Atomsk's Sanakan Profile picture
Jun 8, 2021 14 tweets 12 min read Read on X
1/Z

An annoying thing about many SARS-CoV-2 lab conspiracists is they don't learn a da*n thing, no matter how much it's explained to them.

Example from WSJ, Steven Quay, + Richard Muller:

"The science suggests a Wuhan lab leak"
wsj.com/articles/the-s…
archive.is/MfmLd Image
2/Z

Quay + Muller's 'codon usage' point is not new.

Ex: Bret Weinstein was making the point months ago, and Nicholas Wade did more recently.

It's a favorite talking among the conspiracy theorists.



https://t.co/jGJkNUBui0

thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-or… Image
4/Z

Another crucial concept is out-of-frame insertion / frame-shift:

practical-haemostasis.com/Genetics/genet…
genome.gov/genetics-gloss…

It's basic biology, and I learned it as a high school freshman. It's telling how many SARS-CoV-2 lab conspiracists screw up introductory genetics. 🙄 Image
5/Z

So an out-of-frame mutation resulting from copy-choice error, easily explains how one ends up with 2 CGG codons without a lab.

That's been known since at least May *2020.*
Hence why I said the conspiracists learn nothing. 🤦‍♂️



virological.org/t/tackling-rum… Image
6/Z

It's also silly when Quay + Muller say "CGG" is a hallmark of genetic manipulation.

As an immunologist I know it's actually a fairly common sequence often recognized by the immune system and used to clear pathogens.



archive.is/ZFIHa Image
7/Z

Quay + Muller suggest that "the double CGG is suppressed naturally":
archive.is/MfmLd#selectio…

Actually, SARS-CoV-2 kept it in nature. That's not surprising, since it can evade (and likely often disrupt) the immune system.



archive.is/ZFIHa#selectio… Image
8/Z

Out-of-frame introduction of two CGG codons is 1 of many ways in which SARS-CoV-2 looks like a virus that evolved haphazardly in the natural world, as opposed to being intelligently designed by humans

microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-762/



virological.org/t/tackling-rum… Image
9/Z

This is why copy-choice error (along with codon usage and SARS-CoV-2's furin cleavage site) is 1 of my litmus tests for SARS-CoV-2 lab conspiracists:

If they still screw up on it after May 2020, then they're not credible. 🤷‍♂️



Image
10/Z

Besides:
- Nicholas Wade
- Steven Quay
- Richard Muller
- Bret Weinstein
- Heather Heying
etc., Richard Ebright also peddled the debunked codon talking point.

Yet even Alina Chan knew better.





archive.is/ZFIHa#selectio… Image
11/Z

Evidence won't persuade most SARS-CoV-2 lab conspiracists, anymore than evidence would persuade most HIV conspiracists that HIV evolved naturally from SIV and spread outside of a lab, as opposed to having escaped from scientists' research.

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10… Image
12/Z

For non-expert conspiracists, it's not about evidence, but instead ideology, etc.



"Pew Research Center survey conducted in March 2020 found that 29% of Americans believed that SARS-CoV-2 was developed intentionally in a lab"
link.springer.com/content/pdf/10… Image
13/Z

Even the scientist Nicholas Wade cited to justify his conspiracism on the furin cleavage site / codon usage, walked his statements back.

Do better next time, David Baltimore.
Don't be another Kary Mullis with Nobel disease.



theguardian.com/world/2021/jun… Image
14/Z

Re: "So an out-of-frame mutation resulting from copy-choice error, easily explains how one ends up with 2 CGG codons without a lab.
That's been known since at least May *2020.*
Hence why I said the conspiracists learn nothing"

Context from @gorskon:
respectfulinsolence.com/2021/06/11/cgg…

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More from @AtomsksSanakan

Dec 14
@hausfath Within the uncertainty range of IPCC 1990 First Assessment Report's 1990-2025 projection.

x.com/grok/status/19…
x.com/AtomsksSanakan…

"predicted rise from 1990 (to 2030) of 0.7–1.5 °C with a best estimate of 1.1 °C"
nature.com/articles/nclim…

page xxii
web.archive.org/web/2019031407… Image
@hausfath 1990-2025 warming trend is ~0.25°C/decade.

psl.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/data/a…

Implies ~0.9°C of global warming for 1990-2025, i.e. close to the projected average value of 1°C.

