Elaine Coates
elainehc.bsky.social
Elaine Coates
@elainehc.bsky.social
Mature student studying human biology and infectious diseases. She/her, UK North West, SF fan.
Reposted by Elaine Coates
“Transgender and nonbinary youth (ages 13 to 24) whose pronouns are respected were 31 percent less likely to attempt suicide in the past year than those whose pronouns are not respected, according to a new report from The Trevor Project”

www.advocate.com/exclusives/p...
Transgender and nonbinary youth whose pronouns are respected attempt suicide less: report
"It's about effort, and just attempting to be respectful and kind to people," lead author Steven Hobaica tells The Advocate.
www.advocate.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
Ummm guys, we've just found ribose (sugar in RNA) and glucose on an asteroid www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bio-essential sugars in samples from asteroid Bennu - Nature Geoscience
Samples returned from asteroid Bennu contain bio-essential sugars such as ribose and glucose that may have formed in the parent asteroid from brines containing formaldehyde, according to a geochemical...
www.nature.com
December 11, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
(*One of my favourite Nirvana songs)
December 9, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
Let me tell you a story. Perhaps you can guess where this is going... though it does have a bit of a twist.

I was poking around Google Scholar for publications about the relationship between chatbots and wellness. Oh how useful: a systematic literature review! Let's dig into the findings. 🧵
December 5, 2025 at 10:35 PM
This is long but well worth a read and will leave you feeling at least a tiny bit better about the world.
December 6, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
🚨 NEW: One of the largest COVID-19 vaccine studies ever (28 MILLION people in France) just dropped.

Results?
• 74% lower risk of death from severe COVID-19
• 25% lower risk of all-cause mortality
• No increase in 4-year mortality
#BlueSky #MedSky #IDSky #SciSky #NewsSky #PedsSky #ObSky #NurseSky
December 5, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
SHAME on everyone who has pushed and paid for this. You are not feminists. You are not allies. You KNOWINGLY work with ultra-conservative and far right organisations. SHAME on you.

Also, your daughters think you’re shitheads.
The Women's Institute has been forced into excluding trans women too
"Not doing so would leave us at risk of costly legal challenge and potential regulatory action from the Charity Commission. We have a public duty to ensure our charity is not in breach of the law."
www.thewi.org.uk/media-centre...
Press Releases
www.thewi.org.uk
December 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
A Labour government passed the Equality Act. A Labour government was in power when the Supreme Court interpreted it to not mean what ministers at the time were clear it was intended to mean. The Labour government response should have been to legislate to fix it. Not doing so was a cowardly betrayal.
December 3, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
He’s so good at this!
Hope is here.

Help us beat Reform in May. Donate today ⤵️
November 28, 2025 at 9:08 AM
How are students supposed to know what they can trust when even ostensibly legitimate peer reviewed sources are slop ? This infographic is still there.

Scientific Reports claims :
“ rigorous, objective and constructive peer review”

What is going on ?!
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 28, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
Today’s xkcd made me cry.

In a good way.

xkcd.com/3172/
November 24, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
We're pleased to announce that our latest release of new and updated UK Biobank data is now available to approved researchers around the world ✅
November 20, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
If you'd like to celebrate the biology of viruses - or the fight against viral diseases - this winter, try out our free and updated #VirusSnowflake designs.
Please share, and if you have any photos of Virus Snowflakes in your area it would be lovely to see them!
cvr-engagement.co.uk/virus-snowfl...
November 17, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
When Tommy Robinson is celebrating your policies it is time to take a long hard look in the mirror and then quit politics forever.
Not everyone is unhappy about the Government's descent into anti-refugee politics
November 16, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
“Critically assessing the literature, we found it beset by conceptual & methodological flaws & limitations, undermining claims that the gut microbiome is causally involved in etiology/pathophysiology of autism”
Crucial PSA from @wiringthebrain.bsky.social @statsepi.bsky.social @deevybee.bsky.social🧪
Conceptual and methodological flaws undermine claims of a link between the gut microbiome and autism
Claims that the gut microbiome causally contributes to autism regularly appear in the scientific literature and popular press. Mitchell et al. critically examine influential studies underpinning these...
www.cell.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
I've pressed the button, it's out there! My latest novel, A Dragon in the Title, written with J. R. Steel.
November 5, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
😊
November 5, 2025 at 6:16 AM
All of the comments on this are worth reading. There are…. _interesting_ patterns in this data.
@bmj.com Please look at PubPeer comments on an article you published last week. pubpeer.com/publications...
I think your research integrity dept shld act swiftly on this one, given clinical significance.
I'm aware of even more evidence of problems so let me know if this is not sufficient.
PubPeer - Prevention of acute myocardial infarction induced heart fail...
There are comments on PubPeer for publication: Prevention of acute myocardial infarction induced heart failure by intracoronary infusion of mesenchymal stem cells: phase 3 randomised clinical trial (P...
pubpeer.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting

I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
November 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
When in the woods, best beware of dead man's fingers lurking there.
Reaching up above the ground, a creepy fungi to be found.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Photo: Sheringham Park by Rob Coleman
October 31, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
Laser clinic offers major discount to get rid of Harry Potter tattoos: "I hate JK Rowling" - LGBTQ Nation www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/lase...
Laser clinic offers major discount to get rid of Harry Potter tattoos: "I hate JK Rowling" - LGBTQ Nation
"Around 16% of people regret getting a tattoo," the offer reads, "less than 1% of people regret gender affirming surgery.
www.lgbtqnation.com
October 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Well that’s cool and interesting
nature.com Nature @nature.com · Oct 22
People being treated for certain deadly cancers lived longer if they had received an mRNA-based vaccine against COVID-19 than if they hadn’t

go.nature.com/4hkqZma
People with some cancers live longer after a COVID vaccine
mRNA vaccines seem to boost the effectiveness of an immune therapy for skin and lung cancer ― in an unexpected way.
go.nature.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
Climate change is enabling vectors like mosquitos and ticks to emerge and even thrive in places they once couldn’t have existed - this is a huge threat for infection spread eg dengue that could have worse impacts in infection-naive individuals that are more susceptible 🧪
Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time as climate crisis warms country
Three specimens discovered in what was previously one of the only places in the world without the insects
www.theguardian.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Elaine Coates
Just another normal HHS week: CDC researchers cannot present work at an annual Infectious Disease conference in (checks notes) Atlanta. As a CDC researcher put it:

“It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.”

apnews.com/article/infe...
Government shutdown means many CDC experts are skipping a pivotal meeting on infectious disease
An annual conference about infectious diseases is seeing a dramatic attendance decline, in part because Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts can’t participate.
apnews.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:46 AM
US Government shutdown doesn’t get in the way of demolishing part of the White House then, huh ?
npr.org NPR @npr.org · Oct 21
Dramatic photos show construction equipment tearing into the East Wing façade and windows, though the federal agency that oversees such projects has not approved President Trump's 90,000-square-foot, $250 million ballroom. n.pr/48AUON2
The White House starts demolishing part of the East Wing to build Trump's ballroom
Dramatic photos show construction equipment tearing into the East Wing façade and windows, though the federal agency that oversees such projects has not approved President Trump's 90,000-square-foot, $250 million ballroom.
n.pr
October 21, 2025 at 7:26 AM