Alexander Hogrebe, PhD

Photo of a tv. Onscreen a woman holds an axe with a periodic table visible behind.

Buffy is so old there were only 103 named elements, we’re at 118 now.

(Yes I pause every show that has a periodic table to see if its period accurate)

RFK Jr & his HHS has declared thimerosal dangerous. It’s not.

The result? US will no longer recommend vaccines with thimerosal (a safe preservative).

This lie, now policy, will ripple around the world, destroying vaccine trust, access, & uptake.

A thread ⬇️

1/

The main takeaways are quite clear when you just hear the term "vibe physics", but it's still a fantastic watch - 5/5 LLMs would recommend

(DM me for Nebula guest pass, or watch on YouTube)

Congratulations, looking forward to the activities to come

We are excited to announce the newly elected YPIC Board for the upcoming two-year term. This new team will work to strengthen the voice and network of young proteomics researchers in Europe! Meet our new Board:

Maybe what's needed instead of centrist unplugging is local engagement in the center - of those who are able to. "You know me, I'll listen to your concerns, but I need you to listen too". Building a connection, placing a seed of doubt, at least where it's not yet lost

The world's highest court declares states have a legal obligation to tackle climate change The opinion of the International Court of Justice is seen by some as a turning point in international climate law, with judges finding that states affected by global warming could be eligible for repa...

Big polluting countries, including the United States and Australia, opposed the Court of Justice - and lost.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Who could possibly have predicted this?

HouseEurope! Die Europäische Bürgerinitiative für Renovierung.

Die #Bauindustrie ist einer der größten Verursacher von CO2-Emissionen. Heute werden viele #Gebäude als Spekulationsobjekte behandelt. Dies fördert Leerstand und Verfall. Das System von Abriss und Neubau geht auf Kosten von Umwelt und #Klima. Deswegen: Ja zu Renovierung, Nein zu Abriss. Mach mit: 👇

The Twitter platform is built to keep people on it. It does not drive traffic virtually at all, even in its hayday, and it's even worse now.

There's no reason to stay on it.

The mystery of em‑dashes: part two with quantitative evidence A couple of weeks ago I made an assumption: the rise of em‑dashes in AI‑generated text happened because model providers started scanning older, pre‑Kindle books.

Ever since I read this article on how recent LLMs REALLY love em dashes (—), I keep seeing them everywhere in prompt responses, it's wild

msukhareva.substack.com/p/the-myster...

Klimapolitik: Strategie ist eben nichts für Feiglinge Die schwarz-rote Regierung könnte die ökofeindlichste seit Langem werden. Damit schadet sie nicht nur dem Klima und der Bevölkerung. Es ist auch machtstrategisch unklug.

"Strategie ist eben nichts für Feiglinge."
Klarsichtige Analyse der erschreckend kurzsichtigen Kehrtwende der Bundesregierung beim Klima- und Naturschutz.
Das wird in Zukunft richtig teuer, und das sollte jeder Abgeordnete und Wähler lesen.
www.zeit.de/2025/28/klim...

The mystery of em‑dashes: part two with quantitative evidence A couple of weeks ago I made an assumption: the rise of em‑dashes in AI‑generated text happened because model providers started scanning older, pre‑Kindle books.

This is the best explanation I've seen yet for _why_ language models prefer em-dashes (—). In brief: The tokenization scheme mean em-dashes result in a smaller loss than other, equivalent punctuation options.
msukhareva.substack.com/p/the-myster...

Wir sind kein Zirkuszelt! 🌈

Reading some of the posters from ASMS, I'm a bit confused why some circles are bashing on quads, saying that mobility separation without a quad is the way to go. If nothing else, it seems like a quad helps resolve charge states (e.g. to knock out +1s and clean up MS2s). #TeamMassSpec

Congratulations 🥳

David R. Hagen just solved a small mystery that I mentioned 13 years ago in the mouseover text of a comic drhagen.com/blog/the-mis...

🚨 Has PRIDE helped your research?

Take 15 mins to tell funders why open data matters!
📊 Fill out the EMBL-EBI 2025 survey 👉
www.surveymonkey.com/r/QGFMBH8?ch...

