Flo Débarre
@flodebarre.bsky.social
Personal account
Evolutionary biologist, senior scientist at CNRS/Sorbonne Université
Interests: origins and control of infectious diseases and conspiracy theories; diversity in science; scientific publishing
https://www.normalesup.org/~fdebarre/
EN & FR
Evolutionary biologist, senior scientist at CNRS/Sorbonne Université
Interests: origins and control of infectious diseases and conspiracy theories; diversity in science; scientific publishing
https://www.normalesup.org/~fdebarre/
EN & FR
Pinned
Flo Débarre
@flodebarre.bsky.social
· Jan 3
Thread of threads:
A chronology of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic
(It is not exhaustive, but hopefully it is representative.)
🧵
A chronology of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic
(It is not exhaustive, but hopefully it is representative.)
🧵
Reposted by Flo Débarre
A horrific example of so-called natural or alternative medical practices with tragic consequences. All these alternative practices are unregulated and can be very unsafe and make a fortune for those developing whatever ‘miracle cure/approach
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:33 AM
A horrific example of so-called natural or alternative medical practices with tragic consequences. All these alternative practices are unregulated and can be very unsafe and make a fortune for those developing whatever ‘miracle cure/approach
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Calling something "scientific orthodoxy" rather than "established fact" or even "scientific consensus" is so incredibly damaging.
November 21, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Calling something "scientific orthodoxy" rather than "established fact" or even "scientific consensus" is so incredibly damaging.
Reposted by Flo Débarre
And yes, the swag bags. Attendees received MAHA-branded tote bags with:
- Packets of creatine
- Beef tallow potato chips ($79 for a 6-pack!!)
- Mouth tape
- RFK Jr's biography
- Beef protein bars
- Packets of creatine
- Beef tallow potato chips ($79 for a 6-pack!!)
- Mouth tape
- RFK Jr's biography
- Beef protein bars
November 21, 2025 at 5:01 PM
And yes, the swag bags. Attendees received MAHA-branded tote bags with:
- Packets of creatine
- Beef tallow potato chips ($79 for a 6-pack!!)
- Mouth tape
- RFK Jr's biography
- Beef protein bars
- Packets of creatine
- Beef tallow potato chips ($79 for a 6-pack!!)
- Mouth tape
- RFK Jr's biography
- Beef protein bars
Reposted by Flo Débarre
www.lemonde.fr/sciences-au-...
La "décroiscience" - mais la décroissance de quelles sciences ? - doit-elle faire partie de l'arsenal mobilisé pour faire reculer la menace climatique ? Un débat sérieux s'impose.
La "décroiscience" - mais la décroissance de quelles sciences ? - doit-elle faire partie de l'arsenal mobilisé pour faire reculer la menace climatique ? Un débat sérieux s'impose.
Quelles sciences pour le climat ?
Un mathématicien propose de renoncer à la recherche en physique de l’infiniment petit pour consacrer plus d’efforts à celle consacrée aux solutions du problème climatique. Des scientifiques se demande...
www.lemonde.fr
November 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
www.lemonde.fr/sciences-au-...
La "décroiscience" - mais la décroissance de quelles sciences ? - doit-elle faire partie de l'arsenal mobilisé pour faire reculer la menace climatique ? Un débat sérieux s'impose.
La "décroiscience" - mais la décroissance de quelles sciences ? - doit-elle faire partie de l'arsenal mobilisé pour faire reculer la menace climatique ? Un débat sérieux s'impose.
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Apparently RFK Jr. promised Senator Bill Cassidy that he wouldn’t remove the statement
“Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
So what RFK Jr. did instead is spit in his face by leaving the statement there and adding this:
“Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
So what RFK Jr. did instead is spit in his face by leaving the statement there and adding this:
November 20, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Apparently RFK Jr. promised Senator Bill Cassidy that he wouldn’t remove the statement
“Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
So what RFK Jr. did instead is spit in his face by leaving the statement there and adding this:
“Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
So what RFK Jr. did instead is spit in his face by leaving the statement there and adding this:
Reposted by Flo Débarre
A paper critiquing post-publication peer review has numerous made-up references, including a @nature.com article falsely attributed to our Ivan Oransky.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
PubPeer - An expert criticism on post-publication peer review platform...
There are comments on PubPeer for publication: An expert criticism on post-publication peer review platforms: the case of pubpeer (2025)
pubpeer.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:11 AM
A paper critiquing post-publication peer review has numerous made-up references, including a @nature.com article falsely attributed to our Ivan Oransky.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
But Sweden! Say NIH director J Bhattacharya and his deputy director MJ Memoli in City Journal.
Really? Checking their source, you see that it only holds if you extend the comparison to irrelevant years -- no lockdowns in 2024!
oped: archive.ph/HKcS0
graph: www.mortality.watch/explorer/?c=...
Really? Checking their source, you see that it only holds if you extend the comparison to irrelevant years -- no lockdowns in 2024!
oped: archive.ph/HKcS0
graph: www.mortality.watch/explorer/?c=...
