Barbara Jennings
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baj2024.bsky.social
Barbara Jennings
@baj2024.bsky.social
370 followers 570 following 37 posts
Internationalist, socialist, wife, mum, sister, friend, genetics, medical education, teacher, gardener. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3792-9182, https://mededpublish.org/about/team/
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baj2024.bsky.social
Barbara Jennings @baj2024.bsky.social · 22d
Wintering
womensartbluesky.bsky.social womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 25d
Sarah Evans, contemporary Welsh painter known for her local landscapes #WomensArt #Winter
Painting of a rural scene under grey sky and snow, to the left is a barn with snow covered roof and to the right by the edge of a white winter field is a row of bare black trees
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
robinince.bsky.social
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
This is the saddest day of my professional life. Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage. I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until | dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity or the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys. I resigned in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show, A show that I named and helped develop over all those years. Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for sometime, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump, numerous other outlandish opinions, including once gently criticising Stephen Fry. These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or 'Resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices'. • I chose the latter. It broke my heart. I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make. I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer. I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence. One of my many privileges is that I am able to resign and I can speak out even if it is to the detriment of my career. I have thought a lot about my heroes, Sinead O Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and so many more. I think of Sinead's words, "the job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost". James Baldwin said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice. Audre Lorde, viewing her life, wrote that her only regrets were her silences. I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness , justice and kindness. Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire. I apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal. I am so sorry to let you down. I hope that you can understand my reasoning. I have to accept that I am not what the current BBC expects of their freelance presenters. Despite this I should add that I have always worked far more than my contracted hours to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them. Every night, we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the best show possible. This was not "just a job" I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, to those currently in prison on hunger strike, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world. From many conversations, I know there are many Monkey Cage listeners who support these communities and activists too. The strawberry is dead. Long live the strawberry. B
December 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
sparkbadger.bsky.social
Gabriele Münter (German, b. 1877-1962), Breakfast of the Birds, 1934
Oil on board
December 12, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
aylwyn-scally.bsky.social
Closing date tomorrow!
aylwyn-scally.bsky.social Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · Nov 11
Come and join us here in Cambridge! Applications open for a new faculty position, for a researcher in computational and/or theoretical biology, based jointly in Genetics and Mathematics. Happy to answer questions about research, teaching and working here.

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/faculty...
Faculty Position in Computational Biology
Applications are invited for an Assistant/ Associate Professorship in Computational Biology to commence on 1 April 2026 or shortly thereafter. This is a joint post between the Department of Applied
www.cam.ac.uk
December 11, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
rajlb.bsky.social
First ever research publication!

Ever been bored to tears by walls of slide text? Then this is for you.

I have no shame - please share widely.

(Thanks to @profnicolacooper.bsky.social for her support as co-author.)

#MedSky #MedEd #EdSky

asmepublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Screenshot of an article The Clinical Teacher / Volume 23, Issue 1 / e70315 RESEARCH Article 🔒 Open Access Investigating Death by PowerPoint: Do Medical School Lecturers Adhere to the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning in Their Slide Design? Rajin Le Blanc, Nicola Cooper First published: 10 December 2025
December 10, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
dr-appie.bsky.social
For more context, see also the @nature.com News & Views article about this work, where I unpack what it means when genetic risk for psychiatric disorders overlaps with normal-range traits, including some positive associations with education-related outcomes: rdcu.be/eT4U7
December 10, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
andrewgrotzinger.bsky.social
1/4 Thrilled to be sharing new work published today in Nature describing the third wave of results from the PGC Cross-Disorder Group. This reflects a massive group effort to examine shared and unique genetic signal across >1 million cases for 14 psychiatric disorders. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mapping the genetic landscape across 14 psychiatric disorders - Nature
Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders...
www.nature.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
digitalhealth2.bsky.social
Opinion 🗣️

The NHS must avoid AI’s seductive overdiagnosis trap, writes Professor Christina Pagel, director of University College London’s clinical operational research unit.

www.digitalhealth.net/2025/12/ai-i...
AI in the NHS: rewards, risks, and reality
The NHS must avoid AI's seductive overdiagnosis trap, writes Professor Christina Pagel, director of UCL’s clinical operational research unit
www.digitalhealth.net
December 10, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
greenparty.org.uk
15 years ago today the Tory & Lib Dem government tripled tuition fees.
Young people, our economy and society are robbed of the learning and skills universities offer- whilst graduates face average debt of £53,000.
Education should be a right, not a privilege. Scrap tuition fees.
December 9, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social
Allele Frequencies at Recessive Disease Genes are Mainly Determined by Pleiotropic Effects in Heterozygotes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.05.692665v1
December 9, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
'Data on higher education student support finances going back to the days of Anderson and Robbins is incredibly hard to come by, so the chance not only to see a time series but also to have it indexed (to September 2024 prices) is not to be missed.' 1/2
House of Commons Library on student financial support
And there's a time series going back to 1960.
wonkhe.com
December 9, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
birchalexander.bsky.social
Grateful to @wiringthebrain.bsky.social for the opportunity to attend @rebeccasear.bsky.social’s compelling talk on how #eugenic and scientific-racist ideas persist in academia. It raised urgent questions for me about embryo genetic editing, and the curent Western immigration policy.
#academicsky
21 century eugenics, scientific racism and the role of academia in promoting political ideology by Rebecca Sear “eugenics” appeared to waive in popularity after the SWW? Why is eugenic ideology still thriving in academia? The scientific consensus on race
December 8, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
phdhurtbrain.bsky.social
I think about the consistently misunderstood case of the Luddites. They were extremely advanced machine users (go try to use a spinning Jenny!), but they recognized a technological regime that displaced expertise (and payment) from the artisan to the tool.
December 7, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
janhuemar.bsky.social
Super excited to share that our paper is now out in @science.org. Lots of work, but also lots of fun getting this out.
Be sure to check it out!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Also, follow:
@huabin-zhou.bsky.social @juliamaristany.bsky.social @kieran-russell.bsky.social @rcollepardo.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
tomshakespeare.bsky.social
Today, as we mark the international day of persons with disabilities #IDPD2025, we're also celebrating 15 years of the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at LSHTM.
Our co-directors, Hannah Kuper and Tom Shakespeare, reflect on this milestone
www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/cen...
Celebrating 15 years of ICED | LSHTM
Celebrating 15 years of ICED | LSHTM
www.lshtm.ac.uk
December 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social
In workshop for MSc in Global Healthcare Leadership. Students (who bring much wisdom from around the world) have been set the task of mapping the 'megatrends' that contribute to volatility and loss of resilience in the healthcare sector.

