Konrad Hinsen
@khinsen.net
Researcher at CNRS (France). Computational science, in particular computational biophysics. Metascience, in particular the evolution of science in the digital era.
More active in the Fediverse: https://scholar.social/@khinsen
More active in the Fediverse: https://scholar.social/@khinsen
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
No, DeepMind has not solved the protein folding problem.
#Alphafold predictions are valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace experimental structure determination.
#Alphafold predictions are valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace experimental structure determination.
Human chemists spent their entire careers trying to solve the protein folding problem.
DeepMind's AlphaFold solved it in a couple of years, creating an enormously valuable data set for other scientists to use.
The scientists who made it their life's work to solve protein folding? Moving on.
DeepMind's AlphaFold solved it in a couple of years, creating an enormously valuable data set for other scientists to use.
The scientists who made it their life's work to solve protein folding? Moving on.
February 5, 2026 at 8:49 AM
No, DeepMind has not solved the protein folding problem.
#Alphafold predictions are valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace experimental structure determination.
#Alphafold predictions are valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace experimental structure determination.
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
We have a new preprint out! And one that is especially dear to my heart:
"Re-Engineering Wimsatt for Limited Beings"
https://zenodo.org/records/18293424
Bill Wimsatt is possibly the most underrated philosopher of science of our times. In this paper, I attempt […]
[Original post on spore.social]
"Re-Engineering Wimsatt for Limited Beings"
https://zenodo.org/records/18293424
Bill Wimsatt is possibly the most underrated philosopher of science of our times. In this paper, I attempt […]
[Original post on spore.social]
January 20, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
January 13, 2026 at 8:27 AM
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
My wish for 2026 for academia specifically, is to push back against fascist framings, reasoning, and industry capture in our universities. My suggestions are below. But please do anything you can if you're an academic. 🌿 Even if it's tiny. 🐁 Every pebble helps build a damn against fascist forces. 🪨
New preprint! @marentierra.bsky.social @irisvanrooij.bsky.social & I have been working on what CAIL means to showcase & propagate the idea of thinking very differently to tech industry norms on "artificial intelligence"
Towards Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacies doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
1/
Towards Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacies doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
1/
January 5, 2026 at 2:51 PM
My wish for 2026 for academia specifically, is to push back against fascist framings, reasoning, and industry capture in our universities. My suggestions are below. But please do anything you can if you're an academic. 🌿 Even if it's tiny. 🐁 Every pebble helps build a damn against fascist forces. 🪨
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
RE: https://mastodon.social/@Viss/115841064419194751
Hello Readers on #bluesky: there really is no excuse anymore, *not* to migrate to the #fediverse and escape your corporate overlords.
Empire or rebellion? This is the question.
Which one do you support?
Your actions shout louder than your […]
Hello Readers on #bluesky: there really is no excuse anymore, *not* to migrate to the #fediverse and escape your corporate overlords.
Empire or rebellion? This is the question.
Which one do you support?
Your actions shout louder than your […]
January 5, 2026 at 12:24 PM
RE: https://mastodon.social/@Viss/115841064419194751
Hello Readers on #bluesky: there really is no excuse anymore, *not* to migrate to the #fediverse and escape your corporate overlords.
Empire or rebellion? This is the question.
Which one do you support?
Your actions shout louder than your […]
Hello Readers on #bluesky: there really is no excuse anymore, *not* to migrate to the #fediverse and escape your corporate overlords.
Empire or rebellion? This is the question.
Which one do you support?
Your actions shout louder than your […]
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
2020s: AI "System Prompts" are lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "prompt engineers".
1980s: AI "Expert Systems" were lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "knowledge engineers".
1980s: AI "Expert Systems" were lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "knowledge engineers".
January 1, 2026 at 8:59 PM
2020s: AI "System Prompts" are lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "prompt engineers".
1980s: AI "Expert Systems" were lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "knowledge engineers".
1980s: AI "Expert Systems" were lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "knowledge engineers".
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
November 26, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
Proteins are dynamic structures, but structural biology often shows them as static snapshots. Inspired by long-exposure photography and generative art, I built ProteinCHAOS, an artistic tool inspired by molecular dynamics to capture protein flexibility over time, much like long-exposure images.
November 23, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Proteins are dynamic structures, but structural biology often shows them as static snapshots. Inspired by long-exposure photography and generative art, I built ProteinCHAOS, an artistic tool inspired by molecular dynamics to capture protein flexibility over time, much like long-exposure images.
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
Call for contributions/demos for programming 2026 in Munich, March. Ooh I'll have some serious shit cooking by then.
2026.programming-conference.org/home/substra...
2026.programming-conference.org/home/substra...
Substrates 2026 - Substrates-26 - ‹Programming› 2026
An increasing number of researchers see their work as interactive authoring tools or software substrates for interactive computational media. By talking about “authoring tools”, we remove the divide b...
2026.programming-conference.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Call for contributions/demos for programming 2026 in Munich, March. Ooh I'll have some serious shit cooking by then.
2026.programming-conference.org/home/substra...
2026.programming-conference.org/home/substra...
