Robert Howard
@profrobhoward.bsky.social
UCL Old Age Psychiatrist. Evidence-based treatments for dementia, psychosis, depression and anxiety in older people. Independent trialist. Clinical academic training. Owned by Layla. Still enjoying Twitter but here we all are.
created November 12, 2024
5,137 followers 2,401 following 623 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
Hetan Shah (@hetanshah.bsky.social) reposted
Pet parrots which typically live alone (whilst those in the wild live in large flocks) were given the technology to call each other. They would use it for up to three hours a day, and developed favourite friends 💔 on.ft.com/3K05vhS
Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves.bsky.social) reposted
What a beautiful tribute to love and the power of AIDS research from Faye Landsman. Come join us next week to hear about the miracles HIV research has given the world. #saveaidsresearch @saveaidsresearch.bsky.social
Ian Dunt (@iandunt.bsky.social) reposted
This is how you protect your democracy. The US is a demonstration of what happens when you don't. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
Simon Wheeler (@simonwheeler.bsky.social) reposted
New job at @alzheimerssoc.bsky.social. Senior Content Editor with special responsibility for improving the accessibility of our dementia support information to people with a (dare I say?) diverse set of backgrounds. You even get to work with me!! Pls share. careers.alzheimers.org.uk/vacancies/31...
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Layla. Not really happy on trains, even when she can travel First Class.
Ian Dunt (@iandunt.bsky.social) reposted
The fall of Mandelson is first cross-party celebration since the vaccine. Remain, Leave, right, left: united at last.
Ian Denton (@iand777.bsky.social) reposted
A very unenlightened attitude from a company marketing garden lighting.... #urbanfoxes @chrisgpackham.bsky.social
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Yes. Very good.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Twitter still has impressive potential for interaction.
Meghan Bartels (@meghanbartels.bsky.social) reposted
Here's what you need to know about the new MAHA report: 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-ma...
Ian Dunt (@iandunt.bsky.social) reposted
BBC using the phrase 'approved asylum seekers' today. It's technically correct I suppose, but emotionally barren - taking a word that inspires sympathy and turning it into a dead administrative phrase. They are refugees.
Jenny (Kowalczuk) Sanders (@jennysanders.bsky.social) reposted
Aldwych is ALWAYS exactly like this, rain and waiting forever for the right bus...
Atul Gawande (@agawande.bsky.social) reposted
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American." It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
At Lord Leicester’s secret beach hut in Holkham Woods. Lots of squirrels and rabbits this afternoon.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
It’s all her!
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Happy post-lunch nap.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
It’s getting better. Twitter still more fun.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
FDA ask for additional safety monitoring MRI between second and third infusions of lecanemab. www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/al...
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Blackberries are all tiny and with no sweetness here. I expect it’s the lack of water.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Traditionally used (along with an equal weight of sugar) to flavour gin.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Hedgerows already filled with autumn berries. Densest crop of sloes that I can remember.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Time to bring back abreaction as a treatment for functional neurological disorders? Great piece by Norman Poole in Brain. x.com/brain1878/st...
Rian Nejar 🦋 (@riannejar.bsky.social) reposted
Spiders make #webs with their silk, and use trapped #fireflies as glowing #bait [via Brit Eco Soc] 🧪👩🔬🕷️🕸️🪰💡 " findings confirm that captured fireflies left as bait increase the hunting success rate of the #spiders." www.britishecologicalsociety.org/spider-uses-... #tools #hunting #intelligence
Mike Greicius (@mikegreicius.bsky.social) reposted
🧪 #publichealth With all the stops/restarts, firings/rehirings, grant terminations/non-terminations, and funding delays--even ignoring its anti-science stance--this is not a Department of Health and Human Services that is going to make America the least bit healthy. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/h...
Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist (@princess-vimentin.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
A key sentence summarizes a very real outcome. 🧪“Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc."
Nature Metabolism (@natmetabolism.nature.com) reposted
REVIEW | FREE TO READ THIS WEEK! 🧪 @clemmensenc.bsky.social et al Incretin-based therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases
MU-Peter Shimon 🀄️ (@mu-peter.bsky.social) reposted
Bonobos keep track of groupmates even when they can’t see them Mental representation of the locations and identities of multiple hidden agents or objects by a bonobo 🏺🧪 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... Uncovers the rich representations of the social world shared by humans and other apes.
