Professor of Pharmacology, UVASOM. All views personal | I study ion channels and Ca2+ signaling in immunity & tissue homeostasis. RTs may not be endorsements.
Charlottesville, VA
Joined July 2009
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Bimal Desai retweeted
It's easy to forget how much the Senate naturally favors Republicans. For Democrats to win the Senate this year, they needed to count on victories in places like Texas, Iowa, and Alaska.
Few people thought that this was possible a year ago, even with a midterms backlash against the incumbent party. But now, states that are normally swing states, Georgia and North Carolina, aren't even competitive. We're talking about Kansas instead.
Really a testament to how much the Trump administration has screwed up.
This old Nimesh clip should finish off Vivek’s chances. It also shows that Indian Americans won’t support a coethnic candidate whose politics aren’t in the country’s best interests. The immediate priority is undoing MAGA’s damage with a thumping Dem midterms win, including gubernatorial races. If Vivek wins, he’ll cuck for the Trump admin and that is reason enough to oppose him.
Bimal Desai retweeted
As turnout in Texas nears 3 million votes, Hispanic turnout is now exceeding presidential levels. More Hispanics have voted than did at this point in the 2024 presidential election. What's driving this huge increase? Young voters.
Bimal Desai retweeted
I'm gonna take a stab: When you're afraid to mention your party's signature economic policy in campaign ads, that might be a sign that the policy is unpopular because it didn't work as promised.
Just such a fun chart here from @greg_ip. If only we could tease out some meaning. Ah, well, nevertheless. 🤣
Bimal Desai retweeted
You see the excuse of "nepotism" used against Indians all the time but never evidence of it. The little evidence we have is that Indians are less likely to hire co-ethnics than Mexicans, Poles, or Chinese.
Why don't you see this attack against those groups?
Bimal Desai retweeted
In case you needed any evidence that there’s a bubble in AI.
So the hot thing is starting a drug company with no knowledge data patents or experience. But hey they have a computer.
A very very common bio startup idea I've noticed people converging on lately: The Neo Pharma
The Neo Pharma is a startup that develops a pipeline of drugs (agnostic to disease/modality) with an underlying AI system around asset selection, program management, clinical operations, etc. Most common is the idea to use AI to capture and systematize drug hunter expertise
Unlike a biotech, where key innovation lies in the technology, the Neo Pharma is differentiated by its internal operations with AI
The catch for AI/tech people entering bio: You only find out if you're differentiated ENOUGH in 7+ years, based on initial drug portfolio & success rate against regular Pharma (and all the other Neo Pharmas in your cohort)
It's an obvious, ripe idea for biotech in the age of AI given most biotech work happens in email inboxes already (directing overseas labs to do the physical experiments, manufacturing, trials). It's also a bet that AI can shift the underlying economics of drug development
Curious how much in-house AI models will matter for these co's. Is it worth trying to aggregate proprietary data around specific biopharma workflows OR will this aspect be democratized soon enough and execution/capital is the only variable factor?
Bimal Desai retweeted
Let's be very clear. Amy Acton's birth mother hasn't been in her life for 48 years.
So when the birth mother calls Amy a liar, she's calling the 12 year-old child who was raped by her stepfather a liar.
Ramaswamy has reached a new disgusting low, even for Republicans.
Lol - Vivek is primarily losing because he is a dark-skinned Indian on a Republican ticket. He must spend most of his effort convincing the rightoid base to vote for him. Acton, on the other hand, can take the D base for granted and focus on independent swing voters. Every week, Vivek looks pathetic groveling to the conservative base, pleading that he does not worship demons and has read the Bible, etc. He couldn’t even issue a statement on the mass-shooting attempt at the Hindu temple for fear of seeming too close to the Hindu community. His latest attempt emulating Trump’s crass attack ads just convinced independent swing voters to steer clear of him. Game over.
Bimal Desai retweeted
My Claude found a critical zero day vulnerability in the Code of Hammurabi, unnoticed by developers for 3,779 years.
Bimal Desai retweeted
Exclusive: A physician-scientist recommended by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya to lead the agency’s mental health institute is no longer in the running. Instead, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. favors a researcher who studies treating mental illness with diet. scim.ag/4smMCYF
Bimal Desai retweeted
Hey @JDVance we found someone in Ohio coming for your cats.
Mediaite: Amy Acton’s Mother Was Convicted of Killing Kittens
New information about the criminal history of Donna Arthur, the estranged mother of Ohio Democratic nominee for governor, Amy Acton, is coming to light amid the backlash about her appearance in a Vivek Ramaswamy ad — including her conviction for animal neglect after several kittens in her care died in a hot car
mediaite.com/crime/amy-acton…
Bimal Desai retweeted
Nearly 2 in 3 U.S. adults younger than 30 who plan to vote in midterms say their main motivation is to oppose Trump and his policies, according to a new Harvard Youth Poll.
77% disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy — including about half of young Republicans.
Bimal Desai retweeted
Musk went from a million Tesla owners will be able use their cars as robotaxis in 2020.
To just California and Texas in 2025.
To just a few tiny geofences in 2027.
Tesla is practically admitting that the Tesla you own is never going to have Level 5 unsupervised self-driving.
Elon seems to have surmised that maximizing low-IQ rightoid turnout is the most feasible path to a Paxton win. They may have internal polling data showing that a good chunk of Talarico support in Texas is lukewarm and may not be motivated enough to turn out.
Bimal Desai retweeted
As a connoisseur of racism, I have found no greater joy than discovering other language realms on X where they are truly light years ahead.
Behold the great meme war between the Turks 🇹🇷 and Chinese 🇨🇳 which has been brewing now for 3 days!
It began with a small Turkish account posting a meme of a cat wearing a straw hat + slitty eyes + wispy moustache. A Chinese user then replied with a meme of Patrick Star from SpongeBob parachuting next to the Turkish flag, with a caption along the lines of “I heard the Turkish flag was designed like this, is that true? Both were from small anonymous accounts but now has been viewed by several millions.
Turks took it as mockery of a national symbol and all hell breaks lose.
The broader historical and cultural pile-on on both sides were equally impressive in its deep knowledge of Ottoman / Chinese history, along with very creative vulgarity. I read one Chinese tweet calling Turkey the fleshlight of the entire world. Both sides insulted each other as “might as well be Indians.” Then it got super testy when it ventured into Turkestan/Xinjiang/Uyghur territory, and soon out came digs about the Turkish lira, China virus and other general nationalist trash talk.
The next stage was the free speech Olympics. Turks started posting images of Xi Jinping and daring Chinese users to criticize him to prove that China is “free.” Chinese replies often flipped it to “you criticize Xi but none of you dare criticize Muhammad.” When no Chinese account could criticize Xi, the Turks concluded they were all bots.
The latest stage has been the international expansion.
Japan + Taiwan + Azerbaijan + Spain lined up with Turks against China.
Japanese accounts were the most visible contingent. Taiwan joined the Turkish side for obvious reasons. Azerbaijan was in Turkic solidarity mode. South Korea and Spain too for reasons which are not clear to me.
Iran + Greece + India + Egypt joined up with the Chinese against Turkey.
I saw an Iranian account openly telling the Chinese to keep going and “discipline the Turks” because the Ottoman/Persian rivalry runs deep still. Greece obviously went against the Turks and as for India, who knows. Could’ve gone either way but they chose the Chinese.
The whole thing, while viscous and passionate at times, has strangely left me with the warm fuzzies. Imagine how much more boring life would’ve been without @X’s auto-translate feature
