Paul Francois
@pfrancois.bsky.social
Professor Université de Montréal, Physics of Living Systems, Machine Learning, etc…
https://www.francoisresearch.org/
https://www.francoisresearch.org/
“Theorists may be thought of as herders rather than farmers,they can roam from one field to the next seeking interesting problems and tending to their flock of ideas.” Nice quote from Boris Shraiman, and congratulations !!!
Boris Shraiman points a physicist’s eye on biological quandaries news.ucsb.edu/2025/022264/... 🧪
Boris Shraiman points a physicist’s eye on biological quandaries
Boris Shraiman is awarded the American Physical Society’s Max Delbrück Prize in Biological Physics.
news.ucsb.edu
November 25, 2025 at 7:53 PM
“Theorists may be thought of as herders rather than farmers,they can roam from one field to the next seeking interesting problems and tending to their flock of ideas.” Nice quote from Boris Shraiman, and congratulations !!!
OMG, je vais pouvoir regarder le championnat du Monde de Cyclisme l'an prochain littéralement depuis mon bureau !!!!
November 25, 2025 at 2:53 PM
OMG, je vais pouvoir regarder le championnat du Monde de Cyclisme l'an prochain littéralement depuis mon bureau !!!!
"Learning the principles of T cell antigen discernment" a review focused on the theoretical and experimental principles of Adaptive Kinetic Proofreading, with recent application to cancer immunotherapy ! With @fxpbourassa.bsky.social , Sooraj Achar and Grégoire Altan-Bonnet.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.18626
arxiv.org/abs/2511.18626
Learning the principles of T cell antigen discernment
T cells are central to the adaptive immune response, capable of detecting pathogenic antigens while ignoring healthy tissues with remarkable specificity and sensitivity. Quantitatively understanding h...
arxiv.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:59 PM
"Learning the principles of T cell antigen discernment" a review focused on the theoretical and experimental principles of Adaptive Kinetic Proofreading, with recent application to cancer immunotherapy ! With @fxpbourassa.bsky.social , Sooraj Achar and Grégoire Altan-Bonnet.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.18626
arxiv.org/abs/2511.18626
I liked everything as a kid, but thought I was much better at maths. Then realized before grad school that I did not want to spend my life proving theorems, switched to physics. Realized that ‘traditional’ physics was very well known at that point so embraced the wilderness of biological Physics.
November 23, 2025 at 3:54 AM
I liked everything as a kid, but thought I was much better at maths. Then realized before grad school that I did not want to spend my life proving theorems, switched to physics. Realized that ‘traditional’ physics was very well known at that point so embraced the wilderness of biological Physics.
Montreal, best city in North America.
One of North America's best known brewing schools is moving from Chicago to Montreal!
Bienvenue au Canada!
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/21/o...
Bienvenue au Canada!
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/21/o...
Oldest Brewing School In The US Leaving For Canada, Citing Trump Visa Restrictions
The Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy, which has been in Chicago for 157 years, is relocating to Montreal next year. Trump's proposed changes to student visa policy have been li...
blockclubchicago.org
November 23, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Montreal, best city in North America.
What really bothers me in those weird times : people in Europe/US do not realize that we are living on borrowed time (on health, democracy, peace, climate …). For now things only degrade ‘slowly’ or people simply deny them, but it will be extremely difficult to go back once big cracks are obvious.
About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 21, 2025 at 5:42 PM
What really bothers me in those weird times : people in Europe/US do not realize that we are living on borrowed time (on health, democracy, peace, climate …). For now things only degrade ‘slowly’ or people simply deny them, but it will be extremely difficult to go back once big cracks are obvious.
Montréal et Québec, les deux premières villes pour le vélo en Amérique du Nord, et dans le top 30 mondial !🚲 www.ledevoir.com/actualites/t...
Québec figure dans un palmarès des 30 villes les plus favorables au vélo dans le monde
Elle se classe deuxième en Amérique du Nord, derrière Montréal, dans le classement de Copenhagenize.
www.ledevoir.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Montréal et Québec, les deux premières villes pour le vélo en Amérique du Nord, et dans le top 30 mondial !🚲 www.ledevoir.com/actualites/t...
Premiere experience REM pour un rendez vous centre ville. J’ai fini mon cours à 11:20 au Pavillon Claire Mc Nicoll. À 11:40 j’étais à la station McGill. On s’y fera sans doute mais là tout de suite c’est tout bonnement incroyable.
November 18, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Premiere experience REM pour un rendez vous centre ville. J’ai fini mon cours à 11:20 au Pavillon Claire Mc Nicoll. À 11:40 j’étais à la station McGill. On s’y fera sans doute mais là tout de suite c’est tout bonnement incroyable.
