Richard Sever
@richardsever.bsky.social
Chief Science and Strategy Officer, openRxiv. Co-Founder, bioRxiv and medRxiv.
Debates about the so-called nuclear matrix and lipid rafts were polarizing and aggressive but nothing like what’s brewing with phase separation…
I believe that we are about to see a major scientific conflict play out here on BlueSky, for better or for worse. I'll weigh in on this on the blog once I'm sure that I understand everyone's positions:
Why the brand of phase separation proposed by Tony Hyman is pseudoscientific and why it makes him incompatible with leadership of EMBL @embl.org, a major European institution in Molecular Biology #MolecularBiology
🧵A thread
#science #PhaseSeparation #BlueSkyScience #AcademicBluesky #BioSky
🧵A thread
#science #PhaseSeparation #BlueSkyScience #AcademicBluesky #BioSky
November 30, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Debates about the so-called nuclear matrix and lipid rafts were polarizing and aggressive but nothing like what’s brewing with phase separation…
Reposted by Richard Sever
Talk to literally any investigator on an RCT who has had to judge whether or not a rare adverse event was caused by the intervention. This claim is comical.
Beyond that, you literally aren't going to see the rare adverse events in RCTs. The sample size is too small.
Beyond that, you literally aren't going to see the rare adverse events in RCTs. The sample size is too small.
November 30, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Talk to literally any investigator on an RCT who has had to judge whether or not a rare adverse event was caused by the intervention. This claim is comical.
Beyond that, you literally aren't going to see the rare adverse events in RCTs. The sample size is too small.
Beyond that, you literally aren't going to see the rare adverse events in RCTs. The sample size is too small.
Hard choices for preprint servers.
bioRxiv has always declined reviews/hypotheses b/c of concern about signal:noise and a wish to avoid subjective judgments. AI slop makes screening certain content similarly challenging so other servers are adopting new restrictions. Two thoughts... 1/3
bioRxiv has always declined reviews/hypotheses b/c of concern about signal:noise and a wish to avoid subjective judgments. AI slop makes screening certain content similarly challenging so other servers are adopting new restrictions. Two thoughts... 1/3
In light of record submission rates and a large volume of AI-generated slop, SocArXiv recently implemented a policy requiring ORCIDs linked in the OSF profile of submitting authors, and narrowing our focus to social science subjects. Today we are taking two more steps:
/1
/1
November 27, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Hard choices for preprint servers.
bioRxiv has always declined reviews/hypotheses b/c of concern about signal:noise and a wish to avoid subjective judgments. AI slop makes screening certain content similarly challenging so other servers are adopting new restrictions. Two thoughts... 1/3
bioRxiv has always declined reviews/hypotheses b/c of concern about signal:noise and a wish to avoid subjective judgments. AI slop makes screening certain content similarly challenging so other servers are adopting new restrictions. Two thoughts... 1/3
Reposted by Richard Sever
SocArXiv announces moratorium on AI-topic papers
In light of record submission rates and a large volume of AI-generated slop, SocArXiv recently implemented a policy requiring ORCIDs linked in the OSF profile of submitting authors, and narrowing our focus to social science subjects. Today we are taking two more steps:
/1
/1
November 27, 2025 at 3:04 PM
SocArXiv announces moratorium on AI-topic papers
One could write a similar piece substituting “source” with “access”…
"Open Software as a positive force in the world is entirely contingent on its ability to distribute power. To date it has facilitated the opposite."
This piece from @erlend.sh is such a banger! V excited for next week's @scenius.bsky.social open source panel with him 🔥
This piece from @erlend.sh is such a banger! V excited for next week's @scenius.bsky.social open source panel with him 🔥
November 27, 2025 at 2:28 PM
One could write a similar piece substituting “source” with “access”…
Reposted by Richard Sever
With @burgesslab.bsky.social, not one, but TWO freshly caught T2T zebrafish reference genomes for the Tübingen and AB strains 🎣 🎣 🎉
🎉 Excited to share our new preprint presenting a complete de novo assembly of the zebrafish genome; a major advance for zebrafish genomics and research! 🧬
Full paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@zebrafishrock.bsky.social @izfs.bsky.social @zfinmod.bsky.social @modelzebrafish.bsky.social
Full paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@zebrafishrock.bsky.social @izfs.bsky.social @zfinmod.bsky.social @modelzebrafish.bsky.social
doi.org
November 26, 2025 at 2:51 PM
With @burgesslab.bsky.social, not one, but TWO freshly caught T2T zebrafish reference genomes for the Tübingen and AB strains 🎣 🎣 🎉
Reposted by Richard Sever
The entire concept of such a book is fatally flawed from the start.
And though I don't think this point comes up in the podcast, I think there is a major selection-bias problem here too: the only ppl willing to write a book like this are the ones must vulnerable to bad-outcome overconfidence.
And though I don't think this point comes up in the podcast, I think there is a major selection-bias problem here too: the only ppl willing to write a book like this are the ones must vulnerable to bad-outcome overconfidence.
November 22, 2025 at 7:25 PM
The entire concept of such a book is fatally flawed from the start.
And though I don't think this point comes up in the podcast, I think there is a major selection-bias problem here too: the only ppl willing to write a book like this are the ones must vulnerable to bad-outcome overconfidence.
And though I don't think this point comes up in the podcast, I think there is a major selection-bias problem here too: the only ppl willing to write a book like this are the ones must vulnerable to bad-outcome overconfidence.
“after becoming aware of just how wrong [it] can be, [AI workers] have begun urging friends not to use generative AI at all [and] encourage them to ask AI about something they are very knowledgable in so they can understand how fallible the tech is.” 1/2 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI
When the people making AI seem trustworthy are the ones who trust it the least, it shows that incentives for speed are overtaking safety, experts say
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:54 PM
“after becoming aware of just how wrong [it] can be, [AI workers] have begun urging friends not to use generative AI at all [and] encourage them to ask AI about something they are very knowledgable in so they can understand how fallible the tech is.” 1/2 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Image screening is going to fail. We need audit trails for data provenance.
I tried an even harder example on Gemini Pro image generation and this is quite scary/amazing. I asked for a microscopy image of around 20 HeLa cells, GFP tagged 20% nuclear, 10% membrane, +1 nuclear staining, + overlap. Image below and prompt in the following post.
November 22, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Image screening is going to fail. We need audit trails for data provenance.
"If the data is accurate...it would call into question the business model of OpenAI and nearly every other general-purpose LLM vendor" www.ft.com/content/fce7...
How high are OpenAI’s compute costs? Possibly a lot higher than we thought
Inference inferred, revenue reconstructed, cash burn quantified
www.ft.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:13 PM
"If the data is accurate...it would call into question the business model of OpenAI and nearly every other general-purpose LLM vendor" www.ft.com/content/fce7...
"It may be uncomfortable to conclude that a widely used study design has been producing spurious results. But the evidence is in, and telling uncomfortable truths is a part of doing science."
Problems with twin studies.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...
Problems with twin studies.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...
The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered
Not with a bang but with a whimper
theinfinitesimal.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:03 PM
"It may be uncomfortable to conclude that a widely used study design has been producing spurious results. But the evidence is in, and telling uncomfortable truths is a part of doing science."
Problems with twin studies.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...
Problems with twin studies.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...
Reposted by Richard Sever
Trends shoved down the throats of mums to be, that want to do the best for their kids to be.
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
November 22, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Trends shoved down the throats of mums to be, that want to do the best for their kids to be.
Interesting 🧵- keen to hear thoughts from @gcbias.bsky.social @dgmacarthur.bsky.social et al.
So there you have it, twin study estimates were greatly inflated, and molecular data sets the record straight. I walk through possible counter-arguments, but ultimately the uncomfortable truth is that genes contribute to traits much less than we always thought.
November 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Interesting 🧵- keen to hear thoughts from @gcbias.bsky.social @dgmacarthur.bsky.social et al.
Siri: what is the opposite of evidence-based medicine?
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Siri: what is the opposite of evidence-based medicine?
"essays produced by ChatGPT are soulless, boring abominations. Words, phrases and punctuation rarely used by the average college student are pervasive." www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:39 PM
"essays produced by ChatGPT are soulless, boring abominations. Words, phrases and punctuation rarely used by the average college student are pervasive." www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
Reposted by Richard Sever
Brand new preprint from my lab, showing that TnpB, the ancestor of Cas12, acts as a gene drive in plasmids! And it turns out in conjugative plasmids that it acts as a primitive anti-self defense system, providing a potential link between its transposon effect and becoming CRISPR!
