Daniel Hoffmann 🌻

We need a new ethics for a world of AI agents The deployment of capable AI agents raises fresh questions about safety, human–machine relationships and social coordination.

If the climate crisis is the wildfire threatening to devour us, #agenticAI is the fog that approaches from the other direction. We have no idea what that fog brings (may quench the fire or turn us into puppets or ...). So better keep an eye on it.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The Meaning of Hitler - Wikipedia

Finished reading Sebastian Haffners excellent 1978 #book "Anmerkungen zu Hitler" (The Meaning of Hitler). A bit late. Haffner dissects the personality with clinical precision & shows how #Hitler became the perpetrator of unprecedented crimes. Echos today. #history
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mea...

Vibrio pectenicida strain FHCF-3 is a causative agent of sea star wasting disease | Nature Ecology & Evolution The causative agent of sea star wasting disease has been elusive. This study used genetic datasets and experimental exposures to demonstrate that a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida caused disease and mortality in sea stars.

A #bacterial #infection is behind the mass die-off of sea stars along Pacific coast of North America. Has led to major #ecological upheaval. It's unclear whether aquacultures play a role.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

World in $1.5tn ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns | Plastics | The Guardian Plastic production has increased more than 200 times since 1950 and hits health at every stage from extraction to disposal, says review in the Lancet

#Health damages caused by #plastics estimated $1.5 trillion per year according to report in The Lancet.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Daniel Hoffmann🌻 (@Daniel_Hoffmann@mathstodon.xyz) Attached: 1 image Why #botany is rocket science and other observations on touch-me-not: When I was little it blew my mind that the ripe pods of touch-me-not (here: Impatiens parviflora) would explode...

Why #botany is rocket science and other observations on touch-me-not:
mathstodon.xyz/@Daniel_Hoff...

Post on why #democracy and #climatepolicy need #education.

mathstodon.xyz/@Daniel_Hoff...

‘Self-termination is most likely’: the history and future of societal collapse | Environment | The Guardian An epic analysis of 5,000 years of civilisation argues that a global collapse is coming unless inequality is vanquished

Interesting piece on preconditions of societal #collapse from analysis of historical societies. Collapse as violent adjustment of inequality. Global collapse without precedent, likely devastating.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

In our #metabolomics work we frequently had the problem of inferring standardized metabolite names (from non-standard ones). Katja and Willson have developed a system prompt for Llama 3.3 to solve this problem:

github.com/KatjaDanielz...

#AI

Genomewide study makes ‘quantum leap’ in understanding stuttering Analysis of DNA from 23andMe users points to variants in genes linked to brain function and sense of rhythm

#stutter associated with mutations in specific neurologically important genes. #gwas
www.science.org/content/arti...

mRNA vaccines for HIV trigger strong immune response in people Results from early-stage trial show that 80% of participants who received one of two HIV vaccine candidates produced antibodies against viral proteins.

#mRNA vaccine against #HIV elicits neutralizing #antibodies in human individuals. Still working on side effects in skin. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Supersized stick insect discovered in high-altitude trees in Australia | Insects | The Guardian The 40cm-long insect, named Acrophylla alta, weighs slightly less than a golf ball and may be the heaviest insect in Australia

Stick #insect of 40 cm length newly discovered: huge insects have to be long & thin because of their diffusive mode of oxygen supply. It also makes sense that it's an extremely well camouflaged stick insect because it's a welcome protein rich treat for predators. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Sleeping’ cancer cells in the lungs can be roused by COVID and flu Inflammation from the respiratory infections seems to be the culprit, study in mice finds.

Acute lung #infection can cause #inflammation that revives dormant #cancer cells. Experiments with mice and epidemiological evidence.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How allergens make us cough and weeze — by poking holes in airway cells The immune system senses damage to cell membranes caused by pore-forming proteins and mounts a response.

#allergies: researchers find that many allergic reactions in airways start when allergen proteins damage airway cells by forming pores in cell membranes, which then alerts immune system. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The life of microplastic: how fragments move through plants, insects, animals – and you | Plastics | The Guardian Microplastics have been found in the placentas of unborn babies, the depths of the Mariana Trench, the summit of Everest and the organs of Antarctic penguins. But how do they travel through the world, and what do they do to the creatures that carry them? Here is the story of how plastic contaminates entire ecosystems – and even the food we eat

How #microplastic pervades all life: narrated journey of a polyester thread shed from clothes. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

#AI based personalized #maths #education for science esp. #biology: our students join the same study programs in biology with different backgrounds in maths. #AI could help to fill gaps in personalized ways. Are there best-practice examples?

