Rob Davies
@robayedavies.bsky.social
Reads, runs, looks out for birds, teaches data analysis methods in Psychology at Lancaster University, researches individual differences in reading and language; he/him/his
Reposted by Rob Davies
Beta regression is underused in psychology.
Back in the day, it was hard or impossible to do with software. Things have changed and you can now do it for free and with about as much ease as any other GLM. Whether you need description, prediction, or causal inference--beta regression can do it all.
Back in the day, it was hard or impossible to do with software. Things have changed and you can now do it for free and with about as much ease as any other GLM. Whether you need description, prediction, or causal inference--beta regression can do it all.
New tutorial finally in press with @rmkubinec.bsky.social @chelseaparlett.bsky.social and @matti.vuorre.com. It has everything you could possible want: Quippy headings, a whole lot of beta, bayesian analyses and frequentist analyses side by side in harmony.
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
rdcu.be
October 2, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Beta regression is underused in psychology.
Back in the day, it was hard or impossible to do with software. Things have changed and you can now do it for free and with about as much ease as any other GLM. Whether you need description, prediction, or causal inference--beta regression can do it all.
Back in the day, it was hard or impossible to do with software. Things have changed and you can now do it for free and with about as much ease as any other GLM. Whether you need description, prediction, or causal inference--beta regression can do it all.
Reposted by Rob Davies
I hope people appreciate the work @albertocairo.com does to advance the entire profession of #dataViz #dataVisualization #infographics #dataJournalism
The image here uses a "weepeople" font that Alberto invented to make mere numbers more human. You can see this here in this schematic for the topic.
The image here uses a "weepeople" font that Alberto invented to make mere numbers more human. You can see this here in this schematic for the topic.
NEW COURSE IN THE OPEN VISUALIZATION ACADEMY: 'Visualizing Loss and Tragedy' by @alyssafowers.bsky.social . Don't miss this one; introduction in our newsletter: openvisualizationacademy.beehiiv.com/p/visualizin... #dataViz #dataVisualization #infographics #dataJournalism
Visualizing Loss and Tragedy
A new course in the Open Visualization Academy
openvisualizationacademy.beehiiv.com
October 2, 2026 at 8:44 PM
I hope people appreciate the work @albertocairo.com does to advance the entire profession of #dataViz #dataVisualization #infographics #dataJournalism
The image here uses a "weepeople" font that Alberto invented to make mere numbers more human. You can see this here in this schematic for the topic.
The image here uses a "weepeople" font that Alberto invented to make mere numbers more human. You can see this here in this schematic for the topic.
Reposted by Rob Davies
New tutorial finally in press with @rmkubinec.bsky.social @chelseaparlett.bsky.social and @matti.vuorre.com. It has everything you could possible want: Quippy headings, a whole lot of beta, bayesian analyses and frequentist analyses side by side in harmony.
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
rdcu.be
October 2, 2026 at 6:55 PM
New tutorial finally in press with @rmkubinec.bsky.social @chelseaparlett.bsky.social and @matti.vuorre.com. It has everything you could possible want: Quippy headings, a whole lot of beta, bayesian analyses and frequentist analyses side by side in harmony.
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
Reposted by Rob Davies
Whitley Bay, August 1980, photo by Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (via Amber/@sidegallery.bsky.social).
September 29, 2026 at 7:23 AM
Whitley Bay, August 1980, photo by Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (via Amber/@sidegallery.bsky.social).
Reposted by Rob Davies
I’m looking into the literature on the effects of marriage on well-being 👀 if you have any favorite studies, please let me know! My main interest is on the causal inference side of things, but I’ll take anything that is interesting 😋
September 28, 2026 at 7:55 AM
I’m looking into the literature on the effects of marriage on well-being 👀 if you have any favorite studies, please let me know! My main interest is on the causal inference side of things, but I’ll take anything that is interesting 😋
Reposted by Rob Davies
Today I'm releasing the "1000×1000 collection": a unified place to learn about dynamical structure. 1000 simulated time series (1000 samples each) spanning 133 dynamical processes.
