Cahir O'Kane
@cahirokane.bsky.social
1.6K followers 560 following 1.7K posts
Genetics professor: axon ER & degeneration in Drosophila, spastic paraplegia. Rejoin EU. Not the GAA commentator. Speak only for myself. Gaeilge, Deutsch. Maghera (Co Derry), Cambridge (UK). https://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/research-groups/research-groups/okane
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Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
sharonk.bsky.social
thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
bonnthebest.bsky.social
I wonder how self-proclaiming Christians rationalize this?
cahirokane.bsky.social
Yes, it still matters. Even if we can no longer avoid Covid entirely, rather once every few years than a couple of times a year, and even more so to protect vulnerable individuals.
cvcev.bsky.social
Feeling unwell?

If you have COVID symptoms, TEST
If you test positive, ISOLATE
If you can’t test, MASK

Protect yourself and others (especially high-risk people) - it still matters!
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
pamherd.bsky.social
RFK fired the CDC official (w/decades of experience) leading the measles outbreak response. It's been decades since we've had such a large outbreak. And just to ensure they they can spread the measles outbreak even farther, they also fired the leadership for the center focused on immunization.
Figure showing the largest measles outbreak in the US in decades.  There are over 1500 cases as of October 7 2025
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
prchovanec.bsky.social
Of course he did, because they don't actually believe the anti-vaxx bullshit they peddle.
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
harmscommitted.com
"[L]aid off the entire CDC office in Washington, DC, as well as the staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication founded in 1930 that has been credited with the first reporting in medical literature on the disease that would come to be known as AIDS in 1981."
#USA #Healthcare
'It's a Disaster': Medical Experts Horrified by Trump Administration 'Friday Night Massacre' at CDC | Common Dreams
The Trump administration's mass layoffs of CDC public health officials leave the US vulnerable to disease outbreaks. Experts warn of dire consequences.
www.commondreams.org
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
preibischs.bsky.social
The connectome of the entire male Drosophila central nervous system is out!! Acquired using FIB-SEM @ 8x8x8nm, we aligned 7.5 mio 2D images aligned into one seamless 3D volume, which was used to segment & proofread neurons and synapses. @hhmijanelia.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
cahirokane.bsky.social
He's right about English Nationalism.
And also saying the quiet part out loud:
"Mr Nesbitt talked about the implications of unity, where unionist representatives could have a major say in the politics of a new Ireland... He said unionist TDs could end up being a controlling block in Leinster House"
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
The @crick.ac.uk is recruiting Early Career Group Leaders

- Lab set-up, research costs, salaries for up to 5 researchers
- Support for up to 12 years
- Access to our core facilities
- Competitive salary
- Fantastic colleagues
- All areas of biology

Deadline 27 Nov

www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
Early career group leaders
We appoint researchers from across biology and biomedicine to set up their first groups at the Crick.
www.crick.ac.uk
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
samadams.bsky.social
congrats to Nobel Peace Prize winner Portland Frog
cahirokane.bsky.social
Like slashing ambulance tyres or stealing their wheels
angierasmussen.bsky.social
I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
biology.ox.ac.uk
📢Closing on Monday: Associate Professor of Molecular Cell Biology

But if you thought you had missed out...

🎉Extended till 22nd October: Associate Professor of Animal Behaviour

Join us in the new state-of-the-art Life and Mind Building 👇

bit.ly/488CNW3
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
genetics-gsa.bsky.social
Science is intertwined with eugenics, and eugenic ideologies continue to negatively impact #Indigenous communities and science today.

Read a timely and important perspective piece in #GENETICS from @jazlynmooney.bsky.social and colleagues: buff.ly/T7rbV3k
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
cahirokane.bsky.social
Baby steps.....
rolandmcs.bsky.social
This strikes me as a pretty major Brexit shift from Starmer.

Perhaps the beginning of 'Brexit is sh1t and has caused real economic damage'.
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
drannecarpenter.bsky.social
15 years in the making, we confirmed that mitochondria - the powerhouse of the cell - have an unusual localization in patients who experience psychosis (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders). You’ll never guess what kind of patient cells we used to make this discovery… 🧵
mitochondria from bipolar patients are closer to the nucleus in these images; control patients' are spread out further
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
chrischirp.bsky.social
Also, if you're "in bed with flu", it's almost certainly Covid.
chrischirp.bsky.social
After a long pause, I've just done another England Covid & NHS update as we head into the autumn/winter season.

TLDR: we're in a significant Covid wave now, the NHS is stretched, get boosted if you're eligible.

christinapagel.substack.com/p/england-is...
England is now experiencing a significant Covid wave, after 10 months of relative quiet
The latest Covid situation in England and a look at where NHS services are as we head into winter
christinapagel.substack.com
Reposted by Cahir O'Kane
erictopol.bsky.social
Waning immunity. A significant Covid wave in England. No new variant.
Thanks Prof Pagel for highlighting and contextualizing
cahirokane.bsky.social
#ER_Literature
science.org
New #ScienceSignaling experiments in mice show how the enzyme SPEG prevents the leakage of calcium ions in skeletal muscle cells—a finding that could inform research into diseases associated with mutations in the calcium-releasing channel RYR1. https://scim.ag/3KKfpEG
Phosphorylation of RYR1 at Ser2902 decreases Ca2+ leak in skeletal muscle and susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia and heat stroke
Reducing Ca2+ leak through mutant RYR1 prevents pathological heat production in skeletal muscle.
scim.ag