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
Very happy to share our collaborative project on FAM118 proteins - noncanonical sirtuins that form filaments and process NAD in human and other vertebrate cells.
Filament formation and NAD processing by noncanonical human FAM118 sirtuins
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Baretić and Missoury et al. identify vertebrate proteins FAM118B and FAM118A as sirtuins similar to bacterial antiphage enzymes and show that...
rdcu.be
November 17, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Very happy to share our collaborative project on FAM118 proteins - noncanonical sirtuins that form filaments and process NAD in human and other vertebrate cells.
New blog post: "Explorable explorable explanations"
Building on Bret Victor's concept of "explorable explanations" for scientific publishing.
blog.khinsen.net/posts/2025/1...
🧪 #MetaSci
Building on Bret Victor's concept of "explorable explanations" for scientific publishing.
blog.khinsen.net/posts/2025/1...
🧪 #MetaSci
Konrad Hinsen's blog
blog.khinsen.net
November 12, 2025 at 8:55 AM
New blog post: "Explorable explorable explanations"
Building on Bret Victor's concept of "explorable explanations" for scientific publishing.
blog.khinsen.net/posts/2025/1...
🧪 #MetaSci
Building on Bret Victor's concept of "explorable explanations" for scientific publishing.
blog.khinsen.net/posts/2025/1...
🧪 #MetaSci
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
AI hype letter remains open for more signatures tinyurl.com/Sign-Letter-...
CryptPad
tinyurl.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:48 AM
AI hype letter remains open for more signatures tinyurl.com/Sign-Letter-...
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
Scientists and scholars in AI and its social impacts call on von der Leyen to retract #AIHype statement.
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
Scientists call on the President of the European Commission to retract AI hype statement
Experts in AI call on the President of the European Commission to retract unscientific AI hype statement she made in the budget speech.
www.iccl.ie
November 10, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Scientists and scholars in AI and its social impacts call on von der Leyen to retract #AIHype statement.
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
@olivia.science
@abeba.bsky.social
@irisvanrooij.bsky.social
@alexhanna.bsky.social
@rocher.lc
@danmcquillan.bsky.social
@robin.berjon.com
& many others have signed
www.iccl.ie/press-releas...
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
Played with @khinsen.net's hypedoc today. Wow, really good. @tomasp.net u would like. ALT + CLICK on most elements to reveal the source code, all the source code elements are hyperlinked. So deep for exploration.
hyperdoc.khinsen.net/94FE4-microg...
hyperdoc.khinsen.net/94FE4-microg...
November 8, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Played with @khinsen.net's hypedoc today. Wow, really good. @tomasp.net u would like. ALT + CLICK on most elements to reveal the source code, all the source code elements are hyperlinked. So deep for exploration.
hyperdoc.khinsen.net/94FE4-microg...
hyperdoc.khinsen.net/94FE4-microg...
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
Had a fun meeting with @ronentk.me and we set a simple landing page for @atproto.science 🧪
Take a look at atproto.science
Take a look at atproto.science
ATProto Science
atproto.science
October 23, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Had a fun meeting with @ronentk.me and we set a simple landing page for @atproto.science 🧪
Take a look at atproto.science
Take a look at atproto.science
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
Finally transferring my mastodon book thread on Hasok Chang's Is Water H2O? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism over here. My notes are somewhat haphazard, just remarking on things I found interesting at first read. And the thread appears to end abruptly. Been a while; can't remember why.
October 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Finally transferring my mastodon book thread on Hasok Chang's Is Water H2O? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism over here. My notes are somewhat haphazard, just remarking on things I found interesting at first read. And the thread appears to end abruptly. Been a while; can't remember why.
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
Totally agree – we need peer review for research software. At least the “artisanal” stuff – those small, medium-size scripts, notebooks, workflows that drive much science. Reviewing them would make results clearer, more reliable, and way more trustworthy.
#science #openscience #opensource
#science #openscience #opensource
New publication: "Reviewing research software"
Unlike experimental or theoretical methods, software is almost never peer reviewed. Maybe this should change. But is it possible at all?
doi.org/10.1109/MCSE...
Preprint: hal.science/hal-05274018
🧪 #openscience #metascience
Unlike experimental or theoretical methods, software is almost never peer reviewed. Maybe this should change. But is it possible at all?
doi.org/10.1109/MCSE...
Preprint: hal.science/hal-05274018
🧪 #openscience #metascience
Reviewing Research Software
Every research project in computational science requires writing some code, even if it’s only a few scripts. This code is instrumental in generating results, and often important for understanding in d...
doi.org
October 14, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Totally agree – we need peer review for research software. At least the “artisanal” stuff – those small, medium-size scripts, notebooks, workflows that drive much science. Reviewing them would make results clearer, more reliable, and way more trustworthy.
#science #openscience #opensource
#science #openscience #opensource
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
This is not an exaggeration.
Everything — *everything* — is downstream of energy. Our technological prowess is downstream of the massive power subsidies we have been getting from fossil fuels.
Everything — *everything* — is downstream of energy. Our technological prowess is downstream of the massive power subsidies we have been getting from fossil fuels.
