Daniel Dvorkin @medigoth@qoto.org

Hello, all. I've been around for a few days but haven't yet made an #introduction post. So here we go.

I'm a #bioinformatics consultant with [The Bioinformatics CRO](https://www.bioinformaticscro.com/) working on a variety of small and large projects ranging from fundamental genomics to clinical decision support. Before that, for several years I was a postdoc and ORISE fellow specializing in high-altitude medicine and physiology at the University of Colorado Altitude Research Center. My academic background is a nearly even mix of #biostatistics, machine learning, and biology.

The ARC* has been sadly moribund for a few years, but thanks to collaborations with other groups, we're [starting to get more active again](https://harcsummit.org/). Hopefully I will have more to say about that in the future. Meanwhile, feel free to ask me anything about #altitude medicine---I think I still remember most of it.

Years before _that_, I was an Air Force #medic (after a brief stint as an Army infantryman) followed by a couple of years as a civilian EMT. My time in patient care informs my approach to science: the numbers I crunch represent human lives.

Otherwise, I'm an armchair #paleontologist hoping to be able to call myself an _amateur_ paleontologist again one of these days---by which I mean actually spending some time in the field and/or the prep lab---a too-occasional science fiction writer, and chronically sleep deprived. Also, my life is the internet: it's cats all the way down.

*Fellow #Primeval fans may recognize the jacket in the picture. My wonderful fiancée found it for me when I was hired at the ARC, for exactly the reason you think.

On #writers' problems: "Those ideas that rattle around in your head for years can be deeply frustrating. I think the Station was conceived ca. 2014, hatched in 2016, and didn't leave the nest until 2024. But oh, it's a wonderful feeling when you watch them make their first kill."

Happy #Antifa Day to all who celebrate.

Counterpoint to my previous post.

#Musk's cult may actually be larger than #Trump's, and more vocal thanks to #Xitter, but Trump has all the hard power. So I suspect Musk is on his way to a nasty case of #windowcancer or #teatoxicity. I won't be sorry if he does some damage on the way out, though.

https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/06/six-types-dinosaur-eggs-found-one-place/

The story is less dramatic than the headline (try to contain your shock) which makes it sound like multiple #species sharing a #nest. That would be tremendous news, implying amazing things about #interspecies behavior. But it's still a very nice find. And I love some of the site names on the map.

Also, the journal article is linked from the story, which IMO should be mandatory for all #popular #science #reporting. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0314689

What the find does seem to show is a diverse ecosystem with multiple species sharing nesting *grounds*. Some of them were related, like various kinds of the unfairly-named† #oviraptors, while others weren't even #dinosaurs at all! That's still pretty nifty.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: no more than today, the #Mesozoic was never All Killing, All The Time. Dinosaurs did, of course, hunt and eat each other, and no doubt destroyed rivals' nests as well. But most of the time, they were living their lives in relative peace. Modern dinosaurian behavior is as good a guide as any here: even the meanest #birds tend their nests more than they fight.

†#Oviraptor was discovered on a nest, and the initial assumption was that it was stealing the eggs for food, thus the name "egg thief." Subsequent discoveries showed the eggs were its own—it was brooding, not raiding. But the species and all its kin have to bear the slander through their afterlife.

The Society of Mad Bioinformaticists approves this message.

My God, imagine if I'd become an RN!

If I had a nickel for every time I've realized I'm a member of a group which popular culture often (a) fetishizes, and (b) portrays as entirely female, I'd have ten cents. Which isn't very much money, but it does seem a little weird that it's happened twice.

"Sorry, our #medical systems here in the West have ZERO incentive to cure, only #treatment and #sustaining #patients long term in order to milk them. Even if they found a #cure, you wouldn’t get it. That’s just bad business."

"Go fuck yourself."

I think I handled that appropriately.

A friend points out that the success of the #Ukrainian #drone #attack on #Russian #airfields has to have the US and other large #defense #industries rather jittery. All those big high-tech megabucks systems ... something something ten-rupee jezail.

My suspicion is that the age of drone supremacy will be short-lived: as long as they rely on human #pilots on the ground, their #signals can be jammed, traced, or hacked. Best-case scenario, the drones become flying bricks. Middle-case, the ground control facilities become #artillery targets. Worst-case, the drones are turned against their erstwhile controllers.

