Michael Hoffman
@michaelhoffman.bsky.social
Chair, Computational BIology and Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network.
Associate Professor, Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto.
Disclosures: https://github.com/michaelmhoffman/disclosure/
Associate Professor, Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto.
Disclosures: https://github.com/michaelmhoffman/disclosure/
Pinned
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
Unions and community orgs are calling for a Minnesota-wide shutdown in 10 days to protest the ferocious assault by federal immigration agents. They're saying on Jan 23, no work, no school, no shopping. SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, & others are supporting, w/ more to join. By me, Amie Stager
“We Are Facing a Tsunami of Hate”: Amid ICE Crackdown, Unions and Community Groups Call for Minnesota Shutdown in 10 Days
Following the ICE murder of Renee Good and an assault on the state by federal immigration forces, a labor-community coalition is calling for residents to refuse to work, shop or go to school on Januar...
inthesetimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Unions and community orgs are calling for a Minnesota-wide shutdown in 10 days to protest the ferocious assault by federal immigration agents. They're saying on Jan 23, no work, no school, no shopping. SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, & others are supporting, w/ more to join. By me, Amie Stager
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
It's time to officially let X/Twitter go. That platform's decline from a vibrant public square to what is now a platform for hate & disinformation has been painful to experience. I’ve already in this great community & look forward to continuing our conversations.
www.reuters.com/business/med...
www.reuters.com/business/med...
US teachers union says it's leaving X over sexualized AI images of children
The American Federation of Teachers says it is leaving X, citing the social media site's creation and dissemination of "sickening" images of children in various states of undress.
www.reuters.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:21 PM
It's time to officially let X/Twitter go. That platform's decline from a vibrant public square to what is now a platform for hate & disinformation has been painful to experience. I’ve already in this great community & look forward to continuing our conversations.
www.reuters.com/business/med...
www.reuters.com/business/med...
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
this is insane, just gangs of armed masked men ripping innocent people from their cars with the full protection of the federal government
for no reason other than payback for the way the area votes
for no reason other than payback for the way the area votes
Today at 34 & Park in Minneapolis, a woman tried to drive down the street where a protest had broken out in front of a home ICE was raiding, saying she had a doctor apt to get to. ICE agents busted out her windows, cut off her seatbelt, and pulled her out before arresting her.
January 13, 2026 at 7:02 PM
this is insane, just gangs of armed masked men ripping innocent people from their cars with the full protection of the federal government
for no reason other than payback for the way the area votes
for no reason other than payback for the way the area votes
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
If you have “sincere concerns” about trans athletes in sports, all it means is that you have given yourself a rationale for your bigotry that you sincerely believe exonerates you for aligning to a far-right tactic for marginalization and exclusion.
January 13, 2026 at 7:02 PM
If you have “sincere concerns” about trans athletes in sports, all it means is that you have given yourself a rationale for your bigotry that you sincerely believe exonerates you for aligning to a far-right tactic for marginalization and exclusion.
@arthurwyatt.bsky.social What did I miss re: Windows 95
January 13, 2026 at 3:52 PM
@arthurwyatt.bsky.social What did I miss re: Windows 95
I just noticed that @clarivate.com has a strong statement against using Journal Impact Factor to evaluate individual articles and researchers. clarivate.com/academia-gov...
January 12, 2026 at 9:17 PM
I just noticed that @clarivate.com has a strong statement against using Journal Impact Factor to evaluate individual articles and researchers. clarivate.com/academia-gov...
My home river is Garrison Creek.
My home would literally be on top of it but for civil engineering.
My home would literally be on top of it but for civil engineering.
My favorite Twitter prompt was "RT this with your home river," so reskeet this with your home river.
Mine is the Patuxent.
Mine is the Patuxent.
January 12, 2026 at 9:12 PM
My home river is Garrison Creek.
My home would literally be on top of it but for civil engineering.
My home would literally be on top of it but for civil engineering.
