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Ed Hollox

@edhollox.bsky.social

490 followers 750 following 720 posts

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.

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · Sep 4

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...

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

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 5h

Yeah I've learnt this too. I used to follow instructions to the letter pre submission, now only after acceptance.

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 6h

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.

samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 8h

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)

Michael Eisen @mbeisen.bsky.social · 9h

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

Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 1d

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

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 2d

Maybe I should give it another try. I've always found it to be very self-congratulatory, an aspect of Twitter I don't miss. Maybe I'm just a misanthrope!!!

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 2d

And this of course is the problem with nationalism whether from the right or supposed "progressive nationalists".

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 2d

Could everyone please stop telling me what I should identify as?

Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 2d

Oh this is my bugbear!

Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 2d

Nice, but I'm more interested in the Surpise Muffin. What's the surprise?

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Reposted by Ed Hollox

Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · 2d

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

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

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Reposted by Ed Hollox

Goose @d4rius.bsky.social · 3d

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

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Reposted by Ed Hollox

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4d

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.

On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
"I wasn't planning on letting her stay, but I didn't know what the hell was going on," the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
"I didn't want them to take her," said the man, who didn't want to be named because he fears he'll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
"I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her,
'Just stay there. Don't open, don't, shh, just stay quiet," he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 4d

Hugely important report which identifies - to coin a phrase - a clear and present danger to UK scientific institutions. Time for the UK Scientific academy to use its contacts to urgently lobby govnt. Are you listening @royalsociety.org ?

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 5d

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

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UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

www.ucl.ac.uk

Reposted by Ed Hollox

coralmannie.bsky.social @coralmannie.bsky.social · 8d

@leicesterucu.bsky.social Our students deserve a big thanks for supporting us at the picket line every day, now in week 2. It means a lot to have the students backing for fighting the looming job cuts at University of Leicester in 6 schools

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Reposted by Ed Hollox

coralmannie.bsky.social @coralmannie.bsky.social · 7d

@leicesterucu.bsky.social Today we had s lovely showcase from modern languages and why it matters in a multi-lingual city as Leicester. And our students stand with us every day, thank you!

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 5d

Excellent opportunity here! On a completely different level to anything else offered in the UK.

James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 5d

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

Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 5d

a group of people running in the desert with a large eye coming out of it

ALT: a group of people running in the desert with a large eye coming out of it

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Ed Hollox

Ewan Birney @ewanbirney.bsky.social · 5d

I am hiring! - looking for a Staff Scientist to co-run my research group with me. Staff Scientist is a senior professional scientist role at EMBL. Please forward to people you might know who could be interested! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

Staff Scientist

About EMBL-EBI EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute is a data powerhouse, utilised on a global scale to advance scientific discovery through bioinformatics and solutions to some of the world’s mos...

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com

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Reposted by Ed Hollox

Roger Highfield @rogerhighfield.bsky.social · 5d

Fascinating take on the current AI hyperbole… ashvardanian.com/posts/llm-ep...

Are LLMs the Epicycles of Intelligence?

I’ve always been fascinated by AI and mega-projects — and as I work on AI infrastructure, you might assume I’m equally fascinated by the current LLM race. In reality, I’m far more skeptical than most....

ashvardanian.com

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Reposted by Ed Hollox

Inigo Martincorena @imartincorena.bsky.social · 6d

Our latest work is out in Nature today. In this paper, we introduce an improved version of NanoSeq, a duplex sequencing protocol with <5 errors per billion bp in single DNA molecules, and use it to study the somatic mutation landscape of oral epithelium in >1000 people www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Somatic mutation and selection at population scale - Nature

A new version of nanorate DNA sequencing, with an error rate lower than five errors per billion base pairs and compatible with whole-exome and targeted capture, enables epidemiological-scale studies of somatic mutation and selection and the generation of high-resolution selection maps across coding and non-coding sites for many genes.

www.nature.com

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 7d

Honestly, why is @theguardian.com science reporting often so poor?

John Greally @greally.bsky.social · 7d

1/3 Start by getting highlighted in the @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Ed Hollox

Dennis O’Rear @djorear.bsky.social · 7d

RFK Jr’s attack on science has close parallels to Lysenko’s attack on genetic in Soviet Russia.

Speak in populist press, not journals
Make quick solution to problems
Blame failures on internal enemies

He needed a supporting anti-elitist government

A good podcast

🧪

youtu.be/MuikGTW1LvQ

Stalin’s War on Genetics | HISTORY This Week

YouTube video by HISTORY

youtu.be

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 7d

Sad news. He was an excellent teacher, taught me as a naive undergraduate how to cut xenopus eggs. I was doing it all wrong (obviously) but he did not say so!

Katherine Brown @katherine-brown.bsky.social · 7d

Very saddened to hear of John Gurdon’s passing. I’ve been lucky enough to interact with him at multiple points through my career - from undergrad lectures, through his position as former Chair of @biologists.bsky.social’s Board of Directors, and as an author at @dev-journal.bsky.social.

Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Gurdon dies aged 92

It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the Gurdon Institute.

www.cam.ac.uk

Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 7d

I like my shortbread with at least 30x chocolate coverage

Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 7d

Is Illumina X10 millionaire's shortbread sequencing?

Reposted by Ed Hollox

Vincent J Lynch 🐘🦣🦥 🦇🐋🐢🐍 @devoevomed.bsky.social · 8d

#MammothMonday factoids: A comparison of 23 woolly mammoths (how cool is it to have that many mammoth genomes!) and 28 living elephants identified at least 1.2 million mammoth-specific genetic changes, including 4,786 amino acid substitutions in 3,097 genes 1/n 🧪 🐘 🦣

PMID: 37030294

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Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · 8d

Yes. Particularly "super-nostalgia" involving a time period that nobody living remembers. Visiting the IWM Duxford (which is nuanced and excellent) I was shocked by amount of WWII pastiche stuff in the shop. (Where is the Cold War pastiche stuff? V-bomber tea towels?)

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