Copilot and ChatGPT are dead. I also tried to download a supplementary information from a journal for a paper I have to review, and even that is dead. This almost tastes like freedom 😃
November 18, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Copilot and ChatGPT are dead. I also tried to download a supplementary information from a journal for a paper I have to review, and even that is dead. This almost tastes like freedom 😃
The wonderful @audreymoores.bsky.social wrote an opinion piece about the dangers of this for chemistry, I guess it extends to other sciences … www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 18, 2025 at 1:33 PM
The wonderful @audreymoores.bsky.social wrote an opinion piece about the dangers of this for chemistry, I guess it extends to other sciences … www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Paul Francois
YOU GUYS WANNA SEE SOMETHING CURSED???? HOW ABOUT NEON GENESIS LEHIGH VALLEY PHANTOMS HOCKEY?????
November 17, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Very happy to participate in the ‘Physics of Hopfield’ meeting in Princeton. With a fantastic introduction by Bill Bialek
November 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Very happy to participate in the ‘Physics of Hopfield’ meeting in Princeton. With a fantastic introduction by Bill Bialek
Reposted by Paul Francois
how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't kno...
www.apmreports.org
November 11, 2025 at 6:18 PM
how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
It still amazes me that, despite all the 'advances', most commercial websites are extremely clunky to the point of being unusable (BestBuy, why ???)
November 12, 2025 at 7:14 PM
It still amazes me that, despite all the 'advances', most commercial websites are extremely clunky to the point of being unusable (BestBuy, why ???)
Ça fait presque 20 ans que je vis à Montréal je pense que c’est mon record de neige la plus précoce ! Bonhomme de neige de Novembre à suivre ?
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Ça fait presque 20 ans que je vis à Montréal je pense que c’est mon record de neige la plus précoce ! Bonhomme de neige de Novembre à suivre ?
Reposted by Paul Francois
Happy "Lights All Askew" Day to all who celebrate! (Headline in the New York Times from Nov. 10, 1919, brings Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity -- along with its alleged incomprehensibility -- to the public.) 🪐🔭🧠📰 #physics #science #histsci #lightsallaskew
November 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Happy "Lights All Askew" Day to all who celebrate! (Headline in the New York Times from Nov. 10, 1919, brings Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity -- along with its alleged incomprehensibility -- to the public.) 🪐🔭🧠📰 #physics #science #histsci #lightsallaskew
Superbe vue depuis le belvédère ce matin, j’adore cette lumière d’automne !
November 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Superbe vue depuis le belvédère ce matin, j’adore cette lumière d’automne !
Reposted by Paul Francois
Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...
November 7, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...
Reposted by Paul Francois
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 AM
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
When q.e.d was released I was a bit afraid it would be used for ‘peer’ review. That was only 3 weeks ago. Still not sure if q.e.d is a good or bad thing, but do we need to move so fast ?
For 3, the problem is that 'identifying gaps' is a very specific way to provide feedback to papers, that is not necessary what peer-review should be about (and in fact this is never what you are asked to do as reviewers).
November 7, 2025 at 12:06 PM
When q.e.d was released I was a bit afraid it would be used for ‘peer’ review. That was only 3 weeks ago. Still not sure if q.e.d is a good or bad thing, but do we need to move so fast ?
Félicitations à @fxpbourassa.bsky.social pour l'obtention du prix de thèse de la division 'biological Physics' de l'American Physical Society ! Le doublé après le prix similaire de @biophyscanada.bsky.social ! @mcgill.ca www.aps.org/funding-reco...
November 5, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Félicitations à @fxpbourassa.bsky.social pour l'obtention du prix de thèse de la division 'biological Physics' de l'American Physical Society ! Le doublé après le prix similaire de @biophyscanada.bsky.social ! @mcgill.ca www.aps.org/funding-reco...
Quite astounding that we are still pushing this kind of program, despite the Bouchard report and all the numerous stories of ‘stars’ coming from abroad who come to Canada, but keep their former lab, and then go back after 5 years because Canada is too cold or whatever.
“Budget 2025 proposes to provide $1 billion over 13 years, starting in 2025-26, to ….(Tricouncil)…to launch an accelerated research Chairs initiative to recruit exceptional international researchers to Canadian universities.” 🙄 1/
November 5, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Quite astounding that we are still pushing this kind of program, despite the Bouchard report and all the numerous stories of ‘stars’ coming from abroad who come to Canada, but keep their former lab, and then go back after 5 years because Canada is too cold or whatever.
What is even more disturbing : many ‘elite’ institutions are also failing to some extent (academia, law firms, etc…)
In a way, I find the authoritarian takeover of our media system even more disturbing than the authoritarian takeover of our political system.
Our political system has been failing basically my entire adult life. But, the media system provided accountability and sort of worked. Now it’s collapsing.
Our political system has been failing basically my entire adult life. But, the media system provided accountability and sort of worked. Now it’s collapsing.
November 4, 2025 at 5:30 PM
What is even more disturbing : many ‘elite’ institutions are also failing to some extent (academia, law firms, etc…)
Open Letter to Protect Tri-Concil EDI Data, shared by @biophyscanada.bsky.social . I cannot sign right now because the form seems to suffer a bit (I assume from multiple connections !) but will definitely sign later !
November 4, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Open Letter to Protect Tri-Concil EDI Data, shared by @biophyscanada.bsky.social . I cannot sign right now because the form seems to suffer a bit (I assume from multiple connections !) but will definitely sign later !