William C Phelps, PhD (@wcphelps.bsky.social) reposted
I applaud the Amer Acad of Pediatrics for clear guidelines on COVID vaccines for infants, in contrast to the current CDC leadership. This is an interview with Paul Offit, a courageous expert in pediatrics. 150 children died in the past year of COVID! Read that again. 🧪 www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Kathryn Hulick (@kathrynhulick.substack.com) reposted
When tech reads your thoughts, hopefully it won't read out ALL of them! Researchers had subjects imagine the password "Chitty chitty bang bang” to activate a mental speech decoder. 🧪https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/08/an-inner-speech-decoder-reveals-some-mental-privacy-issues/
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
It’s a Van Gogh kind of morning in Peckham.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
In Japan from 22nd till 3 October.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Twitter still has a lot going on and plenty of friends are still there. This place has picked up a lot and it’s been nice to recognise old friends who had left Twitter.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Hello Viv!
EMBO (@embo.org) reposted
Tom Kern had doubts: Would he like journalism, or be any good? Did he even know how to become a journalist? After nine months as a #ScienceJournalism fellow with leading German news outlets those doubts are largely gone: www.embo.org/people/trans... #ScienceCommunication #funding #LifeSciences 🧪
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Yuto Satake returns to Japan today after a productive year at UCL. My son commissioned his artist friend to produce this to commemorate his visit and secret support for Layla to sit on forbidden sofas.
Jo Wolfe, PhD (@jopabinia.bsky.social) reposted
My vague, unprepared #InverteFest idea was 2 never-posted crabs of the day so here is #1! Platychirograpsus spectabilis males grow huge "saber" claws on one (either left or right) hand. TONS more info here 🦀🦑🧪 invasions.si.edu/nemesis/species_summary/99076 share.google/Eu4ZhMo6baJo...
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
I’m with Wes on this one! Don’t often say that these days, sadly!
Rian Nejar 🦋 (@riannejar.bsky.social) reposted
All my relatives: Neanderthals, Denisovians, and the #Indigenous [via Brown Uni and Science.org] 🧪🧬🔬🚶♂️ "haplotype features multiple Denisovan variants, although it likely entered human populations through a Neanderthal intermediate" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #genetics #human #evolution #tree
Craig (@drcjm.bsky.social) reposted
🧪 My favourites are the singing dogs (very close relatives of dingoes) in Papua New Guinea. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Gui...
Bryan White, MS Bio, MPH 🧬 (@crvscience.com) reposted
Early primates (50-60 mya) radiated into cold regions (northern latitudes) rather than the classical assumption of tropical/arid climates. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 🧪🌎🌍🌏 #AnthroSky #BioSky #EvoSky
Ian Dunt (@iandunt.bsky.social) reposted
This is outstanding. God knows what Labour is doing: legitimising the racism that'll be its undoing, losing the coalition which put it in office, trying to secure voters who will never support it, digging its own moral grave. observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
I find it hard to get them through the winter - particularly the white flowered ones which have a lovely lemony perfume. But they are spectacular when they flower and the sunny warm summer has been perfect for them.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Not just yet, please Jen.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Don’t recommend having one of these under an open bedroom window. Mrs H and myself exhausted after a night of vivid and weird dreams.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
The feeling that the cavalry we have been waiting for in the NHS for 15 years just isn’t coming, is somehow worse than having the Conservatives. At least we had hope for change.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
We were there too, Ethel and sorry to have missed you. When the sand is heavy going, try the path through the woods next time.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
They could, of course, simply make better drugs and price them attractively, so that it would make sense for the NHS to use them.
Simon Wheeler (@simonwheeler.bsky.social) reposted
I drive past a house with a Union Jack this morning and for the first time in many years I wondered if the people lived there hated immigrants. Chances are that they don't because that flag's been there for years, but flags are definitely becoming toxic again. We shouldn't ever hug flags in Britain.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
The dog had already done enough damage.
Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves.bsky.social) reposted
The @NYTimes has done a fantastic job on explaining what the Trump administration’s savage cuts to biomedical research mean: cures that won’t happen. Please share this widely. This is a catastrophe. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Seen in our hall this afternoon.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
It just sedates.
Nature Metabolism (@natmetabolism.nature.com) reposted
REVIEW | FREE TO READ THIS MONTH! 🧪 @clemmensenc.bsky.social et al Incretin-based therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases
Prof Sam Illingworth (@samillingworth.com) reposted
🧠 LLMs in medicine: promise and pitfalls A new review of 761 studies shows explosive growth in LLM use for clinical tasks but finds uneven evaluations & underuse of domain-specific models. 🔗 bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #SciComm #LLMs #HealthTech #AI 🧪
Patrick Lynch (@patrlynch1.bsky.social) reposted
And butterflies are just the bugs we notice. This is likely true for ALL kinds of insects and other invertebrates. The #InsectApocalyse marches on... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... 🧪🌿🌎🐡 #garden #bugsky #biodiversity #pollinators #insect #butterflies #macro #insects #flowers #InsectApocalyse
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
See you for cod and chips at French’s, Ethel.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
I imagine they were immensely nostalgic for familiar places they would probably never see again.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Very good!
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Her pint.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Wonderful Wells beach.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
It’s always playtime at the weekend when Layla has us around.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
This.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks Caroline. I tried to post this on here yesterday but my BlueSky skills weren’t up to the challenge.
Caroline Ritchie (@nanonanu.bsky.social) reposted
They quoted you in JAMA Prof! @profrobhoward.bsky.social
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
If there are ghosts, I’m sure they are happy and benign ones. The house has a lovely vibe.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Neighbours believe our house is haunted. Just taken this as I walked back after a walk with Layla. It does look a bit spooky…
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Deal.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
I say something nice about the drugs in JAMA! Real-World Experience With Antiamyloid Therapies for Alzheimer Disease url:https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2838092?utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=content-shareicons&utm_content=article_engagement&utm_medium=social&utm_term=082225
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Perfect. I’m not at all exciting.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Hello there.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Me in The Times today, talking about the dodgy presentations of Alzheimer’s drug data at AAIC.
Prof Sam Illingworth (@samillingworth.com) reposted
🧬 Your genes know who you got them from A new study of over 230,000 people finds that many genetic traits behave differently depending on whether they come from your mum or dad, especially in growth and metabolism. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #SciComm #Genetics #Evolution 🧪
PLOS Biology (@plosbiology.org) reposted
Involuntary memories come on spontaneously and can feel vivid & emotionally powerful. This Primer highlights a recent @plosbiology.org study showing that involuntary & voluntary #memory recall rely on distinct neural processes 🧪 Paper: plos.io/4oQkb3e Primer: plos.io/3HJSCaU
PLOS Biology (@plosbiology.org) reposted
Why are there so few #pathogens, and what determines their emergence? @jdrakephd.bsky.social argues that #ecological and #evolutionary forces (host availability, geographic exposure and microbial innovation) will shape future human diseases. 🧪 plos.io/4mUst87
Joe Pierre, MD (@psychunseen.bsky.social) reposted
1/ AI-Associated Psychosis is being increasingly reported in the media and in online spaces like Reddit. I've seen cases in clinical practice and have received emails from concerned friends/family about loved ones falling down the rabbit hole. Here's some explanations/tips to help...
Tamim Ahsan (@tamim-ahsan.bsky.social) reposted
New Benzodiazepine Tapering Guide—Slow and Patient Centered #psychiatry #healthcare 🧪 jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Mark Brown (@markoneinfour.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Discussing the justifications given for racist views is at once low risk because it doesn't ever involve really changing things and high risk because it shifts the discussion away from the real problem and also just leaves out the people at risk from the racism: the people under threat from racists
Timothy Caulfield (@caulfieldtim.bsky.social) reposted
Misinformation worse & hurting patients. 86% of physicians say "misinformation has increased compared to 5 yrs ago." 61% patients "influenced by misinformation" 57% misinformation has a significant impact on their ability to deliver quality patient care." physiciansfoundation.org/research/the...
