Highlights from the latest issue of The Biologist are live!
Are insects sentient?
Why are 1000s of horseshoe crabs still being 'bled' for drug testing each year?
The strange history of Vit C as a cold remedy
Making 'ecocide' a crime against humanity
+ more here
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist

The cover of The Biologist magazine shows a mushroom-like fungus growing out of a blue fly and the headline: "Hostile takeovers".

A new issue of The Biologist is now with @royalsocbio.bsky.social members and it's a cracker! We've an interview with @laminda.bsky.social‬ on zombifying parasites, tips on progressing from post-doc to PI, and we ask if creating a new million-peptide database could help fight AMR.
lnkd.in/e-8j_WB9

“Just the idea of having these species back is already having an impact” Beth Shapiro with Colossal co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm Beth Shapiro, chief scientist at the de-extinction start-up Colossal, talks to Tom Ireland about the science and ethics of recreating long-lost s...

Great article Sabrina. At the end of last year I pressed Shapiro on whether repeatedly claiming to be 'resurrecting the mammoth' was misleading, given they are gene-editing elephants. She said the distinction "wasn't important" (!)
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-in...

"Making an AI-designed life form would be pretty fun" Ai and gene editing

I agree there is hyperbole around what EVO 'understands', but its outputs are really quite impressive (ie designing new CRISPR systems that work!). Here EVO creator Patrick Hsu argues that a black box that works is better than open models that don't:
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-in...

Thanks very much!

A special issue of The Biologist, featuring a tree growing out of a silicon chip, and the headline 'AI busts into life'

Highlights from a special AI issue of The Biologist are now free to read and share online!

How neural networks compare with the brain
How to produce the quality data AI-bio needs, fairly
Patrick Hsu & Evo
Plus: AI & regulation, education, sequencing, and more.
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist

A chart in three parts showing data on child mortality to make the points that "The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better. All three statements are true at the same time."

The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.

All three statements are true at the same time. Understanding this is key to solving big global problems.

We believe data & research can help us understand both the problems we face & the progress that’s possible. 🧵

I was very happy to talk about my book How Life Works in the latest issue of Periodic, the magazine of the Oxford chemistry department.

I'm a bowler so a bit of seam movement doesn't equal a bad pitch to me! Never heard of snake cracks, however. If it is impossible to score runs in the next two innings too, it is a bad pitch I guess.

Is it a bad pitch? Only saw highlights but am loving the pace & bounce, the ball flying through to the 'keeper at chest height... proper challenging and exciting test cricket!

What a lovely welcome! Thanks Karis!

Hi Jamie - I'd like to be added too!

⚠️THREAD OF ALL SCIENCE-RELATED STARTER PACKS! ⚠️

🔄Share to help people finding its topic/field

- STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY

Structural Biology 1: bsky.app/starter-pack...
Structural Biology 2: bsky.app/starter-pack...
Crystallography: bsky.app/starter-pack...
Synchrotron&CryoEM: bsky.app/starter-pack...

Hey Katharine! Great pack - please add me!