November 14, 2025 at 3:34 PM
But Sweden! Say NIH director J Bhattacharya and his deputy director MJ Memoli in City Journal.
Really? Checking their source, you see that it only holds if you extend the comparison to irrelevant years -- no lockdowns in 2024!
oped: archive.ph/HKcS0
graph: www.mortality.watch/explorer/?c=...
Really? Checking their source, you see that it only holds if you extend the comparison to irrelevant years -- no lockdowns in 2024!
oped: archive.ph/HKcS0
graph: www.mortality.watch/explorer/?c=...
November 9, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Yes, there is in fact a moral line. Racism and attacks on democracy aren’t just “different views.” They undermine the very principles science depends on: truth, evidence, human dignity.
November 8, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Yes, there is in fact a moral line. Racism and attacks on democracy aren’t just “different views.” They undermine the very principles science depends on: truth, evidence, human dignity.
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Watson’s death is a fantastic reminder that you can be intelligent without being a good person.
The obituary of someone who gained widespread fame through remarkable achievements at a young age and then expected to be taken seriously for anything he said thereafter.
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Watson’s death is a fantastic reminder that you can be intelligent without being a good person.
Reposted by Flo Débarre
I am honnestly a bit worried by the latest fuss about qed (the IA driven review). While the results are indeed quite impressive (it is very good at listing the claim and finding potential improvement), I don't quite see how this will eventually reduce the reviewing burden or help us
November 7, 2025 at 8:33 AM
I am honnestly a bit worried by the latest fuss about qed (the IA driven review). While the results are indeed quite impressive (it is very good at listing the claim and finding potential improvement), I don't quite see how this will eventually reduce the reviewing burden or help us
Reposted by Flo Débarre
It’s one thing to have different environmental/health priorities for your foundation, it’s quite another to have been bankrolling one of the primary sources of bullshit on the topic.
Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg
By @rtakver.bsky.social @desmog.com
www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
By @rtakver.bsky.social @desmog.com
www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg
Tax records reveal that the billionaire’s foundation has donated for years to Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Center.
www.desmog.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:27 PM
It’s one thing to have different environmental/health priorities for your foundation, it’s quite another to have been bankrolling one of the primary sources of bullshit on the topic.
Two weeks ago, a paper came out, claiming that the 2019 Brucella leak in Lanzhou, China, could have been detected months before it was publicly reported.
Problem: no proof was provided to support this extraordinary claim, as we explain in a letter to the editor.
Details follow ▫️1/6🧵
Problem: no proof was provided to support this extraordinary claim, as we explain in a letter to the editor.
Details follow ▫️1/6🧵
Correspondence regarding “Geospatial analysis of open-source intelligence data to early detect laboratory-acquired infections, using the 2019 brucellosis laboratory leak in China as a case study” - In...
Infection -
link.springer.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Two weeks ago, a paper came out, claiming that the 2019 Brucella leak in Lanzhou, China, could have been detected months before it was publicly reported.
Problem: no proof was provided to support this extraordinary claim, as we explain in a letter to the editor.
Details follow ▫️1/6🧵
Problem: no proof was provided to support this extraordinary claim, as we explain in a letter to the editor.
Details follow ▫️1/6🧵
Maybe an even more inside baseball in these documents -- but it's key:
No mention of furin cleavage site in the slides...
which matches a remark made by Peter Daszak in an email to David Morens in May 2021, made public by FOIA ▫️1/8
#CovidOrigin
www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...
No mention of furin cleavage site in the slides...
which matches a remark made by Peter Daszak in an email to David Morens in May 2021, made public by FOIA ▫️1/8
#CovidOrigin
www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...
October 31, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Maybe an even more inside baseball in these documents -- but it's key:
No mention of furin cleavage site in the slides...
which matches a remark made by Peter Daszak in an email to David Morens in May 2021, made public by FOIA ▫️1/8
#CovidOrigin
www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...
No mention of furin cleavage site in the slides...
which matches a remark made by Peter Daszak in an email to David Morens in May 2021, made public by FOIA ▫️1/8
#CovidOrigin
www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Apparently I made the mistake of using my SNSF grant money to pay for publications from my Ambizione grant in 2023 and 2024.
Does anyone know of possible solutions for retrospective funding to save me from paying 6800 CHF out of my pocket to the SNSF to cover fees paid to journals in 2023 and 2024?
Does anyone know of possible solutions for retrospective funding to save me from paying 6800 CHF out of my pocket to the SNSF to cover fees paid to journals in 2023 and 2024?
October 29, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Apparently I made the mistake of using my SNSF grant money to pay for publications from my Ambizione grant in 2023 and 2024.
Does anyone know of possible solutions for retrospective funding to save me from paying 6800 CHF out of my pocket to the SNSF to cover fees paid to journals in 2023 and 2024?
Does anyone know of possible solutions for retrospective funding to save me from paying 6800 CHF out of my pocket to the SNSF to cover fees paid to journals in 2023 and 2024?
Les activistes sur l'origine de la pandémie de Covid ont réussi à faire croire à une large fraction de la population que tous les maux du monde et toutes les expériences dangereuses sont liés à des virus – peste et anthrax sont causés par des bactéries
#revuedepresse
www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art...