Corey S. Powell (@coreyspowell.bsky.social) reposted
Last week I came across a remarkable archival document by astronomer William Herschel. He describes his telescopes as time machines, capable of "penetrating into time" as much as 1,910,000 years into the past. His numbers were off, but his insight was spot on. In the year 1800! 🧪🔭
Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist (@princess-vimentin.bsky.social) reposted
RFK Jr has -Cut funding from mRNA research -Cut grants for autism research, to find his cause of autism -spewed rhetoric that contributed to the CDC shooting CDC employees have had enough of his lies & BS. They wrote a scathing letter to him & members of congress. www.npr.org/sections/sho...
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Morning view from the train at Blackfriars on a very grey day.
jenna newman phd (@jennanewman.bsky.social) reposted
“also found that, while 20%+ of [respondents]had a child<9 yo, only 2%…read w/ a child—a finding that stayed largely flat [over 20yrs]….Research indicates that reading can have a wide range of benefits [incl]educ attainment, reasoning&comp skills, imagination, empathy, mental [&] cognitive health”🧪🛟
Johannes W. Dietrich (@drjwdietrich.bsky.social) reposted
There is an ongoing debate in #endocrinology about whether to treat #hypothyroidism with L-T4 alone or a combination therapy with L-T4 and L-T3. But what about patients’ preferences? The majority would choose the combination therapy, as shown in a meta-analysis. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39290156/
Magdalena Skipper (@magdalenaskipper.bsky.social) reposted
‘Idea plagiarism’ and intellectual credit face new challenges in the age of AI-supported research 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The Transmitter (@thetransmitter.bsky.social) reposted
When powering fMRI studies, sample size is king, but scan duration can also be a powerful tool, improving phenotypic prediction and cost-efficiency, a new analysis shows By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/fmri/longer-...
Jody Culham's Lab (@culhamari-lab.bsky.social) reposted
Congratulations to Flo Martinez-Addiego and @striemamit.bsky.social for the publication of a cool new paper in PNAS showing that high-level actions like tool use generalize between hand and foot, even in individuals born without hands. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Dr Keith Wilson 💭 (@keithwilson.eu) reposted
Ireland: hold my Guinness… 🥔🍦
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Infinitely preferable (and much more effective) to the haloperidol I still see being given to my patients in this situation.
David Oliver (@mancunianmedic.bsky.social) reposted
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Imperfect Cognitions (@philosophyblogs.bsky.social) reposted
Today, we welcome Themistoklis Pantazakos, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at the American College of Greece, to present his recent BJPsych editorial 'Biomarkers cannot define the boundary between the normal and the pathological'. #philsky #philpsy
Tamim Ahsan (@tamim-ahsan.bsky.social) reposted
🚨The September issue of Nature Reviews Neuroscience #nature #neuro #review 🧪 www.nature.com/nrn/volumes/...
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
I'm Rob, psychiatrist and researcher based in London. Looking for better treatments for depression, psychosis, anxiety and the symptoms of neurodegeneration (mostly dementia) in older people.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
Makes me wonder if the observed association with reduced Alzheimer's/dementia is related to vascular protection rather than anti-Alzheimer's pathology effects.
The Royal Society (@royalsociety.org) reposted
#OnThisDay in 1858, a seminal journal article comprised of papers by Alfred Russel Wallace FRS and Charles Darwin FRS on the theory of evolution by natural selection was published by the Linnean Society, the first public announcement of the theory of evolution. bit.ly/3k8fq4u
kinesinmotors.bsky.social (@kinesinmotors.bsky.social) reposted
🍃 🐸 🧪
Ian Dunt (@iandunt.bsky.social) reposted
It's here: An absolute beast of an episode. The story of the worst speech in post-war Britain - how it came to be, what it said, and what happened afterwards.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social)
This is weirdly cheering.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Did they have an existing intellectual disability as part of their CP? That is probably the most important consideration.
Robert Howard (@profrobhoward.bsky.social) reply parent
Wouldn't to "charm the rollerskates onto a monkey" be much more impressive?