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Ursula Hofer

@hoferu.bsky.social

980 followers 420 following 470 posts

Desk-chair virologist, EiC of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, previously at different Nature journals, MD PhD. She/her/expert. Opinions my own.

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Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · Feb 28

This month's editorial:

Should science be political?

In my mind, there's only one response to this question...

And the more pressing question is, how can politics be more scientific?

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Should science be political?

At this point in time, with US President Trump's administration attacking institutions such as the US CDC, NIH, USAID, WHO, and their people and functions, whether science should be political seems li...

www.thelancet.com

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, exactly. And I also worry about the misrepresentation of honest scientific discussion for anti-science disinformation.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 2d

Finally, the main downside of open peer review that I see is the weaponization of critical comments for mis- and disinformation. Think about vaccine papers, COVID origins etc.

I wouldn't mind the editorial accountability of it, but again, privilege.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 2d

I understand that I'm saying this from a privileged position and the incentives for many people are different.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 2d

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the statement that peer review is broken. Open for improvement, yes. As I become older (and grumpier), my answer to almost everything is do less with more. More resources to the things that really matter. Does every paper need peer review? To be published?

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 2d

Interesting discussion about peer review; I particularly enjoyed the history.

CMI Communications @cmicomms.bsky.social · 3d

🎙️ Just published: Communicable E37: 'Peer review is broken'

Hosted by @angelahuttner.bsky.social & @anniejoseph.bsky.social

w/ invited guests: Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social & Serge Horbach

Listen on Communicable:

#IDSky #Clinmicro #MedSky #peerreview #AI

Communicable E37: 'Peer review is broken'

Contrary to popular belief, peer review has only recently become an...

share.transistor.fm

Reposted by Ursula Hofer

Shahan Ali Memon @shahanmemon.bsky.social · 3d

The future of peer review is here.

Introducing Nature Instant!

We've automated rejection so you can get disappointed faster. Because why wait 6 months for reviewer 2 when you can get roasted by an #AI in seconds?

Here is how it works.

#AI4Science #PeerReview #FictionScience #FiSci #AAAI #ScAISci

Showing a fictitious system for submitting manuscripts called "Nature Instant" showing bot choices for authors to choose from as initial AI-based peer reviewers. The bots are trained on real human reviewer data.

Reposted by Ursula Hofer

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 7d

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91. Gift link: nyti.ms/48FOuUn

Reposted by Ursula Hofer

The Lancet Infectious Diseases @thelancetinfdis.bsky.social · 13d

Read our October issue!

Featuring a trial testing moxidectin for lymphatic filariasis, bedaquiline resistance and tuberculosis outcomes, and a recombinant influenza vaccine for children.

www.thelancet.com/issue/S1473-...

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 15d

If it's 'hate', women for sure. Part of the antivaxx policies is keeping women pregnant, at home doing care work, dependant on men. Besides hate, grift and selling snake oil is a huge motivator for the antivaxx movement.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 16d

I guess it's 'hate immigrants' day AGAIN. Blame immigrants for inequality, instead of economic profiteers. And of course this rhetoric comes exactly from the people who profiteer the most...

Reposted by Ursula Hofer

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 19d

Kimika Hara, contemporary Japanese embroidery artist #WomensArt
#September

Embroidery of sixteen different coloured and shaped toadstools on a reddisn background

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 20d

We'd been thinking about this topic since a session at ECCMID a couple years ago, where there was a lot of talk about risks for publishing, research quality.

So, here we wanted to focus on where real progress is happening and how we can harness this for the clinic and human health.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 20d

Our new series on AI in ID is finally online!

Long time in the making - big thanks to all the authors, in particular, the lead of the series, Prof Anna Odone.

The Lancet @thelancet.com · 21d

The role of AI in infectious diseases is emerging—offering new opportunities for infection prevention, outbreak detection & control.

But challenges like data fragmentation & trust remain.

Explore a new @thelancetinfdis.bsky.social Series ⤵️
bit.ly/4nbkHrh

Infographic panel for the Lancet Infectious Diseases Series, Artificial intelligence and infectious diseases.

Infographic panel for the Lancet Infectious Diseases Series, Artificial intelligence and infectious diseases.

Infographic panel for the Lancet Infectious Diseases Series, Artificial intelligence and infectious diseases.

Infographic panel for the Lancet Infectious Diseases Series, Artificial intelligence and infectious diseases.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 22d

I feel like there's more questions than answers for this topics, alas. Lots of work still to do.

The Lancet Infectious Diseases @thelancetinfdis.bsky.social · 29d

New Review:

Autoantibodies in long COVID: a systematic review

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Autoantibodies in long COVID: a systematic review

Post-COVID-19 condition (also known as long COVID) affects a substantial proportion of individuals who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, profoundly affecting their daily lives and work. Diagnosis an...

www.thelancet.com

Reposted by Ursula Hofer

The Lancet Infectious Diseases @thelancetinfdis.bsky.social · 26d

New Editorial:

More data needed on the FDA's decision to suspend Ixchiq

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

More data needed on the FDA's decision to suspend Ixchiq

Record-breaking numbers of chikungunya virus infections—a mosquito-borne disease characterised by joint pain and fever—have been reported this year, affecting Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. ...

www.thelancet.com

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 22d

Please don't send me emails written by AI; please don't expect me to send you emails with the effusiveness and artificial sincerity of AI. Thx.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 22d

Congratulations! 🎉🧬🎉

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 27d

Same, usually with added travel chaos. Interestingly, I don't really get nervous for panels or presentations anymore (yay, being older), still have the conference nightmare.

Reposted by Ursula Hofer

Microbetv @microbetv.bsky.social · 29d

TWiV re-issues our 100th episode which featured a discussion of viruses with David Baltimore, an exemplary scientist and Vincent's exemplary mentor, who passed on 6 September 2025

TWiV Special: David Baltimore, remembered

YouTube video by MicrobeTV

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · 29d

124 pirated pieces I have written. Sorry, it's my fault that LLMs really like em dashes 🤣

🎃nisillos @onisillos.bsky.social · 29d

Ha! All the crappy little news pieces I've written were in there. Plus a book written by my uncle.

Ryan Estrada @ryanestrada.com · Sep 6

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.

OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · Sep 8

I find it a weird mix of people and content. I'm too old and cranky for the self-promotional and corporate BS aspects of it. Cannot muster any enthusiasm. Also, boundaries - LinkedIn is one of the things I've deleted from my to-do lists.

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · Sep 6

🤔 I hope someone more knowledgeable can enlighten me on the rationale here...

Reposted by Ursula Hofer

Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · Sep 4

And here’s confirmation from @WHO:

“Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kasai Province where 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths, including four health workers, have been reported as of 4 September 2025.”
#IDsky 🧪

Democratic Republic of the Congo declares Ebola virus disease outbreak in Kasai Province

Kinshasa – Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kasai Province where 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths, including four health w...

www.afro.who.int

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · Sep 4

I feel like the reverse applies as well. Tech failures also often rooted in other, pre-existing problems.

Thinking of GenAI failures in my field, fake papers, papermills, sloppy referencing, poor peer review etc have existed for a long time. AI mainly adding scale.

Rob Bowley @robbowley.net · Sep 4

What if most of the benefit from “successful” technology transformations didn’t come from the tech at all?

What if the real value came from the organisational changes that just happened to ride along with it?

1/7 🧵

Maybe it wasn’t the tech after all | Rob Bowley

blog.robbowley.net

Ursula Hofer @hoferu.bsky.social · Sep 4

I've handled some renaming papers before. And then the inevitable string of letters. Now trying to stay out of it! Spectator sport 😉