#revuedepresse
www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art...
October 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Les activistes sur l'origine de la pandémie de Covid ont réussi à faire croire à une large fraction de la population que tous les maux du monde et toutes les expériences dangereuses sont liés à des virus – peste et anthrax sont causés par des bactéries
#revuedepresse
www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art...
#revuedepresse
www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art...
If you need more science and joy in your workday, the Science Adviser newsletter is for you!
The cute puns of their e-mail subjects often put a smile on my face (though sometimes with a bit of an eye roll), and it's a rare treasure these days
www.science.org/content/page...
The cute puns of their e-mail subjects often put a smile on my face (though sometimes with a bit of an eye roll), and it's a rare treasure these days
www.science.org/content/page...
Sign Up for ScienceAdviser
www.science.org
October 28, 2025 at 2:49 PM
If you need more science and joy in your workday, the Science Adviser newsletter is for you!
The cute puns of their e-mail subjects often put a smile on my face (though sometimes with a bit of an eye roll), and it's a rare treasure these days
www.science.org/content/page...
The cute puns of their e-mail subjects often put a smile on my face (though sometimes with a bit of an eye roll), and it's a rare treasure these days
www.science.org/content/page...
Reposted by Flo Débarre
What percentage of politicians in your country are still relying on this site as a primary means of public communication?
It feels slightly maddening that this isn't being treated as an extremely urgent problem.
It feels slightly maddening that this isn't being treated as an extremely urgent problem.
This is a "recommended" tweet pushed to a (very much not-Nazi) contact's iPhone lockscreen last week.
Who knows how many millions it was pushed to by Musk's platform, including in this case, in the UK?
It's now been deleted, but only after getting thousands of RTs.
Who knows how many millions it was pushed to by Musk's platform, including in this case, in the UK?
It's now been deleted, but only after getting thousands of RTs.
October 28, 2025 at 8:22 AM
What percentage of politicians in your country are still relying on this site as a primary means of public communication?
It feels slightly maddening that this isn't being treated as an extremely urgent problem.
It feels slightly maddening that this isn't being treated as an extremely urgent problem.
Is @pubpeer.com down for other people as well?
October 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Is @pubpeer.com down for other people as well?
There is a very good reply to that OpEd by @philippmarkolin.bsky.social in today's Letters to the Editor in STAT
www.statnews.com/2025/10/25/s...
www.statnews.com/2025/10/25/s...
October 25, 2025 at 12:51 PM
There is a very good reply to that OpEd by @philippmarkolin.bsky.social in today's Letters to the Editor in STAT
www.statnews.com/2025/10/25/s...
www.statnews.com/2025/10/25/s...
Si vous êtes en région parisienne, il y a encore deux cours, l'accès est libre et gratuit, et @neilshubin.bsky.social est un fantastique orateur, passionné et passionnant !
www.college-de-france.fr/en/agenda/gu...
www.college-de-france.fr/en/agenda/gu...
October 24, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Si vous êtes en région parisienne, il y a encore deux cours, l'accès est libre et gratuit, et @neilshubin.bsky.social est un fantastique orateur, passionné et passionnant !
www.college-de-france.fr/en/agenda/gu...
www.college-de-france.fr/en/agenda/gu...
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Reposted by Flo Débarre
Meta-story:
"But nowhere was the ground frozen, even 1[m] down. “It’s sort of a practical personal experience of climate change,” Calvignac-Spencer said. Indeed, Svalbard has seen a steeper temperature rise than most other places, and scientists have to dig deeper each summer to hit the permafrost."
"But nowhere was the ground frozen, even 1[m] down. “It’s sort of a practical personal experience of climate change,” Calvignac-Spencer said. Indeed, Svalbard has seen a steeper temperature rise than most other places, and scientists have to dig deeper each summer to hit the permafrost."
I am fascinated by how viruses evolve - and not just since #SARSCoV2 has shown us at the global stage how consequential virus evolution can be for us.
In my new story in @science.org I got to explore how researchers are probing deeper into the past with old RNA virus genome.
So a 🧪 thread…
In my new story in @science.org I got to explore how researchers are probing deeper into the past with old RNA virus genome.
So a 🧪 thread…
On an Arctic archipelago, frozen soil may preserve a hidden history of viruses
Scientists are hunting for ancient RNA in Svalbard’s permafrost, hoping to shed light on the evolution of viral diseases
www.science.org
October 18, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Meta-story:
"But nowhere was the ground frozen, even 1[m] down. “It’s sort of a practical personal experience of climate change,” Calvignac-Spencer said. Indeed, Svalbard has seen a steeper temperature rise than most other places, and scientists have to dig deeper each summer to hit the permafrost."
"But nowhere was the ground frozen, even 1[m] down. “It’s sort of a practical personal experience of climate change,” Calvignac-Spencer said. Indeed, Svalbard has seen a steeper temperature rise than most other places, and scientists have to dig deeper each summer to hit the permafrost."
Reposted by Flo Débarre