Have a play? 🐛
#timeseries #dynamicalsystems #complexity #opendata
dynamicsandneuralsystems.github.io/1000x1000/
Have a play? 🐛
#timeseries #dynamicalsystems #complexity #opendata
dynamicsandneuralsystems.github.io/1000x1000/
September 29, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Today I'm releasing the "1000×1000 collection": a unified place to learn about dynamical structure. 1000 simulated time series (1000 samples each) spanning 133 dynamical processes.
Have a play? 🐛
#timeseries #dynamicalsystems #complexity #opendata
dynamicsandneuralsystems.github.io/1000x1000/
Have a play? 🐛
#timeseries #dynamicalsystems #complexity #opendata
dynamicsandneuralsystems.github.io/1000x1000/
Reposted by Rob Davies
lol is that what this is youtu.be/fU-wH8SrFro
Adriano Celentano canta "Prisencolinensinainciusol" da "Formula due" del 1973
YouTube video by Rai
youtu.be
September 24, 2026 at 2:36 AM
lol is that what this is youtu.be/fU-wH8SrFro
Reposted by Rob Davies
It's great to see tailoring accommodate such extreme movement today. This level of tailoring was a bit more common in the past, as you can see in old films featuring Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, but many modern suits will lift off the wearer's neck even when they're just walking.
September 24, 2026 at 2:13 AM
It's great to see tailoring accommodate such extreme movement today. This level of tailoring was a bit more common in the past, as you can see in old films featuring Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, but many modern suits will lift off the wearer's neck even when they're just walking.
Reposted by Rob Davies
In the past week I have been quoted in a lot of pieces and the titles are all over the map: “humanities researcher,” “technologist,” “tech critic,” “artist (derogatory)”…My fave was “respected AI researcher” in The New Yorker last year. None of these are really wrong, but none are really correct.
September 26, 2026 at 12:08 AM
In the past week I have been quoted in a lot of pieces and the titles are all over the map: “humanities researcher,” “technologist,” “tech critic,” “artist (derogatory)”…My fave was “respected AI researcher” in The New Yorker last year. None of these are really wrong, but none are really correct.
Reposted by Rob Davies
David Quammen's essay in The New York Times today closes with this paragraph. It's both a scientific falsehood, and an incredibly dangerous narrative. If you're willing to give me five minutes of your time, I'd like to explain why.
September 25, 2026 at 7:23 PM
David Quammen's essay in The New York Times today closes with this paragraph. It's both a scientific falsehood, and an incredibly dangerous narrative. If you're willing to give me five minutes of your time, I'd like to explain why.
Reposted by Rob Davies
What's behind this tidal wave of epidemics? In the largest study ever conducted on emerging infectious diseases, we show that the popular explanation - "our relationship with nature is out of balance" - doesn't hold up. Out now in Nature, after half a decade of work: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases - Nature
Emerging infectious disease outbreak risks are ubiquitous worldwide, and highest in landscapes where people, livestock and fragmented natural ecosystems coexist, but detection and data ...
www.nature.com
September 23, 2026 at 3:07 PM
What's behind this tidal wave of epidemics? In the largest study ever conducted on emerging infectious diseases, we show that the popular explanation - "our relationship with nature is out of balance" - doesn't hold up. Out now in Nature, after half a decade of work: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Rob Davies
2. These materials provide a long-term record for researchers *themselves*. People move institutions all the time and lose access to files. If it’s on OSF/Zenodo, researchers can access their own materials in the future
September 21, 2026 at 5:23 AM
2. These materials provide a long-term record for researchers *themselves*. People move institutions all the time and lose access to files. If it’s on OSF/Zenodo, researchers can access their own materials in the future
Reposted by Rob Davies
Consequences of the flood of AI manuscripts: "An early-career researcher at an unbranded institution loses the one mechanism that ever let them be read on merit — anonymous review of the work itself, however badly it functioned in practice.
