user avatar
Prof Francois Balloux
@BallouxFrancois
Director @UGI_at_UCL. Interest in Infectious disease epidemiology, pathogen genomics, global health, and all sorts of other stuff.
Settling in
Joined April 2019
  • Pinned
    user avatar
    Our über-massive review on everything you always wanted to know about SARS-CoV-2, or didn't even know you wanted to know, or would have preferred not to know - but if you read it you'll know it (sorry), is out, peer-reviewed and open access. academic.oup.com/ooim/advance-a…
  • user avatar
    H5N1 bird flu has a mortality rate close to 100% in chicken. When the virus is detected in a chicken farm, all animals are being euthanised to reduce their suffering and limit the risk of spread to other animals and humans. 1/
  • user avatar
    Israel is becoming extremely unpopular in the West, especially among young people. Desperate measures by authorities to oppose this trend, such as cancelling musicians and listing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, won't convince people to like Israel more. 1/
  • user avatar
    I should be qualified to comment on the covid-19 pandemic. I'm a computational/system biologist working on infectious diseases and have spent five years in a world class 'pandemic response modelling' unit. In this thread, I will summarise what I believe I (don't) know. (1/12)
  • user avatar
    A university degree is a qualification, not a morality clause. A University revoking degrees for 'wrong think' makes a total mockery of its mission. This is also the most authoritarian 'right-woke' nonsense I've come across in a while. 1/
    BREAKING: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HAS JUST SUSPENDED, EXPELLED, AND REVOKED DEGREES FROM 22 STUDENTS FOR PROTESTING GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE
  • user avatar
    Whether the IDF suspected that Nasrallah was in this block of flats that got flattened, or just made this up as a story, is largely irrelevant. This is a war crime, either way.
    Israel just brought down 6 buildings in Beirut, killing everyone inside. Child, woman, and man. The death toll is said to be in the hundreds. This is the end of any notion of rules of engagement.
  • user avatar
    If this was meant to be a hit piece, it's an epic fail. The list of his 'controversial' posts include that we should treat refugees humanely, avoid pumping sewage in the sea, and that abuse of migrant workers in Qatar is wrong. Seriously ...
    A history of Gary Lineker's most controversial posts - from Rwanda and Brexit to Gaza 🔗 Read more trib.al/JFGHFRG
  • user avatar
  • user avatar
    Replying to @BallouxFrancois
    Elon Musk has just become the ultimate outrage disinformation machine. Whenever I see a tweet by him on any topic I know something about, he's totally, utterly wrong. 3/
  • user avatar
    This is not an easy message to convey, even to those who have have already accepted that zero-covid was toast. Essentially everyone will eventually get infected by SARS-CoV-2 in the near future, and likely more than once in their lifetime. 1/
  • user avatar
    Replying to @BallouxFrancois
    Culling all the chicken in a farm where H5N1 is circulating is the correct response, epidemiologically, ethically and morally, and it is standard procedure globally. 2/
  • user avatar
    I had a difficult childhood, I went rogue as a teenager and did some really stupid things. Yet, I was reaccepted in society, got a free education, and ended up as a successful member of society. I doubt this would be possible today. I regret our society has become so unforgiving.
  • user avatar
    I suspected this had been mistranslated. It isn't (I'm fluent in German). She didn't make a case for "collateral damage" being acceptable in the pursuit of "military objectives". She literally stated that what Germany stands for is the wilful slaughter of civilians. This is dark.
    German Foreign Minister Baerbock defends Israel's killings of Palestinian civilians. "Civilian places" lose "their protected status" because "terrorists abuse that", she claims. This is of course nonsense under international law. The International Criminal Court accuses Israel of
    00:00
  • user avatar
    I've now come across this argument that Palestinians are worthless subhumans because they produced no major scientific figure - the first time I saw this view expressed was in a tweet by @GadSaad. This is really ultimate - old-fashioned 1930s - genocidal fascism. Ironically, it