Those systems already exist in embryonic form—note that #Ukraine had to rely on old-fashioned #infiltration to get close enough for the strikes to work. You can bet every major #military power on the planet is already putting a lot of money into R&D for much more sophisticated approaches. Of course the alternative is autonomous drones, taking off with a set of mission parameters and the same decision-making authority as pilots in crewed #aircraft. That, uh, presents its own set of problems.

With all this said, drones are going to be a big *part* of everyone's arsenal going forward, and yeah, it's going to disrupt current #doctrine considerably. Assuming Ukraine survives the war, which I'm increasingly confident it will, veterans will be in great demand as consultants—at least in smart countries. I wonder if the US will be one of those.

Joni #Ernst is a year younger than me. Like me, she probably has decades of life ahead of her. She is also probably aware, as I am, that we're at the age where things start ... just happening. Not to everyone our age, or even most people. But to some. To *enough* to be a source of worry.

A nagging #cough. A #mole you don't remember being there the last time you looked. The sensation of an irregular #heartbeat. Moments of inattention and confusion. Fear that never quite goes away.

If she has any of these symptoms, I hope they're nothing significant. Really, I do. There is a short list of people I truly want to see drop dead, and she's not on it. However vehemently I disagree with her politics, if she were my patient, I'd give her the best possible care. Like I always have.

But when she goes in for her next #medical appointment, if she mentions any of these or other worrisome symptoms to her provider, goes through the usual battery of tests—

—I really do kind of hope the good doctor says "well, we're all going to die" before giving her the all-clear.

Map of US #job losses due #federal #research #funding cuts, on a county-by-county level. Not shown: the number of jobs lost to knock-on effects, of which mine could well be one. And oh yeah, since so many of these grants are #medical and #epidemiological, the number of people who will FUCKING DIE as a result of this lunacy.

https://scienceimpacts.org/

Pretty soon there will be a TACO truck on every corner.

And here it is. "Kill kids and future mothers first" is an odd strategy for a natalist party, but expecting consistency from these loons is a mug's game. I bet I know how they make it fit together in their heads, and so do you. https://endpts.com/rfk-jr-ends-routine-covid-vaccine-guidance-for-kids-pregnant-women/?u=e79ec92b-641d-4704-968d-efd571e586b5

The lengths to which people will go to defend the #TrolleyProblem are both hilarious and terrifying. Bonus points if they accuse you of "not understanding thought experiments."

No, sweetie, I understand fine. I just don't want to be part of your circle jerk.

If this didn't happen, it should have.

Implications for current political issues are left as an exercise to the reader.

The #WISP exists partially as a deliberate counter to this—i.e. to portray #fictional #dinosaurs more like the first panel than the second. Not that I expect it ever to become a #movie. But *if it does*, I will use the vast power for which #writers are known in #Hollywood to ensure my dinosaurs don't have mange and broken wrists.

You're gonna need a bigger turnout.

#Writing-related question: seeking recommendations for easy-to-use, free or very inexpensive #shareware, #Mac-compatible #drawing #software for #mapmaking.

Currently I'm working on a writer's bible for the Stationverse, called "The Silmarillisaurus" because of course it is. For my own use, mainly—a shared world would be neat, but if that ever happens it will be a long time from now. This is for me to keep track of everything.

What I have in mind is really basic. I don't have Tolkien's sketching ability, so I figure I'll draw something simple and then try to pretty it up a bit on screen. Drawing and cloning symbols for mountains, trees, etc., along with lines for shores and rivers and roads, then cloning and pasting as needed.

(*Dedicated* map-making software that allowed me to do things like topo lines would be nifty, but I'm not expecting that.)

Untold æons ago, I was actually pretty decent with Illustrator, at least for a non-artist. Those skills are gone now, like tears in rain, and so is a registered copy I can use on anything resembling a modern OS. Simple and cheap is what I'm after.

Oh yeah—I'm also open to working with an artist who can take my crude sketches and turn them into something publishable. I can pay, just not much right now, and I don't want anyone to feel ripped off. You may be noticing a theme here.

Like many memes about #GenerationX, this is superficially appealing but falls apart the more you look at it. #Xers do a lot of self-congratulating on how #independent we are, but what that's translated into is more support for #Trump than any other generation, including the reviled #Boomers. We're cats.