Hannah Devlin

If people have the energy… I’m over there too now, say hi/follow etc @hannahdevlinjournalist" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">threads.net/@hannahdevlinj…

Confidential health records from UK BioBank project exposed online, reveals @hannahdev theguardian.com/science/2026/m…

Confidential health records from @uk_biobank project exposed online theguardian.com/science/2026/m… via @hannahdev et al

@FakePsyho Hello, i'm a journalist at the Guardian and would like to speak to you about the coding competition. Please could you DM me or email at hannah.devlin@theguardian.com

Humanity has prevailed (for now!) I'm completely exhausted. I figured, I had 10h of sleep in the last 3 days and I'm barely alive. I'll post more about the contest when I get some rest. (To be clear, those are provisional results, but my lead should be big enough)

@JoeMMulhern Hi Joe, I'd like to get in touch for a Guardian article - would you mind following so i can message you

@BAC_Chair Hi Mike, I wondered if you might be able to follow me as I'd like to contact you for a Guardian article.

@M_H_Taylor would you mind following so that I can send you a message about an article for the Guardian?

@ksuhre @teknix314 That’s fine - and others have different views. It’s a valid subject for public debate

@hannahdev @teknix314 I take issue with the Guardian’s suggestion that “The decision to grant access to Heliospect raises questions about the ethical criteria applied when granting research access to UK Biobank” This is an entirely unwarranted and unfounded concern.

Another click-bait article by the @guardian - falsely linking the real problem of generating designer babies to presumed data leakages of @uk_biobank, where the information needed to create such babies is already in the public as so-called polygenic scores.

@ksuhre @teknix314 To clarify, there’s no dispute that this company has used authorised UK Biobank access to develop its polygenic embryo screening service. UK Biobank has said this isn’t a breach of its access terms. Not sure if that’s what you’re questioning though.

@teknix314 @guardian @uk_biobank I don’f understand, who is allowing the data to be used for snake oil purposes? Certainly not @uk_biobank - I am on their international scientific advisory board and know for certain that this is not the case!

@smead2 @ProfRobHoward Not sure it’s tall enough to be a parasol. If it’s parasol-like but quite small it could be poisonous so don’t eat unless confident!

@ProfRobHoward It’s a parasol mushroom I think they are supposed to be edible (but I wouldn’t take my word for it!)

Twitter help. What are these large fungi in the sand dunes at Holkham? Dog supplied for scale. They look delicious.

@ksuhre @guardian @uk_biobank Do you not think there’s an ethical issue around volunteers’ expectations of what their data might be used for? (Given this was authorised access)

@aylwyn_scally @marcus_baw @guardian Of course, these activists trade on the illusion of science rather than any credible scientific evidence. But volunteers can still have an expectation that their data is not used to further these malign political objectives - even if this "research" is nonsense

@hannahdev @marcus_baw @guardian Sadly, I think what the general reader will conclude, wrongly, is that the sensitive UKB data somehow support the racists' claims. I realise refuting that is not your job, but it's depressing that the outcome is people attacking UKB, and racists claiming persecution & conspiracy.

I'm disappointed by the direction taken by the @guardian today in their investigation of race science. One of the recurring claims race 'scientists' make is that the academic community conspires to suppress data and evidence that would support their case.

@aylwyn_scally @marcus_baw @guardian The article is written for the general reader, for whom this level of detail would probably be excessive. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t considered.

@hannahdev @marcus_baw @guardian I see - it would be helpful for the report to clarify that the scientists have such experience, as that is critical to assessing the interpretation. Most 'eminent geneticists', even if running projects with UKB data, wouldn't be working directly with the files.

Very valuable perspectives from community organisations on the implications of attempts to rehabilitate scientific racism via ⁦@aamnamohdin⁩ theguardian.com/world/2024/oct…

@aylwyn_scally @marcus_baw @guardian This is not true. We shared transcripts of technical discussions with two very senior scientists, who have extensive experience of UKB data, as well as two data experts. They concluded the most natural interpretation was that individual level data was being discussed

@marcus_baw @guardian It's not clear there has been any actual breach of security, from what's been released by the Guardian. They seem to be taking the claims of the racists at face value, claims which sounded pretty vague and unconvincing to me.

Interested in what others make of the authorised use of UK Biobank data to build an embryo screening tool for cognitive abilities and other polygenic traits. Is this “health related research in the public interest”?

US startup #HeliospectGenomics charging couples to ‘screen embryos for IQ’ theguardian.com/science/2024/o… via @hannahdev et al @susan_bewley @ProfJoyceHarper

REVEALED: US startup charging couples to ‘screen embryos for IQ’. Latest piece with ⁦@tomburgis⁩ ⁦@davidtpegg⁩ ⁦& @jason_a_w⁩ theguardian.com/science/2024/o…

@fmrib_steve @ankitkant @marcus_baw I don't think the article is framed as a privacy issue. The concern is that activists motivated by racist ideology claim to be using a public database to further that dangerous political agenda.

@hannahdev @ankitkant @marcus_baw No - not nearly clearly enough - most readers will miss that, and, more importantly, will not get the point that the identifying details *stay removed* no matter how badly intentioned the person working with the data is. This careless scaremongering so damaging to good science.

And here is my contribution to the Guardian and @hopenothate's extensive report. If you know the history of eugenics, and scientific racism, it is galling to see it repeat and rhyme over and over again. Which is why it needs exposing. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@fmrib_steve @ankitkant @marcus_baw … which the article states in the 4th paragraph

@ankitkant @marcus_baw @hannahdev Hi - to get access, there are a load of security steps to jump though - including getting a formal legal agreement signed between your institution (eg university) and UKB. However my main point was that, even then, *all* data is fully anonymised.