September 21, 2026 at 6:46 AM
Consequences of the flood of AI manuscripts: "An early-career researcher at an unbranded institution loses the one mechanism that ever let them be read on merit — anonymous review of the work itself, however badly it functioned in practice.
Reposted by Rob Davies
New preprint! 🎉 I analysed 1660 papers from 4 psychology journals and found materials sharing went from 9% of papers in 2015 to 82% in 2025, and these materials *do* get downloaded — a median of 135 times each. BUT shared code is often hard to run. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Let's walk through it 🧵
Let's walk through it 🧵
September 19, 2026 at 4:14 AM
New preprint! 🎉 I analysed 1660 papers from 4 psychology journals and found materials sharing went from 9% of papers in 2015 to 82% in 2025, and these materials *do* get downloaded — a median of 135 times each. BUT shared code is often hard to run. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Let's walk through it 🧵
Let's walk through it 🧵
Reposted by Rob Davies
My newest Presidential Column for @psychscience.bsky.social addresses the issue of psychologists' dominant use of convenience samples for their research. Can our science stop being WEIRD if we don't consider how we sample? www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...
Is It Too Convenient to Stay WEIRD?
APS President Pamela Davis-Kean outlines her plenary topics for the 2027 APS Annual Convention in Seattle, Washington.
www.psychologicalscience.org
September 15, 2026 at 7:41 PM
My newest Presidential Column for @psychscience.bsky.social addresses the issue of psychologists' dominant use of convenience samples for their research. Can our science stop being WEIRD if we don't consider how we sample? www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...
Reposted by Rob Davies
for two months, I've been flying drones over Flock cameras to situation them in space and geography; I even got my commercial drone license in order to do it.
I'd like to share this project with you all: it's called Records Of Enemy Surveillance:
recordsofenemysurveillance.com
I'd like to share this project with you all: it's called Records Of Enemy Surveillance:
recordsofenemysurveillance.com
September 13, 2026 at 5:36 PM
for two months, I've been flying drones over Flock cameras to situation them in space and geography; I even got my commercial drone license in order to do it.
I'd like to share this project with you all: it's called Records Of Enemy Surveillance:
recordsofenemysurveillance.com
I'd like to share this project with you all: it's called Records Of Enemy Surveillance:
recordsofenemysurveillance.com
Reposted by Rob Davies
Even without wind, these towers act as solar chimneys, pulling hot air out of the top floor & drawing cool air in from the subterranean levels.
Add a porous clay jar filled with water in the wind column & you can add extra cooling for very hot days.
Passive, desert-powered air conditioning.
Add a porous clay jar filled with water in the wind column & you can add extra cooling for very hot days.
Passive, desert-powered air conditioning.
September 13, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Even without wind, these towers act as solar chimneys, pulling hot air out of the top floor & drawing cool air in from the subterranean levels.
Add a porous clay jar filled with water in the wind column & you can add extra cooling for very hot days.
Passive, desert-powered air conditioning.
Add a porous clay jar filled with water in the wind column & you can add extra cooling for very hot days.
Passive, desert-powered air conditioning.
Reposted by Rob Davies
We've learned about Persian desert-powered ice pits, now let's learn about Iron Age Persian AIR CONDITIONING.
How did people live in the hottest part of the world before you could dial down the thermostat & hope your electric bill gets lost in the mail?
Let's learn about 'badgirs' or wind towers.
How did people live in the hottest part of the world before you could dial down the thermostat & hope your electric bill gets lost in the mail?
Let's learn about 'badgirs' or wind towers.
September 13, 2026 at 4:58 PM
We've learned about Persian desert-powered ice pits, now let's learn about Iron Age Persian AIR CONDITIONING.
How did people live in the hottest part of the world before you could dial down the thermostat & hope your electric bill gets lost in the mail?
Let's learn about 'badgirs' or wind towers.
How did people live in the hottest part of the world before you could dial down the thermostat & hope your electric bill gets lost in the mail?
Let's learn about 'badgirs' or wind towers.
