chris macdonald
@ccmm.bsky.social
Postdoc @fraserlab @willowcoyote at UCSF, messing around with proteins. Sentimental empiricist.
Reposted by chris macdonald
A break from Christmas content to enjoy this capybara eating a banana. From François Froger's 'A relation of a voyage ...' (London, 1698).
December 17, 2025 at 9:49 AM
A break from Christmas content to enjoy this capybara eating a banana. From François Froger's 'A relation of a voyage ...' (London, 1698).
Reposted by chris macdonald
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1
December 17, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Reposted by chris macdonald
The weekly Reading, Watching post.—
www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-maga-m...
www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-maga-m...
The MAGA meltdown; Mamdani's Rainbow Coalition; Remembering Tatsuya Nakadai
Reading, Watching 11.16.25
www.unpopularfront.news
November 16, 2025 at 3:19 PM
The weekly Reading, Watching post.—
www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-maga-m...
www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-maga-m...
Reposted by chris macdonald
Agriculture’s new album The Spiritual Sound is available everywhere today.
The record is a study in joy and intensity, carrying forward the ecstatic spirit of their debut while pushing deeper into grief, transcendence, and renewal.
Listen: youtu.be/k9yMIboriEY
@agriculturemusic.bsky.social
The record is a study in joy and intensity, carrying forward the ecstatic spirit of their debut while pushing deeper into grief, transcendence, and renewal.
Listen: youtu.be/k9yMIboriEY
@agriculturemusic.bsky.social
October 3, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Agriculture’s new album The Spiritual Sound is available everywhere today.
The record is a study in joy and intensity, carrying forward the ecstatic spirit of their debut while pushing deeper into grief, transcendence, and renewal.
Listen: youtu.be/k9yMIboriEY
@agriculturemusic.bsky.social
The record is a study in joy and intensity, carrying forward the ecstatic spirit of their debut while pushing deeper into grief, transcendence, and renewal.
Listen: youtu.be/k9yMIboriEY
@agriculturemusic.bsky.social
Reposted by chris macdonald
Excited to share the latest work by outstanding PhD student @kdc509.bsky.social. This was one of our first forays into experimental evolution and uncovered some cool connections between potassium transport and antimicrobial resistance in S. aureus. Major kudos to Killian!
Evolution of polyamine resistance in Staphylococcus aureus through modulation of potassium transport | mSphere
Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of infectious disease-related deaths globally. Understanding factors
that govern adaptation and survival of S. aureus and other pathogens in the host environme...
journals.asm.org
August 22, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Excited to share the latest work by outstanding PhD student @kdc509.bsky.social. This was one of our first forays into experimental evolution and uncovered some cool connections between potassium transport and antimicrobial resistance in S. aureus. Major kudos to Killian!
Reposted by chris macdonald
Quality time in the catio reading & napping
August 21, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Quality time in the catio reading & napping
Reposted by chris macdonald
They finally made the milk from that hotel
July 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
They finally made the milk from that hotel
Reposted by chris macdonald
UCSF Asilomar retreat t-shirt, 1990
July 7, 2025 at 12:55 PM
UCSF Asilomar retreat t-shirt, 1990
this whole album smacks of gender
July 1, 2025 at 6:58 PM
this whole album smacks of gender
Reposted by chris macdonald
Members of #Senyawa and Emptyset join forces with Sam Slater and Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir for an exploration of machine learning that sounds thrillingly alien
Osmium - Osmium
buff.ly/5jLhEs4
@invadarecords.bsky.social
Osmium - Osmium
buff.ly/5jLhEs4
@invadarecords.bsky.social
June 28, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Members of #Senyawa and Emptyset join forces with Sam Slater and Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir for an exploration of machine learning that sounds thrillingly alien
Osmium - Osmium
buff.ly/5jLhEs4
@invadarecords.bsky.social
Osmium - Osmium
buff.ly/5jLhEs4
@invadarecords.bsky.social
In a fugue state years ago I guess I got David Pajo to do a cameo to congratulate me on getting my PhD and I just saw it now
June 25, 2025 at 7:36 AM
In a fugue state years ago I guess I got David Pajo to do a cameo to congratulate me on getting my PhD and I just saw it now
I’m patenting a constant anti-unit of temperature called the Bernard. 1 B = 10^30. Then 30 °F is just 1.92 B and 100 °F is 2.19 B. The beautiful thing is then 1 = 1 B/B.
That’s why I personally get rid of the ambiguity and just have 0 = 0 K and 1 = the Planck temperature. It’s much clearer to have 30°F = 1.92*10^-30 and 100°F = 2.19*10^-30. Avoids any confusion.
June 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
I’m patenting a constant anti-unit of temperature called the Bernard. 1 B = 10^30. Then 30 °F is just 1.92 B and 100 °F is 2.19 B. The beautiful thing is then 1 = 1 B/B.
