Titus Brown
@titus.idyll.org
I am not a deep man, but I have many shallows. [email protected], http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/.
Reposted by Titus Brown
We spend a lot of time asking whether our animals make us happy. Maybe we should ask whether we make them happy, too. Turns out, the two may be more connected than we thought.
UC Davis study shows how mini horses and donkeys can ease teen anxiety
A UC Davis professor's study examines how interactions with mini horses and donkeys can reduce anxiety and sadness in teens while also considering the animals' responses.
www.kcra.com
September 16, 2026 at 2:48 PM
We spend a lot of time asking whether our animals make us happy. Maybe we should ask whether we make them happy, too. Turns out, the two may be more connected than we thought.
Reposted by Titus Brown
"I used to think that the fundamental role of journalism was to produce information. Today, however, I believe there is another responsibility that is just as important: Transforming complex information into information that people can actually use."
The people behind the numbers: Bringing the reality of Turkish prisons to light
“[W]hen we can see the human stories behind that statistic, we can begin to talk about human rights violations and solutions.”
globalvoices.org
September 15, 2026 at 4:00 PM
"I used to think that the fundamental role of journalism was to produce information. Today, however, I believe there is another responsibility that is just as important: Transforming complex information into information that people can actually use."
Reposted by Titus Brown
Same session but now Better Python Notebooks with Marimo from @tshafer.com (I think this is the right Tom Shafer 🙏🏿) #positconf #positconf26
September 15, 2026 at 4:03 PM
Same session but now Better Python Notebooks with Marimo from @tshafer.com (I think this is the right Tom Shafer 🙏🏿) #positconf #positconf26
Reposted by Titus Brown
Now attending Quarto Notebook and Literate Programming in Positron with Jonathan McPherson #positconf26 #positconf
September 15, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Now attending Quarto Notebook and Literate Programming in Positron with Jonathan McPherson #positconf26 #positconf
Well this title certainly caught my attention: "Invasion Pythons in the Florida Everglades: History, Ecology, Impact, and Control" How cool! (Talk here at UCD in late Oct.)
September 14, 2026 at 6:14 PM
Well this title certainly caught my attention: "Invasion Pythons in the Florida Everglades: History, Ecology, Impact, and Control" How cool! (Talk here at UCD in late Oct.)
Microbial #bioinformatics tweeps (@acritschristoph.bsky.social and others) if I want to critically evaluate how well metagenome ONT is mapping to specific genomes, what are the big technical gotchas I should be checking for? thx! Using minimap2 currently.
September 14, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Microbial #bioinformatics tweeps (@acritschristoph.bsky.social and others) if I want to critically evaluate how well metagenome ONT is mapping to specific genomes, what are the big technical gotchas I should be checking for? thx! Using minimap2 currently.
Reposted by Titus Brown
I am not first and will be far from the last to say this:
I have purchased so many books because I saw them recommended or publicized here on bsky. I cannot urge you all enough to KEEP TALKING ABOUT BOOKS.
I know it's easier to talk up someone else's book, but this also means you, the shy author.
I have purchased so many books because I saw them recommended or publicized here on bsky. I cannot urge you all enough to KEEP TALKING ABOUT BOOKS.
I know it's easier to talk up someone else's book, but this also means you, the shy author.
I have mentioned it before, so maybe, but I know others liked it too. Hooray for word of "mouth" (or post) for getting it seen.
September 12, 2026 at 8:33 PM
I am not first and will be far from the last to say this:
I have purchased so many books because I saw them recommended or publicized here on bsky. I cannot urge you all enough to KEEP TALKING ABOUT BOOKS.
I know it's easier to talk up someone else's book, but this also means you, the shy author.
I have purchased so many books because I saw them recommended or publicized here on bsky. I cannot urge you all enough to KEEP TALKING ABOUT BOOKS.
I know it's easier to talk up someone else's book, but this also means you, the shy author.
Reposted by Titus Brown
UNC Greensboro Department of Biology is hiring for three positions this year including one in microbiology!
spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/35918
spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/35918
Assistant Professor Microbiology
The Department of Biology at UNC Greensboro (UNCG) seeks an individual with a strong record of accomplishment in microbiology broadly defined for a tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assista...
spartantalent.uncg.edu
September 11, 2026 at 2:14 PM
UNC Greensboro Department of Biology is hiring for three positions this year including one in microbiology!
spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/35918
spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/35918
Got a spam e-mail trying to sell me bioinformatics processing services. I wish I were enough of an arsehole to respond "google me" but anyway I am just posting to see I really hate the incessant cold e-mails I get from sundry biotech firms.
September 11, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Got a spam e-mail trying to sell me bioinformatics processing services. I wish I were enough of an arsehole to respond "google me" but anyway I am just posting to see I really hate the incessant cold e-mails I get from sundry biotech firms.