What is the best strategy to win any contest?
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 20, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Brand new preprint from my lab, showing that TnpB, the ancestor of Cas12, acts as a gene drive in plasmids! And it turns out in conjugative plasmids that it acts as a primitive anti-self defense system, providing a potential link between its transposon effect and becoming CRISPR!
Understanding bioRxiv/medRxiv DOIs. How openRxiv assigns them, a changing prefix, and the embedded priority date in citations openrxiv.org/dois-for-pre...
Understanding DOIs for preprints: how openRxiv assigns and manages persistent identifiers - openRxiv
Digital object identifiers (DOIs) are a class of persistent identifier (PID) assigned to an object to ensure that it can always be uniquely identified and, ideally, accessed reliably. Each DOI is a un...
openrxiv.org
November 19, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Understanding bioRxiv/medRxiv DOIs. How openRxiv assigns them, a changing prefix, and the embedded priority date in citations openrxiv.org/dois-for-pre...
"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people" www.404media.co/a-researcher...
A Researcher Made an AI That Completely Breaks the Online Surveys Scientists Rely On
We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people.”
www.404media.co
November 19, 2025 at 12:47 PM
"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people" www.404media.co/a-researcher...
The bioRxiv and medRxiv sites are currently inaccessible because of an issue with the Cloudflare cybersecurity service. This is affecting many sites but we’re told it’s being resolved.
November 18, 2025 at 1:21 PM
The bioRxiv and medRxiv sites are currently inaccessible because of an issue with the Cloudflare cybersecurity service. This is affecting many sites but we’re told it’s being resolved.
Reposted by Richard Sever
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
Reposted by Richard Sever
Folks, it is finally out! Our paper on T2T assemblies of the zebrafish genome is on BioRxiv:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
November 17, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Folks, it is finally out! Our paper on T2T assemblies of the zebrafish genome is on BioRxiv:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Enjoyed last week's @time.com TIME100 event. Fascinating conversations with Alice Park, Andrea Deierlein and others, and an important reminder from Raj Panjabi of Flagship Pioneering that COVID vaccines have prevented >3M deaths in the US time.com/7332162/time...
November 17, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Enjoyed last week's @time.com TIME100 event. Fascinating conversations with Alice Park, Andrea Deierlein and others, and an important reminder from Raj Panjabi of Flagship Pioneering that COVID vaccines have prevented >3M deaths in the US time.com/7332162/time...
"AI-generated Grokipedia...entries on white nationalists, antisemites and holocaust deniers...portray them in a positive light while casting doubt on their critics." www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
White nationalist talking points and racial pseudoscience: welcome to Elon Musk’s Grokipedia
World’s richest person wanted to ‘purge’ propaganda from Wikipedia, so he created a compendium of racist disinformation
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:47 PM
"AI-generated Grokipedia...entries on white nationalists, antisemites and holocaust deniers...portray them in a positive light while casting doubt on their critics." www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Richard Sever
One nice thing about working on theoretical/computational science is that in principle we can have perfect replicability by just providing the source code.
One sad thing is that this never happens. Even when we have the code it doesn't run or produces different results.
One sad thing is that this never happens. Even when we have the code it doesn't run or produces different results.
November 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
One nice thing about working on theoretical/computational science is that in principle we can have perfect replicability by just providing the source code.
One sad thing is that this never happens. Even when we have the code it doesn't run or produces different results.
One sad thing is that this never happens. Even when we have the code it doesn't run or produces different results.
Reposted by Richard Sever
This is an absolutely delightful read that i strongly recommend for everyone in science.
Always liked this humorous piece on how papers are 'lies' constructed to destroy myth and wonder journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Destroying myth and wonder
I've just had the most wonderful day. I spent the entire time notwriting papers. (The only thing I like more than not writing papers is not writing grants and not going to staff meetings.) I cleaned m...
journals.biologists.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:13 PM
This is an absolutely delightful read that i strongly recommend for everyone in science.