James Catterson
@scotsfriction.bsky.social
1.4K followers 350 following 92 posts
Researching neurodegeneration using flies. Based at Edinburgh University. UKDRI. Also Music. Politics. Ceramics. Leith4Life
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scotsfriction.bsky.social
I also had a chance to speak with HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh about our work using flies in dementia research. Everybody loves the flies. 😇😅🥰
Me chatting to HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh about the cool stuff we do with Drosophila
Reposted by James Catterson
ceilingcat.bsky.social
“My eyes! The goggles do nothing!”
Reposted by James Catterson
pumpkin061.bsky.social
Dr. Jane Goodall, the legendary animal rights advocate, has died at 91. Dr. Goodall's life was a beacon for progressive activism, a bridge between science & moral purpose. Rest in power, Dr. Goodall.The fight continues,for animals, for the planet, for the future &your voice will forever guide us.
Reposted by James Catterson
chrischirp.bsky.social
Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!

Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
Reposted by James Catterson
cahirokane.bsky.social
59 mutations that suppress neurodegeneration induced by dNmant depletion in a Drosophila screen, including the known pro-degenerative molecule dSarm. Lots of new potential anti-degeneration drug targets to explore here.
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social
A dNmnat-sensitized in vivo platform for unbiased discovery of regulators of neurodegeneration https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.25.678663v1
Reposted by James Catterson
gregpriest.bsky.social
Thomas Hunt Morgan was born OTD in 1866.

If you're ever feeling that your work is uending and unedifying, remember that he once said this: "Two years work wasted, I have been breeding those flies for all that time and I've got nothing out of it."

🌱🐋🧪 #HistSTM
Photograph of Morgan's Fly Room at Columbia University, around 1920. American Philosophical Society.
Reposted by James Catterson
Reposted by James Catterson
johnswinney.bsky.social
This is dangerous, reckless, anti-science nonsense.

Paracetamol is safe to use and Nigel Farage should stop spreading misinformation.
lbc.co.uk
LBC @lbc.co.uk · 14d
"We were told thalidomide was a safe drug and it wasn't..."

Nigel Farage says he has 'no idea' if Donald Trump is right about paracetamol being linked to autism.
Reposted by James Catterson
dorianlynskey.bsky.social
It is possible to cherish the BBC as an institution while also saying that BBC News is failing very badly, day after day, in its duty to inform and that it always fails in a right-wing direction. It desperately needs to recover its integrity
Reposted by James Catterson
brendelbored.bsky.social
Trump: don’t take acepitoemponoene

RFK Jr: *moth crawls out of mouth*

A nude man is in the background, only referred to as “the colonel”

Person watching on tv: well if they say so
Reposted by James Catterson
johntngo.bsky.social
🚀 Our new paper is out @natmethods.nature.com!

Kuffer & Marzilli engineered conditionally stable MS2 & PP7 coat proteins (dMCP & dPCP) that degrade unless bound to RNA, enabling ultra–low-background, single-mRNA imaging in live cells.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧬 www.addgene.org/John_Ngo/
Reposted by James Catterson
bencollins.bsky.social
So cool they discovered the cause of autism on basically day they guessed they would. I’m also glad they are withholding this information for a few days to prep for a WrestleMania-style announcement. This is how science works.
Reposted by James Catterson
naomiaklein.bsky.social
If you, like me, are the parent of a neuro-atypical child dreading this autism press conference, please remember: These are the people hurting our kids. Not us. They are the ones stigmatizing and pathologizing them. They are the ones peddling untested science. And we should be very, very angry.
Reposted by James Catterson
danigaravelli.bsky.social
"The only thing that could've increased the humiliation would have been the holding up of a dog biscuit tho' a treat for rolling over was proffered in the form of a tech deal, which Starmer wolfed down with all the grateful tail-wagging the president demands." My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column.
Why are even the most powerful so afraid of standing up to Donald Trump?
Trump’s UK visit exposed a humiliating deference from Starmer, royals and politicians alike, says our multi award-winning opinion columnist Dani…
www.heraldscotland.com
Reposted by James Catterson
Reposted by James Catterson
barackobama.bsky.social
After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.
Let’s be clear about what happened to Jimmy Kimmel
Trump’s most brazen attack on free speech yet.
www.yahoo.com
Reposted by James Catterson
hkesvani.bsky.social
Say what you will about them but at least Change UK managed to have a Nando’s dinner first
Reposted by James Catterson
tuthill.bsky.social
new pape from our lab, led by the indefatigable @chrisjdallmann.bsky.social. i am very proud of this one.
chrisjdallmann.bsky.social
Now out in @nature.com: Our study discovering a neural circuit in Drosophila that predictively inhibits proprioceptor axons during voluntary leg movements, such as walking and grooming. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by James Catterson
Reposted by James Catterson
drmikewiser.bsky.social
This is the graph we show whenever someone talks about how back in the old days there weren't (people who are not whoever the person speaking thinks are the default).

Mostly we do this to underscore that a rise in apparent frequency isn't always a rise in real frequency.
A graph of the US population that is left-handed, by birth year. It drops from about 5% to a low of a little more than 3% from ~1890 to ~1910. It then rises steadily to about 12% around 1950, and stays at 12% out to 2000.
Reposted by James Catterson
davegoodman.bsky.social
An absolute dream to visit BBC Radio Scotland this afternoon with @tariqashkanani.bsky.social for The Art Mix with @lenniesaurus.bsky.social. Thank you to Len for the great interview!

Cc @headlinebooks.bsky.social @viperbooks.bsky.social @harryillingworth.bsky.social @dhhlitagency.bsky.social
Myself, Len Pennie and Tariq Ashkanani in the BBC Scotland studio
Reposted by James Catterson
jim.londoncentric.media
Absolutely !!!insane!!! to me that the UK government, lobby and newspapers litigate at length every minor infraction by the BBC, rival newspapers, or what some random columnist has posted. But all of them just carry on not even commenting about this media owner. He’s not hiding, he’s telling you!