48:40 - 55:02 :
youtube.com/watch?v=C-gdab…

x.com/AtomsksSanakan…

The red arrow is 1990:
climate.metoffice.cloud/current_warmin… Image
@hausfath Still end up with ~0.25°C/decade when starting in 1995 to avoid cooling from the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption.

"1993 was the low point of the post-Pinatubo cooling"
wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/15/mat…

x.com/mattwridley/st…

x.com/AtomsksSanakan…

psl.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/data/a… Image
Read 6 tweets
Dec 7
1/F

Dr. Anthony Fauci complained about death threats to him, his family, public health experts + staff, etc.

This thread will cover some of the rhetoric that may have contributed to that, along with surrounding context.

1:43:53 - 1:47:40 :
2/F

Fauci is not alone in receiving threats.

For example, there's Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer:

"Death threats to NIH official spark debate over aggressive campaign to end animal research"
science.org/content/articl…

x.com/AtomsksSanakan…

theguardian.com/us-news/articl… Image
3/F

Threats sometimes lead to physical harm.

"of 510 researchers who had published on SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, 38% acknowledged harassment ranging from personal insults to threats of violence"
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jv…

doi.org/10.1016/j.puhi…

pbs.org/newshour/natio… Image
Read 21 tweets
Nov 7
1/M

The most secure position in science is one that's both:

1) supported by an evidence-based scientific consensus
2) disputed by Matt Ridley [@mattwridley]

This thread will provide some examples.

x.com/mattwridley/st…
x.com/mattwridley/st…

archive.is/zpiYp Image
2/M

Ridley shows how one can get away with being wrong on topic after topic, as long one states the paranoid ideological narrative many conspiracy theorists want to hear.

Others made this point, such as Dave Farina.

pubpeer.com/publications/D…

youtube.com/watch?v=C-gdab…
3/M

So on to the secure positions that are:
1) supported by an evidence-based scientific consensus
2) disputed by Matt Ridley [@mattwridley]

There's an ongoing multidecadal global warming trend of ~0.3°C/decade.

x.com/AtomsksSanakan…
x.com/AtomsksSanakan… Image
Read 51 tweets
Sep 14
@curryja If it's anything like Steven Koonin's 2014 op-ed in WSJ, then it's filled with ideologically-motivated misinformation and denialism.

archive.is/FTvi1

realclimate.org/index.php/arch…
realclimate.org/index.php/arch…

web.archive.org/web/2014121322…
[archive.is/v03kY] Image
@curryja About 30% more warming occurred during the first quarter of the 21st century than during the last quarter of the 20th century.

Models did fine.

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/20…
x.com/AtomsksSanakan…
realclimate.org/index.php/clim…
x.com/hausfath/statu…

web.archive.org/web/2014121322… Image
Read 8 tweets
May 19
@grok @19joho @WSJopinion @mattwridley x.com/curryja/status…
x.com/curryja/status…

Ryan Maue:
"Use ERA5 or JRA-55"
archive.is/tAbpF#selectio…

archive.is/zsZIh#selectio…

"[...] according to ERA5 [...].
The increase for the last thirty years, from 1995 to 2024, is 0.26 ± 0.05°C per decade."
climate.copernicus.eu/climate-indica… Image
@grok @19joho @WSJopinion @mattwridley @grok Ridley predicted less than 0.5°C of warming.

"Matt Ridley's 2014 prediction that global warming from 1995 to 2025 would be about 0.5°C"
x.com/grok/status/19…

wsj.com/articles/matt-…
[archive.is/32FiP#selectio…] Image
@grok @19joho @WSJopinion @mattwridley Re: "The increase for the last thirty years, from 1995 to 2024, is 0.26 ± 0.05°C per decade"
climate.copernicus.eu/climate-indica…

Matches the ~0.3°C/decade projection Ridley attributed to climate models

"Whatever Happened to Global Warming?"
mattridley.co.uk/blog/whatever-…
[wsj.com/articles/matt-…] Image
Read 4 tweets

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