Not sure if this is anything
June 22, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Not sure if this is anything
Reposted by chris macdonald
Paper is finally up and open access (www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...), it's a sequel to an earlier paper where we'd argued that there's not good evidence that pre-publication peer review is a net benefit (www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/...). So in this one we suggest an alternative.
June 14, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Paper is finally up and open access (www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...), it's a sequel to an earlier paper where we'd argued that there's not good evidence that pre-publication peer review is a net benefit (www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/...). So in this one we suggest an alternative.
Reposted by chris macdonald
"The testimony the authors collected... should be enough to call for a national inquiry into the sport’s violently destructive nature, though it is highly unlikely that any such inquiry will be launched."
@silkyweineck.bsky.social in @mid-theory.bsky.social on our @uncpress.bsky.social book.
@silkyweineck.bsky.social in @mid-theory.bsky.social on our @uncpress.bsky.social book.
What’s Love Got To Do With It?: A Review of ‘The End of College Football’
It is the love that is troubling: the love of violence (which fans prefer to call “physicality”), the love of an institution that invariably, though to variable degrees, maims its participants in p…
mid-theory.com
May 15, 2025 at 11:48 AM
"The testimony the authors collected... should be enough to call for a national inquiry into the sport’s violently destructive nature, though it is highly unlikely that any such inquiry will be launched."
@silkyweineck.bsky.social in @mid-theory.bsky.social on our @uncpress.bsky.social book.
@silkyweineck.bsky.social in @mid-theory.bsky.social on our @uncpress.bsky.social book.
Reposted by chris macdonald
Pretty shocking: the snake YouTuber designed the experiment to obtain the antibodies, and did the experiment on himself (carefully dosing himself with snake venom for 20 yrs!), and is not a co-author on the paper.
Scientific papers so often bury the lede. The story here is that the antibodies came from a YouTube herpetologist who's been treating his arms as snakesnacks www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Snake venom protection by a cocktail of varespladib and broadly neutralizing human antibodies
To combat snake bites from diverse species, this work identifies broadly neutralizing
antibodies from a donor hyperimmune to snake venom, and it demonstrates that a combination
of two of the identifie...
www.cell.com
May 3, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Pretty shocking: the snake YouTuber designed the experiment to obtain the antibodies, and did the experiment on himself (carefully dosing himself with snake venom for 20 yrs!), and is not a co-author on the paper.
Pretty cool stuff en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnet_...
Bonnet theorem - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
April 16, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Pretty cool stuff en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnet_...
Reposted by chris macdonald
#OnThisDay April 14, 1996, Skinner purchased fast food to disguise as his own cooking at an unforgettable luncheon with Superintendent Chalmers, when “22 Short Films About Springfield” first aired on Fox. @thatbilloakley.com #TheSimpsons #SteamedHams
April 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM
#OnThisDay April 14, 1996, Skinner purchased fast food to disguise as his own cooking at an unforgettable luncheon with Superintendent Chalmers, when “22 Short Films About Springfield” first aired on Fox. @thatbilloakley.com #TheSimpsons #SteamedHams
Reposted by chris macdonald
"Let's not take the soul-sucking path of sacrificing the most persecuted for that which we deem to be most popular. I know that there are transgender children right now looking out at this world and wondering if anyone is going to stand up for them and for their simple right to exist. Well, I am."
March 24, 2025 at 7:40 PM
"Let's not take the soul-sucking path of sacrificing the most persecuted for that which we deem to be most popular. I know that there are transgender children right now looking out at this world and wondering if anyone is going to stand up for them and for their simple right to exist. Well, I am."
seems bad. www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/d...
Diplomatic row erupts after French researcher expelled from US for expressing 'a personal opinion' on Trump
A diplomatic row has erupted between France and the US after a French researcher was expelled from the country for expressing "a personal opinion" on Trump.
www.lbc.co.uk
March 20, 2025 at 12:37 AM
seems bad. www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/d...
Reposted by chris macdonald
This is a PhD student in *epidemiology*
March 18, 2025 at 12:06 PM
This is a PhD student in *epidemiology*
Reposted by chris macdonald
UMASS IS RESCINDING ALL GRAD POSITIONS FOR THIS YEAR
March 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
UMASS IS RESCINDING ALL GRAD POSITIONS FOR THIS YEAR
Reposted by chris macdonald
Last year, I was overjoyed to receive an NIH NRSA fellowship to study toddler brains and caregiving effects on memory at Columbia. Last night, my grant was terminated.
March 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Last year, I was overjoyed to receive an NIH NRSA fellowship to study toddler brains and caregiving effects on memory at Columbia. Last night, my grant was terminated.