They've run out of paper....
December 3, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
peterprinsleymp.bsky.social
This week marks National Grief Awareness Week - a reminder that no one should face loss alone.

Support is available, and reaching out can make a real difference. #GriefAwarenessWeek
December 3, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
profaliceroberts.bsky.social
Hard-hitting truth-telling from UCL Prof Anthony Costello….

“The Covid Public Inquiry is a devastating critique of medical advisers, civil servants and politicians who led the UK to the worst public health disaster in a century. More than 230,000 deaths.”

www.bylinesupplement.com/p/230000-dea...
230,000 Deaths and the ‘Calculated Silence’ of the Medical Establishment About the COVID Inquiry
The Covid Inquiry Report is a devastating critique of the medical establishment which led the UK to the worst public health disaster in a century, argues Anthony Costello
www.bylinesupplement.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
carolinefwright.bsky.social
New machine learning method for automated extraction of gene-disease relationships from the literature using @gene2phenotype.bsky.social - should make future curation much faster, easier and more comprehensive, see preprint: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 2, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
paulnaish.bsky.social
Introducing Data Science to Medical Students: A Workshop Adaptable to Undergraduates

@joinmaa.bsky.social @tandfresearch.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Introducing Data Science to Medical Students: A Workshop Adaptable to Undergraduates
This paper will show how to introduce medical students and undergraduate students to the world of data science with the use of a 6-week asynchronous workshop. The authors conducted this summer work...
www.tandfonline.com
December 2, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
genetisaur.bsky.social
Interested in pleiotropy dissection but not sure where to start, which methods are useful, which studies offer illustrative examples, or how to robustly validate your results? Look no further 👀 rdcu.be/eSfAZ
Dissecting pleiotropy to gain mechanistic insights into human disease
Nature Reviews Genetics - Genome-wide association studies of increasing scale have revealed the prevalence of pleiotropic genetic variants that affect multiple traits. In this Review, the authors...
rdcu.be
November 28, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
uniofeastanglia.bsky.social
Prof Carl Philpott from @ueamedical.bsky.social has been the lead researcher on a study that reveals that smell is overlooked as a “Cinderella sense” in public health.

Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/3XmMJEY

#SmellHealth #Smell #ResearchMatters #NewStudy
Close-up view of a person's nose and eyes, focusing primarily on the nostrils.
November 28, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
drlkvaughan.bsky.social
What's the future for Undergraduate Medical Education in England?

@martinmckee.bsky.social and I look at what's in the 10 Year Plan and the implications.

We think there is significant risk of the proposals devaluing degrees and the Profession.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Medical education at the crossroads. Part I: undergraduate education and the erosion of professional identity - Louella Vaughan, Martin McKee, 2025
journals.sagepub.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
danbrewer.bsky.social
The annual Norwich Medical School Cancer Genetics Team Movember bake sale is on! Come along to the Bob Champion Research and Education building and feed yourself with some tasty treats. @ueamedical.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
mededportal.bsky.social
This session addresses negative environmental impacts of #climatechange on health care in the US, disproportionately impacting minority communities, & opportunities for mitigation. #MedEd #Medsky
www.mededportal.org/doi/10.15766...
An Integrable and Interactive Session for Developing Action-Oriented Foundational Climate Change and Health Competencies in Medical Students | MedEdPORTAL
Introduction Climate change is the greatest threat to global health, yet there are few foundational climate resources available for integration into medical school curricula. We describe an interactiv...
www.mededportal.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Barbara Jennings
uniofeastanglia.bsky.social
Have humans been caring for canines longer than we think?

Dr Anders Bergström from @biouea.bsky.social has co-led a study that suggests that grey wolves may have been managed or controlled by prehistoric societies.

Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/49zYE9J

#Wolves #BiologicalScience #ResearchMatters
Archaeological bone fragment with a visible hole, displayed against a black backdrop with a scale ruler for size reference. View from inside a cave looking out at the sea, with rocky terrain in the foreground and a lush green landscape visible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM