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James Catterson

@scotsfriction

Researching neurodegeneration using flies. Based at Edinburgh University. UKDRI. Also Music. Politics. Ceramics. Leith4Life

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22.10.2024
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Latest posts by James Catterson @scotsfriction

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Love is in the air at Edinburgh zoo. Pebbling marks the start of the breeding season for Gentoo penguins.

Kids at Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity painted pebbles for the penguins to choose from and present to their mates.

07.03.2026 17:01 πŸ‘ 647 πŸ” 189 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 50
Dear Shabana,
I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank.
You said: β€œA party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to
make a perilous crossing on small boats.”
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton
and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government
who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division.
When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there
to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done
in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the
flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney.
As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking
points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I
filled water tanks and picked up litter.
What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop
the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country.
Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it.
It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping
migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and
croissants to refugees and food parcels.
When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She
said β€œwe have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for
refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers
whilst risking death on the seas.”
She said β€œmaybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on
the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: β€œA party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said β€œwe have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said β€œmaybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

05.03.2026 16:59 πŸ‘ 4898 πŸ” 1793 πŸ’¬ 249 πŸ“Œ 343
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I think there is not enough appreciation to how good this FT visualization is

the original is like this πŸ‘‡

03.03.2026 13:23 πŸ‘ 252 πŸ” 69 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 6
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If anyone is friends with any Georgian air traffic controllers, buy them a nice bottle of wine. As guardians of pretty much the only narrow gap still available between Europe and Asia that avoids both Iran, the Gulf, Ukraine and Russia, they are under some substantial pressure.

03.03.2026 14:26 πŸ‘ 3964 πŸ” 1278 πŸ’¬ 71 πŸ“Œ 131

ROSE GARDEN, 2029
ed davey: and the threat of reform.... anyway this is why I am joining PM polanski in coalition...any questions? (All journalist raise hands) Any questions not about my gigantic new boobs? (all journalists lower their hands)

03.03.2026 09:33 πŸ‘ 133 πŸ” 26 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2

I predict this man has a very bright future.

πŸ‘ πŸ‘ πŸ‘ πŸ‘ πŸ‘ πŸ‘

Congratulations, pal.

#WellDeserved

02.03.2026 19:04 πŸ‘ 14877 πŸ” 1704 πŸ’¬ 355 πŸ“Œ 61
Lou Reed  Guess I'm Falling in love  live
Lou Reed Guess I'm Falling in love live YouTube video by Lund Peterson

velvet underground researchers have apparently confirmed that this audio from a random youtube user is genuinely the long-lost july '67 performance from upbeat, a cleveland teen tv show, doing the unreleased "guess i'm falling in love" complete with screaming girls. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU2U...

02.03.2026 19:17 πŸ‘ 399 πŸ” 126 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 25
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Hell of a chart, this, from @financialtimes.com. Spot the JCPOA.

on.ft.com/4kSuQYO

18.06.2025 08:29 πŸ‘ 3102 πŸ” 1377 πŸ’¬ 92 πŸ“Œ 175
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My Grandfather had Tourette’s. I know that he experienced prejudice and attempts to bully him. I’ve been pretty stunned that in the reaction to the Davidson episode, we’ve seen a lot of the ignorance that he, a man living his life in the mid 20th century, would have recognised only too well.

02.03.2026 09:33 πŸ‘ 648 πŸ” 106 πŸ’¬ 21 πŸ“Œ 3

What a pleasure to have @jcarnesecchi.bsky.social visit us in Glasgow to share her fab work on transcription factors and RNA! Thanks for coming so far north to join us for a bit!

28.02.2026 22:21 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
A Complimentary Profile Of Jason Lee That Was Surprisingly Difficult To Publish | Defector If you walked down Colorado Boulevard in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles at some point in the past three years, you might have noticed a modest, pueblo-style beige building with β€œPHOTO” pai...

After Jason Lee opened a camera shop in Eagle Rock, I thought, man, that'd be a fun story to do. I did not know that it would eventually lead to him threatening to take me to court. For @defector.com, the whole bloody affair:
defector.com/a-compliment...

27.02.2026 17:00 πŸ‘ 344 πŸ” 67 πŸ’¬ 21 πŸ“Œ 27

omg

27.02.2026 16:45 πŸ‘ 326 πŸ” 105 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 5

Labour's swing toward racism is perhaps the biggest unforced error in British political history; burnt their base to ashes and won them not a single vote on the right.

27.02.2026 05:06 πŸ‘ 3802 πŸ” 783 πŸ’¬ 40 πŸ“Œ 67

Gorton and Denton by-election result

Grn 40.7% (+27 vs 2024)
Ref 28.7% (+15)
Lab 25.4% (-25)
Con 1.9% (-6)
LD 1.8% (-2)

Labour's 38th safest seat in 2024

27.02.2026 04:32 πŸ‘ 200 πŸ” 43 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 51
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This week's cover @thelancet.com

26.02.2026 23:48 πŸ‘ 3119 πŸ” 1456 πŸ’¬ 44 πŸ“Œ 80
Fly primary neurons arranged in a circle, tubulin
 labelled in green, actin in magenta.

Fly primary neurons arranged in a circle, tubulin labelled in green, actin in magenta.

