Peter Sarkies @PSarkies@qoto.org

@epigenetics Hello! my lab is trying to find out why #epigenetic mechanisms evolve so rapidly in eukaryotes (and in #cancercell #evolution too). Everywhere we look there is diversity under the surface. Always looking for collaborations to investigate in far-flung corners of the tree of life!

I have discovered #BurnWild on the #bbc. Presented by Leah Sottile it is an incredible podcast charting the history of how big business attempted to shut down environmental protests by getting protesters labelled as terrorists. They succeeded in the US through "terrorism enhancement" legislation. I'm worried that some of the new protest laws being formulated in the UK may have similar consequences. I don't think there could ever be such a thing as an "eco-terrorist" let alone now. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0cx6tw7

#music
Challenged by my partner to come up with 5 candidates for best #rock song ever I proposed (not in order)
#nirvana aneurysm (from massively underrated album #incesticide)
#ratm bulls on parade
#TheClash London Calling
#Deftones Passenger
#Tool Lateralus
Slightly eccentric choices I concede. And no doubt if you asked me another day it would be totally different...

I just finished reading WG #Sebald Vertigo. Sebald was a professor of German literature at the University of East Anglia. He's more famous for writing about the aftermath of the Holocaust (e.g. Emigrants) but Vertigo is his first book and introduced his strange style to the world. Fittingly given the title, I found it a disconcerting read. Ostensibly a travelogue, complete with blurred pictures, some purportedly from a personal camera, it follows the author's trip from the UK to his childhood village (which, bizarrely, is referred to as "W." like in some kind of 19thC novel) in alpine Bavaria, via Venice, Riva and some nauseating bus journeys. But weirdly there are references to fictional characters (the Hunter Gracchus, who was a character in a bizarre Kafka short story- neither dead nor alive) and real, dead characters (the writer Stendahl and his lovers- presumably a fictionalised account). Some of the prose is mesmerizing - and almost effortlessly so as it describes the beautiful countryside, or the nervousness the traveler feels when he thinks he is being followed, which I found quite relatable. What makes the book disconcerting is that you don't know what is real, what is "really imagined" (ie when Sebald thinks he is being followed) and what is purely fictional. A good example is the description of the death of a real hunter in W., which happened during Sebald's childhood (perhaps? we don't know)- which parallels Gracchus' fictional death. In this context the pictures cease to be innocent travel snaps but instead take on a more sinister function as part of the deception wrought on the reader. I'm not sure what to make of it. would be interested in the opinions of anyone else who has read it.

Not everyone knows that eminem's 'What I am' was about getting a blue tick on Twitter

Important new paper on #DNAreplication from Pierre Murat in Julian Sale's group at the LMB in Cambridge. Interestingly there is a clear signature of mutation surrounding replication origins in mammalian cells such that they mutate more rapidly than non-origin sequences. A consequence of this is presumably that origin of replication move around rapidly over evolutionary timescales (and potentially even in cancer evolution). Interesting from an evolutionary perspective as some eukaryotes (e.g. cerevisiae) have quite localised origins- maintaining these must require quite strong selection- why are localised origins important in some eukaryotes and not others? Link to paper is here:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add3686

Mastodon: all tusk and no Musk.

If anyone wants a stimulating and urgent take on the #climatecrisis can I recommend Timothy Morton's "All Art is Ecological". A short but deep philosophical discussion of how we are drifting into disaster and need to "find ourselves" where we are and do something about it. They write with clarity and great humour without ignoring the gravity of the situation.

Exciting news... registration for the UK #Celegans meeting is open. It will take place at University of East Anglia in Norwich on January 13, ideally placed for the awesome beaches of North Norfolk if you want to freeze to death. Seriously though, it will be a fantastic meeting with great science from across the diversity of C. elegans research. It's even free to register if you are a member of the UK Genetics Society. Check out the link, and boost!

https://store.uea.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-science/bio

Hi #ScienceMastodon. I'm an academic at Oxford in the #biochemistry department. I run a lab working on the connections between #evolution and #epigenetics. New to the platform- I want to use it to keep up with new and exciting research. Any tips on how to get started would be great!