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
I’ve decided to leave X/Twitter.
Thank you to @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social for her leadership and for continuing to educate the public about the harms enabled by the platform.
You can still find me on Instagram @kimpateonthehill and on Bluesky @kpateonthehill.bsky.social
Thank you to @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social for her leadership and for continuing to educate the public about the harms enabled by the platform.
You can still find me on Instagram @kimpateonthehill and on Bluesky @kpateonthehill.bsky.social
January 12, 2026 at 8:47 PM
I’ve decided to leave X/Twitter.
Thank you to @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social for her leadership and for continuing to educate the public about the harms enabled by the platform.
You can still find me on Instagram @kimpateonthehill and on Bluesky @kpateonthehill.bsky.social
Thank you to @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social for her leadership and for continuing to educate the public about the harms enabled by the platform.
You can still find me on Instagram @kimpateonthehill and on Bluesky @kpateonthehill.bsky.social
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
I'm going to get a good grade at meetings, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve
Google Meet show how late people will be based on meeting history
January 12, 2026 at 7:30 PM
I'm going to get a good grade at meetings, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
And sometimes they just say it out loud: business and profit > human life
Breaking News: The EPA will stop considering lives saved when setting pollution limits and instead calculate only the cost to businesses.
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved by Limiting Air Pollution
In a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show.
nyti.ms
January 12, 2026 at 6:51 PM
And sometimes they just say it out loud: business and profit > human life
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
Played this scenario out a few years ago. We preprint everything.
January 12, 2026 at 5:41 PM
Played this scenario out a few years ago. We preprint everything.
Guys. It's time for some game theory.
Let's assume your manuscript is ready to go, and your competitor is weeks behind. Your choices:
1/You preprint your manuscript. You have an independent, public record of priority. There's always proof that you were first.
Let's assume your manuscript is ready to go, and your competitor is weeks behind. Your choices:
1/You preprint your manuscript. You have an independent, public record of priority. There's always proof that you were first.
I absolutely agree with you -- but what I'm told is "my competitor will see my preprint and replicate/rush their story to a journal" 😬
And I know that this has indeed happened, but it seems to be extremely rare and, you know, I prefer to be scooped with a preprint than without one 😅
And I know that this has indeed happened, but it seems to be extremely rare and, you know, I prefer to be scooped with a preprint than without one 😅
January 12, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Guys. It's time for some game theory.
Let's assume your manuscript is ready to go, and your competitor is weeks behind. Your choices:
1/You preprint your manuscript. You have an independent, public record of priority. There's always proof that you were first.
Let's assume your manuscript is ready to go, and your competitor is weeks behind. Your choices:
1/You preprint your manuscript. You have an independent, public record of priority. There's always proof that you were first.
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
Someone said something interesting to me recently: "In my field almost everyone uses bioRxiv. If someone publishes a paper without putting it on bioRxiv first, I immediately wonder if they having something to hide."
January 12, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Someone said something interesting to me recently: "In my field almost everyone uses bioRxiv. If someone publishes a paper without putting it on bioRxiv first, I immediately wonder if they having something to hide."
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
I am incandescently angry at this & the total cowardice of the Republicans in Congress who are not putting an end to this & this presidency immediately over this, the most important pillar of our entire national security strategy for 80 years.
Seeing Europeans contemplate creating a tripwire in Greenland is just depressing. That the US is now becoming Europe's enemy is so infuriating. So much wasted time, effort, capital, and so on for a non-threat (US has access to Greenland, it is protected by US already under NATO treaty).
“The US should thank Denmark for being a loyal ally,” says 🇸🇪 PM Kristersson at the annual Swedish Security Conference in Sälen.
Social Democratic opposition leader Andersson is open for sending European and Swedish troops to Greenland.
Social Democratic opposition leader Andersson is open for sending European and Swedish troops to Greenland.
