Marc Dionne

@marcsdionne.bsky.social

1456 Followers 1377 Following

Innate immunity, bacterial infection, physiology, microbiology, Drosophila. Poorly focused. Still angry. Professor, Department of Life Sciences and Centre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Imperial College London.

A screenshot of the text "Axel will also step down from his position as an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which will continue to fund the research in Axel's lab, according to the statement."

Ed Miliband eating a bacon sandwich

From the Guardian article. "While the costs overruns are driven by facilities, the cuts are landing on physics grants as the science funding body UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) seeks to "do fewer things better" and prioritise applied research over more fundamental science."

Quote pulled from the Nature piece. "Speaking at a parliamentary committee hearing in London on Tuesday, Ian Chapman, the physicist who leads UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), said that the high quality of the United Kingdom's research and innovation base is its only competitive advantage over rival nations."

A screenshot of a window. Most of the window shows text from a scientific paper. The lower right corner shows an advertisement for crotchless panties.

A vile tweet from Daniel Hannan in which he advertises an excrescence he has published in the Spectator asserting that UK-born brown people who have performed acts of terror did so because they "heard ancestral voices prophesying war."

A picture of James Watson notable for its resemblance to Bozo the clown.

the blue screen of death from a computer, running Windows 7, that has had to restart

Sleater-Kinney, "Call the Doctor"

An image of small mammals being grilled

For reasons unknown, someone calling themselves Thomas Pynchon followed me back

Principal Skinner briefly ponders the possibility that his gut feelings could be incorrect before deciding with new resolve that all the data must be wrong

World map showing cumulative confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 as of May 17 2023. Canada doesn't look bad, in comparison to peer countries. The same is not true of the USA, UK, and Sweden.

a photograph of a zebra eating from a rubbish bin

astronauts "always has been" meme: "It's all Pasteurellaceae" / "Always has been"

four cans of "easy cheese", a spray can cheese product that perfectly encapsulates the fallen state of humanity

The front of a restaurant in Kyoto, featuring an enormous crab above the door, indicating the specialty of the house.

headline: "The Big Read. Can Kemi Badenoch unite the right in Britain?"

A map of the Sea-Tac train transit system, which for some reason has three separate lines serving three terminal buildings, with two opportunities for interchange

Screenshot from an email reading "Dear Dionne, You kindly agreed to review the above referenced manuscript on Dec 23, 2024. This message is to remind you that your review is due by Jan 02, 2025."

A historical plaque from central Norwich, bearing the words "Romani DNA: A skeleton discovered during excavations of an 11th century graveyard near this spot has been found to have a mitochondrial DNA marker unique to the Romani people. This is the earliest evidence for a person of Romani descent in the British Isles, and is 400 years earlier than any documentary reference to their presence." Suck it, bigots.

A headline and photo from a Guardian article.
Headline "More than 100 raccoons besiege house of woman who had been feeding them"
Photo shows at least 15 raccoons.
Photo caption reads "These raccoons, including the cute one in the front, surrounded a woman's home in Poulsbo, Washington. Photograph: Kitsap county sheriff's office"

a diptych from the Girona museum of art showing some saint and his pet demon

Sleater-Kinney, performing at the Roundhouse on 10 November 2023

The Twittering Machine, a painting by Paul Klee, which shows many birds attached to a crank that can, presumably, be turned to make them twitter. Or fly you to conferences.