Our article on how GSK3b controls microtubule bundling in axons is live πŸŽ‰
Here's our #notthecover attempt
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

25.02.2026 23:45 πŸ‘ 31 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

'For example, in Edinburgh, the university sector's contribution is reckoned to be equivalent to ten Commonwealth Games as the University generates Β£7.52 billion per year to the UK economy compared with Β£740 million over seven years by the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth games'.

26.02.2026 09:02 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
β€˜Social media killed our children’: big tech must take action The Bereaved Families for Online Safety is a parents’ group campaigning for tech companies to take accountability for harmful content. They tell their stories

My children are far too young for social media but this honestly makes me want to never ever let them even near a screen again. What are we doing allowing all this poison into kids lives? www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

24.02.2026 21:56 πŸ‘ 63 πŸ” 25 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 3

Why do I have to pretend that I'm going to print something in order to save it as a PDF. Why do I have to engage in a little ruse.

23.02.2026 21:43 πŸ‘ 19293 πŸ” 2925 πŸ’¬ 344 πŸ“Œ 1
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a year is a long time in politics

23.02.2026 18:01 πŸ‘ 2963 πŸ” 717 πŸ’¬ 69 πŸ“Œ 36
Preview
Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown Read Nina Corcoran’s review of the album.

Remember the last time you couldn't stop recommending an album to everyone you know?

Twisted Teens are that band, and they sound like a dusty pedal steel player and a 70-year-old chain-smoking auto mechanic playing country punk songs on a front porch

23.02.2026 14:27 πŸ‘ 53 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 7
Time-calibrated phylogeny of the family Drosophilidae showing major species groups, surrounded by representative adult flies that highlight the remarkable morphological diversity of this model insect group. The composite image was created using Microsoft PowerPoint. Fly photographs were taken by Darren J. Obbard and are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License with permission.

Time-calibrated phylogeny of the family Drosophilidae showing major species groups, surrounded by representative adult flies that highlight the remarkable morphological diversity of this model insect group. The composite image was created using Microsoft PowerPoint. Fly photographs were taken by Darren J. Obbard and are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License with permission.

The #fly community aims to achieve a comprehensive genomic study of the Drosophilidae family. @pankajd.bsky.social @bernardkim.bsky.social @petrovadmitri.bsky.social @darrenobbard.bsky.social present a comparative gene annotation for 301 #Drosophilidae species @plosbiology.org πŸ§ͺ plos.io/4c3pyrI

20.02.2026 08:55 πŸ‘ 28 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
The political effects of X’s feed algorithm - Nature Among users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative direction compared...

Twitter/X "promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media...algorithm substantially shifts attitudes towards more conservative opinions" www.nature.com/articles/s41...

23.02.2026 12:43 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3
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I love GFP

20.02.2026 18:28 πŸ‘ 64 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1
Image of a DNA double helix against a soft blue background with light particles. The Action for ME logo appears in the top right corner. Text on the image reads: β€œResearch News – SequenceME and Long Covid study launches. The world’s largest long-read, whole-genome study of any disease.”

Image of a DNA double helix against a soft blue background with light particles. The Action for ME logo appears in the top right corner. Text on the image reads: β€œResearch News – SequenceME and Long Covid study launches. The world’s largest long-read, whole-genome study of any disease.”

Quote from Action for ME CEO Sonya Chowdhury.

Quote from Action for ME CEO Sonya Chowdhury.

Quote from Complex Disorders Alliance CEO Amy Rochlin.

Quote from Complex Disorders Alliance CEO Amy Rochlin.

Quote from Schmidt Iniative for Long Covid CEO Dr John Redd

Quote from Schmidt Iniative for Long Covid CEO Dr John Redd

Today we’re delighted to launch Sequence ME & Long Covid - the world’s largest long-read, whole-genome study of any disease πŸ”¬
🧬 This £20 million ground breaking initiative will explore the root causes of ME and Long Covid, with the aim of accelerating progress towards diagnostics and treatments.

20.02.2026 12:03 πŸ‘ 63 πŸ” 30 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 4

look at my country man, we’re getting out-No Kings’d by the fuckin’ british

19.02.2026 14:22 πŸ‘ 24953 πŸ” 5170 πŸ’¬ 449 πŸ“Œ 147

The media management of this Andrew news… pre-shadowed by an unusually frank interview with the head of the CPS in the Sunday Times hinting there might be action… then BBC getting the story…

19.02.2026 10:07 πŸ‘ 68 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 3
Dennis nedry jurrasic park "see nobody cares" meme reads

Hey everybody, this guy still posts on X!

See? Everyone is horrified and disappointed. They feel it speaks directly to your values.

Dennis nedry jurrasic park "see nobody cares" meme reads Hey everybody, this guy still posts on X! See? Everyone is horrified and disappointed. They feel it speaks directly to your values.

18.02.2026 20:13 πŸ‘ 18818 πŸ” 3705 πŸ’¬ 150 πŸ“Œ 30
18.02.2026 18:14 πŸ‘ 2990 πŸ” 725 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 14
Preview
Specialized parallel pathways for adaptive control of visual object pursuit Collie et al. show how adaptive control in Drosophila visual pursuit arises from two parallel pathways: one steers objects from the periphery toward the center, while the other maintains central fixat...

Thrilled to share that my graduate work is officially published in Neuron! πŸŽ‰
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

18.02.2026 16:15 πŸ‘ 47 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1