January 11, 2026 at 2:47 PM
I am incandescently angry at this & the total cowardice of the Republicans in Congress who are not putting an end to this & this presidency immediately over this, the most important pillar of our entire national security strategy for 80 years.
The number of followers I lost due to this post is a striking example of naan sense mediated decay
What genetic change to Indian wheat led to superior baking in a tandoor?
A naan sense mutation
A naan sense mutation
January 10, 2026 at 4:15 PM
The number of followers I lost due to this post is a striking example of naan sense mediated decay
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
This Bananaphone Kills Fascists
they've got Raffi calling for regime change. something has shifted.
January 9, 2026 at 9:00 PM
This Bananaphone Kills Fascists
So what's the deal with at least some Toronto hospitals not wanting to do laboratory tests requisitioned by community physicians anymore?
January 10, 2026 at 1:57 AM
So what's the deal with at least some Toronto hospitals not wanting to do laboratory tests requisitioned by community physicians anymore?
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
Not all the Aloo elements?
January 10, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Not all the Aloo elements?
What genetic change to Indian wheat led to superior baking in a tandoor?
A naan sense mutation
A naan sense mutation
January 10, 2026 at 12:07 AM
What genetic change to Indian wheat led to superior baking in a tandoor?
A naan sense mutation
A naan sense mutation
Korean speakers: when speaking English, do you pronounce the family name 박
1/like an American would pronounce a green space, [pɑɹk]
2/the way it's pronounced in Korean, [pak̚]
3/some other way?
1/like an American would pronounce a green space, [pɑɹk]
2/the way it's pronounced in Korean, [pak̚]
3/some other way?
January 9, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Korean speakers: when speaking English, do you pronounce the family name 박
1/like an American would pronounce a green space, [pɑɹk]
2/the way it's pronounced in Korean, [pak̚]
3/some other way?
1/like an American would pronounce a green space, [pɑɹk]
2/the way it's pronounced in Korean, [pak̚]
3/some other way?
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
April 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
"The media has largely let [tech companies] set the terms of the debate, right down to the terminology used in any discussion of these systems."
From @nannainie.bsky.social & me in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on how to spot and resist anthropomorphizing language about so-called "AI".
From @nannainie.bsky.social & me in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on how to spot and resist anthropomorphizing language about so-called "AI".
We Need to Talk About How We Talk About 'AI' | TechPolicy.Press
We share a responsibility to create and use empowering metaphors rather than misleading language, write Emily M. Bender and Nanna Inie.
www.techpolicy.press
January 9, 2026 at 1:31 PM
"The media has largely let [tech companies] set the terms of the debate, right down to the terminology used in any discussion of these systems."
From @nannainie.bsky.social & me in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on how to spot and resist anthropomorphizing language about so-called "AI".
From @nannainie.bsky.social & me in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on how to spot and resist anthropomorphizing language about so-called "AI".
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
This program recruiting scholars from outside Canada comes with *incredible* funding. If you're looking to move, check it out! research.ubc.ca/federal-rese...
Canada Impact+ Research Chairs Program
The University of British Columbia is inviting expressions of interest from top-tier, internationally based researchers as
research.ubc.ca
January 9, 2026 at 3:07 AM
This program recruiting scholars from outside Canada comes with *incredible* funding. If you're looking to move, check it out! research.ubc.ca/federal-rese...
Reposted by Michael Hoffman
The charitable mother pelican who wounds herself to feed her young is one of my favorite cultural bird symbols, even if pelicans don't really do that (and we've known that for a long time). Wildly, we only laid to rest that flamingo crop milk is milk and not blood (it's bright red!) in a 1979 study.
January 8, 2026 at 6:17 PM
The charitable mother pelican who wounds herself to feed her young is one of my favorite cultural bird symbols, even if pelicans don't really do that (and we've known that for a long time). Wildly, we only laid to rest that flamingo crop milk is milk and not blood (it's bright red!) in a 1979 study.