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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · 2d

Nice write-up about our work by the MSU news service. I don't remember saying the opening quote.... but sounds like something I would say.
www.montana.edu/news/24830/i...

In new research, Montana State scientists explore how viruses replicate and infect

Matthew Taylor and Gary Dunn examined how different producer cells can result in differences in the viruses they are used to cultivate.

www.montana.edu

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · 14d

What separates freedom of speech from professional conduct? Can’t assume the line is the office or classroom door.

Montana Free Press @montanafreepress.org · 14d

Montana State University-Northern placed a professor on leave in response to social media comments she made about the assassination of the conservative figure Charlie Kirk. The school said it will evaluate the situation, but it's unclear what that evaluation will include.

Questions of protected speech persist as MSU-Northern professor remains on leave for social media comments

Amid national calls for Charlie Kirk supporters to publicize people who make negative comments, a professor in Havre found her job in jeopardy despite a state law that protects social media speech.

montanafreepress.org

Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 23d

Partial Inhibition of Viral Replication Machinery Enhances Recombination in Herpes Simplex Viruses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.15.676234v1

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Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

Nir Drayman @nirdrayman.bsky.social · Aug 20

Vincent's new paper, describing the vast heterogeneity in HSV-1 progeny production by individual human keratinocytes, is now on line! (and recieved the Editor's pick). Check it out here: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

HSV-1 progeny production by individual human keratinocytes spans three orders of magnitude | Journal of Virology

Viruses are defined by their ability to take over host cells and turn them into factories that produce new progeny. Recent advances in Biology allowed us to study viral infections at the single-cell l...

journals.asm.org

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Aug 19

Forgot those emojis! 🧪🦠🔬

Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Aug 19

Really excited to share the latest story out of the lab today. the culmination of lots of hard work by the first author, Dr. Gary Dunn.

The producer cell type of HSV-1 alters the proteomic contents and infectious capacity of virions | Journal of Virology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The producer cell type of HSV-1 alters the proteomic contents and infectious capacity of virions | Journal of Virology

Approximately 67% of the human population harbors herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection. To study HSV-1, laboratories utilize several different cell lines to propagate HSV-1 for downstream exp...

journals.asm.org

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Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

Claus Wilke @clauswilke.com · Aug 15

A simple design framework that will massively improve your slides and your public speaking
clauswilke.substack.com/p/slides-tha...

Slide designs that present themselves: The assertion–evidence template

Your slides are not your talk.

clauswilke.substack.com

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Aug 14

Expletives enrich the tapestry of language. They are the highlights and shadow that can reflect deeper nuances, emphasis, and effect.

Anyone who says otherwise is a fuckin' numpty.

Also:
www.sciencealert.com/swearing-is-...

Swearing Is Actually a Sign of More Intelligence - Not Less - Say Scientists

The use of obscene or taboo language - or swearing, as it’s more commonly known - is often seen as a sign that the speaker lacks vocabulary, cannot express themselves in a less offensive way, or even ...

www.sciencealert.com

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Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · Aug 11

The creative process in science has a set of thinking tools that we could do a better job teaching. Here are the 12 articles that Martin and I wrote about them, including "It takes two to think", "A hypothesis is a liability" and "The two languages of science". night-science.org/home/learn/r...

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Aug 11

Had the chance to visit the Museum of Illusion and took this image that can only be described as #nightmarefuel

A kaleidoscope image of a smiling, bearded man wearing a hat.

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Aug 6

This government is dragging us back to the 19th Century whether we want it or not!
www.npr.org/2025/08/05/n...

RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine contracts

The Department of Health and Human Services will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.

www.npr.org

Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Aug 5

Quantity over quality has long been a problem in academia. It is easier for a non-specialist to count things than to measure the importance of a body of work in a specialized field. And if you already don’t trust faculty, then you can’t trust their professional assessment either.

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Jun 27

Beauty can still be found in this world. Today was a good day.

A dock floats on still waters reflecting clouds and a yellow sky. Trees frame either side with snowy mountains in the background.

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Jun 25

I cannot believe the utter contempt this administration has for professionals and science. If they weren’t so blatant I would chalk it up to incompetence. And why is the Governor of Virginia involved in federal agency location selection?
www.eenews.net/articles/sci...

Science agency booted from HQ with no clue what’s next

National Science Foundation staffers were told Wednesday that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is taking over their headquarters.

www.eenews.net

Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

🎃nisillos @onisillos.bsky.social · Jun 25

New Zealand, I salute you! 🫡

vimeo.com/1015091040

New Zealand - Officially The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes

This is "New Zealand - Officially The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes" by Motion Sickness on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people…

vimeo.com

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Jun 23

Montana knows it is supposed to be summer. Montana does not care and greeted me with an icy truck this morning.

A thin sheet of ice on a black sheet on the back of a truck.

A thin sheet of ice on a black sheet on the back of a truck. A sunny patch or grass is in the background.

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Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

Bradley Busch @bradleybusch.bsky.social · Jun 18

New research from MIT found that those who used ChatGPT can’t remember any of the content of their essays.

Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn.

arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...

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Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

Brittlestar @brittlestar.com · Jun 6

Have you seen two terrible people fighting online? You have?
I've got a song for you.

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · Jun 5

Trebuchet. Small, fecal-flinging, and satisfying. Extra points for dressing up like the French knights from Monty Python.

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Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · May 27

New data finds Americans are more likely to support labor unions over Big Business than at any time in the past 60 years.

We are witnessing a historic rebirth of worker power.

If you want a better life for you and your children, join or support a union.

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Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · May 26

The Trump regime’s Executive Order about “Gold Standard Science” distorts & weaponizes the principles of open science to intimidate scientists and reshape scientific production to support the political goals of Trumpism. Stand Up for Science is asking scientists to sign an open letter pushing back.

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · May 26

🚨 URGENT RESPONSE CALL 🚨

Trump’s Fool’s Gold Science EO is a dangerous sham.
It gives his appointees the power to dismiss entire bodies of research and punish researchers who fail to fall in line with his agenda.

We’ve launched an open letter.

SIGN & SHARE NOW: actionnetwork.org/petitions/op...

Sign The Open Letter to Stand Up For Science Now!

Science is under siege. Trump’s latest Executive Order calls for politically appointed science commissars to evaluate research. Join us in adding your name to our open letter condemning Trump’s escala...

actionnetwork.org

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · May 26

Words are hard and can mean different things. To help everyone understand what a word means we have dictionaries.
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/f...

Definition of FASCISM

a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government ...

www.merriam-webster.com

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · May 23

Here’s my penny of insight. The republicans want the majority of citizens to be poor, sick, and uneducated so that we are easier to be victimized by corporations and oligarchs. Strong unions, universities, and public schools help people and thus impede this plan.

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Matt Taylor, Ph.D. @dr-mptaylor.bsky.social · May 23

I also want my COVID booster. You can’t blame people who get sick while also taking away the most effective preventatives…. Oh wait, cognitive dissonance requires them to be thinking in the first place.

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Reposted by Matt Taylor, Ph.D.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · May 22

FDA Commissioner Makary: "By the way, America doesn't want covid boosters."

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