Reposted by Titus Brown
“There’s another element where you’re so privileged that you can’t imagine other things harming you. Like if you’re not worried about police brutality, or floods, or warfare—things that can actually kill you—then you can obsess over the machine-god.”
@timnitgebru.blacksky.app
@timnitgebru.blacksky.app
We’re all gonna die—just maybe not from AI
links.wired.com
September 11, 2026 at 3:06 PM
“There’s another element where you’re so privileged that you can’t imagine other things harming you. Like if you’re not worried about police brutality, or floods, or warfare—things that can actually kill you—then you can obsess over the machine-god.”
@timnitgebru.blacksky.app
@timnitgebru.blacksky.app
Reposted by Titus Brown
And lest you think I am blaming teachers, I am not. They are trying their best in the circumstances they find themselves in, which includes chronic underfunding of CA K-12 public schools
bsky.app/profile/scho...
bsky.app/profile/scho...
Changes to school funding adequacy from 2009 to 2024
September 11, 2026 at 3:41 PM
And lest you think I am blaming teachers, I am not. They are trying their best in the circumstances they find themselves in, which includes chronic underfunding of CA K-12 public schools
bsky.app/profile/scho...
bsky.app/profile/scho...
Reposted by Titus Brown
“Q: Did the decision to drop the SAT lead to declines in student preparedness at UC?
A: While preparedness seems to have declined in recent years, this has been a nationwide phenomenon, and as such cannot be attributed to UC’s admissions policies…
A: While preparedness seems to have declined in recent years, this has been a nationwide phenomenon, and as such cannot be attributed to UC’s admissions policies…
So others seeking the prominent scholar's brief can find it easily - missed this a few days back and look forward to reading!
escholarship.org
September 11, 2026 at 3:14 PM
“Q: Did the decision to drop the SAT lead to declines in student preparedness at UC?
A: While preparedness seems to have declined in recent years, this has been a nationwide phenomenon, and as such cannot be attributed to UC’s admissions policies…
A: While preparedness seems to have declined in recent years, this has been a nationwide phenomenon, and as such cannot be attributed to UC’s admissions policies…
Reposted by Titus Brown
The most successful early-career researchers often rely on a network of mentors who each have different roles — from advising on research and grants to making professional introductions and providing emotional support
go.nature.com/46U5PXy
go.nature.com/46U5PXy
Successful early-career scientists rely on network of mentors
Large networks are particularly beneficial to researchers in under-represented groups.
go.nature.com
September 11, 2026 at 2:42 PM
The most successful early-career researchers often rely on a network of mentors who each have different roles — from advising on research and grants to making professional introductions and providing emotional support
go.nature.com/46U5PXy
go.nature.com/46U5PXy
Reposted by Titus Brown
I’m looking to hire an NIH funded postdoc to join our lab here at Davis (please RT). Ongoing areas of interest include:
1) polygenic signals of selection from time series, ARGs, GWAS, etc
2) The interpretation of GWAS, polygenic scores, & sources of confounding
1) polygenic signals of selection from time series, ARGs, GWAS, etc
2) The interpretation of GWAS, polygenic scores, & sources of confounding
September 10, 2026 at 3:58 PM
I’m looking to hire an NIH funded postdoc to join our lab here at Davis (please RT). Ongoing areas of interest include:
1) polygenic signals of selection from time series, ARGs, GWAS, etc
2) The interpretation of GWAS, polygenic scores, & sources of confounding
1) polygenic signals of selection from time series, ARGs, GWAS, etc
2) The interpretation of GWAS, polygenic scores, & sources of confounding
Reposted by Titus Brown
A nice timeline of the #LTEE in the #MSU Spartan #Science magazine:
spartanscience.natsci.msu.edu/evolution-in...
spartanscience.natsci.msu.edu/evolution-in...
spartanscience.natsci.msu.edu
September 9, 2026 at 11:49 PM
A nice timeline of the #LTEE in the #MSU Spartan #Science magazine:
spartanscience.natsci.msu.edu/evolution-in...
spartanscience.natsci.msu.edu/evolution-in...
Reposted by Titus Brown
Not an example of Jupyter Notebooks -> Jupyter Book, but here's a Jupyter Book I maintain that uses GitHub Actions to auto-generate the website and a PDF niema.net/How-to-Teach...
niema.net
September 9, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Not an example of Jupyter Notebooks -> Jupyter Book, but here's a Jupyter Book I maintain that uses GitHub Actions to auto-generate the website and a PDF niema.net/How-to-Teach...
Thinking of doing supp material for a paper as a jupyter book site. Basically I have a lot of Jupyter Notebooks to share and want to do so in a structured way. Any good examples of this (i.e. pubs) out there?
September 9, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Thinking of doing supp material for a paper as a jupyter book site. Basically I have a lot of Jupyter Notebooks to share and want to do so in a structured way. Any good examples of this (i.e. pubs) out there?
OK #bioinformatics peeps, I'm looking at NCBI Sequence Read Archive submissions without papers, and trying to figure out who submitted them. Is there any way to find submitter info??
