/c...

Covid-19 vaccines protect children from severe disease. Here is the evidence

“Over and over again, Covid-19 has shown it can cause severe disease in children, disease that is preventable by a safe and effective vaccine,” writes former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Matthew Herper @matthewherper.bsky.social · 26d

Winner of mRNA Nobel Prize says ACIP member’s claim that Covid vaccines persist is “absolutely impossible”

In Q&A, Drew Weissman says vast literature shows Covid shots are safe, refutes claims from Retsef Levi
www.statnews.com/2025/09/20/d...

Winner of mRNA Nobel Prize says ACIP member’s claim that Covid vaccines persist is “absolutely impossible”

In a Q&A with STAT, Nobel winner Drew Weissman addressed concerns raised about Covid shots at a recent meeting of federal vaccine advisers.

www.statnews.com

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Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 25d

This is a major disaster for the tech industry that relies on these visas to bring top talent form abroad- this could sink our growing AI industry. For that reason I can foresee that either it will not stand or exceptions will be made to large parts of tech industry.

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Heng Li @lh3lh3.bsky.social · Sep 12

New blog post – A quick look at Roche's SBX
lh3.github.io/2025/09/11/a...

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Magdalena Skipper @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social · 28d

DeepSeek R1 - the first widely used LLM to be peer reviewed and published in a research journal. And… with transparent peer reviewed!
@nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

DeepSeek-R1 incentivizes reasoning in LLMs through reinforcement learning - Nature

A new artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, is introduced, demonstrating that the reasoning abilities of large language models can be incentivized through pure reinforcement learning, removing t...

www.nature.com

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Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 29d

Indeed - and that drives me nuts being a geneticist

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Francisco De La Vega @ribozyme.bsky.social · 29d

Do you mean the Variant Allele Fraction? (the Fraction of reads carrying the mutation allele). When I hear variant allele frequency I always think about the frequency of an allele in a population/cohort.

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · Sep 15

Hankyoreh now has an official English translation of this editorial: english.hani.co.kr/arti/english...

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Sep 14

Powerful new article in NYT Magazine on cancer research

[Gift Link]

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Francisco De La Vega

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Sep 14

A deep dive into the destruction of US cancer research by @jonathanmahler.bsky.social “It’s an absolutely unmitigated disaster,” a former top official at NIH told him. “It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” Gift link: nyti.ms/48iH3Cr

nyti.ms

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