Reposted by Rob Davies
An interesting thing is happening to me at the moment. I have a standing bug bounty policy for my first authored scientific work. That means, I've committed to pay people who report bugs in my code, up to 750€ for severe errors.
Since GPT-6 Astra came out, I'm now getting several bug reports daily.
Since GPT-6 Astra came out, I'm now getting several bug reports daily.
September 11, 2026 at 7:27 AM
An interesting thing is happening to me at the moment. I have a standing bug bounty policy for my first authored scientific work. That means, I've committed to pay people who report bugs in my code, up to 750€ for severe errors.
Since GPT-6 Astra came out, I'm now getting several bug reports daily.
Since GPT-6 Astra came out, I'm now getting several bug reports daily.
Reposted by Rob Davies
I have had some really interesting conversations about AI adoption this week and can't help but notice all the emotional conflict ppl feel about using AI at work. There's a feeling of resigned imperative and I think that says a lot about so much work culture being about volume of output
September 12, 2026 at 8:08 AM
I have had some really interesting conversations about AI adoption this week and can't help but notice all the emotional conflict ppl feel about using AI at work. There's a feeling of resigned imperative and I think that says a lot about so much work culture being about volume of output
Reposted by Rob Davies
Very forceful statement by Terry Tao about AI and math.
terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...
Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.
terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...
Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.
A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics
I am proud to be among the list of 25 initial signatories — all Fields Medallists — to the declaration below, which grew out of discussions between ourselves over the last week. We have…
terrytao.wordpress.com
September 11, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Very forceful statement by Terry Tao about AI and math.
terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...
Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.
terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...
Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.
Reposted by Rob Davies
Workshop done 😀 since I anyway put together a list of resources, I'm going to share it in this thread. So here we go, my top recommendations for how to improve computational reproducibility of your work
I am giving a workshop on "good (enough) practices for computational reproducibility" tomorrow. Can't wait to share how much fun it is to use Git
Elaine Benes' Excited Celebration
ALT: Elaine Benes' Excited Celebration
static.klipy.com
September 8, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Workshop done 😀 since I anyway put together a list of resources, I'm going to share it in this thread. So here we go, my top recommendations for how to improve computational reproducibility of your work
Reposted by Rob Davies
Have you gotten your FREE (for non-commercial uses, including Butlerian Jihad) copy of Bayesian Workflow? The second half of the book is detailed case studies. avehtari.github.io/Bayesian-Wor...
August 31, 2026 at 8:10 AM
Have you gotten your FREE (for non-commercial uses, including Butlerian Jihad) copy of Bayesian Workflow? The second half of the book is detailed case studies. avehtari.github.io/Bayesian-Wor...
Reposted by Rob Davies
You've been hearing the story about how Dolly Parton turned down Elvis when his people demanded a chunk of her royalty rights in exchange for recording "I Will Always Love You". That reminded me of something I've wondered about for a long time. The guy who actually put the ask on Dolly was a ...
August 28, 2026 at 11:11 PM
You've been hearing the story about how Dolly Parton turned down Elvis when his people demanded a chunk of her royalty rights in exchange for recording "I Will Always Love You". That reminded me of something I've wondered about for a long time. The guy who actually put the ask on Dolly was a ...
Reposted by Rob Davies
A few people expressing surprise at the numbers of birds migrating in a single night. But this is just the beginning of the season. On 8th October last year Birdcast recorded 1.25 billion birds in one night.
250 million birds flew across America last night, tracked by radar. Migration season is upon us, and it’s wilder than you could imagine.
Birdcast’s live migration maps and forecasts (from Cornell Lab of Ornithology) are brilliant, and you can find them here. birdcast.org/migration-to...
Birdcast’s live migration maps and forecasts (from Cornell Lab of Ornithology) are brilliant, and you can find them here. birdcast.org/migration-to...
August 29, 2026 at 11:39 AM
A few people expressing surprise at the numbers of birds migrating in a single night. But this is just the beginning of the season. On 8th October last year Birdcast recorded 1.25 billion birds in one night.