Philip Merrill

Retired dad who reads and reads, especially history of science and popsci

[nature @Nature]

China has selected its first group of young researchers to receive funding for up to 15 years, in one of the longest research grants on offer to scientists globally

https://t.co/6RnYWeNs6e

[@charlesgaba.com ✡️ at Bluesky @charles_gaba]

📣 FYI: I'm less than $23,000 away from raising $2.0 MILLION for Democrats up & down the ballot!

HELP BREAK THE NEXT MILESTONE!

Pick a page.
Pick some Democrats.
Donate TODAY!

https://t.co/1KdbjMZGVm #Blue26

[Norman Ornstein @NormOrnstein]

I had to read this twice to make sure of a cringeworthy fact; this Washington Post story on the el-Sayed exchange w “Tommy“ does not even mention that Tommy is a paid right wing political operative, a staffer for Josh Hawley. Journalistic malpractice.

https://t.co/oRSer08FeL

[WNBA Communications @WNBAComms]

Angel Reese becomes the youngest player to record 30 points and 15 rebounds in a WNBA postseason game. Reese joins Jonquel Jones, Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson as the only players to achieve this milestone.

[Angel Reese @Reese10Angel]

DUBS IN THE MF CHAT.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Ossoff: "What worries me right now is complacency about this race in Georgia, overconfidence about this race in Georgia. There's no such thing as a landslide victory in the state of Georgia. This remains the crucial battleground state."

[Steny Hoyer @RepStenyHoyer]

After a bipartisan meeting with President Zelenskyy, it is clear that the Trump Administration is acting in direct contravention of the legislation Congress enacted last month providing for sanctions against Russia.

As a result, we must pass bipartisan legislation that imposes sanctions on Russia with no waiver being allowed.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Ossoff: And what worries me right now is complacency about this race in Georgia, overconfidence about this race in Georgia. There's no such thing as a landslide victory in the state of Georgia. This remains the crucial battleground state. We've got to win this race. We've got to stay focused and take nothing for granted.

[Rep. Dr. Jasmine Clark @jasmineforga]

I have a PhD in microbiology & teach it at the college-level. In the classroom, I teach about the scientific method & how important it is to follow the evidence. In Congress, I’ll fight to protect scientific research, defend public health, and make sure facts guide our decisions.

[Dr Juliet Turner @juliet_turner6]

a week in the life of a financially challenged biologist launching a small online art shop

https://t.co/O9dMTIM7Wb

[WNBA @WNBA]

Always courtside with the support 🫶

Alyssa Thomas made the trip to the Bay to support DeWanna Bonner for Game 1.

ATL-GSV | NBC & Peacock | #WNBASeason30 | #2026WNBAFinals
Tap to watch: https://t.co/8Yjda3gGfr

[MoundLore @MoundLore]

The “20,000 ruins found in the Amazon” headline is wrong in the most interesting possible way.

Archaeologists flew LiDAR over nearly 4,500 square kilometers of southwestern Amazonia and picked up 432 earthworks. Only 36 were known before the survey.

The other 396 came through beneath the canopy as circles, squares, rectangles and octagons cut into the ground. Some were tied together by roads laid out ruler-straight across the forest.

They did not locate 20,000 ruins. They sampled a fraction of the landscape, added those results to earlier surveys and calculated that 24,000 to 30,000 earthworks may survive across the wider region. Around two-thirds may belong to the cultural world researchers are calling Aquiry.

Calling it a “lost city” makes the whole thing smaller. This was country. Communities across parts of present-day Brazil, Bolivia and Peru were building ceremonial grounds, gathering places and long roads according to a shared understanding of how the world should be arranged.

The tradition lasted from roughly 600 BC into the ninth century AD. The estimate of 1.25 to 3 million people at its height is still a model. The 396 new earthworks are not a model. And LiDAR has only touched a sliver of the ground.

Still the biggest archaeological site in the Amazon may not be buried beneath the forest.

It may be the forest.

[Angel C. Reese Foundation @AngelCReeseOrg]

Who wants to join me & the @atlantadream for Game 4?! 🏀🔥

Donate $10+ to @angelcreesefoundation for a chance to win 2 FLOOR seats + flights & hotel! Runner-up wins a signed Dream jersey.

Enter: https://t.co/KzSDkDoKC5

#AllForAtlanta #ACRF

[sam the normal fan @extramicrowave]

Is everyone in the DNC consultant sphere so incompetent that im learning McMorrow made hot wheels like months after the election ended

[Marco Ruggiero @MarcoRuggieroMD]

Could the cure for cancer come from nothing?

Among the few length-11 nullomers shared by all human genomes in the pangenome project (sequences absent from every individual examined), two examples are ACCGTTCGTCG and ATATCGCGCGG.

If they are missing from every human genome, there must be a reason. Could it be that they are incompatible with life at the cellular level? If so, could we not use them to kill cancer cells?

As an old molecular biology professor, it is not difficult for me to note that their translation in the three reading frames yields six tripeptides with the following sequences:

- Thr-Val-Arg (TVR)
- Pro-Phe-Val (PFV)
- Arg-Ser-Ser (RSS)
- Ile-Ser-Arg (ISR)
- Tyr-Arg-Ala (YRA)
- Ile-Ala-Arg (IAR)

These sequences do not exist in the human genome and, again, there must be a reason. The literature on peptides derived from nullomers (often longer and conjugated to polyarginine tails) has already shown selective cytotoxicity against cancer cells, with significantly more limited effects on normal cells.

Open proposal: is anyone interested in synthesizing these six tripeptides and testing their activity on tumor cell lines versus normal cells? Shall we try to find a cancer treatment that costs little or nothing?

Starting data and sequences available upon request.

#Cancer #Peptides #Nullomers #CancerResearch #Oncology #MolecularBiology #CitizenScience #DrugDiscovery #Genomics #Bioinformatics

@Hampikian @PeptideScience @CancerResearch @MacrinePhD @SterlingCooley @JustinEchterna9 @jaimeojedas @elonmusk @RobertKennedyJr

[Parmita Mishra 🔬 @parmita]

I’m joining DARPA’s Michael Koeris at OODAcon on Nov 4 to talk AI-enabled biotech and its mission impact!

I am so incredibly excited to be on this panel with one of my favorite people in the entire industry, someone who cares about biodefense more than anyone I know.

organized by one of our favorite people at Preci @bobgourley , at the incredible OODA con!

AI can design a molecule. What happens when that molecule meets living biology?

Reston, VA. Come talk biology with me.
https://t.co/GnkT0FRRr7

[Andrew Keen @ajkeen]

Martin Luther King drove Lillian Smith home from dinner and was pulled over. The ticket led to probation, the probation to prison, and the prison to the phone call that helped Kennedy win. Keri Leigh Merritt tells the story. Full episode: Keen On America — https://t.co/d7bntDw3z6

[Philip Merrill @philip_merrill_]

@Econ_Marshall Google's AI said 500 to 1,500 gallons of water per week

[Philip Merrill @philip_merrill_]

@parmita Bravo for the challenge you have taken on yourself. <3

[Keri Leigh Merritt @KeriLeighMerrit]

Thanks to @EvanAxelbank for having me on to talk about Lillian Smith, the bestselling author and civil rights activist you’ve probably never heard of!

https://t.co/4qVOTSi2xA