You're living through one of the biggest technological transformations in world history and it has nothing to do with AI
Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved.
Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.
ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...
Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.
ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...
October 14, 2025 at 2:52 PM
This is not an exaggeration.
Everything — *everything* — is downstream of energy. Our technological prowess is downstream of the massive power subsidies we have been getting from fossil fuels.
Everything — *everything* — is downstream of energy. Our technological prowess is downstream of the massive power subsidies we have been getting from fossil fuels.
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
«The input does not cause the output in an authorial sense, much like input to a library search engine does not cause relevant articles and books to be written (Guest, 2025). The respective authors wrote those, not the search query!» via @olivia.science via#2 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social - thank you
important on LLMs for academics:
1️⃣ LLMs are usefully seen as lossy content-addressable systems
2️⃣ we can't automatically detect plagiarism
3️⃣ LLMs automate plagiarism & paper mills
4️⃣ we must protect literature from pollution
5️⃣ LLM use is a CoI
6️⃣ prompts do not cause output in authorial sense
1️⃣ LLMs are usefully seen as lossy content-addressable systems
2️⃣ we can't automatically detect plagiarism
3️⃣ LLMs automate plagiarism & paper mills
4️⃣ we must protect literature from pollution
5️⃣ LLM use is a CoI
6️⃣ prompts do not cause output in authorial sense
October 14, 2025 at 5:01 AM
«The input does not cause the output in an authorial sense, much like input to a library search engine does not cause relevant articles and books to be written (Guest, 2025). The respective authors wrote those, not the search query!» via @olivia.science via#2 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social - thank you
New publication: "Reviewing research software"
Unlike experimental or theoretical methods, software is almost never peer reviewed. Maybe this should change. But is it possible at all?
doi.org/10.1109/MCSE...
Preprint: hal.science/hal-05274018
🧪 #openscience #metascience
Unlike experimental or theoretical methods, software is almost never peer reviewed. Maybe this should change. But is it possible at all?
doi.org/10.1109/MCSE...
Preprint: hal.science/hal-05274018
🧪 #openscience #metascience
Reviewing Research Software
Every research project in computational science requires writing some code, even if it’s only a few scripts. This code is instrumental in generating results, and often important for understanding in d...
doi.org
October 9, 2025 at 7:34 AM
New publication: "Reviewing research software"
Unlike experimental or theoretical methods, software is almost never peer reviewed. Maybe this should change. But is it possible at all?
doi.org/10.1109/MCSE...
Preprint: hal.science/hal-05274018
🧪 #openscience #metascience
Unlike experimental or theoretical methods, software is almost never peer reviewed. Maybe this should change. But is it possible at all?
doi.org/10.1109/MCSE...
Preprint: hal.science/hal-05274018
🧪 #openscience #metascience
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
October 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
I'm at #uist2025 presenting our new work with @jonathoda.bsky.social!
𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗸 is a computational substrate for end-user programming that makes it easy to implement programming experiences like programming by demonstration, collaborative editing and more!
tomasp.net/academic/pap...
𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗸 is a computational substrate for end-user programming that makes it easy to implement programming experiences like programming by demonstration, collaborative editing and more!
tomasp.net/academic/pap...
September 30, 2025 at 6:13 AM
I'm at #uist2025 presenting our new work with @jonathoda.bsky.social!
𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗸 is a computational substrate for end-user programming that makes it easy to implement programming experiences like programming by demonstration, collaborative editing and more!
tomasp.net/academic/pap...
𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗸 is a computational substrate for end-user programming that makes it easy to implement programming experiences like programming by demonstration, collaborative editing and more!
tomasp.net/academic/pap...
Question to Linux experts: Where does this weird pop-up come from that I get whenever pressing a deadkey on my keyboard? How can I disable it?
I see this since I updated from Debian 12 to Debian 13. I see it only in a few programs, such as xterm and Emacs, where it often covers text I need to see.
I see this since I updated from Debian 12 to Debian 13. I see it only in a few programs, such as xterm and Emacs, where it often covers text I need to see.
September 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Question to Linux experts: Where does this weird pop-up come from that I get whenever pressing a deadkey on my keyboard? How can I disable it?
I see this since I updated from Debian 12 to Debian 13. I see it only in a few programs, such as xterm and Emacs, where it often covers text I need to see.
I see this since I updated from Debian 12 to Debian 13. I see it only in a few programs, such as xterm and Emacs, where it often covers text I need to see.
Reposted by Konrad Hinsen
In the early days of quantum chemistry, before we had computers to calculate the shapes of electron orbitals, one man invented a mechanical machine that simulated their shapes. My latest column for @chemistryworld.com
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
The simple machine that visualised atomic orbitals
In 1931, Harvey Elliott White developed a device that traced out the shapes of electron clouds by approximating solutions to the Schrödinger equation
www.chemistryworld.com
September 18, 2025 at 9:37 AM
In the early days of quantum chemistry, before we had computers to calculate the shapes of electron orbitals, one man invented a mechanical machine that simulated their shapes. My latest column for @chemistryworld.com
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...
www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...