Harnessing insulin biology to treat diabetes and cancer Small molecules are used to target the insulin signaling molecular machinery

Specific molecular interactions are a key organizing principle of life. Two studies show how the same protein interaction (PI3Kα-RAS) can be tweaked in different ways (disrupted or strengthened) to potentially treat either #cancer or #diabetes.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Breakthrough in "artificial immunology": a flurry of studies reporting successful computational design of novel #immune receptors that recognize molecular warning signs (pMHC) presented by diseased cells (e.g. cancer cells).
#ai #immmunotherapy
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Air pollution raises risk of dementia, say Cambridge scientists | Air pollution | The Guardian Most comprehensive study of its kind highlights dangers of vehicle emissions and woodburning stoves

Specific types of #airPollution (PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide, soot) associated with increased risk of #dementia. Outcome of large metastudy.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A gut sense for a microbial pattern regulates feeding - Nature A study reveals a gut–brain sensory pathway through which the microbial component flagellin activates neuropod cells in the colon to signal the brain and reduce feeding in mice.

Humans are carriers of gut bacteria. They let you know when you had enough. This study shows (in mice) the underlying mechanism involving bacterial flagellin, immune receptors and nerve cells.
#microbiome
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Humoral determinants of checkpoint immunotherapy | Nature Rapid extracellular antibody profiling reveals a contribution of autoantibodies to the effectiveness of checkpoint immunotherapy for cancer.

Checkpoint inhibitor #immunotherapy: study finds that #autoantibodies against immune proteins can significantly alter therapy outcomes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Complex genetic variation in nearly complete human genomes | Nature Using sequencing and haplotype-resolved assembly of 65 diverse human genomes, complex regions including the major histocompatibility complex and centromeres are analysed.

High resolution sequencing of 65 human #genomes reveals many thousands of "structural variants" (= bigger mutations). Important groundwork for genome-wide association studies to discover genomic basis of diseases. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lethal malaria parasite’s weaknesses revealed Genomic insights could inform discovery of more durable drugs.

#malaria: genome sequencing of drug resistant #plasmodium strains reveals new conserved drug targets less likely to develop resistance mutations. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine, and Brain-only (no tools). Each completed thr...

Small study of #LLM use and brain function in essay writing. Looks like more #AI use could make us dumber.
arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872

Why publishing referee reports could backfire on public trust Letter to the Editor

"Why publishing referee reports could backfire on public trust". My intuition would be the opposite: the current quality of non-open referee reports is often poor, demonstrating a failure of the #peerReview system, & leading to more non-trustworty papers. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Superbugs could kill millions more and cost $2tn a year by 2050, models show | Antibiotics | The Guardian Exclusive: Research on burden of antibiotic resistance for 122 countries predicts dire economic and health outcomes

Study predicts surge of #antimicrobial resistance (#AMR) with massive implications for public health & economies. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The end of theory? Anyway it's victory time for complex #ai "solutions" to complex problems such as tweaking the interactome or deciphering the brain. The central element is always a predictive generative model of a system of interest.
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
www.science.org/doi/full/10....

#Math for #biologists: I am looking for a textbook or online material that could be used as a basis of a course for undergrad biology students. The problem is that many biologists are mathphobic & need strong motivation (#teaching based on biological applications). Recommendations welcome!

Eight healthy babies born after IVF using DNA from three people | Science | The Guardian Genetic material from mother and father transferred to healthy donor egg to reduce risk of life-threatening diseases

Mitochondria, our cellular powerplants, have their own small genomes, that may carry their own fatal mutations. A medical procedure that combines material from 3(!) parents produces babies with healthy #mitochondria. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Yo-yo dieting accelerates cardiovascular disease by reprogramming the immune system Cycling between a high-fat and low-fat diet exacerbates atherosclerosis.

Yo-yo #diet, alternating between high-fat and low-fat, seems to promote #atherosclerosis (study in mice from 2024). www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Giant study finds a research field that’s mostly reproducible Researchers assessed more than 1,000 results from fruit-fly immunity research published between 1959 and 2011. The majority of findings look verifiable.

There is at least one subfield of biology where #reproducibility is relative high: fruit fly immunology where, according to a new study, the majority of results can be reproduced. I guess that a reason may be large sample sizes.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...