a meh trash panda @mehguy@qoto.org

#caturday

I'm here for you.

A special extra warm cat bed, what else are dogs for?!

This is interesting: periodic spatial pattern formation by reaction-diffusion involving one morphogen.

https://www.cell.com/cell-systems/fulltext/S2405-4712(22)00436-7?utm_source=pocket_mylist

#systemsbiology #complexsystem
#patternformation

Headlines be all like "Indonesia passes criminal code banning sex outside of marriage" because lol shagging, but the whole package of legislation is dark AF and "includes a ban on insulting the president and expressing views that run counter to state ideology." 😬😬😬
#Indonesia #News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-63869078

At this point it will surprise no one, but I asked #ChatGPT to define bullshit and to cite its sources.

It provided definitions from the Cambridge English Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

The definitions it provided were entirely reasonable, but they were decidedly not from the sources it claimed.

This highlights the fact that ChatGPT and other LLMs are not knowledge models, they are themselves engines trained to produce convincing bullshit.

Below: ChatGPT, CED, MW.

Among all the (justified imho) outrage about the actions of the editor of Perspectives on Psychological Science, the debate somewhat reminds me of the two debates about value judgements (“Werturteilsstreit”) in sociology from decades ago.

And maybe I’m naïve, but is it really _not_ an accepted position in psychology that what researchers study is influenced by their situatedness in society? And consequently, that aspects such as race are important when considering “universal” “truths”?

Poor doggo.

New Rule: Enzymes are to be prohibited from using Magnesium as a cofactor as a Magnesium 2+ ion has the same number of electrons as water (10), making them annoying to distinguish in X-ray crystallography data (unless you have very good resolution.)
#StructuralBiology #Crystallography #Science @strucbio

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

Hot take: we would all do well to lose the practice of “defensive citation” — citing excessively so that no reviewer can claim you are ignorant of the literature when you fail to cite them.

I am reading a primary research paper, not a review, and it’s got 50 citations in the first two paragraphs. There’s no need for this. I blame Goodhart’s law.

@madamscientist Oh! in that case I must point you at this video! It’s so easy to make and you can braise or stir fry lots of different veggies in it and get delicious results.

https://youtu.be/xcv7AAktfd8

Asked someone for this box to store astrophotography gear. I guess it's now a cat box.

#Caturday

“The disproportionate scientific productivity of elite researchers can be largely explained by their substantial labor advantage rather than inherent differences in talent.” #AcademicMastodon #ScienceMastodon https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq7056

Revisited a prompt "scientist being oppressed by a giant virus and looking sad lofi future-tech abstract"

Generated by midjourney v4. Prompt proposed by @firefoxx66@twitter.com

Kiedyś nostalgia była lepsza.