Your feedback helps keep PRIDE open, FAIR & impactful.
🙏 Please share!
#FAIR #OpenData #Proteomics #MassSpectrometry #PRIDE

Assessment of false discovery rate control in tandem mass spectrometry analysis using entrapment - Nature Methods A theoretical foundation for entrapment methods is presented, along with a method that enables more accurate evaluation of false discovery rate (FDR) control in proteomics mass spectrometry analysis p...

Error control in proteomics mass spectrometry analysis is hard. We came up with a way to evaluate error control. Upshot: for old-school DDA data, not so bad. For DIA data, no existing tool successfully controls the false discovery rate!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to see this published! It is a good step in the process for people to assess their FDR control in proteomics experiments. Great work from @bo-wen.bsky.social and @urikeich.bsky.social in particular who drove this.

Klimapolitik der neuen Regierung: Den Ruf gleich ruiniert Wie macht man einen guten ersten Eindruck? Das Kabinett von Bundeskanzler Merz hat das bei der Klimapolitik schon mal nicht hinbekommen.

Unser Steuergeld für und zugleich gegen Klimaschutz ausgeben - macht das Sinn???
„Unterm Strich schmeißt die neue Regierung der fossilen Wirtschaft trotz aller Sparschwüre mehr von unseren Steuergeldern in den Rachen als je zuvor – etwa 65 Milliarden im Jahr.“
taz.de/Bernhard-Poe...

A checklist for designing and improving the visualization of scientific data Nature Cell Biology - Creating clear and engaging scientific figures is crucial to communicate complex data. In this Comment, I condense principles from design, visual perception and data...

Clear and engaging scientific figures are crucial to communicate complex data. Here you find a checklist that can help to improve data visualization, by focusing on clarity, accessibility and design best practice principles.

rdcu.be/eq2ex

Neither had I, this is great, thanks for pointing it out!

5-panel comic. (1) [teacher with long hair next to whiteboard] TEACHER: I’m supposed to give you the tools to do good science. (2) [teacher addressing students] But what *are* those tools? Methodology is hard and there are so many ways to get incorrect results. What is the magic ingredient that makes for good science? (3) TEACHER: To figure it out, I ran a regression with all the factors people say are important: [embedded list in sub-panel, cut off at end] Outcome variable: correct scientific results. Predictors: collaboration; skepticism of others’ claims; questioning your own beliefs; trying to falsify hypotheses; checking citations; statistical rigor; blinded analysis; financial disclosure; open data (4) TEACHER: The regression says two ingredients are the most crucial: 1) genuine curiosity about the answer to a question, and 2) ammonium hydroxide. (5) STUDENT: Wait, why did *ammonia* score so high? How did it even get on the list? LONG HAIR: ...And now you’re doing good science!

Good Science

xkcd.com/3101/

Comic. SOUND EFFECT: ⚠ BOOP! [person with hands on head sitting at computer desk] PERSON: AAAAA! I heard it *again!* *Where* is that *coming* from!? [caption] It turns out living well is only the *second*-best revenge. The *best* revenge is making a tiny hole in someone’s wall and dropping in a battery-powered capsule that, every 6-12 hours, plays the alert sound of a USB device connecting.

Alert Sound

xkcd.com/3100/

Balloon wall art inspired by the ggplot2 hex sticker. The display features a hexagonal frame made of black balloons, filled with white balloons inside and surrounded by a background of light and dark blue balloons. A line graph with black balloon segments and round coloured nodes runs across the centre, and the word “ggplot2” is spelled out in black balloon letters below the chart.

Happy 18th birthday ggplot2! #rstats

To celebrate this (urp 🤢) exciting new journal series, we made a mini game!

Can YOU guess which journals are Discover, MDPI, or both? No cheating! There's even the challenge mode "APC Ladder."

Share your high score with the hashtag #ResearchIntegrity

pagoba.shinyapps.io/publi_guess/

FUN!! 🤮 6/n

Sex and gender are a product of biology AND society. They are not immutable and have always been subject to expression and perception. Chris wants to limit his discussion purely to biology, to chromosomes and gametes. That's inhumane and frankly irrelevant to the article

That's Dr. Bro to you, I have a biochemistry PhD. And you claim you're a scientist, but haven't read the article? Trans folks don't claim to change sex, they demand the same protections rights to live their own lives like anyone else. To argue otherwise is bad faith

Funny, as a gay man I appreciate Nature offering this perspective about and by trans scientists, esp during pride month. Your incredibly unscientific choice of words are also a good example of why perspectives like these are sadly still necessary