September 8, 2026 at 2:32 PM
OK #bioinformatics peeps, I'm looking at NCBI Sequence Read Archive submissions without papers, and trying to figure out who submitted them. Is there any way to find submitter info??
Reposted by Titus Brown
This month's Alliance webinar "PAVI: From genome to alignment", presented by Paulo Nuin, will be Thurs. Sept 17 at noon ET. To get the Zoom link, please register tinyurl.com/4f9ycybt by Weds. Sept. 1 (before 11pm ET). Join us to hear about this upcoming new Alliance tool!
Alliance Of Genome Resources Event Registration
Webinar recordings are posted at https://www.youtube.com/@AllianceOfGenomeResources
A schedule of future events is on the Alliance Events Calendar https://www.alliancegenome.org/event-calendar
tinyurl.com
September 8, 2026 at 12:37 AM
This month's Alliance webinar "PAVI: From genome to alignment", presented by Paulo Nuin, will be Thurs. Sept 17 at noon ET. To get the Zoom link, please register tinyurl.com/4f9ycybt by Weds. Sept. 1 (before 11pm ET). Join us to hear about this upcoming new Alliance tool!
Expecting analytically responsible behavior from unreasonable data is irrational. #bioinformatics
(Yes, that's how my morning is going. Thanks for asking!)
(Yes, that's how my morning is going. Thanks for asking!)
September 6, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Expecting analytically responsible behavior from unreasonable data is irrational. #bioinformatics
(Yes, that's how my morning is going. Thanks for asking!)
(Yes, that's how my morning is going. Thanks for asking!)
Reposted by Titus Brown
#Daggerbound by @tkingfisher.com was a delightful, often utterly hilarious tribute to the importance of niceness, trivia, and believing in the potential goodness of all creatures great and small. These books continue to remind me so much of Robin McKinley in their wry & gentle turns of phrase.
August 30, 2026 at 2:10 AM
#Daggerbound by @tkingfisher.com was a delightful, often utterly hilarious tribute to the importance of niceness, trivia, and believing in the potential goodness of all creatures great and small. These books continue to remind me so much of Robin McKinley in their wry & gentle turns of phrase.
Reposted by Titus Brown
by those who generally do not deserve it and are seeking to exploit others to amplify their nastiness. The "debate me/play me" stuff is so stale a tactic now, but it says something we're seeing it around both male supremacy and white supremacy at the same time.
We have had this conversation so many times. You do not have to platform/debate obscene views that are also false. I wrote during a wave of pressure on progressives to compromise with far-right haters:
August 28, 2026 at 5:27 PM
by those who generally do not deserve it and are seeking to exploit others to amplify their nastiness. The "debate me/play me" stuff is so stale a tactic now, but it says something we're seeing it around both male supremacy and white supremacy at the same time.
Reposted by Titus Brown
Most basic science departments at UCSF are having faculty searches this year. Biochemistry & Biophysics, Microbiology & Immunology, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and more. We're looking for new and exciting science and nice people. You'll find them all at aprecruit.ucsf.edu
Welcome - AP Recruit
University of California, San Francisco Online Faculty Recruitment
aprecruit.ucsf.edu
August 27, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Most basic science departments at UCSF are having faculty searches this year. Biochemistry & Biophysics, Microbiology & Immunology, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and more. We're looking for new and exciting science and nice people. You'll find them all at aprecruit.ucsf.edu
Reposted by Titus Brown
Some good news in this new report: "Schools across the country are rapidly switching to solar energy and battery storage for the economic, educational, and community benefits."
Brighter Future: A Study on Solar and Battery Storage in U.S. K-12 Schools (Sixth Edition, 2026) - Generation180
Brighter Future: The State of Solar and Battery Storage in U.S. K-12 Schools (Sixth Edition, 2026) 1 in 7 students (over 7 million) attends a solar-powered K-12 school. Schools across …
generation180.org
August 27, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Some good news in this new report: "Schools across the country are rapidly switching to solar energy and battery storage for the economic, educational, and community benefits."
Reposted by Titus Brown
Excited to share that my first paper is finally out in @pnas.org!
We ask what limits the exploration of protein sequence space and find that shared ancestry and divergence time play a much larger role than selection or epistasis.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We ask what limits the exploration of protein sequence space and find that shared ancestry and divergence time play a much larger role than selection or epistasis.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Descent from a common ancestor restricts exploration of protein sequence space | PNAS
How functional protein sequences are distributed in sequence space is fundamentally
important for evolutionary theory and protein design, particula...
www.pnas.org
April 3, 2026 at 1:05 PM
Excited to share that my first paper is finally out in @pnas.org!
We ask what limits the exploration of protein sequence space and find that shared ancestry and divergence time play a much larger role than selection or epistasis.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We ask what limits the exploration of protein sequence space and find that shared ancestry and divergence time play a much larger role than selection or epistasis.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...