Zoltán Sylvester

Here is a piece of the Yazoo River:

Nobody told him that saying “we remain committed to serve all of humanity as best we can” doesn’t sound as good as he think it does

This does not mean that I am doing less work and less thinking and I am not learning. I am just able to delegate the more boring stuff to an assistant that knows more about coding than I do; and I have more time to think about more interesting questions and to explore more ideas.

I know that there a ton of significant issues with AI and the companies that are behind the technology, but this is an excellent writeup of how thoughtful use of AI tools can speed up scientific work. I have been using Claude Code since January and it has been incredibly useful.

The diffusion-assisted particle reconstruction model (DPRM) framework for 3D particle reconstruction from a single 2D image - Figure 1 from Zhu et al., 2025

Good to see 'segmenteverygrain' being used as the starting point for a model that reconstructs 3D grain shapes from 2D data onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... ⚒️🧪

The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM In one email, an AI researcher suggested it’s “hard to be brilliant if you are worrying if you look fat or why another woman hates you.”

The trove of files released by the Department of Justice, illuminates Epstein’s deep interest and entrenchment in the scientific community.

But the files also underscore how he used his power and money in ways that kept women out of places where they might succeed. https://bit.ly/4qWgPLz

Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in the movie “One Battle After Another”, saying “I don’t remember any more of this code speak”

TFW you have to read a paper about sequence stratigraphy

University of Texas regents OK limits on controversial subjects Opponents warned the policy’s vagueness could push professors to self-censor and leave students less prepared for the workplace.

I’m so confused. I thought it was the illiberal left that demanded safe spaces and used cancel culture to silence anyone who threatened to disturb their snowflake ideological purity. Can someone help me out here?
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/19/t...

At least Watson and Shockley did contribute something significant to science. As far as I can tell, Pinker’s scientific papers haven’t really changed the field.

Among the many good friends of Jeffrey Epstein the one who infuriates me the most is Steven Pinker. I read “How the mind works” soon after it came out and I was impressed. I hate to think about how many years it took me to realize who this guy really was.

It’s pretty clear from the graph that I don’t pay too much attention to it 😁
Yes, some of the numbers on Strava are highly questionable

When the dot is above the gray zone: too much training; when it’s below: too little

Chart from the Strava app showing how my weekly relative efforts have changed during the last few months

So far in 2026, I have successfully stayed outside of the recommended weekly training effort ranges #running

If anyone’s opinion on AI can be trusted to have merit, it’s Terence Tao. 🧪⚛️🧮

This interview between two mathematicians is as awkward as you might expect it to be, but what they are discussing is a promising new direction.

Here is a notebook that contains all the code for two animations (the first one is the one above): drive.google.com/drive/folder...

I gave a talk last week at the University of New Mexico and one thing people seem to have remembered from it was this old animation that shows how migration rate depends on curvature in meandering rivers. It was created using Manim, a Python package written by @3blue1brown.com

The cover of the book “The Welch Land Illustrated Guide AI - A deep dive into modern AI”

This beautiful book by Stephen Welch explains really well some of the key concepts in ML/AI, often from a historical perspective. The YouTube videos are not bad either: youtube.com/@welchlabs?s...

Photograph of a sediment core highlighting thin (<0.5 cm) silt to very fine sand beds. Tick marks on left side are each one millimeter. From Figure 3 of Varela et al. (2026).

Excited that this paper, led by former PhD student Natalia Varela (based on her dissertation), is now out!

We use the occurrence & characteristics of thin, silty turbidites from the Ross Sea to interpret Antarctic Bottom Water outflow since ~3.3 Ma.

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Hello Bjorn!
#EpsteinFiles #BjornLomborg
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

The other day I spent at least 30 minutes just trying to figure out how to log in to decline a review request 🙄

My advice to undergraduates:

Do *not* sign on to a PhD just because it's a 'next step' and you don't know what else to do. A master's program is a much better option in that scenario. You can find out if you genuinely enjoy the endeavor and, if not, it's only 2 years and you get a great degree! 1/2

How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.

“We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.”

Props to Anthropic for studying the effects of their creation and reporting results that are not probably what they wished for
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...

Just an incredible and unusual landslide at Niscemi, Sicily, Italy, as captured by @planet.com SuperDove satellites 🧪⚒️🛰️

Awesome! Congrats!

Identifying dinosaurs from their footprints is difficult – but AI can help Dinosaur footprints are not perfect snapshots of the feet that made them. AI techniques from photon science can help identify their owner.

Want to know how we used AI to classify and identify dinosaur footprints?

Check out this breezy summary of our new study by coauthor Paige dePolo in @uk.theconversation.com

Including a tutorial for our free DinoTracker app, which YOU can use to study tracks.

theconversation.com/identifying-...

Yes, some of them are - I just reopened my Etsy shop that has been in vacation mode for ages www.etsy.com/shop/Riverpl...

There is also a page with links to recorded talks: zsylvester.github.io/presentations/

I added a page to my website that hints at the idea that I am interested in experimenting with artsy stuff when exploring landscapes with rocks and rivers zsylvester.github.io/art/

The US Winter Storm Seen from Space – January 25, 2026

Watch the 2026 U.S. Winter Storm unfold from space in this stunning satellite timelapse created with just a few clicks using the QGIS Timelapse Plugin.

It’s Only the Fourth Reich If It Comes from the Reich Region of Germany, Otherwise It’s Just Sparkling Fascism Don’t be embarrassed, it’s a common mistake. You look around and think, Yep, this is it. Paramilitary deportations, apocalyptic foreign policy, and...

"You look around and think, 'Yep, this is it. Paramilitary deportations, apocalyptic foreign policy, and private corporations looting the federal government. This has to be the Fourth Reich.' Not so fast. It’s only the Fourth Reich if it comes from the Reich region of Germany."