NHS and private American insurance policies are just looking for reasons not to cover the vaccines (despite them being preventative measures that could cut future healthcare costs and save lives). I was shocked to find out from a colleague that the age limit in the UK is 26!

Squalene production is a great intersection between shark conservation and plant biology! Tobacco instead of sharks can be a cheap and renewable source of it onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

I think the vagueness/ambiguity is because academics are so inundated with admin work that if job descriptions were transparent about that, it be much harder to recruit people into the roles. Some more thoughts on that idea here (though not as specific to science): strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/

I have doubts it should even be published. Who will ever read it? As for the vagueness of academic job descriptions, I have a much more cynical view.

I think peer reviewing easily falls into research - it seems a great way to stay up-to-date on what's happening. I don't think it should be viewed as such drudgery, academics should only review papers that interest them. And If no one wants to peer review a paper because it's boring then

It is interesting! I have two responses to this coming in a short 🧵

Thank you!

The senior scientists and CEOs of big tobacco companies knew smoking caused cancer as early as the 1940s. The senior scientists and CEOs of Exxon (and other big oil companies) knew the truth about climate change in the 1970s. There's a concerted effort and conspiracy to keep us all in the dark.

They shouldn't have agreed to review a manuscript they didn't understand

Most South African Jews are originally from Lithuania.

Is your 'academic grandson' the student of someone who was previously your student? Or is it your grandson who is an academic? 🤔

But I bet this is all much less an issue in fields whose findings aren't as easily commercialised. Hmm

Surely these big folk could be on Bluesky too?

considering all the industry-academia partnerships/industry-funded grants, startups that are university spinouts seedbacked by huge corporations and academic institutions pushing their researchers to do this. Not to mention, loads of CEOs, billionaires and major industries have a Twitter presence