Fantastic reporting by @kakape.bsky.social on @scs22.bsky.social's work in the Arctic looking for sequenceable ancient RNA viruses. Amazing pictures (including this gem), and as always great story telling and commentary on the topic. Excited to see what they find. www.science.org/content/arti...

And only at that stage did the AI decide a human should get involved because it realized it dug a hole... they put me in touch with helpful service rep, Ethan, who let me know that their AI had just made the whole check of my serial number up. My device was part of the recall and not safe. Oops.

So on a whim, I decided to follow up, despite customer service's assurance my product was safe. I asked for a confirmation of my serial number, which they said they used to make the decision my device was safe. A quick double check, because of a weird gut feeling.

And they responded, no my powerbank isn't part of the recall and it is confirmed to be safe based on the SN/Order number provided. And at first I thought - okay great - this saves me time and is better for the planet (yay no new battery needed). End of story - let's get back to changing diapers!

I wrote back asking them to answer my original questions from my first email - and to check if I was talking to a computer and whether I might communicate with a person instead because I hate chatbots for these sorts of interactions.

They quickly responded - indeed stop using the powerbank - store it safely (what that would look like I still don't know) and let's confirm if my powerbank is part of the recall. Sounds reasonable. Didn't respond to my question, but okay. And no mention that I am talking to an AI - but felt off.

It started with an email to @ankerofficial.bsky.social about a product recall - I couldn't read my serial number and wanted to check if I was eligible - and their form didn't take a German address for the replacement. I have newborn at home - and wanted to be sure so dug up an email address.

We then performed a metabarcoding analyses of faecal samples collected from mangabeys in the four months prior to the outbreak. We identified two faecal samples containing the DNA of the fire-footed rope squirrel. One of these samples was also the first positive for MPXV in the mangabey group!

To establish a potential link between these species, we investigated the diet of these mangabeys. We found a video record of consumption of the same squirrel species in 2014 back when I was doing my PhD with this group.

It was great to be back in Uganda visiting collaborators and the team from the Kibale Ecology and Conservation Project! Many interesting ideas for new projects - such a wonderful place and fantastic people - grateful to be able to spend time there. Feeling recharged and ready to write some grants...

Enjoyed the STAR-IDAZ One Health funding workshop at @ilri.org last week. Interesting discussions about major challenges to funding One Health research and practice - and to brainstorm with funders about solving them. Curious to see where the ideas go! And what amazing labs and scientists they have!

If you make headway (or want to try it out on some interesting metagenomes) - get in touch!

A little timeline refresh - took me oldest daughter winter camping again - moon put on a show and was frosty but perfect. Denmark has the best infrastructure to get people outside. And #Thy is magical. Much needed reset.

Chat bots all the way down…