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Posts by David Pollock

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In August, Jay Bhattacharya said “Training future biomedical scientists” was the 1st priority for his version of NIH.

But talk is cheap. Let’s see how JB’s doing. 🤔

NIH supports trainees mostly via fellowship (F), training (T), and career development (K) awards.

Here are funding curves for each.🧵

15 hours ago 112 78 6 14
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Estimates of molecular convergence reveal multiple genes with adaptive variation across teleost fish Abstract. Molecular convergence, where specific nonsynonymous changes in protein-coding genes lead to identical amino acid substitutions across multiple li

Just starting to read this paper on genome-wide convergence in fishes. Looks very worthwhile, and nice to see people using CSUBST. @agneeshbarua.bsky.social @msrivastava95.bsky.social Brice Beinsteiner Vincent Laudet @marcrr.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

2 months ago 2 0 1 0

How did those axis rearrangements make it past the reviewers?

2 months ago 0 0 0 0

So the grad student was just foresightful in recognizing that you should have already written this? Sounds like you need to apologize for not having done so. \s

3 months ago 1 0 0 0

The question I wouldn't want to answer is how many papers were also there at the beginning of 2025, or beginning of 2024...

3 months ago 3 0 0 0

Yes, I agree with you that it is often not done.

3 months ago 1 0 0 0

Asking editors to do a semblance of their job seems kind of extremist these days, but is it too late to save peer review?

3 months ago 0 0 1 0

today I learned things about magic ponies that I never knew before

3 months ago 4 0 0 0

"Artificial Regurgitation" works, AR

3 months ago 1 0 0 0

Close cousin to "There are 10 programs out there to do this analysis, so we'll run all 10 and take the average. That's the ticket."

3 months ago 2 0 0 0
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Midgely is generally a great read

3 months ago 1 0 0 0

I think if Vaughn reflected more on this being a true psychological and mental health imperative, he might be more accepting of having to ignore that inbox until January.

3 months ago 2 0 1 0

amen

3 months ago 0 0 1 0

That toxic waste will then pollute the data sets used to train the next generation of AI models, leading to ‘model collapse’ as the AI tries and fails to model incoherent garbage, vomiting out yet more incoherent garbage in the process. Meanwhile repositories of scholarly information are destroyed.

3 months ago 9 2 0 0

Right, why should 2026 get the credit for something that was mostly done in 2025.

3 months ago 3 0 1 0
Positions | Theoretical Ecology and Evolution Positions | Theoretical Ecology and Evolution

PhD position available at the University of Bern in Prof. Claudia Bank's lab. Application deadline: Jan 9, 2026. Ideal for candidates with a strong math and programming background. More info: https://banklab.github.io/positions/ #phd

4 months ago 5 7 0 0

This looks nice. Thinking of going back to grad school so I can sign up...

4 months ago 2 0 0 0
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A Pioneering Genetic Catalog Reveals Hidden Biodiversity in Basque Estuary Sediments - environment coastal & offshore An international research team led by the technology center AZTI has created the first gene catalog of estuarine sediments along the Basque coast. This groundbreaking scientific resource provides an i...

The first of its kind! ecomagazine.com/news/coastal... @azti.bsky.social @lanzen.bsky.social #eDNA #Biodiversity #MarineEcology

4 months ago 6 2 0 1

>dev/null

4 months ago 0 0 0 0
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>dev/null

I am repeating myself, but I think this should be the standard treatment for ai slop like this. End of file and send to the abyss as soon as possible.

4 months ago 0 0 0 0

>/dev/null

4 months ago 2 0 0 0
Screenshot from GRC portal confirming microbial population biology meeting June 27, 2027 in Andover, New Hampshire.

Screenshot from GRC portal confirming microbial population biology meeting June 27, 2027 in Andover, New Hampshire.

It’s officially happening folks! The Microbial Population Biology Gordon Research Conference is back in Andover, New Hampshire starting June 27th of 2027!
See you there!!

@wcratcliff.bsky.social @ksbakes.bsky.social @surtlab.bsky.social

#microsky #mevosky

4 months ago 82 44 3 5
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Evolution of bioluminescence in Anthozoa with emphasis on Octocorallia Abstract. Bioluminescence is a widespread phenomenon that has evolved multiple times across the tree of life, converging among diverse fauna and habitat ty

Bioluminescence, phylogenetic analysis, ancestral reconstruction. This looks like a fun paper for my reading list. (credit to @evolutionsoup.bsky.social for bringing to my attention).
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

4 months ago 4 0 0 0

Good advice to beginning graduate students (and others, maybe everybody):

"good writing is downstream of clear thinking and a strong understanding of the subject matter at hand."

--Jamelle Bouie @jamellebouie.net

4 months ago 0 0 0 0

This is an interesting distraction driven by @jessicacalarco.com. The comment below misses the point that human-support (and art) wage rises are a lagging effect. It seems that what needs to happen is to accelerate the effect to counteract inequality. UBI perhaps? Decrease educational costs?

4 months ago 1 0 0 0

Putting aside comment on anything else, this claim about tautological definitions is definitively wrong. Certain processes can lead to predictable equilibria, and observation of those equilibria, esp. if otherwise rare, is evidence for the process. Puddles are predictive of past rain.

4 months ago 0 0 0 0

If you can end with "this is a good world" you are doing something right.

4 months ago 1 0 0 0

also liked the idea of upping "to the moon and back again". Ha! Only to the moon? to the end of the universe and back again more like it!

4 months ago 1 0 0 0

Very sorry that you thought I was annoyed in any way. As a rule if I am actually annoyed at something I try not to write it in a forum like this, but please believe me when I say I was just playing with the concepts. I'll review why it came off as annoyed.

4 months ago 1 0 2 0
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a) many from fields who thought they were v smart found biology difficult to conquer, let alone evolution
b) you snuck "measurable" in there, changes things
c) is length of universe really measurable? Why do units have to exist as things in themselves?
d) to the end of the universe, and back again

4 months ago 1 0 1 0